The Second Empress by Michelle Moran pot

[...]... 15 6/7/12 2:45 PM 16 Michelle Moran The door opens, and Paul announces grandly, “His Majesty, the Emperor Napoleon.” I turn, but slowly, so that my brother may see the full effect of my gown “Thank you, Paul.” He returns to the salon, and I face Napoleon We are similar in so many ways We have both inherited the dark looks of our mother’s Italian family, the Ramolinos, and like them, we are both hot-blooded... 24 Michelle Moran to believe that we would live like this for the rest of our lives: picnicking on the banks of the Ozama River, reading to each other from Ossian’s poems, Deaths wander, like shadows, over his fiery soul! Do I forget that beam of light, the white-handed daughter of kings? and listening to the birdsong from the mango trees I was even foolish enough to ignore the sound of gunfire from the. .. But we can’t stay here now My brother has called me home Come,” she implored “Think of it as an adventure.” The ship we boarded for France was the Janus I learned then what kind of adventure it would be: she took two lovers while we were at sea, and after that there were all the men she invited to her chamber in Paris Then there was her second husband, Camillo Borghese, the short, fat Prince of Guastalla... island of Corsica and vowed with her brother to conquer the world I wish I had known her then, before the world gave her so much pain and grief She wipes away real tears with the back of her hand, and this rare show of tenderness presses at my heart Then, as if on cue, Aubree arrives, curling herself on the divan next to her mistress There is nothing in the world the princess loves as this dog She is... easily make the young boy his heir and keep his wife “And what did she tell him?” the princess demands What any woman of dignity would have said “That love cannot be bought and sold,” I reply The empress refused the offer.” She sinks back on the divan “Thank God.” A knock on the door sends Aubree rushing across the salon She is More_9780307953032_2p_all_r1.indd 29 6/7/12 2:45 PM 30 Michelle Moran practically... and the complexion of someone stricken with fever “I have news.” She seats herself across from her sister and arranges her velvet cap so that the feathers are tilting jauntily to the side The emperor may have made her shifty husband, Joachim Murat, the king of Naples, but he can never buy either one of them style She is a dim star to Pauline’s sun, and there are a hundred petty jealousies between the. .. morning light: the graceful curve of her neck, the deep chestnut of her hair, the new lines etched by worry between her brows I remember the afternoons we shared together in Haiti, the air heavy with orange blossoms and the scent of summer rain Now that world is gone, lost in the savagery of war that took my family along with my home But the island remains My mother’s songs remain And someday Pauline must... realize 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 More_9780307953032_2p_all_r1.indd 31 6/7/12... her in the nude as the goddess Venus When the emperor saw it, he flew into a rage, forbidding any future statues So in the Château de Neuilly, her private residence in Paris, she has modeled the serving bowls on her breasts instead I have seen her brother eat nuts out of them “Why should I hide them away?” she told me, enjoying her little joke The ancient Egyptians were proud to bare them.” When she has... fastened her robe, she crosses the bedchamber into the salon “Are you coming? I have a story to tell you about Joséphine.” I follow her into my favorite room in the Tuileries The doors to the balcony have been thrown open, and fresh light illuminates the gilded walls where an artist has painted scenes from the temples of Egypt Women in white sheaths raise their arms to the sun, and strange gods More_9780307953032_2p_all_r1.indd . Her father, who was the governor of the Duchy of Milan, gathered her family together, and they escaped with only the clothes on their backs. When they. Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Moran, Michelle. The second empress : a novel of Napoleon’s court / Michelle Moran. —1st ed. p. cm . 1. Young women—France—History—19th