For Mike & Mattie, always,
and
for all the princesses in my life:
Marie de la Cruz
Sophia Evans
Dagny Hartman
Christina Hossain
Caitlin and Whitney Jones
Lois and Bonnie Robinson
I wish you all the most magical happily ever afters
Versailles, 1682
I believe that the histories that will be written about this court after we are all gone
will be better and more entertaining than any novel,
and I am afraid that those who come after us
will not be able to believe them and will think that they are just fairy tales.
—Lady Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d’Orléans, sister-in-law to Louis XIV, King of France
Light
O happy childhood! Blessed youth!
But once we know thy potent power;
But once we live all careless free;
No cross to mar our love-lit bower.
—Pablo Neruda
Chapter One
I was meant to be listening to Claudine explain how best to pack for the move to Versailles. Instead, I was staring out the window in Papa’s study, watching Elodie and Marius clamber about in the orchard at the edge of the lake behind our château. Marius was hoisting Elodie up so she could reach the branches of the gnarled little trees. My friends picking cherries without me. I couldn’t blame them. The most wonderful cherries grew there, sweet and fresh, with just a hint of tartness. And it was a beautiful early summer day, perfect for cherry picking. I wished I could be out there with them, but I was already fifteen years old, no longer allowed to just do as I pleased.
My feet itched to run out of the room and join my friends, and I tugged impatiently on a lock of hair that had escaped my chignon. My long, wavy golden-brown hair was no longer allowed to flow freely down my back. Now that I was getting older, it had to be styled and set every day.
“Cendrillon. Are you paying attention?” Claudine said sharply. “Cendrillon?” She looked down at me with a disapproving frown. Our housekeeper used to scare me, as she was tall and towered over everyone else in the château. I wasn’t sure how old she was, maybe Papa’s age or even older. Her hair, always worn in a tight bun at the nape of her neck, was slate gray, and her face was lined with wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. But they were mostly from laugh lines, as Claudine could never be mad at me for too long. She was devoted to my family and had been with us since before I was born.
I turned away from the window to face Claudine and the curious gaze of the footman, who was awaiting my instructions.
“I’m paying attention. Of course I am.”
“Were you? Because the footman needs to know how to pack up Monsieur de Louvois’s study. You are the lady of the house.”
For so long, lady of the house had been Maman’s role, and every time I tried to grasp those words and apply them to myself, they slipped through my thoughts and fluttered off into the wind. Maman had been gone for four years, and though it was hard to believe, her role was now mine.
We were moving to Versailles at the end of the week, and much more would be expected of me there. If I wanted to earn a place as lady-in-waiting to a member of the royal family—perhaps even to the queen herself—I certainly needed to be able to handle something as simple as the management of my own household.
“My father’s desk can remain here,” I said to the footman. “He has another waiting for him at Versailles. The same can be said for the rest of the furniture in the study. But do empty his desk of all effects and pack them up.”
“Yes, Lady Cendrillon,” the footman said with a nod, turning sharply on his heels and heading over to Papa’s grand wooden desk.
Claudine smiled approvingly. “Very good, ma chérie. Now we need to discuss what furniture we’ll be taking from the bedrooms. Monsieur de Louvois has allotted us a budget to purchase new furniture, but only a few pieces, so we’ll have to be thoughtful about what we bring.”
Her words became muffled and hazy, as if I were eavesdropping on a conversation through a closed door. My chest tightened, making it nearly impossible to draw breath. How had it gotten so warm in this room? Sweat beaded on my skin. What if I couldn’t do this? Be the perfect lady that everyone expected me to be? Maman died before she could teach me about court life, and Papa’s distaste for it kept us away for so long that I never learned anything on my own. If I couldn’t handle the packing of the château, how could I handle impressing the king and queen, much less any suitors Papa might choose for me?
“Will you excuse me, Claudine?” I blurted out, the words strangled and nearly incomprehensible. “I need a moment to . . . refresh myself. I won’t take long.”
Without waiting for a reply, I hurried from the study, letting my feet carry me where they wished. And where they wished to go was outside the château, to the wide lawn leading to the lake. As soon as my feet hit the grass, I started running. I needed to see my friends. Just for a moment. Spending time with them always cheered me up.
Elodie’s mother had been our seamstress for many years, with Elodie taking over the position after her mother passed from the same illness that took Maman. And Marius came to us at a young age to be a stable boy after his parents could no longer care for him. We’d grown up together. They were the only constants in my life now that everything was changing.
They were still picking cherries.
“Marius, don’t wobble so much! You’re going to drop me,” Elodie said, balancing precariously on the palms of Marius’s hands.
“How am I not supposed to wobble? You’re heavy, and I’m no strongman.”
Elodie sighed loudly as she stretched into the tree, but she was still too short to reach the fruit nestled in the uppermost branches. She was my age, with round pink cheeks and a messy ponytail. Marius liked to tease her for her fondness of sweets, but Elodie paid no mind and declared she liked how she looked and would continue to eat as she pleased.
“You have to lift me higher!”
“I can’t lift you any higher,” Marius said, grunting with the strain of holding Elodie up.
“You’re not tall enough, Elodie,” I said, smirking as both Marius and Elodie startled at my voice. “Maybe you should let me try.”
“Cendrillon! What are you doing here?” Elodie asked as she awkwardly clambered down off Marius. “Claudine said you would be helping with the move today.” She blew her dark hair away from her pleasant, ruddy face. “She said we weren’t to bother you.”