The imperial guards, sensing that the mood of the crowd is shifting, push back against the rising onslaught of people, threatening to brandish their swords. She reads the discomfort apparent on his face.
But her eyes do not rest for long. Desperately, she combs the crowd once more, looking for another face. Has he come? she wonders. Has he come for her, as he had promised?
Finally, her darting eyes land on him. He stands near the front, his face almost entirely obscured by the ornate headpiece of a bishop in front of him. He appears more dashing than she has ever seen him—his dark eyes aglow, his tall frame outfitted in a fur-trimmed coat. He has been watching her all this time. When they lock eyes she smiles. She does not care who sees.
“Sisi?”
Reluctantly, she rends her gaze from him and turns back to her husband. When she meets his stare now, his expression is quizzical, questioning her. An arch of the eyebrow, a glimmer of understanding in his light eyes. And, in that moment, there is no doubt in her mind: the emperor knows her secret.