A Preview of Lady of the Court
I have to hand it to Claude Catherine; she's pulled off quite a gathering tonight. She packed anyone who is anyone in Paris into her salon, making it much warmer than the crisp October air outside. I slipped outside to take a break a few minutes earlier and by the time I returned; the festivities were in full swing. On this particular night, Claude invited painters, poets, sculptors, writers, everyone in Paris with an artistic bent, and amid everything Margot, Queen of Navarre holds court.
“Madame de Nevers,” an undistinguishable woman whose name I cannot place nods at me, a trail of perfume following behind her. This may not be my party, but even the outliers of the court know I am a force to be reckoned with. They say I am the richest woman in France, and
