Book: The mistress of the king

Isabella approached me stiffly, but courteously - with such icy politeness that one of her eyes could freeze the Thames in August. And wounded as with sharp edges of ice floes.

I was charged and tried in a closed world of women, in our chicken coop that fed a ruthless gossip. <...> Women does not allow them, locked in the greenhouse room, where they grow all sorts of gossip and rumors, to endure my sins without having to not to be sarcastic, not to stab, not to sniff.

To carry such a burden is unthinkable. The love of the king. Respect the Queen. And reproach from those who penetrated or will penetrate the mystery.

Before me stood a proud warrior, his entire life spent in battles, but still needing comfort. And he'd ask, he to the grave to carry on their shoulders the burden of the Royal dignity, even though it dooms him to immense loneliness.

Years is a cruel thing. They take our health, friends, hope, and nothing to return the hedgehog can not.

How to keep so many secrets? For this you need to have the agility of a juggler who throws into the air one after another a variety of items, but none drops. Or talent of a skilled weaver, who weaves in a whole lot of threads of different colors and shades.

If the woman had to spend her young years, not having a penny to my name, how can she miss the opportunity to make up for it, especially the opportunity she goes to her hands?

- I was afraid of the future, the Emperor, for there is nothing reliable, nothing permanent. I fear life is changeable without friends and family without their home. A life where I don't matter, have no name, no position. Don't want to depend on someone else's pity and good will. <...>
- It was in my life a time when my future hung in the balance, when I didn't know who is friend and who is foe, and the Royal power was under threat. And I know what it's like to get up in the morning, not knowing what destiny awaits you today, good or evil.

I was thinking about the mood of the lion and about his own past. And me imprisoned, kept in a cage. We both depended on someone's whim. But I miraculously escaped from prison, and this lion of a miracle is not expected. Until the death of the unfortunate animal will remain a prisoner.

They were bored? Beyond! I had hoped that none of the ladies never had to stick your nosy nose in my notes and what I do. But in myself these records has prompted so many memories! I read these artless lines at a time when all around me there was turmoil, when my life was in danger. On these pages, a big, bold leaded letters, like a flock of rooks in the snow, and in a few words described my whole life the year when we finally decided my fate.

For ladies, the flirting was in itself high art. I he was never able to learn, being blunt by nature. I too clearly saw the shortcomings of those whom I knew, were too rational to pretend and portray what actually was not. If you consider it a sin - that I was a sinner. Well I did not know how to feign interest or affection, if not felt anything like it.

No way could I get used to the fact that a beautiful dress with fur trim able to give a woman so much confidence.

- What gives a woman power? I mean, the power to choose his own way in life. <...>
- If you weren't born in a noble family, you need beauty. But with your looks you won't be able to move. There's only one thing - knowledge.

You have to have the mental strength to persistently go to his purpose, not paying attention to how many enemies you'll make along the way. It is not easy.