La Gitana

by Carol Ann

  “My Queen, we dare not anger the King.”

  “Oh, Carlos, he knows We have special tastes. He cannot make an heir so he understands We must have our pleasure.”

  Then she disrobed. Her body was long, slender, and angular like that of a young girl with pert little breasts, and she hardly had any peach fuzz in her private area.

  It looked like a split peach. An ivory kind of light emanated from her skin, and her lips were touched with a faint, glowing pinkness. She lay down beside me and instructed me to suck her hard, little nipples while she played with mine. Her breasts 100

  were like two hard little stones in my mouth with the light taste of salt. For as I say royalty did not bathe often.

  The next thing was harder for me for it was very mahrime. She turned me around and pushed my mouth down on her woman’s flower while doing the same with me. The smell was oppressive and the taste was like raw oysters. She kept pressing my head down tighter while thrusting up and back. I felt a pleasant warmth in my private area but it was nothing compared to what she was feeling. She groaned and screamed and nearly broke my jaw with her neediness. The arch of her back was like a broken bridge when she came. She drenched my face in moisture and I was glad when it was over. Her body was half in candlelight and half in darkness just as her soul was. When it was over, she held me and I saw love in her fierce almond eyes. And I loved her back, my own sodden pearl, my Queen.

  * * *

  Back in my chambers, I pondered my life. I could have been happy with Julio but fate had cast me a different life. I had been born loving men and now I loved a woman, equal in spirit in every way to me. The King was weak so she had to be strong. Fate had cast her in that mold. And she was good in heart for she loved the King as one would love a wayward child and she protected him from those more clever and vicious than he.

  She did not mock him or treat him as a fool. She shielded him from insults and court intrigue. She did not chide him because he could not produce and heir and attacked viciously those sly ones who made an issue of it.

  She often said that Spain was like a river and would go on and on no matter what.

  When the time came she assured them they would appoint a suitable heir, a man of 101

  strength and valor. She said, “We have a multitude to chose from so silence yourself or perceive your own funeral.”

  Marie Luisa was fiercely jealous and if I even looked at another woman she was vanquished to an outer region. I made the mistake of befriending Ana Lisa, one of the Queen’s ladies in waiting. Ana Lisa loved poetry and was an accomplished writer herself.

  She knew a great many artists and writers including the great and volatile, Caravaggio of Italy. We would sit and read for hours in silence with just the wind as sound. The other ladies in waiting knitted and made delicacies for the Queen’s table. They were lovely but had no minds. Only Ana Lisa was brilliant and a poet in her own right.

  One day the Queen stormed into our sitting room and threw a goblet of wine into a massive mirror shattering it to pieces.

  “Carmen, do you think Us a royal fool that We cannot see what is going on?

  Are her lips so sweet that you would risk your life and your position?

  “I have done nothing wrong, Marie Luisa. It is a simple friendship. Nothing has passed between us.”

  Ana Lisa burst into tears, and said, “I have done nothing wrong, Majesty. I am innocent.”

  “Innocent, you sly bitch. You seek to win Carmen’s love, and Carmen belongs to Us, and Us, alone. Carmen, have you tasted of her and is hers sweeter than Our own.

  More to your liking, you lying gypsy!”

  “Marie Luisa,” I said using her first name, “You are insane. We only read books together and talk. Nothing more. You are so wrong.”

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  “How can We be wrong when it is her scent We smell on you when we make love? Ana Lisa, do not pretend you did not know of my true relationship with Our gypsy? We shall not be betrayed day after day like some common fool. We will not execute you as your father is a statesman but We will send you to an outlying district in exile from court life that you love so much. You shall be sent away to Granada. Return to Seville and We will execute you! We have spoken.”

  “Marie, this is wrong,” I said. “This woman never touched me nor I her. Ours is a friendship of the mind.”

  “Do you say We do not have a mind. That We bore you. That We are ignorant?”

  “One cannot get everything from just one person, Marie.”

  “That is untrue. We give you all you need. Do you lack for dresses, jewels, books, art. We know you are intelligent and need stimulation, and We provide all this.

  And you throw it in Our face.”

  “Marie, you are wrong. I did not betray you, nor am I ungrateful. You showed me mercy when my own people cast me out. I would not be alive if not for you. You not only saved me: you saved my son as well. I love you, Marie.”

  “You love Us as a bitch in heat loves a dog. Your love is fleeting and situational.”

  “No, Marie. You are my soul. I love you as I loved my first man.”

  “She is exiled: your Queen has spoken.”

  With those words the Queen left the room swiftly and the guards came for Ana Lisa. I never saw her again, and I made few friends at court due to the Queen’s jealousy.

  My role was to entertain the Queen and advise the King in matters of state. Indirectly, I was advising Olivares too. I would see him in passing and my heart would skip a beat. I 103

  loved her yet still desired men too. I could not chart the pathways of my heart and still can’t though the worms gorge on me now and my eyes are stone.

  Although my life was good I wanted to be more than a play thing for Marie. I wanted to right some injustices I had seen. Namely, I kept seeing in my mind’s eyes those poor, sweet, befuddled faces of those many prisoners in her dungeon. I was thinking of those poor, unfortunate souls who might be innocent of any crime and I was sure they were numerous. I knew in my heart they had committed no crime. Nothing is more loathsome than to be imprisoned where one may not see the lovely, turquoise sky, the leaves sparkling in the sun, and the taste of s lover’s lips on one’s mouth. I knew Marie would never free them out of conscience: I would have to appeal to her self interest. I devised a plan and will recreate our conversation as near as memory affords. I approached my Queen with the following words.“Marie, you are a popular queen.”

  “Do you really think so, Carmen?”

  “Popular, yet not loved. Do you want to be loved by the Spanish people?”

  “Carmen, you know We are not popular. We are hated. We are French and Our uncle, King Louis, has declared war on Spain numerous times and won, and he still meddles in our domestic affairs. There’s no way the Spanish people will really accept Us.”

  “And if I told you there was a way?”

  “Well, miracles can happen. There’s the Resurrection and the Virgin birth, after all. I’m listening, Carmen.”

  “Show clemency to those poor, unfortunate souls in your dungeons.” 104

  “We will not! They are filth, criminals, miscreants and they so richly deserve their wretched fates!”

  “Marie, they are not all criminals. Some are unjustly accused. Some are merely debtors. Tell me, Marie, how a man might pay his debts if imprisoned? There is no way he can earn money and you won’t see a cent back. These men are not criminals, only unfortunates.”

  “They are there because they refused to pay their donativos (taxes). In so doing they sealed their fates. We must not appear to be weak and let these practices continue!”

  “They did not refuse: they could not pay. What about the hidalgos (nobles) who pay not a cent? You imprison only the poor who cannot pay. You give the hidalgos Mercedes (credit) that they may live like kings and get not a cent back from them. It’s disrespect at the highest level. Marie, you are not just.”

  “Carmen, you anger me.”

  “Marie please allow me to conti
nue, my Queen. What of the women who are accused of being witches. If they were witches don’t you think they could avoid capture or turn the prison walls into mist, and escape? People envy other people and scheme on ways to get their property. If witches existed and had true supernatural powers none could ever harm them. You have imprisoned many innocent people, Marie.”

  “We don’t give a damn: let them rot in hell. What have they to do with Us?”

  “That is where mercy comes in. The Spanish people will love you if you show pity on these wretches and I will be the one to do all the work in your name, of course.

  Never has a royal shown such love for the people. The criminals will stay imprisoned: the innocent will be set free. I can read the liars and the crooks: it is one of my gifts.

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  Marie, this is your chance to be remembered as a great queen, a Lover of her People, the Lamb of God.”

  “Carmen, will you cease talking and just do it. We give you full access to my prison, and you better not pardon wrongly, or it will be your head.”

  “All the more reason for me to be accurate in my assessments, my Queen. May I have one of Her Majesty’s splendid kisses just to seal the deal.”

  “I will also bow and kiss your ring, my Queen to show I am but your humble servant.” And I did so and Marie laughed and said she knew how hard it was for me to do that as I was so proud, and she said, “We so love you, Caballito.” After that I went to the dungeons often and each time I spoke I said, “You are receiving the mercy and benevolence of your sainted Queen, Marie Luisa. Tell it through the land. The French Queen cares for you. Let it be known wide and far.” The tales were too numerous and varied to recount yet I will recount a few. One man, Eduardo Monteivido, was accused of stealing his neighbor’s cattle. He was a dour, unpleasant man who even cursed me but I listened to his story anyway. It seems he was a rich man with a beautiful wife and his neighbor desired her, and his property, of course.

  So he launched a false complaint against Eduardo and got him arrested then proceeded to avail himself of all of Eduardo’s possessions including his wife. Because he was so unpleasant, none would stand to vouch for his good character, not even his wife and he was convicted. I found the situation was unjust as he said and freed him. No one should be imprisoned for being a mean, wretched soul. There were tears in his eyes the day he was set free.

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  Another woman, Emeline Cruz, was accused of being a witch because she could read and was teaching others to read. Her mistake was she taught literature not just tracts from the Bible and people accused her of heresy. She could not afford council and was too angry and proud to repudiate her own supposed guilt and to plead for her life. She stood before the court and said, “Though I am no witch, I curse you all with a pox and may your babies lie still in their cribs. I taught half of you to read, and this is how you repay me. I have as much congress with the devil as the pope with a whore. I am innocent. This court may go to fiery hell and burn forever.” These words I read from her manuscript. She had refused to beg for her life or confess sins she did not commit. People in fact were envious of her brilliance and success and it did not help that she was extremely beautiful and elegant and unmarried.

  She was a solitary soul and required no one to fulfill her life and this alone, was enough to cause suspicion and envy. I freed her right away under the aegis of Queen Marie Luisa, and this proud woman thanked me.

  The third example, which I most recall, was a voluptuous, green eyed, raven the haired beauty named Samuella, a woman who scorned the Queen’s advances. I freed this woman right away and never told Marie. I gave her clothing, and a generous stipend to get out of Seville.

  My final example was a women named Carmella, whose husband was imprisoned by Tomas de Torqemada, the Grand Inquisitor. It should be noted that anyone could be accused by anyone else and never know the accuser or the crime he was accused of.

  They just kept torturing the hapless person until he confessed to the right crime, and the church seized the person’s land and property there by making the man’s family destitute.

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  Her crime was stealing food to feed her family of six. Of course, she had no money for council and was convicted. This woman I freed and gave a position in palace employ securing a modest dwelling for her and her children. I did all these acts of mercy in the name of Marie Luisa yet this woman perceived who her true savior was. Yet, being politic, she did not express it in words. She thanked the Queen profusely.

  So numerous were those grateful souls that the Queen had to issue the following proclamation:

  “The Queen, Marie Luisa, welcome you back into your new lives with love and hope. She is aware of your gratitude. No act of contrition nor gratitude is necessary. Go forth and live well. God bless.”

  And this is how I paid Our Lord Majesty for my continued good fortune. For there is nothing so horrible as a prison. One can never see the white, puffed clouds dancing in the sky, nor the green luminescence of shimmering leaves, nor the feel of the warm sun on one’s face. Once can never feel the white hot passion of a lover’s embrace.

  This is all denied you.

  And in the worldly realm, I transformed Maria Luisa into the Beloved of the Spanish people. Halleluiah.

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  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Marie Luisa was a passionate Queen. Those she loved lived well. Those she despised were vanquished or worse. She had little conscience other than her own moods and passions but I often quelled her rashness. One she favored was the Duke of Osuna, a beautiful, handsome, and courtly man. He had much influence among the hidalgos or nobles. The Duke would have wine and fruit with us in the castle garden at dusk. The garden, I remember as if it were yesterday, the cool red wine so delightful to the tongue, the smell of roses and honeysuckle, the butterflies, orange and black, and best of all the fireflies, little glowing bits of amber in the approaching darkness.

  If Marie Luisa liked men, he would have been the one. Fortunately she did not and I was free to have my dreams of the Duke. For as much as I desired her I desired him.

  And the attraction was mutual. His fat wife with her bejeweled fingers did not intrigue him. He laughed and said to me in confidence one day when the Queen had momentarily left the garden, “I can make love to the folds of fat on my wife’s thighs without ever getting her with child, With you, Carmen, there would be none to spare. I’d have to do the deed.”

  “And would that be so abhorrent for you?” I replied.

  “No, my lady, I rather fancy the idea in my imagination.”

  I leaned forward so he could see the tops of my breasts and said, “Let me taste the wine on your lips, Duke.”

  He leaned forward and kissed me, and such a kiss I remember even in my grave.

  He licked the outside of my lips with his pointed tongue and then plunged it deeply into 109

  my mouth. He smelled of horse and earth, not the sweet, womanish smell of most high born men. His left hand cupped my breast while the other hand played with my nipple.

  “Stop, the Queen will execute you!”

  “I know, madam, but I love my Gypsy Queen.”

  “You call me a queen?”

  “You are a masterful queen and I could help you gain the trust of the nobility.

  You already have the ear of the royals. You have them in the palm of your hand.”

  “What makes you think I’m interested in power?”

  “One can never have too much power, Milady.”

  “Well, I could always be richer. Para ganar es para vivir. (To earn is to live). A gypsy saying.”

  “I am familiar with it. I also know you would never leave your people unless something went horribly wrong. Is it the boy?”

  “Yes, I was raped and became mahrime.”

  “Mahrime, I know what that means. You were cast out. Gypsy law. May I come to see the boy sometime? Is he handsome?”

  “No, es feo pero fuerte, (he’s ugly but strong).”

/>   “Fuerte es mejor que guapo, ( strong is better than handsome).”

  “You really think that, Duke?”

  “I am proof of that, madam.”

  “We’d have to meet outside castle grounds as my Queen is very jealous.”

  “I know your relationship to her and I also know you love men.”

  “How can you tell?”

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  “A certain scent you give off. The scent of desire. A look in your beautiful, dark eyes. I will send a carriage for you this midnight. We will stay in the outlying lands of my estate. You will bring the boy. Margarita must never know: she’d cut my balls off if she found out. It would not be good for her family would rescind its land given to me if I was caught.”

  “We both stand a lot to lose.”

  “It makes it all the sweeter, my love. Now tear off a piece of your undergarments that I may have something to remember you by on the way back.”

  “Do you think me a puta (whore)?”

  “I think of you as a great lady, an adventuress with a lust for life.”

  “You’re pretty sure of yourself, Duke.”

  “Yes, I am. The carriage will be here at midnight. Ride out a mile by the great oak tree. We must not be discovered. Don’t disappoint, my sweet.” And he kissed two of his fingers placing them on my lips and tore off a piece of my under skirt.

  “Give my regards to the Queen. I must deal with my tenant farmers as the rent has to be paid. Remember to bring the boy: I must see your progeny. Maybe I can find a post for him when he comes of age.”

  The Duke departed and Marie Luisa was furious.

  “The Duke did not even await my return. He assumes too much on Our friendship. People can easily fall from favor. It is not good to incur Our wrath.”

  “My Queen, a servant came with news of his wife’s dire illness and he had to leave immediately. He begs your indulgence.”

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  “Let him send a note of apology. Better yet, a gift might be in order. Some jewels might be most appropriate.”

  “Marie, I assure you he plans to do just that. Don’t torment yourself. The Duke loves Her Majesty, and his respect for you is beyond measure. Let us repair to the royal bed chamber that I may soothe my Queen. Besides, why trouble with the small things when there are matters of great importance to attend to.”