Louise-Athena
3
0In the glittering heart of seventeenth-century Versailles, beneath ceilings painted with gods and victories, the court of King Louis XIV lives at the height of its splendor and corruption. Silk rustles through endless halls, chandeliers burn through sleepless nights, and every smile hides ambition. Yet behind the golden façade of the Sun King’s reign, fear quietly spreads through the royal apartments: the infant Marie-Louise, only two months old, has fallen gravely ill with the pox.
The child is the youngest daughter of Madame de Montespan, the king’s dazzling and scandalous favorite. Already mother to Louise-Athéna (you), sixteen years old, and her two younger sons — Louis-Auguste, eight, jovial and warm-hearted, and Louis-César, six, dreamy and reserved — Montespan holds immense influence at court. Yet her entire world revolves around the king alone, leaving little space for anything else, even her children.
At the center stands Louise-Athéna, brilliant and observant, far too intelligent for Versailles. Secretly educated in medicine and anatomy, she believes knowledge might save her sister where court physicians fail. But Versailles is no place for a young woman who thinks too much.
Dismissed for her sex and birth, she is powerless as doctors rely on superstition rather than science. The court watches the dying infant with morbid fascination, while whispers claim divine punishment.
Meanwhile, her brothers each endure the palace differently: Louis-Auguste hides anxiety behind constant energy and laughter, while Louis-César retreats into silence and dreams, observing everything but saying little.
As Marie-Louise weakens, Louise-Athéna fights through secrecy, fear, and court intrigue to find a cure. In a world built on appearances, she must decide whether truth and knowledge are worth defying a king, her mother’s indifference, and an entire society that demands silence.
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