Steamed by Katie MacAlister Page A

tightened my lips. I didn’t want to go into details about the Hand, but I had a suspicion that a man of his curiosity wouldn’t leave it alone. “They are opposed to the empire.”
    “That’s it? They’re just opposed to it?” he asked after a few seconds of silence passed.
    I watched my fingers trace out the rim of my cup. “They are opposed to Prussia being under the power of William. There is a lengthy history of Prussia attempting to gain its freedom from the empire, but with no success.”
    “And yet the duchess is going to marry this emperor of yours?” Jack asked, his gaze shrewd.
    “ He’s not my emperor,” I said stiffly.
    He watched me for a moment, leaving me with the uncomfortable sensation that he could see my thoughts. “That was a little too much, you know.”
    I sighed, allowing my shoulders to slump for a few seconds. “I know. It was stupid of me.”
    “So you know the emperor?”
    My fingers ran around the rim of the cup again as I wondered how much to tell him. I decided to be prudent rather than garrulous. “When I was very young, I was separated from my parents. William found me wandering around the garden of one of the imperial palaces. He took me to his father, the old emperor, who made me a ward of a friend of his, a man by the name of Robert Anstruther. Because we were of an age, and because William had few playfellows, I was allowed to visit him periodically. We had some wonderful times together, William a brave knight to my fairy princess as we fought dragons and trolls and all sorts of wicked beings.” I smiled at the sweet memories. “We more or less grew up together, although once the old emperor died, my visits to play with William were at an end.”
    The other visits, the ones made later in my life, were not so sweet, although filled with a wonder of their own.
    “Sounds like you had a good childhood,” he said, still watching me closely.
    “My childhood is not of importance at this moment,” I said, firmly closing the door to any further introspection. “I have quite enough on my plate with your arrival.”
    “It seems that way, doesn’t it?” he said thoughtfully. “Let me make sure I have all this straight—there’s an emperor of England who also rules Prussia, who was at war with the US until a few years ago.”
    “The Americas—the United States, Canada, and Mexico.”
    “All three together?” he asked, looking surprised.
    “Yes.”
    “What exactly comprises your empire? Britain and Prussia? No Australia or Canada?”
    “No, just the British Isles and Prussia.”
    “Got it. And this friend of yours, William the emperor, is going to marry a duchess.”
    “Constanza, yes.”
    “Right, and she’s the cousin of the Italian king?”
    “That is correct. King Iago.”
    “How Shakespearean of him,” Jack said absently, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Iago is at war with some guy whose name I can’t pronounce, dad of a bloodthirsty heir.”
    “Aurangzeb III. His son is Akbar, but it’s not Iago who is at war with Aurangzeb—he doesn’t have the force to battle the Moghuls on his own. It is our empire that is at war with the Moghuls. We have fought for almost a century, checking their attempt to take over Europe. Countries such as Italy lend aid as they can, but our people bear most of the responsibility. The empire’s men and women have paid the highest price for freedom from the Moghuls.”
    “You guys were fighting two wars at once?” Jack looked astonished.
    “Yes. It was a very grim time,” I said, refusing to remember the long, dark years. “You must understand that William wants nothing more than a cessation of the war with the Moghuls, but Aurangzeb is reputed to be working on a siege machine that is impervious to any known weapons, one that will crush our forces and allow him to reign free over all of Europe. With that threat hanging over our respective heads, you will understand why William feels obliged to continue his attempt to