In French

Chapter Thirty five

    I refused to talk to Philip for two days, also resorting to simply clicking my fingers and gesturing for Cécile to leave the room whenever she walked in. I was furious. I did not tell my children either, once I had thought about it in the morning I decided that Philip was right -as much as I was sour about admitting it- and it was pointless to involve them.

    “I cannot believe this!” I was pacing again, alone with Agate and Giselle. “Is he going to execute her? I mean, at least she is actually guilty of being with him unlike poor Senor Vargas. You know what makes me so irate about all of this? It is that his death is now a mockery. A complete joke. He was my friend and now he is nothing. And that is Philip and that filthy disgusting WHORE’S fault!” I finished going a bit manic.

    “Have no fear Anna,” Giselle spoke quietly from her seat. “She will have to answer to God for her great sins.”

    “Like she cares, the woman is riddled with the devil.” Giselle and even Agate gasped at that. “She has torn my entire world into pathetic pieces and there is nothing I can do about it. Why is God punishing me with this?”

    “The Lord has blessed you with a great deal,” Agate muttered.

    I turned my attention abruptly to her, “you dare get sarcastic and almighty with me. After everything I sacrificed and have done for you. I need you now Agate and you dare abandon me.”

    “Sorry.” She mumbled. “I know. This bitch has wronged you highly and deserves to be punished.”

    I nodded, “I am glad you agree. I do not think that I could allow someone like that to single handedly ruin my life. So what shall we do?”

    Giselle got to her feet, “Madame there is nothing that you can do, she is the King’s mistress and to wrong her would be to-”

    “Stop your sentence.” I insisted. “You honestly think I care about any of that? Philip is my one true love, he is mine and only mine and I refuse to share him.”

    “We should just be done with it and poison her.” Agate sighed. It should have worried me that her idea of revenge always jumped straight to death.

    “Too obvious.”

    “Exile?”

    “Won’t be allowed. The King has taken a shine to her, he would simply punish me for disobeying him and summon her back.”

    “Is it not blatant?” Giselle was staring from Agate to me eagerly. “It is rumours that are the true poison. Almost always untraceable too.”

    “Oh,” Agate cocked her head to the side giving her a condescending look, “and what rumor would we spread Giselle? That she is lying with the King? That she is a whore? I am pretty certain that everyone in court are already well aware of those facts. The simple truth is that they all dislike Anna so much they are going to be in favour of anything that makes her unhappy. How exactly do you undo that with a bit of gossip?”

    “Well it is better than killing her!” She snapped back defensively.

    “First of all,” I spoke quietly, “I do not want her to be my lady in waiting anymore. That is too much to be expected.”

    “You have to keep her,” Giselle interjected. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

    “Oh what is she going to do, she is merely a harlot. It is not as if she plots against Anna, she is simply lying with the King.” Agate was being rather snappy towards Giselle today. “Why do you not slight her? To publicly put her out of the Queen’s favour?”