[He wonders, absently, if she'll realise that this is what he's attempting now? Using her as a point of connection to the world, someone from whom to gather information and influence.

That is how politics works, how men and women rise through the ranks at court in order for the chance to stand before him, to gain what advantage they could before they mis-stepped and were replaced. Though he is king in Versailles, though he nominally holds the unshakeable position at the top of that ladder, he would be powerless if he were not the master of that game. Mis-steps have never been an option for him before.]

Whom should I befriend? I might equally value the friendship of the stableboy and the Empress, but one might advantage me more than the other.