A Queen Redestined

Chapter 11

The group herded Marie off to the grounds when they heard she hadn’t seen much more than the interior of the east wing.

”Oh, Marimiers is such a vast and wondrous place,” one of the noble boys said. Lucien, Marie thought, hopefully she was right and had remembered all their names. It was a group of twelve, so introductions had been a bit overwhelming. ”You need to see all of the things it has to offer!”

”Spoken like a new boy,” one of the others jibed, although not unkindly. ”Lucien is new to the court as well, my lady, he tends to gush some. He’s only been here a year, he was summoned to his father’s side when he turned fifteen, you know.”

”Is that common?” Marie wanted to know. ”Did many of you come here from your family homes when you turned fifteen?”

”Yes, my lady. Some of us were born here, some of us came to join our parents as heirs to their position at court. You can see how many nobles there are here, it’s a never-ending fight to remain at the top. If you don’t already have a representative of your family at court, you can forget about having any of your petitions to the king heard.”

Honestly the nobles’ position at Marimiers was starting to sound like both a blessing and a hostage situation. Marie wondered if that was why Piers Vifort was here, solely to represent the Vifort family, and if that was why he had fought with her father so many years ago.

Maybe she had been lucky in a sense, to have only come here when she was eighteen, not the moment she became fifteen. On the other hand, if she had been one of these other noble younglings, she would have come here to family.

And right now, she was effectively alone.

She sighed and decided to leave that thought behind. There was so much she was being introduced to today, it was best that she keep alert and on her toes.

They brought her to the main gardens right behind the central wing first, a place Marie already had glimpsed through the west facing windows of her rooms. 

Rows upon rows of carefully manicured low hedges spread for hundreds of metres around them. Closest to the palace were lawns where the nobles could sit for picnics, or simply stroll through, admiring the flowers and vines that grew on little pavillions and gazebos dotted around the place. Three fountains stood in a line from the main path, each one grander and taller than the last, so one could see the overarching sculpture they formed, water spouting to form a complete artwork if one stood in the right place. Then came the flower gardens, where the plants were allowed to grow a little more lush and wild, before the garden split into two routes- one towards a large enclosure where they could ride horses, and the other towards the other residences on the palace grounds, as well as the royal menageries.

”The king has some minor residences on the other side of Marimiers,” one of the other girls, Jean, informed her. ”Those are exclusive- you’re very fortunate if you have been invited to a private dinner there.”

”Fortunate- or the king’s w***e,” another girl snickered, only to yelp at a fan smacking her loudly on her hand. ”What! It’s an open secret, Lady Marie will know of his mistresses at some point!”

”You shouldn’t horrify Lady Marie on her first day at court,” Lucien said, frowning at her, and Marie shook her head at how very high-spirited this bunch of noblelings seemed. 

Anyway, she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that men of high-ranking had mistresses. Her father was very dedicated to her mother, but she knew noblemen outside of the Southlands weren’t generally that devoted. They rarely married for love anyway, she supposed she could understand it, even if she didn’t condone it.

They took her past the miniature palaces and residences, pointing out where some lower-ranking nobles lived, and which cottages housed servants who didn’t have duties directly in the palace. 

Marie had to wonder at the very strict hierarchy of this place, which determined things right down to where one could sleep, even if they had made it to the all-powerful palace. 

Finally they reached the menageries, and it was to Marie’s utter shock that there was an enormous man-made lagoon, right in front of the menageries.

”Isn’t it lovely,” Jean observed blithely. ”It’s spring now, but when it was frozen over in winter, we all had such a lovely time skating here! And when it gets warm enough, we like to come here to swim and boat.”

Lovely, perhaps, and also very extravagant, Marie thought. All the water that had to be pumped to this place! Not to mention the upkeep- she imagined there were servants all year round whose job it was solely to see to it that this lagoon was kept free of debris and clean enough for these spoilt nobles to play and swim in.

She could not help thinking of the taxes that her family sent here every year, of her mother endlessly fretting over bills and money to feed the entire castle in leaner years. 

And yet all this extravagant waste was going on here. 

Elizaveta must have seen the consternation on her face, because she tapped Marie discreetly on her arm, and Marie hastened to smooth the horror away from her face. 

”We must come swimming soon,” Lucien said. ”But it’s boring now, let’s go to the menagerie! Do you like peacocks perhaps? The king had a whole flock brought over some years ago, and he gifts some of their fallen feathers from time to time. They make the most lovely accessories.”

Marie wanted very much to scoff at how very meaningless that seemed to her, but her emotionless mask still very firmly in place, she allowed the party to drag her into the menageries to see all the exotic animals that King Gustaf had had brought into the palace at various points, from their nearest neighbours to the furthest lands Marie had ever heard of.