Chapter 188: It Is Not Your Fault
Livia closed her eyes briefly. "It is not your fault...You did nothing wrong."
Bella shook her head against her shoulder. "Everyone keeps saying that."
"Because it is true."
"It does not feel true."
"Who has been saying it?" she asked.
Bella lowered her gaze. "His Majesty tried to console me last night."
How gallant of him, Livia thought to herself. "I am fine, Bella...And I do not want to speak of anything sad just now. Let us gossip instead. Tell me, is anything interesting happening in the palace?"
Bella gave a small, watery laugh, wiping beneath her eyes with the corner of her handkerchief. "In Whitehall? Only sad things happen here. We look to the outside world for interesting gossip."
"That sounds dreadful."
"It is dreadful," Bella said. "Half the court is plotting, and the rest are pretending not to know which side they belong to."
Livia was grateful for the attempt at lightness. She drew a breath. "There is something I would like to know, though I am not certain you will have an answer."
Bella straightened at once. "What is it? Ask me anything. If I do not know, I shall find out."
Livia hesitated. "What drives the Queen Dowager? I mean..."
Bella understood the question before Livia could explain it. What made Theodora so cruel? What hunger sat beneath? "You do not have to explain...Come. Sit properly."
Livia allowed herself to be led to the chairs near the hearth. Bella sat close and took Livia’s fingers between both her hands.
"A long time ago," Bella began, "when His Majesty was only a forgotten prince, he was about ten-and-nine. No one expected him to inherit anything. Then, one after another, his brothers died under strange and terrible circumstances. When Henry became heir and then King, the court changed overnight. The reigning Queen was set aside, and precedence had to be made for the mother of the newly crowned King."
"Naturally, the throne could not remain uncertain," Bella continued, her fingers still wrapped around Livia’s. "The late King was expected to crown Theodora as his queen. She would have stood before the realm, anointed, adored, untouchable."
Livia listened without interrupting. The fire crackled softly near them, its warmth brushing over her bare throat and the exposed swell of her breasts where the gown still sat indecently low.
Bella lowered her voice. "The night before the coronation, the King died."
Livia’s brows drew together.
"They said grief killed him," Bella said. "Grief for his sons." She paused. "Whatever the truth, he died before Theodora could be crowned."
"And Henry?"
"Henry had to be proclaimed King at once. There could be no delay, not after so many deaths. The court was already half-mad with fear. The country needed certainty. So the crown passed to him, and Theodora was left with a title that sounded grand but wasn’t."
"Queen Dowager," Livia murmured.
Bella nodded. "Queen Dowager. Queen Mother. She had enough influence. But not the throne. She mourned the crown more than her husband...From that day, she began fastening herself to Henry’s life. Every woman who came too close to his bed—she watched them, weighed them, and decided whether they could be used or destroyed."
Livia’s mouth tightened. It explained too much.
"People believe she still means to rule," Bella added.
"Surely she still has great power as Queen Mother."
Bella gave a sad little smile. "Not truly. Her rank gives her honour but it gives her no lawful command. Outside Whitehall, she is not sovereign. She is respected because she is the King’s mother, and obeyed only when others believe she speaks with his will behind her. Without that, she is merely a great lady."
Livia absorbed that in silence. Bella’s hand tightened around hers.
"She has influence," Bella said, "but she has no control."
"So she means to be queen by proxy?" Livia asked.
Bella nodded slowly. "Exactly."
The answer should have shocked Livia more than it did. It didn’t.
"The King and his mother rarely see eye to eye," Bella continued. "There has been bad blood between them since the day he took the throne. I think part of him resents her. And she in turn resents him because he received the crown she had almost touched. Which is why I am surprised His Majesty has allowed her any part in what is happening between you."
"I believe he does not wish to get his hands dirty. He wants the result," Livia said, her voice quiet but edged, "but not the ugliness required to obtain it. He wants me brought to him, but he does not wish to see the hands that push me through the door." She could still feel Henry’s thumb brushing her cheek, as if tenderness could excuse everything he had done. She didn’t even remember what the touch of Henry the merchant felt like.
But she remembered Richard. Richard made her feel desired rather than displayed. That difference was everything.
"You could say so," Bella said carefully. "And I must apologise for my part in it." Her face crumpled a little. "I pushed because I thought if you became queen, Princess Madeleine would not get the throne. No one believes me, as I told you, but she is evil. Truly evil. You must believe me."
Livia squeezed her fingers. "I do. I met her today," Livia added. "She looked as though she might explode when she saw me." She forced a laugh, trying to at least get some smile out of the day.
Bella laughed too, the sound small but real. "I should have liked to see her face," she said, wiping the last trace of tears from her cheeks. "Princess Madeleine is never so frightening as when she realises she is not the centre of a room."
"She would have set me on fire if she could."
"That sounds very much like her." Bella’s amusement faded. "But you must be careful with her. She is vicious."
(Brought to you by Janelle Fox 1/2)
