Je T'aime.

VI. Sparks Fly

I stood in front of my easel in the drawing room, adding my final touches to my painting of Joseph in the garden. The blossoms that I had painted back in the height of summer were long gone now, and I was recreating their color based solely on my own memory. My mother sat behind me, flipping through pages of state affairs. Between each page she licked her fingers before reading whatever content lay before her.

I added a streak of white to the sky of my painting, blotting it with my finger. With a light, bouncy touch I turned the streak into a fluffy cloud. I took a step back, analyzing my work. My mother took a glance up from her readings. "Very nice, Mimi, very nice."

"You think so?" I replied, still searching for error.

"Of course I do, my dear. Should I hire you for my next portrait? It would certainly help with some of these costs." She tossed her stack of papers down onto the table beside her.

"War is expensive, Mama," I replied. "Expensive in both money and lives."

My mother sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I pay for all of it, but yet they still address these letters to your father. He's not the child of Charles the Sixth, I am."

"Well, it's a man's world, unfortunately," I replied. "But compared to the fates of other female rulers, you've fared fairly well."

"I should have remained unmarried like Elizabeth of England. But that would make me heirless. That's another issue entirely."

"Who would be your heir if not for my siblings and I?"

"Most likely Frederick Christian of Saxony, your dear Albert's older brother."

"My dear Albert? Mama, I've told you this many times before. We're just friends."

My mother let out a chuckle before returning to her papers. Just then, the door opened. "Your Majesty, important news," said a man I recognized to be one of Mama's advisors. "Count von Lacy has just arrived at Berlin with fifteen thousand men."

Mama stood from her seat. "And of the Russians?"

"Halfway into taking the city. Queen Elisabeth has already fled."

"And of Frederick, that devilish man they call a king?"

"Still in Silesia."

"Good, good. I shall write a letter to Lacy and Count Tottleben immediately. Share any news you find with me at once. If we fail to capture Berlin, all may be lost. Show me the battle maps," The advisor unrolled a map of the area surrounding Berlin. My mother turned to me. "Christina, you are dismissed."

I curtsied to my mother and left the room, closing the door behind me. In the middle of wedding celebrations, my mother was making arrangements for war. Did she not want to preserve our empire's finances? And truly, if the war would become more desperate, what would happen to me and all I cared about? Would my father, my brothers, or even Albert be sent off to the bloody field of battle? Would my sisters, Isabella and I be forced to flee my home like Queen Elisabeth of Prussia? Would we lose? What would happen then? Would we be imprisoned like Albert's poor mother, and die of the stress? It was a terrifying thought. Not only the court was at risk, so were the people of Vienna.

The people of Vienna were on my mind- we were supposed to be going on a carriage tour of the city to introduce Isabella to our subjects today. But with Mama's nose buried in state affairs, who knows if we could ever get to the carriages before the sun set. Mama being such a powerful ruler left a wound in the heart of my siblings and I. Forgotten promises and bedtimes without a kiss goodnight were not uncommon. But my Mama, I knew, had a duty to perform. Not only were we her children to look after, so was every citizen of the Empire.