She nodded quickly. I stood up and hurried to the refreshment table, bringing back a small glass of wine. Water would be better, but it was all they had. The duchesse didn’t seem to mind, eagerly taking a few sips before resting the glass on her lap with a sigh.
“Thank you, Lady Cendrillon. Walking too far tires me, especially in the heat. I appreciate you coming inside with me. I only hope no one noticed. The gossip about the sickly foreign duchesse would be never-ending.”
“Rest assured, I won’t tell anyone.”
She smiled weakly and continued sipping her wine. I hoped that Duchesse Maria was truly all right. She seemed kind, and her candor was refreshing in this place where no one ever truly spoke their mind.
“Have people been unkind to you here?” I asked tentatively, afraid of upsetting her with a question that was too personal. “Would you rather be home in Bavaria?”
“Gossip and rumors run rampant through the halls of any palace. Duchesses who are plain and sickly often bear the worst of it. People looked down their noses at me just as much in Bavaria as they do here, but Bavaria is still the only home I’ve ever known. So, yes, I would prefer to be home. But the choice isn’t mine. For my father, a potential political alliance is more important than what I want.”
I could understand the duchesse’s sadness over her lack of choices. While my situation was not the same as hers, I was still participating in the competition for reasons beyond my own desire. If Papa had still been alive, would he have tried to make me participate in the competition? I don’t think he would have forced me if I didn’t want to, not like the duchesse’s parents were doing to her. She must have been very lonely indeed.
“Ah well,” she said. “At least Louis seems amusing.”
“Do you think you could love him?” I asked. Many of the girls chosen to court the dauphin professed their ardor.
She looked at me with a shrewd smile. “Love does not factor in this kind of marriage. But he seems tolerable.” She sighed. “I wish that we could rest here longer, but we should be getting back to the tour, if you’re willing. I feel well enough to return, and the dauphin might be missing us.”
Even though we’d been inside the pavilion for close to fifteen minutes, the group was still standing in front of the bird enclosure, Prince Louis at the center of the crowd of ladies and looking quite pleased with all the attention.
“Perhaps we should escape back to the palace since the dauphin is distracted,” Duchesse Maria said with a little frown. “It is still terribly hot.”
How Diane saw us standing a ways down the path from her spot in the middle of the group next to the dauphin, I don’t know, but she did. And she made her discovery known, waving furiously at me and calling out, “Cendrillon! I was wondering where you were. Come and join us!”
All eyes landed on us, including Severine’s disappointed ones. There was no going back now. Pasting smiles on our faces, the duchesse and I made our way back to the group, lingering around the outskirts.
“Where were you?” Diane asked. “It was as if you two disappeared into thin air.”
“The sun is quite strong today,” I said quickly. “I needed a small rest, and Duchesse Maria was kind enough to accompany me into the pavilion.”
The dauphin smiled warmly and said, “I assume you’re feeling better, Lady Cendrillon?” He hardly glanced at Duchesse Maria.
“I am. Thank you, Monseigneur, for your concern. I just needed a little shade.”
Severine’s tone was nasty as she said, “You’ve missed quite a lot of the conversation while you were taking a rest.”
I glanced at the dauphin, but he was still smiling, seemingly unbothered by our disappearance. That was all that mattered, not Severine’s never-ending displeasure.
“Not too much, I hope.”
“Not much at all,” Prince Louis said. “Lady Paulette expressed discomfort with the attention we’re getting from all the courtiers, and I was explaining that the future dauphine must become accustomed to such attention. The life of a royal is carried out almost entirely in the public eye.”
Poor Paulette. Her cheeks flushed a bright red, and she refused to make eye contact with anyone, staring intently at the ground instead. Louis didn’t seem to realize how terrible he was making her feel, he was so wrapped up in the adoring attention of all the girls.
“There are some among you who haven’t spent much time at court, so I was explaining some of the royal family’s daily rituals,” he said. “The lever, the waking-up ceremony, and the coucher, the going-to-bed ceremony, are held every day, as are public suppers in front of courtiers and commoners visiting the palace. There are other ceremonies as well, but this isn’t the proper venue for such a discussion,” he said with a lascivious wink.
I ignored it. “Do you ever tire of the attention?” I asked. “All the eyes on you constantly? It sounds taxing to never have a private moment.”
The dauphin looked at me like I was a silly child who’d asked a question that should have been obvious.
“I spend some time alone in the afternoon and evenings. But it is the duty of the king, and consequently, his wife and children, to remain visible and accessible to his people. And why shouldn’t I want my subjects to see me? When their king isn’t present, the people start to become rebellious. We can’t have that, now, can we?”
I smiled and nodded, keeping my disquiet to myself as the conversation moved on. A life lived so publicly sounded horrid. There would be no running off to the stables for a quiet place to read if I became the dauphine.
And I would be married to a man who wouldn’t understand my unease, one who actively courted and reveled in the attention. He would never understand my desire for peace and quiet. I wasn’t even sure he would want to try.
Auguste understood me in a way I wasn’t sure Louis ever would. I didn’t want to become just another animal in the Menagerie besieged by ever-judging, always-watching, demanding eyes.
“Lady Cendrillon, will you walk with me?” the dauphin asked, wading through the crowd of girls to offer me his arm. “I wanted to show you the tigers. Marvelous creatures. Absolutely marvelous.”
I smiled and gazed up at him from underneath my lashes, because it didn’t matter what I wanted. “I would be overjoyed to see the tigers with you, Your Highness.”
“Wonderful!” The dauphin tucked my arm against his chest. “My undivided attention is now yours alone. We’ll be back shortly, mesdemoiselles,” he threw a glance over his shoulder at the group of disappointed young ladies as we set off down the path together.
I walked with Louis, and my heart sank as I realized Auguste couldn’t factor into my plans for the future. Only the dauphin. Even if I wasn’t entirely happy, a life with him as dauphine would be leagues ahead of the drudgery I would face with my stepmother. If only there was a way that Auguste could ask for my hand, but he was illegitimate. He had no name, no title, and no future. He could not save me, especially while I was in a race for his brother’s hand. I had to become the next dauphine to save myself and my friends, whom I loved. I had to take care of the three of us.