When the Empress appoints Irina's father as the new Governor of Transylvania, the young Duchess is swept away from her glamorous life at court in Vienna to the mysterious "land beyond the forest" where danger lurks and superstition reigns.
When a pe...
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Vienna, Christmastide 1768
When Irina closed her eyes, warm light sunk from the vast ceiling chandelier floating high above the bobbing crowd of powdered wigs below. It made the floor underfoot gleam like icing, shimmered off gilt mirrors fixed to the panelled walls and gave the ballroom a hazy golden glow - like sunlight on an autumn dawn.
She made her way through the throng of courtiers, manoeuvring her wide, satin-covered panniers as gracefully as she could around couples dancing the minuet, between ministers arguing over politics and groups of ladies gossiping behind their silk fans.
"...Oh, Countess! If only you'd been there! It was a shameless display! She tumbled backwards off the sled - far too gracefully for it to be an accident - her petticoats flew upwards, and... well, we all had an eyeful. Oh, it was the most grotesque spectacle! All these gentlemen swarmed and squatted to help her like bees around honey - which is precisely what the jade was hoping for, I'm sure-"
Irina snapped open her fan and hid behind the bones as she steered clear, sidestepping behind a group of men listening to a joke.
"...It was like a pear, gentlemen. Ripe and round, with a delicious pink flush," Prince Kaunitz announced with a wink, much to the amusement of the gentlemen standing around him. "And to think I almost spent that evening behind my desk crafting contracts for the new Governor of Transylvania. And no, before you ask, gentlemen, I can't tell you who it is - but I can say that the Empress has chosen her man..."
A couple of the men turned as they felt satin skirts brush against the backs of their calves as well as the slightest hint of rosewater perfume wafting by. But the lady had already vanished.
Enormous and opulent, the grand ballroom of the Imperial Palace had seen many royal events from the ceremonial to the celebratory. Hundreds of court fêtes, masques, balls, galas and recitals all punctuated by the arrival and departure of important guests from all over Europe. Decorated generals from France and Russia came to flirt with the female courtiers, whilst writers and scientists from England - as well as precocious harpsichord-playing child prodigies from Salzburg - came looking for royal patronage. Tonight however, the painted eyes of Habsburg royalty past and present looked down as the room filled up to celebrate Twelfth Night and the end of Christmastide.
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