Page 55 of Heart of Snow
Chapter 25
Margaretha
Coudenberg Palace was even moreimposing from the inner courtyard than it had appeared when we’d first spotted it, perched like a giant vulture atop a massive sloping park. My neck ached just trying to see all the way to the top of theAula Magna—the great hall where Elizabeth had spent her time dining at banquets and dancing with courtiers. There were other places I recognized from Elizabeth’s letters: the Senne River snaking through the heart of the walled city; theWarande,with its wooded leisure paths and free-roaming deer; the gallery Queen Mary had been building during Elizabeth’s service, now complete and filled with statues of regal men I was too ignorant to name.
“How will we find our way to breakfast in that pompous hut?” Ilsa eyed the polygonal towers flanking the Aula Magna, massaging her backside with both hands. Her loose tongue would take some getting used to after years of Belinda’s careful composure.
“It will feel like home soon enough,” I said, but didn’t believe it myself. Home was days away, in the heart of the lush green forests and familiar little shops. It was with Father and Belinda. And Friedrich.
I shut my eyes against the thought, hoping to close out the memory of Friedrich as I closed out the vibrant courtyard. I would not allow myself to think of him again.
Dismounting, I forced my attention on the courtyard, abuzz with the rough voices of men and the clattering of hooves and coach wheels bumping over cobblestone. Above the din, a sharp, staccato jingle sounded as a tall woman with sunken cheeks and sharp ears walked straight toward me. Tied to the girdle beltround her waist was a large silver ring bearing an impressive array of keys.
The woman clipped to a stop in front of me. “Comtess de Waldeck?”
“Yes.”
“Très bon. I am Dame de la Thamise et la Thieuloye, mistress of thefilles d’honneur. I am to introduce you to the queen. You and your maid follow me; your menservants can follow my husband to deposit your things.” She indicated a man standing beside an arch-covered walkway, then glanced at my small retinue of servants and horses and raised an eyebrow. “Is this all?”
I nodded.
“Hmm.” Dame Thieuloye turned on her heel and walked away without waiting to see if I followed.
Ilsa and I looked at each other, then quickly fell in line behind her, with me translating for Ilsa everything Thieuloye had said. The woman moved expertly through the bustle, pausing to avoid a pile of collapsing trunks or quickening her pace to cross ahead of an oncoming coach, all while keeping her sights straight ahead. We bungled along behind but managed to keep pace with her all the way to the entrance of the Aula Magna. Two separate staircases faced opposite each other, each leading to the large arched doorway adorned with high spikes in a dated architectural style that reminded me of my home, though on a much grander scale.
Thieuloye led us up the stairs and through the arch before opening a door to let us into the largest room I’d ever seen. The ceilings soared like a cathedral’s. Windows slashed the walls, stretching up to reach impossible heights and lighting the checkered tile floor with slices of hot sun. Peppered between the windows were no fewer than ten man-sized fireplaces, thechimneys of which I’d seen peeking out amongst the many spires of the impressive great hall.
“This is the Aula Magna.” Thieuloye leaned against the open door. “Here is where you will eat your meals when you are not attending to the queen regent. During festivals and banquets, you will sit with her on the dais.” She pointed to the high tables on the platform, then waved us toward her. “We haven’t time to dawdle.”
We stepped into the bright courtyard again, trailing after Thieuloye’s quick steps back to the building bottomed with the open corridor of arches. She ducked into the shade of the arched walkway, her jangling keys echoing against the stony walls as she kept a swift pace down the arcade. “Behind and to your left is the passageway for the chapel. This first floor is where you will bathe and relieve yourself. We use latrines here,notchamber pots. Do not mistake the ornamental vases in your room as such.”
Ilsa snickered when I explained it all in German.
At the end of the arcade, Thieuloye passed through a narrow doorway at the base of a turret. We followed her up a circular set of stairs to the second floor and down another long corridor lined with doors. I hardly had time to admire the opulent tapestries or the rugs lining the floors before she stepped inside a room to her right, sunlight streaming into the hall as she held the door for us to enter.
The room was beautiful, paneled in deep ebony and draped with alternating crimson and gold curtains, but nothing was so fine as the view from the two large windows on the opposite wall. An empty jade lawn sloped down into the great park of the Warande, which was scattered with ponds and crisscrossed with lush hedge mazes. In the distance, buried between houses and roofs, the Senne was almost invisible, save for one or two glints of sunlight winking from its smooth surface.
“That is where you will sleep.” Dame Thieuloye called my attention from the windows and toward one of many modest, velvet-covered beds. “And when your trunks arrive, what clothes you have will be kept in here.” She opened a narrow press door. “Most of your clothing will be provided to you by the queen. She will expect your appearance to be above reproach, as when you are part of her retinue, you represent the majesty of the empire.”
I nodded. “I am most eager to please the qu—”
“We have strict rules of decorum here, and I expect you to keep them,” Thieuloye continued. “You will arise at dawn for breakfast in these quarters. Once you are dressed, you will attend morning mass, after which you will either be at the queen’s disposal—accompanying her on matters of state—or using your unoccupied time for education and study. Your tutors and lessons are gifts from the queen. Do not squander them.”
“No, mistress,” I answered.
“Dinner is served midmorning, and then, weather and obligations permitting, the queen will take the court hunting. You have brought your own horse and page for the hunt?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. After seven o’clock supper, you will be allowed a few hours in the evenings for socializing with your fellow noblemen and women. You will not pair off. You will not separate yourselves from the group. You will not leave the room.” She gave me a direct and lengthy stare despite my eager nod.
“At nine, you will return here with the other ladies and prepare for bed. During this time, all rooms, alcoves, and hidden corners will be subjected to a thorough search. Anyone found outside this room will be dismissed from the queen’s service and sent home. At ten, this door is locked, and I am the only one with the key.” She patted the bulk of metal at her side just as my father’s servants waddled into the room bearing my trunks.
“Set them here,” Thieuloye ordered the men, then turned to me. “You have a few minutes to change your clothing and prepare yourself after your journey before I take you to meet the queen.”
We stood in awkward silence while the men finished depositing the trunks. When they left the room, I expected Thieuloye to follow, allowing me privacy to dress, but she stood just as she was, eying me without embarrassment.
I took a deep breath. “Ilsa, my things.”
