In French

Chapter Twenty six

    A few months passed and my reputation with my courtiers had officially hit an all time low. I found this out by Senor Vargas, I had long since stopped searching the disgusted and anguished faces of my people but when he visited me in my library I was slightly shocked, “Hated?” I asked slowly getting to my feet.

    He raised a shoulder, “The word is being branded around a lot.”

    “They hate me? Whatever for? I am a good, diligent Queen,” hurt and sadness spilled into my heart and my face fell dramatically. How could I be so hated by so many? I had to fight off the wobble in my bottom lip which threatened an onslaught of tears.

    “They feel as though you are becoming like a…a peasant,” My eyes boggled and my mouth actually dropped open. “I am merely reporting what I have been told and have been hearing, Your Highness. I do not believe it myself.”

    “A peasant?”

    Senor Vargas was looking at me uneasily before shrugging uncomfortably, “You go to Paris a lot.”

    “That does not make me a peasant!” I exclaimed.

    He was looking awfully distressed by then, shifting from foot to foot, “I know I know. It is not just that though, Anna.” I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest. “They-there are rumours that you have taken a lover in Paris which is the true reason why you go there.”

    “That is entirely false!” I gasped, “What-why-why on earth would they make up such a poisonous lie like that?” Guilt from long ago swirled in the pit of my stomach but I forced it away. “About their Queen,” I shook my head as I rested my hands on my hips, “Well, what is this lover supposed to be like?”

    Senor shrugged, “A peasant I think. Someone lowly I know that for sure. They think that you are sinking and lowering the French monarchy.”

    “Well they all speak words of treason then!” I shook my head, outraged, “Whoever says it I want them arrested and-”

    “There are too many to trial them on it, Madame,” He interrupted solemnly. “I just came to warn you and perhaps advise you to tread very carefully, these are very precarious times for you as Queen right now.”

    I blinked, astounded, “What? Will they try to start to push me off the throne?”

    He was deadly serious, “I would not take the situation so lightly anymore Anna. It could become a possibility.”

    I was shaking my head furiously, “No, no I will not allow this to continue. I am their Queen and I will not live cautiously around them. They will learn their place. You must tell me who you hear and I will order their tongues to be cut out. Traitorous asses the lot of them. I am going to see the King about this.”

    I started to storm out of the room but Vargas grabbed my arm, preventing me, “He knows.”

    “Then that leaves less explaining to do,” I wrenched free of his grip and with a dreaded sinking feeling I headed towards the King’s study. It was hard to keep the tears from spilling but I refused to show weakness because like a pack of ravenous wolves they would pounce and surely devour me. They would not unsettle me, not when I had the might of the French public backing me up.

    I strode angrily into the King’s study and slammed the door behind me. He flinched but did not look surprised to see me, “What are we going to do, Philip?”

    “Nothing,” He spoke quietly, returning to his notes.

    “We must do something, something to put them in their places-”

    “We will do nothing,” He repeated.

    I stepped forward up to his desk and put my hands together, “I will not do nothing when my children might be able to hear of these scandalous lies. I will not have their views on me tainted-”

    “We will do nothing to stir the situation,” He wouldn’t look at me.

    I was shaking with either fear or rage but most likely a mixture of the two, “This is dangerous play, Philip…Do you-do you believe them? Their lies?” He did not reply and I wanted to scream and shake him but forced myself to remain still, motionless, “Do you?”

    “No,” His eyes slowly moved up until they made contact with mine. He looked weary, “I do not believe them.”

    I seized the moment, “Then you must act!”

    “If you want to do something to quench the rumours then stop going to Paris,” He replied a little tersely.

    I shook my head adamantly, “I love Paris. I adore it. Why should I adhere to them?”

    “You have been oblivious to these growing rumours for some weeks now. I am surprised you only just found out,” he lent casually back in his chair, “What do you suppose I do? The number of people saying it has grown, I cannot kill them all. I cannot try them all. I cannot make a speech ordering them to stop because it will have the opposite effect and bring more people to the attention of it. I am pretty powerless on this subject, my dear and it is down to you anyway.”

    I stood there horrified, “How do I make the lies go away?”

    “I do not know,” he sighed, leaning an elbow on his desk. “Ignore them? Change? Stop going to Paris?”

    I huffed, backing away from the desk, “You are of no help and if they decide that I am to be tried for treason then you will probably sit in your throne and watch me die.”

    “It will not come to that,” he snapped dismissively.

    My eyes were wide, “Oh won’t it? The way that this anger and hate towards me is fast mounting I do not think it should be long before you start to get the whispers dripped down your ear.”

    “You are being ridiculous.”

    “How would you know? You spend all your time either in here or stuck in meetings. You do not know what the courtiers are saying, you do not know the way they glare at me with dagger like eyes. They have loathed me since the day I arrived in France and that will build poisonously until the day I die. They will spit on my grave. I know it,” I spun and barreled out of the room leaving Philip there.