"Why did we think it would be a good idea to watch an execution?" Athénaïs eyed the crowd. She already stood as close to her sister as possible, but people pressed in all around them. The smell of sweat and unwashed bodies filled the Place de Grève.
"With all the fear and gossip going around court, I want to know how serious this whole poison matter is." Gabrielle shuffled away from an unkept man moving through the crowd, his hair matted with dirt and grease.
Marquise de Brinvilliers had poisoned her father for the inheritance, and then attempted to poison her siblings to have it all to herself. Her brothers died around the same time as Princess Henrietta. Her lover, a man named Sainte-Croix, outed her crimes when his handwritten accusations were found after his death. Brinvilliers' family hadn't been her only victims. She'd tested her poisons on the impoverished unfortunates seeking help at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital. Whispers at court claimed she'd poisoned fifty people.
"I doubt anyone at court would be stupid enough to use poison." Athénaïs wrapped an arm around her sister's to keep from losing her in the thick crowd. Sweat trickled down her forehead and chest. In the crush of the crowd the air felt hot.
"Desperation makes people do stupid things and Brinvilliers is a marquise, don't forget. Henrietta's death started the paranoia. And now with this execution its proof to everyone that poison is a threat. It might even give people ideas. More specifically, it may give your enemies ideas." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I hear the investigation has led to one of your own maids. She could be arrested any day now. Be careful."
She nervously picked at her nails. She hadn't known about the maid. Which one was it? The king had slept with more than one of them. They could be looking to replace her or worse, target the king. "I'll be careful about what I eat and drink." She wouldn't be able to get the powder to increase the king's affections either. Not that they did much good when he left her.
"Look at this crowd," Gabrielle said with disgust lacing her words. "There must be thousands of people out hoping to see her. They are so excited to watch someone die."
"Can you blame them? She poisoned her family and tried to kill her husband and a maid. Not to mention the confessions of incest. Public execution is dreadful, but at least they gave her mercy in taking her to Notre Dame for a chance to save her soul."
"You left adultery off the list, but I suppose we aren't ones capable of judging that."
Athénaïs shrugged. "Her husband allowed it. He had lovers too. It's not nearly as concerning as the murder charges."
Cheers went up from the crowd down the road. Everyone craned their heads to get a look at Brinvilliers as the cart made its slow sojourn to the scaffold. Brinvilliers laid inside with a priest on one side and the executioner on her other side. Both men wore somber looks. A loose noose hung around her neck as a symbol of her sentence. The priest prayed as the cart halted beside the scaffold. The crowd continued to cheer and boo.
"She doesn't look like a murderess. She looks harmless," Athénaïs commented. Brinvilliers was tiny in every way, frail. She lacked strength and with proper clothes on, would have looked like a common woman. But perhaps that was what made her case so terrifying. If a woman like Brinvilliers could employ poison, then who couldn't?
The executioner helped Brinvilliers out of the cart. She wore nothing but a long shirt and hood. Even her feet were barefoot. She walked with an odd shuffling gait. Her figure appeared thin and wiry beneath the shirt. From their spot in the crowd Athénaïs couldn't get a good look at her face, Brinvilliers's hunched shoulders made it hard to see her front.
The image Athénaïs had developed of a spoiled woman in silk clothes disappeared.
"She looks pitiful. If I met her at a party I wouldn't think to fear her," Athénaïs said.
"I hear they tortured her. I wonder if that's why she is walking so strangely."
Brinvilliers reached the stairs. With slow, careful steps she climbed them. Her shoulders shook and she shrank in on herself as the crowd's cheering grew louder, almost deafening. Athénaïs bit the inside of her mouth to keep from yelling as a man jostled her in his excitement as he cheered for the coming beheading. Brinvilliers crossed the scaffold and reached the executioner's block. She lowered herself onto her knees, bracing herself against the block.
Behind her the executioner grabbed his ax. Brinvilliers said nothing before laying her head down on the block. The executioner reached for her hair and moved it out of the way. Then he moved it all to one side. For another minute he continued playing with her hair, drawing the agony of her coming death out. Little good it would do her dead victims.
"Come on." Gabrielle growled. "Get on with it already."
"I don't know how she isn't falling to pieces up there. I don't think I would have been able to climb the scaffold." This crowd was different than the crowd at court that watched her every move. The court waited for a chance to gain favor or strike against her. This crowd wanted nothing but blood. She was certain if the executioner had refused for any reason, many in the crowd would be willing to finish the job themselves.
The executioner finally raised his ax. The crowd quieted as he lifted it. Athénaïs turned her head to the side, not wanting to see the bloody spectacle. The crowd erupted in loud cheering all at once and she looked back to the scaffold in time to see the executioner push over Brinvilliers' headless body. "I'm never going to another execution again," she grumbled to herself as bile rose up in her throat at the grisly sight.
Next the body would be tossed onto the pyre to burn. Athénaïs tugged on her sister's arm. She leaned forward to shout into her ear to be heard over the crowd's roaring. "Let's go. I don't want to smell her burning." Brinvilliers was dead, but how many would be executed after her? If a marquise could employ poison for her benefit, how many others had done the same and how many of them would die for their crime?
They turned from the bloody scene on the scaffold and pushed their way through the crowd. By the time they reached their carriage, smoke already twisted into the sky from the pyre.
"With this crowd it's going to take forever to get back to the palace," Gabrielle complained.
Athénaïs waited until they climbed into the carriage to speak. "No more visits to La Voisin no matter the circumstances. Who better to arrest next than the woman who receives visitors from all over the city and court?" If the investigation didn't end at poison, anyone who dealt with women like La Voisin could end up on that scaffold next. Noble birth wouldn't save them.
Gabrielle arranged her skirts. "I can agree to not visit her, but I don't think we should worry about her yet."
She folded her hands in her lap. "If they did arrest her, do you think she would name me?"
Gabrielle met her stare. The fear passed over her eyes before she could hide it. "She has no reason to. If she does sell poison then you are not a customer to be worried about. The powders you buy are harmless."
"But everyone in France knows who I am. She might name me to save herself."
Gabrielle reached over and grabbed her hand. "Do not fret yet. It would take more than one accusation against you for the king to listen."
"I wish I shared your confidence. I'm worried Brinvilliers is only the start. After Henrietta's death there was no proof of poison, but Brinvilliers is an altogether different matter. The king has ordered his chief of police Nicolas de La Reynie to investigate further. He fears for his own safety and La Reynie is searching for any guilty parties amongst the court. The king won't discuss it with me anymore, but I've heard him whispering about it with his cabinet. His behavior makes me nervous. It's odd for him to hide information from me. I've seen papers on his desk about a private court, the Chambre Ardente."
Gabrielle paled. "The burning court. I've heard the rumors about people being tortured for information on poison, but I didn't know the court was real. If they need something so private, they could be preparing to try more nobility next. Anyone named could wind up imprisoned to be tortured next." She pressed her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. She lowered her hand, her eyes locking with her sister's. "We will hide any evidence and make sure no one can find anything incriminating in your rooms. If you get named play it off as being due to your position as mistress. You need to claim innocence no matter what. You can't tell the king the truth. If he found out you've been sneaking powder into his food he would be furious." She took a deep breath. Someone in the boisterous crowd banged a fist against the back of the carriage and they both jumped.
Athénaïs swallowed down her rising panic. "I won't tell him. No matter what I will feign innocence." Her words came out fast and jumbled. If the king felt betrayed, she didn't want to consider what he might do with her. It could be a jail cell, or worse she could meet the same fate as Brinvilliers. She remembered the reaction he had when Lauzun insulted her, but this time that anger would be aimed at her. Bile burned in her throat again and she leaned forward, closing her eyes until the feeling passed.
"We'll do what we can but no more talk about it. We can't risk anyone overhearing and I don't trust the servants to keep a secret. "
Not speaking about it wouldn't stop Athénaïs from staying awake late into the night worrying about it. An investigation could be the door her enemies were looking for. If fingers started pointing at court, how many would point at her? And how long before her name was whispered in the shadowy corners of the palace?
She squeezed her hands together, her nails digging into her palms. "I have a bad feeling about this investigation. It'd be too perfect a tool for my enemies to wield."
"Don't feed the flames. If the accusations reach the nobility at court, you won't be the only one accused. Keep the king's trust. Don't let him see your fear lest he takes it for guilt. You need to act like nothing has changed. Do you understand?"
"I understand. I'm about to be thrown into a lion pit I may not be able to climb back out of."