Free The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki Page A

still clung to her unsmiling features.
    “Of course, Soph. This here—”
    “Tut, tut, so you’ve taken it upon yourself to disregard my royal title?” The archduchess leaned her head to the side, staring at her younger sister with a quizzical purse of her lips. “So comfortable, already?”
    “Oh.” Ludovika cleared her throat. “Am . . . am I to call you . . .”
    “I’m only teasing,” Sophie said with a flicker of her wrist as if to swat away a fly. “A joke.”
    But was it? Sisi wondered.
    “Step aside, Ludovika.”
    “Yes, of course.” Ludovika slid backward, like a skittish mare unclear of the trainer’s instructions, fearful of the whip. Now Aunt Sophie’s eyes fell fully, for the first time, onto her nieces. “Ludovika,” her eyes narrowed, “why are they in black?”
    What happened next was quick, an instantaneous exchange, and one Sisi might not have noticed had she not been watching her aunt so closely. Sophie’s eyes darted to the young man, the officer standing beside her, as if to ask him something. A wordless communication. And then she turned back to Ludovika, her gaze cold and censorious. “Why have you not changed out of this awful black, Ludovika?” Sophie crossed her arms in front of her.
    “We intended to, Sophie. Truly, we did. But it’s just that—”
    “You should have changed on the road.”
    “We tried, Sophie. But the coach carrying our trunks got separated.”
    “That was poor planning on your part.”
    “And once we got here, we were ushered immediately inside.”
    “For a meeting like this, you should have been more prepared.”
    To Sisi’s astonishment, her mother fell silent at Sophie’s words of rebuke. Eventually, Sophie sighed.
    “Fortunately they have their youth and their health to recommend them,” Sophie said, speaking of her nieces as if they were not present. “Let me guess, this is your eldest, Helene? I see the strong family resemblance. She is a beauty.”
    “No, Sophie, that is my second girl, Sisi, I mean . . . Elisabeth,” Ludovika answered, stepping in front of Sisi and putting her arms on Helene’s shoulders. “ This is our Helene. Our sweet, tender, obedient Helene, and our eldest daughter.”
    “Oh?” Sophie turned from Sisi to Helene, pausing a moment to register her error. “Oh! That is Helene?” She said it as if she wished to be corrected. When Ludovika nodded, Sophie’s exhale was audible. A sigh of . . . what was it, disappointment?
    “My word, I would not have guessed. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you girls.”
    Sophie studied Helene now without modesty or shame, as she would inspect a horse she considered acquiring for the imperial stables. “But you seem . . . I don’t know . . . younger than the other one.”
    Ludovika shifted on her feet, attempting a half-coherent reply that mentioned something about a dainty, feminine figure. Both Helene and Sisi had dropped their eyes so that they each appeared very preoccupied with the hemlines of their black dresses.
    “What’s the age difference between the two of them?” Sophie asked.
    “Elisabeth is but fifteen. Helene just turned eighteen, the perfect age for matrimony,” Ludovika answered.
    “Indeed?” Sophie cocked her head, unconvinced. “She still has the figure of a girl. She doesn’t look eighteen.”
    Ludovika shrugged, a polite smile clinging to her face. “Well, I can assure you, she is. I was there when it happened, after all.”
    “And how old did you say the other one is?”
    “Elisabeth will be sixteen in just a few months.”
    “Ah! Still a child.” After a long pause, Sophie continued. “You’ve had a few more since these girls, right?”
    “That’s right,” Ludovika answered. “They have a brother, Karl, who is heir to the duchy. And then four younger siblings—three girls and another boy—all of whom are at home with their father, the duke.”
    “All of those girls to marry off,” Sophie sighed, still