The Oracle Glass by Judith Merkle Riley

Author:Judith Merkle Riley [Riley, Judith Merkle]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2012-08-30T04:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-NINE

With the first days of autumn, the court returned. The weather stayed warm, golden and mellow, with that strange luminous calm that vanishes suddenly with the first rain of the season. Lamotte and d’Urbec had disappeared from my life. D’Urbec, true to his word, sent for his box but did not appear in person. I returned the furniture, threw out the soup bones, and plunged myself anew into my work. Business had never been better, for the Sun King was rumored to be in search of a new mistress, and court intrigue had multiplied accordingly.

“They’re all laughing at me, damn them!” Madame de Montespan shrilled at me in her gold-and-white salon. “Out, out, all of you! My fortune is none of your business! Leave, or I swear I’ll have you all hanged! I still have influence; don’t you forget it!” The King’s mistress whirled through the salon like a demon in brocade, took up a little bronze cupid from a table, and flung it at one of her terrorized servants. As her ladies-in-waiting vanished and I took out my glass, she pressed her hands to her temples and sat down moaning. Another of her sick headaches. “Good, they’re all out of here. Now, tell me quickly, will that fat, tasteless Madame de Soubise take my place?” Everyone at court knew about the Princesse de Soubise and the secret signal by which the Titian-haired beauty alerted the King to the absence of her husband. When she walked into a room with her emerald earrings on, the murmur of interest followed her, and all eyes went to the King. Those with malicious hearts also enjoyed watching Madame de Montespan’s eyes narrow over her fan at the sight of the celebrated earrings. La Montespan’s fall was near. Long live the new maîtresse en titre.

I assessed her face carefully. Despite the headache, her eerie, aquamarine eyes were still bright with fury. The image came up nicely in the glass this time.

“Your rival’s triumph is short-lived, Madame; you may be assured.” She leaned closer, trying to peer into the water herself, and her breath fogged the glass. “With her next pregnancy, Madame de Soubise will lose her beauty, and the King will lose interest.”

“Lose her beauty?” Madame de Montespan’s voice sounded maliciously triumphant. “Just how? Does the glass tell you that?”

“It is plain, Madame. She will lose a front tooth.”

“Ah,” sighed Madame de Montespan. “My teeth are very strong. What a pity so many women lose their teeth with children. God meant me to achieve power by giving me strong teeth.” She smiled. Her teeth looked tiny and white, like those of a child goblin, between her rouged lips.

“Your beauty and good taste are without rivals, Madame,” I said soothingly.

“I have sworn no other woman will have him, and I keep my promises.” A strange geniality was now hiding the seething cauldron of her wrath.

“Everyone respects you for that, Madame,” I assured her.

“I tell you, it is Madame de Soubise’s good fortune that she will lose that tooth.

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