“And we did not have to lift a finger!” Caitlyn reminded her.
“All thanks to Kes!” Claire exclaimed.
“Aye! Thank you, Kes,” the other girls added.
None of them knew she came from a time when people who did what they did were paid wages and had rights just like anyone else. Kes didn’t consider Claire or Cook or any of them as lower than she. She didn’t care that the king and future queen sat to her right and the castle’s head laundress and a handmaiden sat to her left. It was her and Nicholas’ celebration and everyone was where she wanted them.
His hand disappeared under the table. He rested it on her thigh. It seemed that touching her drew his attention away from King Henry and onto her. His lashes shadowed his deep silver eyes as his gaze rose to hers.
“I do not know how much longer I can stand to be away from you,” he leaned in and said against her cheekbone.
She knew he meant something more intimate with her. She loved that his desire for her was insatiable. She loved that she drove him mad. He drove her just as mad.
She turned her lips toward his ear. “I can’t wait to be in bed with you.”
“With me pulling on your hair and playing with you in my mouth,” he added on a low growl as he went for her neck.
Her thoughts were assaulted with images of them sweaty and coiled in each other’s arms.
She remembered where she was and opened her eyes. She coughed into her hand and looked at him—too embarrassed to look at anyone else.
He was no help, smiling at her, liking her reaction to him.
She wanted to pinch him, but any kind of contact could spark their passion.
This was no mistake. This was perfect.
“Scarborough,” said the king. “You barely heard me!”
“Forgive me, Sire. What were you saying?”
Henry laughed. Kes knew Henry understood what they were going through. The king could barely keep his eyes off Lizzie. History showed that he was a devoted husband and one of the few kings who never had a mistress.
“I’m going to repeal the Titulus Regius that declares Edward’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville invalid and thereby legitimize my wife.”
Nicholas didn’t smile. “What if the princes are found? They will be legitimized as well. Are you willing to give up the throne?”
Henry laughed and clapped him on the back. “We will worry about that if the time ever comes. Oui?”
Nicholas stiffened and turned to look at her. His gaze said everything. He was going to worry about it now.
She knew what his concerns were. There were a handful of historians willing to come out and say that Henry wouldn’t have taken the chance of legitimizing the heirs if he wasn’t sure the boys were gone. And there was only one way to be sure.
She sighed. Ah, well, nothing perfect lasted forever. She smiled to herself. That wasn’t true. Love was perfect and it lasted forever. It echoed through time and called to hearts that were lost.
Was one of those hearts Arthur Pendragon’s? And how many others would it bring together before it found its owner?
She might not ever know. It didn’t matter. She had a husband to see to and a king to watch more closely.
“Come, my darling,” she cooed on their way to the castle when the celebration was over. She held his strong arm and slipped her free hand to his temple and down his jaw. “Let me see to you.” She leaned up to kiss his neck.
He smiled into her hand, forgetting everything else as she ran her palm over his mouth, and then picked her up and carried her to their room.
“Do not worry, love,” he said. “I do not plan to live in the past with the princes…or the future, but in the present. With you. Here and now. And not waste a single day.”
She stared into his eyes and smiled as he shut the door to their chambers and bolted it.
October 13, 2019