The Rose of Provence by Susanna Lehner Read Free Book Online Page A

already waiting for him in full flush. Her royal blue, silk
dress was decorated with snow-white frills made of Brussels lace
according to the latest fashion; a sapphire necklace rested on her
chest. Her pinned-up hair arranged in playful curls was ornate with
a tiara suiting the necklace. Her earrings, bracelet and the
gemstone of her gold rings were made of the same precious stone.
Rouge powder breathed color to her pale cheeks and lips; the arc of
her colorless eyebrows was highlighted by a coal pencil. With the
rose water, she got from Amrita, she perfumed not only her hair and
décolletage, but she also dispersed a few drops in the air of the
room.
    When Michel entered, the sweet fragrance of rose immediately
crawled into his nose, and because his senses identified this smell
with Amrita back in Arles, the girl appeared in front of his mental
eyes before he would have noticed her in the shadowy end of the
room. First, he greeted the princess, and then he waved towards
Amrita with his head.
    “ Dear doctor, sit down here on the sofa, I would like to
interrogate you thoroughly!” Catherine chattered as if she had
changed since the hope arose that she was pregnant. “Some say you
see the future, is it true?”
    “ I don’t deny it; I’m able to foresee certain events,” Michel
nodded slowly. “But whether it is a blessing or a curse, I myself
haven’t decided yet.”
    “ Amrita says I’m in a delicate condition,” the princess cast
her eyes down. “Certainly you know how long I’ve been waiting for
motherhood, so you have to understand my curiosity: is it true that
a child was conceived?”
    But Nostradame, deep in his thoughts, glanced at Amrita
first. The girl felt increasingly awkward in the man’s company
anyway, but practically shivered by seeing this investigative look.
Michel’s penetrating glance wandered to the princess, then after a
seemingly endless moment, the doctor said:
    “ Your lady is right. At the beginning of the next year, in the
month of January, you are going to give birth to a boy. He will be
named after his grandfather and his deceased uncle.”
    “ Oh, and it’s a boy! Francois… But this is wonderful!”
Catherine was clapping her hands jubilantly. “And will he be the
king someday?”
    “ Yes. But he is not going to be your only child, and not the
only one who will come to the throne.”
    “ What?” The princess asked eagerly.
    “ In the following thirteen years, you will present your
husband with ten children, and three of them are going to be
crowned.”
    “ Oh my God! This is wonderful and unbelievable at the same
time! Ten children after ten years of infertility! And three
kings!” Catherine sprang up excitedly and ran to Amrita. “Thank
you! So the potion you gave me really has magic power!”
    Amrita's and the Doctor's eyes met. She was not glad at all
that the princess blurted out the secret in front of Michel, who
eyed her suspiciously. Meanwhile, in the man’s mind, troubled
thoughts were in a whirl: he was increasingly sure that Amrita is a
witch. That is why he did not see their common future back in
Arles, or anything in connection with her future: he could glance
only at the path of mortals’ fate. And obviously that is why the
years have passed over her without a sign. Compared to this
recognition, it was nothing he saw about the princess’ sons coming
to the throne: Catherine has no room for happiness because her
successors will not sit on thrones of various countries but on the
same French throne: they are going to reign after each other
because they will have a short life. He was watching the princess’
face irradiated with happiness, and he rather kept this knowledge
to himself.
    “ First of all, the road leading to the throne opens to your
husband, the Orleans prince,” he said the pleasant news
instead.
    “ When?”
    “ Exactly on his twenty-eighth birthday.”
    “ So it’s only four years, and I’ll be queen… Then, I will have
more say,