Sins of Omission: An utterly addictive historical time-travel novel (Wonderland Book 3) by Irina Shapiro

Author:Irina Shapiro [Shapiro, Irina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781805081500
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Published: 2023-11-12T16:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-FOUR

MAY 1686

Paris, France

I stood patiently while Sabine stuffed, laced, pinned, and tucked me into my new gown, ordered specially for the outing to Versailles. Louis XIV decided to celebrate the arrival of fine weather by hosting a three-day event. It began with a hunt and would finish today with the garden party which would culminate in supper, a performance of L’Amour Medicin—one of Louis’s favorite Molière plays—and a display of fireworks. Last night, we had been treated to a ballet, which, to my surprise, had been rather good. I’d been amazed to find out that Louis XIV was a great admirer of ballet, and had been quite a talented dancer in his youth, performing in numerous productions himself. I hoped that he wouldn’t be performing in the play tonight. I was actually looking forward to it. It’d been a long time since I had been to the theater, so this performance would be something of a treat, since it would be staged by professional actors for the king’s pleasure.

I couldn’t wait to leave and return to Valentine. Elodie’s sister, who had a six-month-old baby, had agreed to stay at our Paris residence and act as wet nurse to Valentine, but I still fretted non-stop that the baby wasn’t well looked after or not getting enough to eat. I would have happily declined the invitation, but one didn’t just say no to the king of France, especially when one was a disgraced exile in desperate need of the monarch’s favor. I’d mentioned my reservations to Hugo, but he just shook his head before I’d even finished the sentence, letting me know that my objections were futile.

Strangely, Frances had been invited as well, so I was glad to at least have an ally in the strange universe of the Court. Frances had been nearly speechless with the grandeur of it all and not a little subdued, having spent most of her life in one form of isolation or another, but she had been welcomed by Louis’s courtiers with something akin to wonder, and I was happy to see her enjoying herself.

Luke was there as well, so Frances had a ready escort and friend. As an admirer, Luke was expected to pay court to Frances and be within her orbit most of the time, but as my husband, Hugo was expected to converse and socialize with others and ignore me almost completely. To speak to one’s own wife was the height of bad manners, which left me to fend for myself.

I’d managed to survive the first two days without incident, mostly because I’d been able to escape to our room for short periods of time and go for walks in the lavish grounds, but today would be the hardest since the festivities would last all day long, and I would have to spend hours in the company of Louis’s courtiers.

The prospect of leaving in the morning lifted my spirits, so I graciously permitted Sabine to powder my hair and apply some rouge before

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