The Second Empress Read Online Free PDF Page B

that life was simpler and sweeter when it was the two of us in my country.
    “And the announcement?” she asks, bringing me back to the present. “Has Maman said—”
    “The fifteenth.” Caroline adds meaningfully, “Of December. He won’t decide on a new wife before then.”
    Their eyes meet, and they are like a pair of jackals working together for the success of the hunt.

C HAPTER 4

    MARIA LUCIA, ARCHDUCHESS OF AUSTRIA

    Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna December 1809
    A S SOON AS THE SUMMONS COMES FROM MY FATHER , I know. In eighteen years, my presence has never been requested in my father’s Council Chamber without my brother. I put on my muff for the walk across the palace, then call Sigi from his cozy bed near the fire. If I am to face the news that the Ogre of France, or der Menschenfresser as the Austrians call him, wishes for my hand in marriage, then I will do it with a friend at my side.
    I scoop up my little spaniel, and he rides in the crook of my arm as I make my way through the icy halls. Every winter my father spends a fortune to warm the palace, but it is never enough. The guards can see their breath on the air, and the courtiers’ wives, despite their vanity, are wearing thick cloaks and wide fur hats. “Your Royal Highness.” The men bow to me as I pass, but I don’t see the one I am looking for. When I reach the Blue Salon, where my father holds his council, I pause before the doors. I want to glimpse Adam Neipperg’s face, to see the conviction in his eyes as he tells me—as he certainly will—that I have nothing to fear from this meeting, that my father will never marry me to an ogre, not for all the money in the world. But he is nowhere to befound. So I stand before my father’s Council Chamber, and the guards wait for my nod. When I give it, the doors are thrown open.
    “Archduchess Maria Lucia of Austria,” they announce.
    I step forward and halt immediately. Everyone is inside, including Adam Neipperg and my stepmother, Maria Ludovika. Maria passes me a warning look as I approach the table, and suddenly the room is silent. My father indicates a chair across from him.
    “Maria,” he begins, but can’t seem to find words to continue. I bury my fingers in Sigi’s fur and wait for my father to say it. Clearly, the French emperor has asked for my hand, and now Austria must begin the tricky dance of turning him down without grave offense. He looks to Prince Metternich, who clears his throat.
    “Your Highness,” the prince says, “there is joyous news.”
    I make a point of raising my brows, then looking around the table from face to solemn face. If this news is so joyous, why does everyone look as if someone has died?
    “The emperor of France,” Metternich continues, “has requested your hand in marriage. As you know, this is a great honor for the house of Hapsburg-Lorraine, for there has not been a marriage between Austria and France for thirty-nine years.”
    “Yes, and that ended well,” I reply. But no one smiles. My father shifts in his seat, and when I look at Count Neipperg, his face is grave.
    “The emperor is a man of swift decisions, Your Highness. Three days ago he sent his stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais, to our embassy in Paris to ask for your hand. Our ambassador was told he must accept the offer at once or risk displeasing the emperor …  greatly .”
    My heart begins to race beneath my cloak. “So what are you saying?”
    Metternich glances at my father before speaking. “That the offer was accepted, Your Highness.”
    The room blurs. The Chinese wall hangings fashioned from blue rice paper take on a whitish hue. Sigi nuzzles my arm, and his cold nose against my skin brings it all back into focus.
    “Maria,” my father begins, and the heartache in his voice is unbearable. “It is still your decision—”
    “But understand,” Metternich interjects swiftly, “that this decision comes with lasting consequences.”
    He means that if I refuse, my father will