The Rose of Provence (2 page)

“
Oh my God, Morgan! How dare you kiss me with blood on you!”
She grimaced.

“
Oh, I’m sorry, I got carried away again! But you know what
kind of effect you have on me… Anyway, you don’t have to call me
God; I know that you’re hooked on me,” said the man, and his smile
softened his attractive but cool features.

There was no sign of the needle-sharp eye-teeth in his
perfect denture.

“
Don’t be so self-conceited, you haven't kissed me for years,”
Amrita stepped back. “You didn’t kill her, did you?”

“
No way! I promised you not to do such things. She just
fainted a bit… These noble ladies are so bloodless nowadays,” he
hummed in his deep voice, and sank his look into the
girls.

“
Don’t try your charm on me,” Amrita turned her head
away.

“
I don’t have to try, it’s already worked.”

“
Oh, really?” The girl raised her eyebrow. “We both know how
long you’ve been chasing me futilely.”

“
Chasing you? Tut, tut, what a dirty word!” Morgan bantered.
“I’d rather call it a courtship, the expression of my eternal
homage. I haven’t told you yet, but recently, I’ve obtained the
name de la Roux as the sign of my admiration towards your wonderful
hair. And I wouldn’t say that my endeavors are completely
inefficient, because your heart has been mine for a quite a while
now. The rest will come; I’m not impatient. I’ll kill time with
others till then.”

“
With Mademoiselle Prévin, for example?” Amrita glanced toward
the sofa.

“
You see, now you are jealous again,” said the man, contently.
“But no, I don’t sleep with her. We have common interest with her
father, and I don’t want to ruin the fruitful business
relationship. And our Jeanette won’t remember this little feast
anyway.”

“
By the way, feast. Shouldn’t you be at the birthday
celebration?”

“
I should,” clouds gathered in the man’s eyes.“ But I didn’t
feel like meeting Diane.”

“
What’s wrong with her?”

“
Despite the fact that she is cheating on her lover, the crown
prince, with me, and it’s becoming increasingly embarrassing for
me? Nothing,” Morgan swayed his head resentfully.

“
Oh, my God, you don’t say that you are the lover of Madame de
Poitiers?” Amrita’s eyes widened.

“
Why?” The man asked with theatrical incomprehension. “Though,
it’s true that she is not such a velvety flower as Jeanette, but
she is still very attractive. And if I tell you what she can do in
bed, you wouldn’t be surprised for a minute!”

“
You know, I didn’t mean it this way,” waved the girl
resentfully. “It’s not a great idea to sleep with the crown
prince’s first concubine. If you don’t want Monsieur Prévin to be
angry with you, it’s not advisable to do it with the future king
either.”

“
Such a ready tongue you have since you’ve come to the court
from that hick town.” smiled Morgan with the smile that always
caused Amrita’s legs to grow weak.

“
Are you insinuating that you helped me with this?”

“
Far be it from me to flaunt my merits,” winked the man. “If I
start once, when would I get to the end? But it’s evident that it
was time for you to leave Limoges to my effectual intervention
before someone would have started to have misgivings.”

“
I don’t want to talk about this,” the girl’s face darkened,
because homesickness revived in her heart. “It’s time to get back
to my room, and you had better not to draw attention to yourself
with your absence, and take part in the celebration.”

“
You’re right, it’s time to leave, because Jeanette is about
to regain consciousness,” nodded Morgan.

He stepped to the inlaid table, dipped the clean corner of
his handkerchief into the beau-pot’s water and wiped the congealed
blood off the girl’s neck and shoulder. On the porcelain-white
skin, there was no sign of the wound inflicted by the canine
teeth.

“
And the sofa?” Amrita pointed to the bloodstain being an
eyesore on the bright tapestry.

“
Even I cannot remove it with the tools at my disposal,”
Morgan shrugged his shoulder and made the girl lie down so the
patch was next to her face.“ For want of better, they will think
that the lady’s haughty nose gushed out with blood.”

He spied out down the corridor,
and made sure that it’s empty in both directions. He let Amrita go
ahead, and then stepped out of the room too, and closed the door
silently. The girl has already set out towards the nearer corner,
but Morgan grabbed her waist and pulled her toward him again, but
this time more tenderly then before. Amrita did not resist now. She
closed her eyes and felt the man’s heartbeat on her chest as it
slowly took over the rhythm of her own heartbeat. Morgan bowed his
head and buried his face in her neck. The man’s yesterday stubble
was poking Amrita’s soft skin, but she did not mind that at all.
She knew that Morgan would never give her greater pain than this.
However, before she could have been lost in the embrace, the strong
arms released her. For a few moments, she kept her eyes closed, but
by the time she glanced up, she did not see the man anywhere. As if
the ground had swallowed him.

Chapter 3

Infertile Decade

Louvre, Paris – 3 April 1543

“
Amrita!”

The princess’ voice sounded resolutely, but it wasn’t
commanding.

“
I’m here, Madam!” She entered the boudoir where the wife of
the crown prince was broodingly fixing her long, light-brown
hair.

The vivid shade of her sun-yellow gown made the color of her
skin and curls even paler.

“
I’ve already told you to call me Catherine, by my first name.
I would like us to be friends, because we are of the same age.” Her
mistress glanced at her in the mirror. “Help me pin up my hair,”
she smiled at Amrita, but her eyes were not laughing.

“
You look worried, Catherine,” she noted silently.

“
Why wouldn’t I be? That slut is aiming at my place more and
more shamelessly. Though, no matter how much she wants, she could
never be queen, but she can inhibit me from becoming one,” the
tension that has been accumulating for days broke out of the
princess.

“
No matter how great the power Princess de Poitiers has
gained, this could never happen,” Amrita swayed her
head.

“
Don’t underestimate her influence. She has been Henri’s lover
almost as long as I’m his wife. She knew very well that although
our marriage was bound by higher interest, and not out of love, we
took a fancy to each other with Henri during the first year of our
wedlock. But as I was a fourteen-fifteen-year-old virgin, I had no
chance to give my husband, who has just been searching for his
masculinity, with that which he had already experienced; a
thirtyish woman was able to chain him to herself. She didn’t have
an opponent in bodily love, so the only thing she had to do is to
cool down Henri’s rising emotions he felt towards me. I’m afraid
that by now, she managed to do this perfectly,” Catherine was
gazing at her own reflection with a glassy look.

“
If Henri has ever loved you, the embers should still flicker.
If this is the case, then it can burst into flames again anytime,”
she consoled her.

“
Maybe you’re right, but soon, even this won’t matter either.
I haven’t gotten pregnant during our ten years of marriage, and I
haven’t given birth to a descendant to the future king. I’m a
faulty product, don’t beautify it.”

“
But you are just twenty-four; you could still have even ten
children!”

“
Oh, come on! If I didn’t conceive in my most fertile years,
what could possibly change now? After the age of twenty-five, I’ll
start growing older! If I’m not in a delicate condition by that
time, they will send me home and find Henri a new wife. Of course,
preferably someone whom Diane has control over from the very
beginning,” she broke out and after a short pause, she added: “It’s
obvious that it is my fault, because Henri has already had at least
two children from his concubines. The best doctors treated me; I
also tried charlatans in my despair but all in vain.”

“
Remember, the king has always protected you, until now,”
Amrita pointed to the non-negligible circumstance.

“
True, my father-in-law likes me, but nowadays he is not in
his best mood either; failures happened overseas. He gathered money
in vain for the new expedition and sent his faithful man, Jacques
Cartier with five ships to New France. The settlers’ supplies ran
out by now, and they cannot prevent the aborigines’ attacks any
longer either. The colony at the Ottawa River had to be liquidated,
and they had to leave the land for good. On the other hand, though,
Francois reigns for almost thirty years, but who knows for how long
he will…”

Amrita’s brisk fingers rested on the princess’ curls, and she
looked in the mirror pensively. The daughter of the Florentine
ruler, Lorenzo de Medici, the wife of the French crown prince, now
looked like a frightened child. The shame of infertility, and the
panic that she has to divorce her husband shaded her face
simultaneously. No doubt, despite all the humiliation and neglect,
she loved the prince.

“
Perhaps there is a chance…,” said Amrita,
languidly.

“
What chance?” The princess eagerly snatched at the
words.

Amrita furrowed her eyebrows. She was wondering how she
should inform her mistress and sound convincing without disclosing
too much.

“
It’s true that I came to the court from the Belgrands from
Limoges, but I lived in Provence before that. I worked as a
governess, and the family’s housekeeper, Marie, was not only the
master of roasts and desserts, but was skilled with medicinal
plants as well. She taught me which herb is good for what and how I
can prepare a brew from them to make a really effective potion. She
also told me that a type of rose lives there, which cannot be found
anywhere else in the world. It’s called Rosa Gallica. It has a
stupefying fragrance, and its color is redder than blood; one can
almost get dizzy under its climbing rose arbors. You have to
collect the most beautiful petals of this rose, and have to prepare
a brew from them according to the secret recipe. If you drink
nothing else, but this juice for twenty-one days, you will get
pregnant for sure. Of course, it is necessary to be with the prince
on the night of the twenty-first day,” Amrita added with a
smile.

“
Oh, the quacks have already given me all kinds of herb tea;
they put sage under my pillow, which was picked at full moon, then
prophesized when the future heir is going to be born. The dates are
all gone and there were no results,” Catherine waved
resignedly.

“
There are many charlatans, but believe me, what I recommend
is truly effective. Or you know what? Don’t believe in it, just try
it! You have nothing to lose,” Amrita rolled up the last curl and
pinned on the top of the princess’ head.

Catherine swept away some naughty tufts on her forehead, and
then she started to speak after a short pause:

“
Well then, let’s give it a try! If your potion is successful,
I will erect a statue for you with Master Cellini! However, he is
planning to travel back to Florence, but he will certainly stay for
my sake until the work is done.”

“
Oh come on, there’s no need for that,” laughing, she
protested, then added: “With your permission, I'll set out tomorrow
and be back in a few days with the rose nectar.”

“
Why don’t you bring the flowers with you, and prepare the
potion here instead? I would love to see how you do it.”

“
It’s impossible. The petals have to be used within an
hour.”

“
I see. Then, I resign it to you, do it at your
discretion!”

Amrita nodded. She was happy that she finally did not have to
lie; she just didn’t disclose everything. For the princess, it’s
needless to know that Marie was not a simple housekeeper who was,
by the way, adept with medicinal plants. She also remained silent
about the fact that not anyone can prepare the secret recipe, only
a person who has certain abilities; like her.

She put the unnecessary hairpins aside in their place, and
was just about the leave the room when the mistress started to
speak to her:

“
Do you know Earl de la Roux?”

Amrita recoiled.

“
Why do you ask?”

“
Well, unfortunately, I don’t really know him because he has
only recently appeared once or twice in the court. The only thing I
know about him is that he is unmarried and lives in an ancient
castle along the Loire River in Langeais. He is deliriously
handsome, don’t you think?” She winked at Amrita
conspiratorially.

“
Well, yes. He is said to be very attractive,” answered the
girl carefully, and tried not to think about all the things she
knew about Morgan.

“
Really attractive?” Catherine raised her eyebrow
incredulously. “Have you ever looked into those blinding blue eyes?
During the ball, all the noble ladies sitting around me were
buzzing about him, but even my maids blush if his name is
mentioned. I love my husband, but I’m afraid I couldn’t resist the
earl, even for ten minutes.”