The Rose of Provence by Susanna Lehner

raised her eyes after a long while.
    She felt terribly bad that she has to conceal things from her
mistress, but she avoided lying as much as she could, and she
obviously could not tell the truth either: that she has been in
love with Morgan, the blood-sucker, for several millennia, who
besieged her since time immemorial, and who is also immortal just
like her, the witch. “Immortal”, she was savoring the word, and she
knew it well that it does not mean that they cannot be destroyed at
all.

Chapter 9
    Vengeance
    Louvre, Paris – 3 May 1543

    “ Milady, Doctor Nostradame would like to talk with you,” her
maid awkwardly stopped next to Diane.
    Princess Poitiers gave one last glance in the mirror, and
acknowledged the sight contently. The light rays of the morning sun
glittered on her maroon curls, and the rouge powder masked the dark
circles that the insomnia drew under her eyes. She has hardly slept
for days; terrible presentiment disturbed her thoughts, the reason of which she
did not understand. She rubbed some more rouge powder on her cheeks
and lips, and then said with a sigh:
    “ All right, I'll receive him. Show him in!”
    The doctor was approaching with soft steps, and then he
stopped next to the sofa. Before he bowed, he noticed that trouble
shaded the princess’ forehead.
    “ Excuse-me, Ma’am, for disturbing you at such an early hour,
but due to the issue at hand, I took the liberty of visiting you,
and it allows for no delay.”
    When he uttered these words, Amrita appeared again in front
of his mental eyes as she was lying in the arms of earl de la Roux
or d’Angerville or whatever was the name of that hellhound. He knew
that the girl could never be his, because apart from the fact that
her heart has already long been taken, according to all
indications, the wheel of time does not turn equally for the two of
them either. The glimmering hope at the time of seeing her again
was pushed into a dark, bottomless pit by the emergence of the
earl, and it also irrevocably confronted him with the fact that he
squandered his love to an unearthly creature.
    “ What’s wrong doctor? Your words and features frighten me,”
said Diane, and waved to the maid to leave them alone.
    “ I must inform you of two bad pieces of news; moreover, these
are in correlation.”
    “ Come on, Michel!
    “ First of all, you have to know that Princess Catherine is
pregnant for some days, and she will give birth to a boy within
nine months.”
    “ What?! But how could this be possible?” The noble lady’s face
grew pale at first just to burst into flames in the following
moment. “But that woman is infertile!”
    “ Not anymore…”
    “ Are you sure? How could anyone know about a pregnancy after a
few-days?!”
    “ Milady, maybe you have already heard that I have certain
abilities, which help me to see the future.”
    “ All right, let’s assume that you’re telling the truth.
According to these, a miracle has happened?”
    “ Yes, we can say that,” nodded Michel. “And we can also say
that someone made a miracle.”
    “ Please, Doctor, don’t speak in riddles! I’m at the end of my
patience,” whispered Diane with the calmness of a simmering
volcano.
    “ Well, here is when the other bad piece of news comes into the
picture,” continued Michel, exhilarated, because he knew that he
found his match for his plans with the woman. “A witch is living in
the court, near the crown prince and his wife. This wench helped
Catherine with black magic to get pregnant by her
husband.”
    “ Who is that?!”
    “ Amrita du Bois, the princess’ lady,” Michel uttered the name,
and it discouraged him that by mentioning the girl’s name, his
heart still sank.
    “ That little whore!” hissed Diane, and the feast came to her
mind where Henri glutted his eyes on the red-haired girl. “I should
have got rid of her when she first queered my pitch…”
    “ And this is still not the end of the story,” said the