Page 79 of Six Wild Crowns

The cooks have outdone themselves, and Henry is attentive. He feeds Boleyn oysters dripping with seawater, then offers her a dish made of chickpeas cooked in spices.

“I’m perfectly capable of holding my own spoon, you know,” she says at last.

He rests his forehead against hers, intimate. “I wanted to make sure you ate these dishes.”

“Why?”

“They’ll make it more fun tonight when we try for a prince.”

He nuzzles into Boleyn’s neck, but she can only stare down at her chickpeas. Eventually, Henry claps and cries, “Bring in the dessert!”

Four servants enter, carrying a tray bearing a cascade of spiced fruit cakes, decorated with sugared nuts, marchpane roses and candied columbines that twine around the cakes.

“Do you like it, my love?” he whispers into Boleyn’s ear. His hand is on her thigh. He squeezes.

Boleyn takes a slice and declares it the best she’s ever had. Before she can finish it, Henry laughs. “My darling wife is still eating for two!” The rest of the table titters. She puts down her spoon.

“Shall we go for a stroll, just the two of us?” Henry says.

He is all courtly gallant, tucking her arm into his, making sure she’s not too cold as they walk through the banqueting hall. Boleyn stares straight ahead as they pass Wyatt and go out into the night.

“Are you happy?” Henry asks her as they wander through the herb gardens.

“I am. I am the most happy I’ve ever been,” she lies.

“That’s all I want.”

He takes Boleyn in his arms then, kisses her and lifts her up, carrying her into the shadows of the hedge. Pinned against the foliage, Boleyn can just glimpse the Tower from this angle. She buries her face into Henry’s chest. She is safe. She is safe with him. She is different from the other queens – he will not treat her the way he treats them.

“Boleyn? What’s wrong?” he says.

“Nothing. I’m only… I’m only sad that we cannot spend more time together.”

He tilts her head up.

“You know that everything I do, I do to protect Elben.”

She searches his expression in silence, sure that if she looks hard enough, she will uncover whether he knows that he is lying, or whether he has been duped too.

“You were the one who wanted me to go to war,” he says.

“I know.”

“Thawodest will fall to us soon. The power of the bordweal is so strong in me.”

Is it?she thinks.Or is it strong in me? In Seymour? Which queen’s power are you taking to make yourself so magnificent?

“When you conquer Thawodest – what will you do then?” she asks.

“Nothing without consulting that ferocious mind of yours, my darling.” He smiles, his hand stroking the top of her bosom. He digs out one of her breasts and takes the nipple in his mouth. Branches scrape against her neck. She used to crave this – Henry knows just how to bite her nipples to arouse her. But now her breasts respond to his touch differently. Mixed with the familiar arousal is the deep push of milk. She twists away from him before he can taste what is meant for Elizabeth. She worries that she is being prudish, which she has never been before, must not be now.

“What if I asked you to stay with me?” she asks him.

“I want that, Boleyn. You know I do.”

She tries to be coquettish. “Why do I sense abut, husband?”

He rubs her nose with his. “Butthe bordweal needs me to be a good husband to all my queens.”

---