The Nymph of Versailles

Chapter 31

The groans around the table were music to her ears as she reached for her large pile of winnings. She spent the last three hours gambling. In the first half hour she lost almost everything after going all in, so she played game after game, determined to win her money back. Her latest win more than made up for her earlier loss.

Madame de Sévigné threw her hands in the air. "I'm out for the rest of the night. I've lost too much."

"I'm finished too," Athénaïs said. "I don't want to test my luck too much." In truth, she didn't want to miss the king's visit. He'd promised to come to her rooms tonight. He'd never shown up the last time. According to Gabrielle he'd been in his study with Maintenon. The thought made her nostrils flare in anger. The woman never gave up or went away.

"You could stay and give us a chance to win our money back," Madame Bétonne grumbled as she threw her cards down.

Madame Richelieu laughed. "As if you could. You need to work on your strategy."

"At least I'm not the queen. I don't think she's won a single game, yet she keeps playing."

"And by now the king has to be tired of paying off her gambling debts," Richelieu said.

"Good luck to you all," Athénaïs said as she rose. "Try to stay friends by the end of the next game."

Bétonne snorted. "No promises."

Her guards trailed her as she headed for her apartments. Between her ex and Lauzun, she still hadn't lost her fear of being attacked. And with Lauzun back at court, she feared retaliation over the past. For now, they both avoided each other as much as possible.

The quiet of her rooms came as a welcome embrace. She threw a window open to hear the trickle of her fountain. Saint Germain wasn't as luxurious as Versailles or Clagny, but the renovations the king ordered on her rooms had done wonders for making them more comfortable. No matter where they stayed, she always missed Clagny. However she didn't know if she wanted to live permanently at Versailles. She'd miss the shops of Paris.

A maid appeared and helped her touch up her hair. When she finished, Athénaïs dismissed her for the night. Then the waiting for the king began while she stared out the window and fidgeted. Would he come tonight? Or go to Maintenon instead? How could he fall for her after what she'd done to them? Or had he already forgotten?

The back of her neck warmed in anger. The more she asked the king to stay away from Maintenon, the more time he spent with her. She needed to find a way to break Maintenon's ever growing hold on him. Unfortunately Maintenon's piousness made it impossible to find anything to blackmail her with. In the past she used scandalous gossip to bring down her young rivals, but such tactics didn't work on Maintenon. The king never believed anything he heard.

And so here she sat while the clock ticked by. She couldn't distract herself with sewing or books. When her clock chimed, signaling the king's lateness by an hour, she tossed the book across the room as hard as she could. It smacked the wall and fell to the floor. She squeezed the arms of her chair. Her anger roiled inside like crashing storm waves. It pulsed inside her, eating her up piece by piece. Despair followed close behind, gobbling up anything the anger hadn't touched.

After all these years with the king he'd rather spend his time with boring Maintenon. With how vehemently she condemned adultery, how would she ever be able to slick the king's thirst? She stuck to the edges of the court the same way Louise once had. She wasn't fit to stand at the king's side. Why couldn't he see that? Fury swelled inside her, growing with each minute.

Finally, the king stepped through the door over an hour late. She shot onto her feet. "I've been waiting for you." Her voice rang out clear across the silence between them.