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.""Congratulations, Your Majesty.""Thank you," she said with a grin."You are next.I will ask the King today." She smiled to herself."I think this morning I could ask anything of him."She put down her dog and hopped out of bed before I could object to her plan.It little mattered.Her mind was not truly on me."You're coming with me, Sofi, to the Casa de Campo," she called from her velvet close stool."I am meeting the King there after Mass." She came to Us when she had finished, and held out her hands for Francesca to pour water over them."Francesca, you needn't go with Us this time.I am not having any of my other ladies.It is to be a private meeting."As exciting as an out-of-doors assignation must seem to a seventeen-year-old girl, I was surprised the King had agreed to one, with the Queen's tendency toward illness and his extreme caution with her health.Madrid in December is windy and frigid.Even indoors in the palace of El Alcazar, with room-sized tapestries covering the thick stone walls, braided rush mats on the floor, and braziers burning charcoal in every chamber, you could often see your breath."Is it not too cold outside for excursions?" I asked."You sound just like my old man of a husband," the Queen chided."What do you think furs are for?""To keep animals warm?"She swatted at me as I helped her to put on her morning robe."As for you, mon petit chou-chou," she said to Cher-Ami, who stood on his back legs and barked, "you can go with Us, too, if you are good."Soon after Mass and breakfast, we were huddled next to each other in a mule-drawn litter, the Queen wrapped in a lynx robe with Cher-Ami, and I in a robe of squirrel, as around Us the scarlet hangings shuddered in the bitter wind sweeping down from the Guadarramas.We jostled from side to side as we descended the road that wound its way from the cliff Upon which the palace was built to the gardens of the Casa de Campo in the valley below.I nestled my chin into the softness of the fur."You must be very glad for the King to be home.""Yes, it is good to have one's itch scratched." She opened her robe enough for Cher-Ami to pop out his head.Her flippant dismissal of the attentions of the most powerful man in the world discomfited me.She had not just his bed but his heart.Woe to her who broke it: as kind as the King seemed in his contentment, I feared that she had not yet fully tested his wrath.I wished to remind her of her good fortune."So it is as Don Alessandro said last spring, then--fulfillment is greater in love than desire."The smile fell from her face.In a moment's time, her expression changed from that of a teasing girl to that of a hollow-eyed woman."Do not speak to me of such."She said nothing after that, only sat stroking her little dog as we made the final descent to the Casa de Campo.I drew back a curtain.Ahead, the mules' black manes slapped against their thick brown necks as we passed Under a stone arch wound with bare and thorny rose canes.Past clipped juniper hedges we rode, by empty flowerbeds heaped over with dirt, Until we came at last to a collection of low brick buildings fronted by wrought-iron cages: the Royal Zoo.From the pointed top of the largest cage, a scarlet and gold Royal banner snapped straight out in the wind."There he is," I said.The Queen leaned forward to peer around me, a red-gloved finger to her lips.Ahead, the King stood talking with two African gentlemen wrapped in striped robes.The Queen sank back.The King turned around.When he saw the Queen, his face shed its usual coldly polite expression and lightened with a smile.The muleteer stopped our conveyance.The King stepped over to help Us down from our couch.He kissed the Queen."Now hide your eyes."The Queen pulled back her chin, brightening."What? A surprise for me?""Do as I say, my darling."She handed Cher-Ami, yapping, to me and covered her eyes, knocking the diamond dangling from her cap with the cuff of her red gloves.He led her by the crook of her arm to the closest iron cage."Now look."She put down her hands."Oh, Felipe! A lion.""A lioness," he said."Like you.""Oh!" she breathed."Will she have cubs?""You would think the woman would be happy just to have a lioness," he said to me with a contained smile."But My Lady, I have thought of that, too.I tried to ask that of the gentlemen who brought her here.Unfortunately, none of Us can Understand them, though apparently they are Upset.I believe they are worried about the animal catching a chill." He arranged the Queen's cloak around her chin."As I am about my lioness."She Used a childish voice."You will build her a pretty house, won't you? She does look cold
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