The Queen and the Courtesan Read Free Page A

Malesherbes was convenient enough to Paris for Balzac to take a full part in court life, but as this new plan took shape he removed his family to their house in the city so that his daughter would be better placed to pursue her dream. Henriette preened and prettied herself while she waited in breathless anticipation for the King to come. She was not disappointed. The moment Henry heard, he abandoned the hunt and hastened to Paris after her.
    To Henriette’s complete delight the King was even more attentive, making a point of visiting her daily. One day he brought her a gift, a rope of pearls, which she cleverly refused to accept, not wishing to appear too grasping, or compromise her reputation.
    â€˜My lord, do you think you can buy my favours with such riches?’ she chided him, allowing soft tears to form in her beautiful eyes. ‘You know how I value your friendship, but you are a king, and I but a humble maiden. Would you dishonour me?’
    To her surprise and disappointment Henry did not press her, but put the valuable necklace back in its casket and returned to the Louvre.
    â€˜You have played it too cool. You’ve lost him,’ Marie-Charlotte whispered as he strode away.
    Henriette slapped her sister across the face. ‘Never dare to say such things to me. I will have him! He will come again, do not doubt it.’
    The next day she was proved entirely right as Henry again presented her with a mysterious box. Fully expecting to find the magnificent pearls still inside, Henriette discovered instead that he had brought her a dish of a hundred apricots. She gazed upon them, stunned and dismayed.
    â€˜You know that I seek only to honour you. Where is the harm in a dish of fruit?’
    Quickly recovering her composure she laughed out loud. ‘You are an incorrigible prince.’
    No one had ever called him such a thing before, and, enchanted by her audacity, Henry fell still further beneath her spell.
    Casting her sister a triumphant, warning glare, so that Marie-Charlotte quickly scurried from the room, Henriette sank to the floor in a charming puff of skirts, putting her hands to her warm cheeks. ‘My head is spinning, my emotions in turmoil. You have touched my heart, Your Majesty, I do not deny it, but how can our destinies ever be joined? I constantly bewail the twist of fate that has placed you upon a throne, and thus beyond the reach of my affection.’
    â€˜How can I be beyond your reach when I am your prisoner?’ Henry murmured, gently raising her and leading her by the hand to a quiet arbour in the garden where, unobserved, he might succeed in stealing a kiss. ‘I am your captive. How can I resist your charms?’
    â€˜Or I yours,’ she told him, her soft white hands stroking his. ‘I am ready to make any sacrifice rather than resign my claim upon your love, save only that which cannot be returned to me intact.’
    She referred, of course, to her maidenhead, in fact long since surrendered, although Henriette had no intention of allowing the King to know that.
    He grasped her hand and kissed it. ‘Some sacrifices are worth making, for the benefits they gain. Say the word and you could enjoy the place and state that my beloved duchess enjoyed. You will be my maîtresse-en-titre .’
    Henriette rewarded his passionate plea with a furious frown. ‘Sire, I am not Gabrielle. I am not your insipid little angel wishing always to please you and do as you say.’ Only that morning her sister had brought to her attention some verses called the Complaint of the Shade of the Duchesse de Beaufort to the King . She had ripped the paper to shreds. Henriette had no intention of being bound by the ghost of a former mistress less clever than herself. ‘I am my own person. I will not be bullied or controlled, even by a king. If I come to you, it will be of my own free will, not because you demand it.’
    Excitement pounded in him, the blood roared