The Nymph of Versailles

Chapter 2

Palais-Royal

1666

"How do I look?" the queen asked as she stared down at her dress. Her heavy accent made her hard to understand, but at least she spoke in French. Often she fumbled with her words before reverting back to her native Spanish tongue while her ladies struggled to understand. Even the king resorted to Spanish to talk to his wife. The king's mother had been the queen's aunt and reveled in having someone to speak her native tongue with, but with the king's mother now dead, the queen's apartments had become quiet and heavy with her mourning. Athénaïs wished she could return to the Pleasures of the Enchanted Isles instead of this miserable atmosphere.

Today the queen wore dark colors for the late queen's passing with a touch of dark lace on her stomacher, but her usual outfits could easily be mistaken for mourning clothes. While the dark colors had been fashionable in Spain, France preferred bright colors, causing her muted outfits to appear dull in comparison. No matter how much her ladies and maids tried to make her look fashionable, they never succeeded. Pushing the queen into heels only caused her to fall or stumble around like a chicken and no bodice on the queen's small frame had ever drawn the king's gaze.

"You look beautiful," Athénaïs said despite the melancholy look of the queen's outfit. She wasn't bothered by lying to flatter the queen. She'd decided it prudent early on to get the queen to like her even if only to make waiting on her easier. The queen's rooms were as lavish as the rest of the palace, but they were always too solemn for Athénaïs's tastes. Not enough music and laughter.

"I want to outshine Mademoiselle La Vallière. I want the king to pay attention to me." The queen searched her outfit for any blemishes in her quest to outshine the official mistress. Her forehead creased in concentration.

"Talk to Madame Montespan about that. I bet she knows what La Vallière plans to wear," Comtesse de Bétonne suggested with a sneer. With a habitual rude demeanor and a love for salacious gossip, Bétonne had never been a favorite with the queen.

One of the maids behind Athénaïs disguised her snicker as a cough. Madame Montausier cast a glare about the room. She'd always been one of the queen's more devoted ladies of honor for reasons Athénaïs had never been made privy to.

The Duchesse de Richelieu jumped in to save Athénaïs from answering. "Don't worry about her. You are the queen and she can never have such a grand position as you. Focus on the king and trust in God. Pray and he will hear you." Richelieu was older than most of the queen's ladies, and she always used her wisdom to soothe the queen when the younger women couldn't.

The queen would likely never earn the king's affections over his mistress, but her women didn't want to break the sad news to her. If he grew tired of Louise, he'd simply pick another woman to take her place. The queen would never be first in his heart but in her childlike innocence she had yet to grasp the harsh truth. The queen was too simple in mind and plain in looks for the king's tastes and the whole court knew it. The king hadn't even wanted to marry her; he wanted to marry his lover Marie Mancini until Cardinal Mazarin's political maneuvering gave him no choice but to marry Marie-Thérèse to ensure peace between France and Spain. Once Marie was gone, the king moved on to another mistress instead of indulging the queen.

With her job done, Athénaïs retreated to the window to let the wardrobe women finish dressing their mistress while she stayed out of the way. As much as she longed to sit down, as a marquise she didn't get to sit in the queen's presence. That privilege fell to duchesses who got to sit on stools in the queen or king's presence.

Madame de Richelieu followed her. She always had a tendency to look after the ladies younger than her in the queen's circle. Athénaïs admired her motherly air and the way she often used it to put the queen's ladies back in line. "The queen doesn't understand the king. His attention in Louise is waning and the women are circling, hoping to be the next mistress."