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“So again, the prince of House Liechtenstein holds the purse strings of the Empire,” said Marton von Debrecen. He didn’t sound overly pleased.

They talked, sent for food, talked some more, rested, got up, and talked some more. All the while, Vienna waited, and a steam boat made its way up the Danube.

Grantville Stock Exchange

It came up on the ticker, just like all the trades. BCPP + 10 % SLV A. The brokers on the floor could read it. BarbieCo Participating Preferred at ten percent over the face value in silver all comers. Anyone with BarbieCo PP could sell it. Ten haylies would bring you eleven Cologne marks of silver.

There was a rush, but it was a small one. It dried up almost before it began. By the end of the day, the Barbies had stabilized at forty-three American dollars to the judi, about eleven percent over the face value price. And the Barbies weren’t trading at all. Everyone who had one was holding onto it.

Heather Mason wasn’t on the floor. She had called in the offer to the Barbie Consortium’s broker. When he called her back at the end of the day, it was to inform her glumly that he hadn’t managed to get more than a few percent of the BarbieCo stock in Grantville.

“It’s okay, Jacob,” Heather said. “It was just Judy making sure that anyone who didn’t want to play could get out with their skin intact.”

“What’s the game?”

“I’m not sure. All the radio message said was that they were going all in.”

Heather heard Jacob swallow.

* * *

“Any way,” the radio operator in Grantville said to his friend, “the rumors in Regensburg are that the Barbies are buying Austria-Hungary.”

“That’s crazy.”

“Yeah? What else is new?”

* * *

Over the next several days, the price of BarbieCo stock went up. Everyone who wanted out had gotten out that first day, and quite a few hearty souls decided that they wanted to gamble.

The Hofburg Palace, Vienna

The Regensburg Weekly News printed the stock quotes from Grantville and Magdeburg that they got over the radio. It took three days for the steam barge carrying the latest price for BarbieCo Preferred to reach Vienna.

When it did, Ferdinand and the Barbies were still in conference.

* * *

“No.” Karl didn’t say it loudly nor particularly belligerently, but he did say it firmly. “I know that Sarah doesn’t care about rank. Prince or peasants, it’s all the same to her. But, much as I love her, I am not Sarah. I was willing for it to be a morganatic marriage, given the circumstances that held sway. But the circumstances have changed. You need her. Both Judy and Moses have pointed out that giving Sarah imperial rank would help this work. Yet Gundaker insists that she not receive that rank till after the marriage, and that any issue from the marriage be excluded from the family inheritance. I won’t have it.

“I will not consent to the merging of our stock into reich money unless Sarah is elevated now, and the marriage contract is adjusted to reflect her new rank as an imperial princess.”

There were no up-timers in the room. It was just Emperor Ferdinand, Gundaker, Maximilian and Karl.

Gundaker was pale. “She’s not Catholic.”

“Which Catholic? Urban’s or Borja’s?” Karl countered. “If our children decide to become Protestant of some sort, then the issue of their faith may be raised. But for now we don’t even have a single Catholic church.”

“Very well, Karl. I’ll bring up her elevation at the next general meeting. You’re probably right that it will make things easier. Come to think of it, we might as well elevate her sister as well. What about the rest of the Barbies?”

“If you elevate any of them, Your Majesty, I recommend you elevate Trudi von Bachmerin. If you just elevate the up-timers, the up-timer Barbies will have a fit.”

“By denomination, do you think?”

“No. The choice of denomination was almost random.”

Ferdinand waved a hand. “Fine. We will make them all imperial princesses. It will simplify things. Considering the rest of this arrangement, they are going to be among the richest young women in the empire anyway.”

Fortney House, Race Track City

“So, what’s the latest word?” Annemarie Eberle asked Dana Fortney. After her failure to realize that Hayley Fortney was the money behind the SFIC and the raking over the coals that she had gotten from Janos Drugeth, Annemarie had taken to simply asking questions. It worked surprisingly well.

“I don’t know. They have agreed to back the reich money, but they are still working out how it’s going to work. Last I heard, the barbies are going to be gradually pulled from circulation, replaced with a new kind of barbie that doesn’t provide interest but is legal tender for all debts in the Austro-Hungarian empire.”

“What about people that already have barbies?”

“I don’t know. I can’t see Hayley letting them do anything unfair, though, so don’t let it worry you.”

“I heard at the beauty shop that the Barbies are buying up BarbieCo stock for ten percent more than the face value in silver. At least in Grantville. Do you think we’ll be able to sell ours that way?”

“I would imagine so.”

“Do you think I should?”

“How should I know, Annemarie? Do I look like Susan Logsden?”

Annemarie set out the coffee service and left. But the question didn’t depart. It simply spread.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna

“I warned you,” Father Lamormaini said, and took a certain satisfaction in Gundaker von Liechtenstein’s clenched jaw. It was as much Liechtenstein’s fault as anyone’s. He should have been fighting against the marriage from the beginning, but his greed had blinded him to the threat. Just as Urban’s greed for the up-timers’ tools must have blinded him. The wisdom of Cardinal Borja-the new and legitimate pope, rather-was now obvious to any who were not blind.

“The question is what can be done about it.”

“The infection must be burned out, root and branch.” It was the first time Lamormaini had said that-even in his own mind-but as the words came out, he knew they were true. Ferdinand III had betrayed father, state, and church in his desire for transitory advantage. “The crown of the Holy Roman Empire must be wrested away from this unholy traitor to the faith, else the Holy Roman Empire will decay into permanent separate states. That was Satan’s goal in bringing the Sphere of Fire. They weaken us and destroy the natural order so that Islam can conquer Europe and put an end to the true church, condemning all mankind to heresy and perdition. It will take planning, Prince Gundaker, planning and care. But it must be done, and God will understand.”

“I have given oaths-.”

“An oath to a heretic is no oath at all. Urban has fallen into heresy. He is followed into that heresy by the captain-general of my own order and by Ferdinand III, and the royal house in Austria.”

“Leopold?”

“I don’t know, but can we risk it? The infant is too young to have been infected. Given a proper upbringing, Ferdinand IV will be the emperor. But in the meantime he will need a strong regent and the Liechtenstein family, once it too is cleansed of the infection, will make the perfect bulwark for the infant emperor.” Lamormaini let his voice shift from reasonable to severe. “But to be made ready, House Liechtenstein must itself be purified. Karl Eusebius must be eliminated.”

Lamormaini hid a smile. That was what Gundaker wanted now, most of all. Making it his duty, giving him the excuse, would make him accept the rest.