His Secret Slave to Scandalous Queen

"Your Majesty?" Richard called.

Henry stopped just beyond the balcony doors. "I am always worried, Richard," He looked over his shoulder then, a man tired of waiting for the next blow. "I have to be always worried."

Richard followed him into the chamber and looked towards the door where Stephen had disappeared.

Then he gave a small nod.

"I shall leave you be then."

"When will I hear back from you?" Henry asked.

Richard paused. He had already half-turned towards the chamber door, his intention clearly to leave before the conversation became any more uncomfortable than it already was. He looked back. "Your Majesty, I do not know what you want me to say."

"The truth would be refreshing."

"You may regret asking for it."

Henry folded his arms.

Richard exhaled slowly. "These past months, with everything you have done, I think we can both agree that you have a sinister side to you. One I did not know existed,"

"Who does not, Richard? No one is truly a saint."

"There is having darkness, and then there is—you."

Richard had seen sides of him these past months that Henry himself had preferred not to examine too closely. He had threatened. Held him to agreements he did not want. Used the Crown to corner Richard into marriage.

Sinister was not an entirely unfair word.

"But—" Richard began.

The chamber door opened. Both men turned. Stephen entered first, leading one of the Archbishop’s household servants behind him. The man bowed deeply the moment he crossed the threshold.

"Your Majesty. Your Grace."

"Speak," Henry said.

"The Archbishop sends word regarding the progress of Lady Livia Valenti’s stay at the Abbey. He advises," the man continued carefully, "that the royal wedding be postponed until more is learned concerning Lady Livia’s origins and circumstances."

Silence fell so completely that the faint crackle from the hearth suddenly seemed offensively loud.

Henry’s face went dead. Richard had known him long enough to remember that Henry’s most dangerous moments were often the ones in which he stopped showing anything at all. This expression meant the king had already moved beyond feeling and into decisions.

Stephen recognised it too. He did not wait to be told. The moment Henry looked towards him, Stephen was already moving towards the wardrobe press to retrieve the king’s outer garments.

Richard turned back to Henry. "The Archbishop knows she is sponsored by our house, does he not?"

Stephen answered without stopping. "Yes, Your Grace."

"My father supplied everything required?"

"To my knowledge, yes." Stephen pulled out Henry’s doublet and began laying out the rest of his clothing.

Richard was suddenly irritated. Geoffrey Langford did nothing by half. If his father had taken responsibility for Livia’s sponsorship, he would have provided documents, financial assurances and household guarantees.

The idea that the Church now wanted "more" irritated Richard on principle.

"What exactly is missing?" he asked.

The messenger hesitated.

Richard looked at him. "You may answer."

"The Archbishop has concerns about the lack of established family history, Your Grace. Her origins are unclear. There are also..." The messenger faltered. "Rumours." he swallowed. "Concerning witchcraft, Your Majesty."

Richard’s head turned slowly towards Henry. "Your Majesty, if you will allow me. I cannot allow this disrespect and insult to pass. I am quite certain my father provided every requirement the Church requested. He vouched for her personally. He accepted responsibility for her introduction to court and her standing before England."

"Then what exactly do they want?" Richard spread one hand in exasperation. "The colour of her chamber walls?" He continued, irritation gaining momentum now that it had found a respectable target. "Perhaps the Archbishop requires a statement from every priest in Florence confirming that she was indeed not borne by lucifer himself."

"If my father’s sponsorship is insufficient, then the insult is not merely against Lady Livia. It is against Langford House. Against a family whose loyalty to the Crown has been demonstrated far longer than the archbishop’s entire life."

Henry looked at him differently now. Richard did not notice immediately. He was too busy being angry, which had always been one of his more absorbing hobbies.

"She has been brought properly into court," Richard continued. "Her position has been declared publicly. If the Church now intends to imply that she may be some creature spat out of darkness, then they are questioning the honour of my entire house."

Perhaps this was the beginning of an answer. Henry had asked Richard to prove that what he wanted was justice rather than revenge.

Here stood Richard, with no advantage to gain, defending the woman who had rejected him and the king who had taken her.

Maybe, just maybe, this was how Richard would prove to him that he could be trusted.

Henry nodded. Richard needed no further prompting. He bowed once, then turned and walked out of the king’s chamber with the Archbishop’s servant hurrying after him.

Stephen watched the door close behind him. Then he slowly turned to Henry. "Your Majesty?"

Henry glanced over.

"Are you not worried His Grace may draw his sword in the Abbey?"

Henry considered it. "I would have done the same thing." He turned away and headed back towards the balcony.

The balcony had become increasingly important to Henry over the past few days. It was where Livia had first told him she loved him.

He could still hear her voice if he stood in the right place. Perhaps that was why he went there now.

Her absence pressed on him more than he had expected. It had only been a short while, and already Whitehall seemed too large. He had spent most of his life seeking solitude. Now solitude felt suspiciously like punishment.

*****

"My lady!" Tabitha burst into Livia’s chamber so quickly that the door struck the wall behind her. "My lady!"

Livia nearly dropped the book in her hands. "Holy Mary, Mother of God!" she gasped. "What in the world is wrong?"

"The duke has gone mad!"

"Richard?"

"He is here. With the Archbishop."