She shot me a pointed glance. ‘Don’t be obtuse, Bruno.’ When I continued to look blank, she sighed and drew me over to a far corner of the archway where the guards on the gate could not hear. ‘A woman who cannot conceive a child with her husband might be tempted to try a little subterfuge. When that woman is the Queen of France and any child of hers the heir, it is essential that there be no hint of any such tricks. Do you see?’
I recalled the gossiping woman at the ball who had said she would bed the nearest courtier if she were the Queen.
‘So Catherine sends members of her Flying Squadron to police the Queen’s fidelity?’
‘Ironic, isn’t it?’ Gabrielle gave me a tired grin.
‘Is that why Léonie de Châtillon was sent to the Queen’s household?’
She glanced away. ‘I presume so.’
‘But wasn’t the Queen jealous? If it was known that Léonie was Henri’s mistress, I mean? Surely that would be adding insult to injury.’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t suppose Catherine would care about that. Louise must have learned to live with it by now. She would tear herself apart if not. Why are you so interested in the Queen suddenly?’
‘She called me in to see her just now.’
‘Really?’ Her eyes glittered in the torchlight. ‘What did she say?’
‘She asked after the King.’
‘Nothing else? She seems to have excited your curiosity.’
‘She strikes me as a very unhappy woman.’ I paused to breathe on my fingers and rub my hands. ‘And with good reason.’
Gabrielle held my arm and leaned closer, so that I could feel the heat of her breath on my ear. ‘I will tell you this in confidence, and you must promise not to repeat it. I have often wondered if Catherine keeps her drugged.’
‘How?’
‘She has Ruggieri concoct philtres that are supposed to encourage conception and Louise is made to drink them with the promise that the King will come to her that night. My guess is they are no more than sleeping draughts. She always seems a little – how can I put it? – slow. Dazed. Her eyes don’t focus. I noted it when I served her and I have heard the same from other girls. Didn’t you notice? I think they keep her subdued so she won’t protest or assert herself.’ She grimaced. ‘I would not be her, poor bitch, for all the jewels in the Louvre and the Tuileries combined.’
I nodded, thinking again of the women at the ball and the one who had said she would drink poison if she were the Queen. How simple it would be to slip something deadly into one of those philtres. But it seemed to me that Queen Louise had grown wise to the tricks used against her.
Gabrielle slipped her arms around my waist and pressed herself against my side.
‘Such a cold night, Bruno. No one should sleep alone on a night like this. Let me come home with you and keep you warm.’
I smiled, and prised her away. ‘I have a lot of work to do.’
Reluctantly, she released me and bent her head towards mine again, her hand pressed to my chest, lips against my ear. ‘I recall you always used to say that, until the night you didn’t.’ She smiled. ‘Well, if you change your mind, there’s a little gate in the back wall that leads into the gardens. The man who guards it at night is called Rémy. He’s very obliging. He would bring you to me, if you made it worth his while.’
I shook my head. ‘Thank you, but when I get into bed tonight, I intend to sleep like a dead man.’ As soon as the words were out of my mouth, suspended in the frozen air, I wished them unsaid.
‘You might get your wish,’ she said, mock-stern, plucking at the buttons of my doublet. ‘You don’t even have a coat. You’ll freeze to death.’
‘I gave it to the King. He had more need of it at the time.’
‘Well, you won’t see that again. Here, take my cloak. I have another. You can return it when Catherine sends for you again. Which I’m sure she will, now that you have succeeded in drawing Henri out of his despair.’ She shrugged off her fur-lined cape and swung it over my shoulders. ‘There. Now it will be as if I am wrapped around you all night. Perhaps soon I won’t have to imagine that.’ She wriggled closer and kissed me on the mouth. I closed my eyes and briefly considered taking her up on her offer, before reminding myself sternly that she was almost certainly reporting on me to Catherine. Besides, there was a small chance Sophia might come looking for me. I allowed myself to wonder for a moment how she would react to finding Gabrielle in my room, before answering my own question: she would simply turn around and walk away. She was not the sort of woman whose interest would be piqued by competition. I eased Gabrielle off me, thanked her for the cloak and stepped out into the falling snow. I did not look back, but I knew she was watching my steps as I walked down the street towards the river.
TWENTY-FOUR
I lowered my head and pressed forward into the falling snow as I made my way along the Right Bank. Above me the sky sagged with layers of grey cloud like wet wool; the snow had begun to settle already, smoothing over the ruts in the frozen mud underfoot. I was glad of Gabrielle’s cloak, though it was a strange sensation to pull the fur hood close around my face and catch the scent of her perfume, oddly familiar. Once or twice instinct caused my skin to prickle and I ducked into the shelter of buildings, convinced that someone was following me, but the snow had muffled all sounds and reduced my vision to a few yards in either direction. If
