Je T'aime. - Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Court mourning lasted two weeks. Everything was draped in black, and not an ounce of joy was allowed within the entire palace. Charles had been in the Imperial Crypt for two weeks, his heart buried separately in the Augustinian Church. But a cloud of death still hung over everyone, mourning the loss of such a teenager. The snow fell again, trapping a miserable court within brick and mortar.
It was the first of February, which would have been Charles's sixteenth birthday. My mother was most likely locked away in a state of melancholy. The stillness of the halls kept me in my apartments, reading books and dining on breads and cheeses sent up by Pia.
It was around noon, and I held a cheesy bread slice in my mouth as I flipped the page of a book. I was convinced that there was no greater food than cheese on bread, no matter how simple. I brushed a few crumbs from my skirt and kept reading.
It was a rather drab book, I knew, but it was a childhood favorite. A collection of fairy tales. I remember reading these books as a child, with stories of princesses who met their prince charmings by chance, not by a massive multi-national alliance focused on securing the next generation as a political tool. But the authors of these stories barely knew the life of a princess, anyways. And I hardly knew of an orphan housemaid abused by her stepmother who went on to marry a bachelor prince all because of her shoe size. And in glass, no less- I could barely tolerate a few hours of dancing in silk.
It was rather lonely, being in this sitting-room all by myself. Maybe I could ask my mother for a bird or a kitten or a puppy. If only Gladiator was small enough to come into my apartments. If only he could be conscious about when he used the bathroom. I laughed to myself imagining my horse standing in the middle of my bedroom. My namesake day was in July. Maybe I could ask my mother for a smaller pet as a present. Now that I thought about it, I especially wanted a dog. Joseph had his two dogs Hercules and Thesus, but they were much too big. Wilhelmina had a little fluffy dog, a Pomeranian named Marco, who I thought was a little barky brat. My father had a habit for buying her ankle-biters as presents.
I overlooked the drawing in the book, a depiction of the grandest ball in the kingdom, where a charming prince would find his consort in a glorified chimney-sweep. I scoffed, closing the book. These were the dreams of a girl scrubbing floors. They didn't know how miserable this life could be, besides the gold, the champagne, and the diamonds.
I needed some more intelligent literature. I kneeled by my bookshelf, but as I did, there was a knock at my door. "Come in."
"God, Christina, I'm so bored." I looked up to see Isabella in a very pretty dress of dark violet, a black shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Her cap was also decorated with a black ribbon.
"So am I," I replied, watching the princess sink down onto the chaise. "Mourning periods are always boring. We can't do anything."
"Your brother was so unbridled- would he have even wanted any of this misery?"
"Doubtful, but it doesn't matter what he wanted. The court has its practices."
"Ugh," Isabella groaned. She laid on her side on the chaise, folding her arms under her head in a makeshift pillow. "Do you have any plays on that shelf of yours? Can we perform one, just the two of us? That's the only thing I can think of."
"I have Shakespeare. Plenty of Shakespeare. King Lear, Hamlet, Othello-"
"Oh, no tragedies. Not during these days, I'm afraid. Do you have comedies?"
"The Merry Wives of Windsor and A Midsummer Night's Dream."
"Ooh, Midsummer! Midsummer!"
I pulled out the book, a rather old volume that was beginning to fray at the spine. I went to sit next to Isabella, opening the book and laying the spine open in my palm. "There's quite a lot of characters here for two people."
"Then I'll play the women, and you play the men," Isabella suggested. "Easy."
"Alright, then," I said, moving to sit on the chair next to her.
Isabella sprung up. "We're acting, no? A play needs actors." She overlooked the book, which I held away from my body for her ease of viewing.
"I'm Theseus, Duke of Athens. And you're Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons," I said. "I think it fits you," Isabella smiled, and I read my first line. "Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws on apace; four happy days bring in another moon; but O, methinks, how slow this moon wanes! She lingers my desires, like to a step-dame or a dowager, long withering out a young man's revenue."
I held the book out to Isabella, who read her line. "Go, Philostrate-"
"No, no, that's my line. Here's yours."
"Oh, sorry!" Isabella said with a giggle, and read her line. "Four days will quickly steep themselves in night; four nights will quickly dream away the time; and then the moon, like to a silver bow, new-bent in heaven, shall behold the night of our solemnities."
I read my next line, "Go, Philostrate, stir up the Athenian youth to merriments; awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth; turn melancholy forth to funerals; the pale companion is not for our pomp. Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword, and won thy love doing thee injuries-"
My line was broken by Isabella breaking into a fit of bubbly laughter. "Woo'd thee with my sword!" she repeated through another giggle.
I gasped at her discovery, trying to keep down my own laugh. "Isabella! Not like that, you're so gross!" I playfully whacked her in the shoulder with the book.
"Thy love doing thee injuries!" Isabella exclaimed, "What else could that mean?!"
"Not that!" I admonished her again, though now we were both fully engulfed in laughter. "Anything but that!"
"You think Shakespeare is beyond the humor of teenage boys? He was just a man with a pen, not a scholar."
"I thought a princess's readings would be much more dignified then sex humor."
"Well, you thought wrong! Did I ever tell you of a little book that Madame de Pompadour owns, called 'Le Bijoux Indiscrets'?" implored Isabella with a playful smile. "The Indiscreet Jewels?"
"No, but now I'm afraid to know the details."
"Well," Isabella dropped her voice down to a whisper as she fought back giggles, leaning towards me so that I could hear her hushed words. "A king of the Congo possesses a magic ring that allows the jewels of women to speak."
"A what now?!" I replied as Isabella began to laugh again.
"It's real, I swear!"
"Such literature at one of the finest courts in the world, Isabella, I barely believe it!"
"Oh, Versailles is full of secrets. Almost too many," commented Isabella, taking the book from me and laying it down on the table. She grasped my hand and looked me earnestly in the eyes, bubbling with excitement. "Someday we'll have to go. You, me, Joseph, Albert, Eleanore, and Francois. It's so grand, so beautiful there. And my dear grandfather- he'd love you, I'm sure of it. But with that little troop, we could go anywhere and I would be content."
"Paris, Rome, Athens, Madrid, London, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Munich, Dresden- anywhere in the world."
A dashing smile crossed Isabella's face. "We'd be the grandest world travellers that the world has ever seen. To every court that the Earth can offer us."
"As soon as this war ends. When this war ends, we'll do absolutely everything. We'll cultivate life to its greatest yield."
"That's all that I could ever ask for. To make the most of my time here."
"And we will. When the court isn't locked in mourning, and the fields of Europe aren't covered in blood."
"Maybe I'll have children by then. They can come along, too."
"Little Joseph Junior."
Isabella laughed. "Another one? I don't know if I could handle that!"
There was something so earnestly beautiful about the way she laughed. The way her smile blushed the apples of her cheeks and how her eyes twinkled like a sky full of stars. Even with the darkness of her clothing she seemed to sparkle like silver moonlight on a lake in the dead of night. Her dress, her hair, her jewelry- everything in the world seemed to perfectly move with her like it was at her own command. Her title was the Princess of Parma, but to me it seemed like she was the Princess of the Universe.
"If only the war would end a little quicker," Isabella said.
I replied, "That's in Albert's hands now."
Isabella's face softened. "He went off, didn't he? Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll be praying for his safe return. He's a beautiful soul, that one."
"I just hope that my parents let me marry him. But military service- that's honorable, isn't it?"
"Very."
"I got a letter from Benedetto," I admitted. Isabella leaned forward with interest. "It was just him trying to woo me into marriage with talks of his fancy palace and opera house. I threw it in the fire. I just couldn't stand it."
Isabella shrugged. "You're not interested. If he can't take that hint, then that serves him right."
"I suppose."
Isabella held my hand tighter, forcing me to look her straight in the eyes. "If your father forces you to marry that man, I will personally throw a fit. Albert's sister is married to my uncle, the Dauphin of France. I think I can pull a few strings." She winked.
"I think that would help my cause greatly. My mother's greatest fear is getting on the wrong side of France. And if my mother wants something, her word overrides my father's."
"See?" Isabella said, "I always have a plan. International diplomacy is a fun game to play. And for you, I'd play the game again and again."
"I don't know where I'd be without you," I admitted.
Isabella threw her arms around my shoulders, tilting her head to the side slightly curiously. "Probably in a carriage on your way to Turin."
"And thank God that I'm not, or I would throw myself in front of the horses and be trampled. I would rather be a bloody pulp than the Duchess of Chablais."
Isabella smiled sweetly. "I'm glad you're not a bloody pulp."
"How kind of you," I replied jokingly. "Aren't we all just bloody pulps?"
"Except our blood runs blue, says the idiom," Isabella commented, "Though we all know that's not true."
"The commoners don't. The commoners don't know an ounce about us."
"And the nobility would prefer that it stays that way. If they knew what happened in government, by God, they would storm the palace and hang us all. If they knew of the bribes, the corruption, the debt- we would all be dead. We would all be dead." Isabella began to work herself up with each word that she uddered.
I wrapped the princess in a hug in order to quell her marathoning mind. "Don't get yourself all worked up about it," I said to her as she pressed her cheek into my shoulder. "We'll be alright."
"My mind gets so ahead of me."
"I know. Isabella."
My sister-in-law looked to me with her enchanting chocolate eyes. "Hm?"
I placed my palm on Isabella's cheek, and she leaned into the touch. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
Isabella smiled most gently. "Not directly. But in all other words and actions, I knew. You and your brother are very similar in that way. Alongside the complaining of the actions of the Empress. Joseph is much more liberal than she, and it frustrates him. Especially when it comes to religious matters. I told him he should be thankful that she allows him in government at all. Other heirs are not so lucky."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "They're so bull-headed. Both of them!"
"Like mother, like son. Stubbornness is a good trait in an absolute monarch," Isabella informed, "Keeps the power intact. Constitutional monarchs, it's all about teamwork. Parliament. And with the spread of these enlightened ideas, I could guess that there will only be more," she sighed, pulling me close into her. "The world is changing so much faster than anyone could ever keep up."
In the chilly air of the winter palace, Isabella's body heat was a welcomed guest against mine. "You'd make a good politician," I kissed Isabella's forehead lightly. "With all of your knowledge of government."
"I understand the government, and you can gallop and jump a horse without falling off. My father was so afraid of me getting hurt that he never let me learn."
I glanced over to the painting of my beautiful gelding over the fireplace. "I can teach you. There's a riding school built right into the palace. Gladiator's a good boy, he wouldn't hurt a fly."
Isabella looked over the painting of my noble steed. "I'd like that. He's a very handsome horse."
"His ancestors are some of the finest war horses in all of the world. He's one of the grandest horses I've ever known."
"Are you breeding him, then?"
"No, he's a gelding."
"Gelding?"
"He's castrated. Makes him much more temperable, and easier to ride."
"Oh. See, I wouldn't know. I don't know anything about horses."
"Are you busy tomorrow? The riding school is inside, it'll be warm enough. I can teach you all about horses and riding. Do you have a habit? Much easier to ride sidesaddle in a longer skirt," I enquired. Excitement was boiling within me, and I had to force it back down.
Isabella took a moment to think it over. "I don't think so?" I could see the gears turning in her head. "I'd have to look."
"You can always borrow one of mine. I think it would fit," I overlooked Isabella, who was about my size, just two or three inches shorter. "The skirt is supposed to be a little long, anyways."
"Tomorrow, then? After lunch?"
"Just don't eat too much. Riding on a full stomach is dreadfully uncomfortable. Don't ask me how I know that."
Isabella laughed. "Will do. Tomorrow after lunch."
"Indeed."
Isabella looked over to the clock in the corner of the room. "Joseph wanted to have tea with me at two. I have fifteen minutes. I'd love to stay and chat, I would, but I really must go."
"Alright, then. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll meet you here."
"Here. Yes. I'll see you then. Bye."
"Bye."
With a sweet smile and the swish of a skirt, she was gone, the door closing behind her. I just stood there for a few moments, a smile still on my face, completely in awe of her.