Beloved of a King

Chapter 8 - Confrontation

“Alexandra! Beatrice!” cried the king as he rushed in the makeshift sick room adjacent the queen’s apartments.  The king’s physicians stood away from the beds of the sick royal children.  The princesses Beatrice and Alexandra, ages five and six respectively, acquired apparently the malady which the kingdom had not heard since eight years ago.

When he came in the king recognised the presence of a pungent odour of sulphur in the air.  There were basins of vinegar at the door post and the ladies nursing the sick children clutched in their hands their beads of rosary, muttering the mysteries of the day.  At the far end of the room where the small crucifix stood sat the queen, head bowed down low, together with the Princess Madeleine, Mary Olliver and the other ladies, reciting the prayer for the sick made especially for the princesses by the visiting cardinal from Rome.

“Children” he called them.  He went to them, approaching Alexandra first.  He caressed her golden, curly hair and planted a kiss on her forehead.  He turned his head to his left and saw Beatrice, quite red with fever, coughing in her sleep.

“Alexandra, how do you feel?” he asked.

“Father, I am quite well now.” Alexandra answered, reaching out to hold her father’s arms and rise.

“Careful.” he said, helping her stand.  She coughed hard upon sitting, but she tried to give her father a smile.

“Bea is still sleeping?” she remarked, seeing her little sister with eyes still wide shut. “Father,” she said in between coughs, “was it lovely today outside?”

The king held her tight in his arms, “Yes, the last days of summer are the loveliest my dear.  If you and Bea get well quickly we would chase the warm days and hunt games in the forest.”

“Is it really father?  Bea and I haven’t seen the sun for several days now.  We’d like to play outside.  Last night she told me she’d pick mother posies so that she can give them to you.  We saw some freshly picked ones just the other week at the market down—” she coughed, “ha but this fit of coughing is tiring me a little.”

Henry, the man who rarely saw his children, was moved to pity.  He lost many children through the couple of decades of marriage with the Parnassian queen, all of which did not survive infancy.  These two, his two youngest children, are now in the brink of perishing, just like their other siblings.  He kissed Alexandra again, this time on both her cheeks.

“Rest now and get well real soon my dear.” he bid her, “God bless you my child.”

He left her bed and went to Beatrice’s.  He saw a child with cheekbones now protruding, pale but red in the cheeks.  The child had been a spitting image of him in her days of health, but now Henry felt that when he was looking at his child he thought he was looking at death face-to-face.

“For how long has she been like this?” he asked the physician attending her. 

The learned man stroked his crooked nose and lowered his arms, one hand over the other.

“She is the first one to get sick Your Majesty.  Until last night she wakes up periodically, able to eat small amounts of food, bread and milk mostly.  Last night after we gave her three drops of laudanum to ease her coughing, she can barely be roused.” he frankly answered.  “I am sorry to let it out now Your Majesty, but I don’t think she’ll live to see the coming of autumn in this condition.  She hasn’t eaten for a full day now.  I am very sorry Your Majesty.  We did everything we could.”

The king had his hand on his forehead, brushing it up and down.

“And Alexandra?”

“We are hoping and praying she could be spared.  You saw her rise and talk to you, your Grace.  It’s a good sign.” he answered, but he put his fingers over his lips, “but I wouldn’t count on it.  The coldness is slowly creeping in.  Children have a very fragile health.  We still afford her the newest medications from the largest apothecaries in the kingdom, but we can only do as much.”

Henry closed his eyes for a moment and realised something from the revelations made.  He motioned towards the queen currently leading her ladies in prayer.

“Is there something you wish to explain to me, Madam?” said Henry, looking down at her.  The queen could hardly look at him and just continued reciting the prayer while her companions repeat after her.

“Answer me Beatrice before I get angry.  Get up and talk to me.”

The queen’s ladies-in-waiting stopped their activity at once.  The Princess Royal slowly got to her feet and sauntered beside her father.

“Your Majesty, lady mother had no knowledge of wha—“

“Silence Madeleine! I am talking to your mother.” he cut her attempt to defend her mother.

“Ladies, continue without me.  Dear husband, let us not interfere with the plea for divine intervention we are seeking. Perhaps we should talk in my own chamber?”

Henry’s mind was muddled with so many concerns, including his own displeasure for his queen.  He simply walked out of the sick room and headed towards the queen’s chamber, minding not the doling out of vinegar soaked washcloths for his safety after visiting the sick room.  His guards moved in to follow him, along with the Princess Madeleine, who is clearly afraid of what might happen next between her parents.

The maids-in-waiting opened the chamber doors for the king and arranged the sitting room for them.  They were then dismissed by the Princess Royal and provided refreshments for her father.

“Father, please…”

“Madeleine, you look very exhausted.  Go and rest in your chamber.  Your mother and I will need to do this in isolation.”

“Father, I swear upon my honour lady mother had nothing to do with this.  I’ve let my sisters come with me to visit the commons.  They might have caught the illness there.  I have been a careless sister to them, and irresponsible with my people, considering that I’m heir-apparent—“

“Enough daughter.  You’ve said enough.  I thank you for being honest with me, but I’ve heard enough.  There is your mother, off you go.”

Madeleine had a grave face.  She just nodded and curtsied to her father, and did the same to her mother.

After Princess Madeleine left, the aura of the chamber changed from its usual cool and quiet atmosphere to an aggressive one.  The king and the queen took their seats, which were situated at a great distance from one another, waiting for either of them to start the argument.

“How come I wasn’t informed of the condition of the princesses?” he started.

“You were so busy with the new court you are making.  We dared not disturb you.”

“You don’t deprive me of the things I need to know.  The Lord High Steward, you told him to hush, didn’t you?”

“I did nothing of that sort.  But I believe he shares sympathy with me.”

“Insolence!”

“You really dare to tell me that when you shame me in front of your kingdom and mine!?  She has bewitched you Henry, that you nearly forget you have a lawfully wedded queen and four royal children, two of which fighting for their lives even as we speak!  Have you even set aside a small fraction of your time to visit your children?  No!  Then where are you?  Oh, I believe I know the answer: you’re always on her lap, like a hunt dog yelping at every sound of the horn!”

Henry could not contain his anger that he stood from his seat and attempted to hit the queen.

“Why don’t you continue?  Have you lost all your strength now that you cannot hit a woman, my lord?”

“Do you know how difficult my position is now? Do you!?” he shouted in her face.  He groaned and turned away from her, finding a pillar where he can hold on to.

“Why do you love her?” she said, her voice soft, but enough to be heard by him, “Enlighten your poor wife, why do you love that woman?”