“I want to be Empress.”
“Oh, Theodora, don’t be insane.” Antonina took her friend’s hands. “Do you really think a circus clown can become a queen?”
“There’s no fruit without a flower.”
“But an Empress? Maybe in a thousand years.”
“All I have is today.” She stiffened her backbone, like a fluttery leaf changing into an oak. “And I won’t be defeated by a failure of imagination.”