Lilies And Lies

Synopsis

Clara Linwood, my old friend from home, may have come from humble beginnings, but she prided herself on being above flattery and swore she would never seek His Majesty's favor. When her lady's maid stole her jewels and sold them behind her back, I had the girl whipped and turned out. Clara sighed and said I had cut off the poor creature's bread and that I had shown myself to be small and cruel. On the night she was summoned to the king's chamber, I barred the door against a brazen favorite who meant to steal her place. Clara only murmured that one must learn to yield, that no woman should seek to keep the king's grace all to herself. When she fell ill with a winter fever, I rode to the royal physicians and forced from them the draught that saved her life. She later told me that life and death were beyond our command, and I had no right to press learned men into service. When I stood up for her against the matron who punished her for hours over some imagined slight, she just said the old woman's discipline was for our own good. When she was raised in rank and accused of plotting against the royal heir, I moved heaven and earth to clear her name. Yet before the king himself, she claimed every scheme had been mine alone, done without her knowledge. In the end, she rose as the realm's most virtuous royal consort, while I was branded a wicked temptress and beaten to death. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the day she was shortchanged her monthly allowance.