The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki

The duke pulled his daughter into a hug, holding her longer than she’d ever known him to. Perhaps he had hugged her like this in her childhood, but not recently enough for her to remember it. Sisi, sensing the genuine warmth of his feelings, felt her body soften into his embrace. Suddenly, uncharacteristically, she hugged her papa back, wishing he would not let go.
    “I don’t know what I shall do without you around here, my wild girl,” he said, his voice cracking.
    “Oh, Papa.” With that, Sisi began to weep, burrowing her head into his shoulder. “Please take care of Bummerl for me, will you? And when she’s old enough to ride, Marie may have him as her own horse.”
    “That’s right, my girl.” The duke patted her long hair. For the first time in a long time, his eyes were glossy with tears, but not from drink. “You go show those Habsburgs how to ride the stallions they keep in the royal stables.”
    “I’ll miss you, Papa.” Sisi held on to his hand, looking up into the hazel eyes that she’d always been told she had inherited. “Will you please take care of yourself, Papa?”
    The duke lowered his eyes, nodding.
    “You promise, Papa?” She squeezed his hand.
    “I promise that I shall try.” When he looked at her again, he had regained his composure. “You just remember one thing. The House of Wittelsbach is a proud house. You’ve got nothing to feel inferior about in front of those Austrians, you hear me?”
    “Yes, Papa.” Sisi squeezed his hand tighter, reluctant to let it fall away. Finally, it was the duke who ended the farewell. “Go now, my girl. Go and make your old papa proud. I know that you will.”
    “Goodbye, little Max.” Sisi kissed the pudgy cheeks of her baby brother. “And you, Marie, and Mathilde, and Sophie-Charlotte.” She kissed each of the little children, running her fingers through their soft, downy hair. “When I see you all next, you might not even remember me.” She wiped a tear from her cheek, hoping that her sadness would not compound Helene’s dread.
    When Sisi approached Karl for a farewell, he pulled her into a hug. Startled by this gesture of fraternal affection, she put her arms around him. “Goodbye, Gackl,” she said. “Take care of Papa while Mamma is with us.”
    He whispered into her ear: “I won’t have to take care of him for long. You’ll all be back before the farmers have cleared the autumn harvest.”
    That seemed more like the Karl she knew. Energized by this challenge, Sisi stiffened her posture and cocked her head to one side. “What makes you say that?”
    Karl’s glance slid sideways, toward Helene, before he looked back at Sisi. “The emperor is going to get one look at the homely, crying fiancée his mommy picked out for him and send you all back to Bavaria.”
    If anything, the taunt had only solidified Sisi’s determination to achieve success for herself and her sister. Karl would not have the satisfaction of gloating in their failure. No, they would not return to Possenhofen Castle—Sisi vowed to herself—unless it was in the royal coach, emblazoned with the imperial seal of the Habsburgs.

    “Girls, look! There’s the river.” The duchess pointed out the coach window through a canopy of leafy trees. The appearance of the Traun River signaled their approach to the outskirts of the Alpine city of Bad Ischl, where the imperial court was installed for the summer. The coach had begun its descent into the valley.
    “The waters in Bad Ischl are therapeutic.” The duchess studied the slow-moving current that now hugged the roadside. “That’s why Franz chose it for his summer retreat. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had time to take in some of the waters? We could all use a little refreshment right now.” She rubbed her forehead in a slow circular motion.
    The coach rattled onward in a determined course down the narrow mountain pass, sinking slowly into a valley framed on all sides by jagged green mountains. The panorama