Prisoner of Mirrors_An Adult Fairy Tale Retelling by Lidiya Foxglove

Author:Lidiya Foxglove [Foxglove, Lidiya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Rose

The furnishing of the Lady’s Treat absorbed a good deal of my waking hours. It took months to sort out all the custom pieces that were necessary. I put in orders for new furniture for every room, with rustic themes of pinecones and meadow flowers that reminded me of home, elegant cabinets and delicate tables for accents, a piano from Osteria, and was converting one of the rooms into a small private theater.

The sooner it was done, the sooner we could escape there.

And we can have Axel then…

Count Farren had become a part of our most intimate circle, and I knew the court gossips referred to him as the Favorite now.

Well, they weren’t wrong. Count Farren was one of the only people who would put up some challenge to Augustus, and I knew that excited my husband to no end. Axel’s fair beauty, his vaguely haughty elven airs, his soldier’s bearing, and that look in his eyes as if he was waiting patiently for the moment when we would finally satisfy him… Although we didn’t mention it often, he drove us both to madness. Every night when Augustus and I were alone, we were still both thinking of him in some way.

My letters to my mother grew even more infrequent now. It was difficult enough to talk to her about my expected duties, but even more difficult to write around this transgression. Is this possible? Has it ever happened before? Can a husband and wife be madly in love with each other but also in love with another man?

But then my rebellious side would kick in. The past few kings had made the Mistress of Many Loyalties into his personal mistress and not only had no one cared, but the court even expected it from their kings now. Well, why should Augustus get to love another woman when the queen had to be loyal to him alone?

No, it was so much more fair and more exciting if we both loved the same person.

One day I received a notice that Necker had canceled the piano and all of the bed curtains and spreads—and worst of all, the entire theater.

My stomach plunged when I looked at the papers.

Did I ask for too much? The piano and the theater were the things I wanted more than anything. Augustus told me I could have this place for my own…but it won’t be my own at all if it doesn’t have any of the things I love the most.

I folded the papers and nervously sought out my husband. Augustus had a very slow temper and yet the nature of our relationship could not help but make me nervous about approaching him. If he refused me, then I didn’t know what else I could say. But I needed this little house to be my own; I didn’t know how much I needed it until the key was placed in my hand and I saw those empty rooms. If it was taken away, I would never get over it.

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