His Secret Slave to Scandalous Queen

Her gown was neatly arranged, and her steps were hurried. "Diana!"

Livia hurried toward her at once. Bella met her halfway, and both women wrapped each other in a careful hug. Livia held her gently, mindful of the wound, but Bella clung with enough force to suggest she had missed her far more than she cared about any pain. "How are you doing?" Livia asked.

"I am gutted you will be leaving England," Bella said at once. "Why would you choose to go with the duke?"

Livia gave her a sympathetic smile, though guilt tugged at her. Bella was trying to sound offended, but beneath the dramatics was loneliness. Perhaps even the sense of being left behind in a palace that had already hurt her once. "Bella...Richard and I are to marry. I have to be with my husband, especially this early in the marriage."

Bella’s face fell. She had pinned her hopes on something impossible.

"I know what you wish for," Livia said softly. "I know you care for His Highness. I know you think there is some path where all of this leads the way you want." Livia took Bella’s hand. "But my heart has chosen."

Bella swallowed.

"I am sorry I will be leaving you," Livia continued. "Truly. I shall miss you." She squeezed Bella’s hand. "Richard said we will visit at least once a year until his appointment in France is done. And we can write. Often." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Bella opened her mouth when the entrance opened behind them. Both women turned. Two palace guards approached. Livia’s maid shifted closer at once, and Bella straightened, all traces of childish hurt vanishing beneath suspicion. "What is going on?" Bella asked.

The guards stopped before them and bowed. "We have orders from the Queen Mother to bring Lady Diana."

A cold thread ran down Livia’s spine.

"The Queen Mother?" Bella repeated. "Why?"

The guard’s expression remained carefully blank. "Just orders, my lady," the guard said.

"Lady Diana is my guest," Bella snapped, stepping slightly in front of Livia despite the fact that she was still recovering and had no business trying to shield anyone from palace guards. "She is the intended bride of the Duke of Kingsmere. What disrespect is this?"

The guards exchanged a brief look. "My apologies, my lady," one of them said, bowing again. "Please come with us."

Bella’s chin lifted. "Both of us?"

"The order was for Lady Diana."

"Then the Queen Mother shall have the pleasure of seeing me also." Bella took Livia’s hand firmly in hers, and together they began walking deeper into Whitehall.

The palace swallowed them quickly. The entrance hall gave way to corridors lined with tapestries, and doors.

Livia tried to keep her breathing steady. She had done nothing wrong. She had come to visit Bella. She had not sought Henry. There was no reason for the Queen Mother to summon her. "You do not have to be nervous, Bella," Livia said quietly, though Bella’s hand was gripping hers so tightly it was a miracle they both still had fingers. "I have not done anything wrong."

"That does not matter here," Bella whispered back. "I do not understand what she would want with you," Bella said, more to herself than to Livia. "It was her idea."

"What was?"

"For me to invite you." Bella’s voice dropped lower. "She told me that if I missed you so much, I should send for you."

Livia’s steps slowed. Bella tugged her forward, still thinking, still piecing things together at a speed that made her expression shift from confusion to dread.

"She does not do anything without reason."

The guards continued ahead, their footsteps steady. Bella’s grip tightened again.

"I just..." She stopped abruptly.

Livia turned to her. "What?"

Bella stared down the corridor, horror dawning across her face. "Oh my God."

A chill passed through Livia. "What?"

Bella’s lips parted, but no answer came at first. Her mind had clearly run ahead of her tongue and found something terrible waiting. "Surely he would not," Bella whispered.

Livia’s heart gave one hard beat in frustration. "What?"

"The king would not tell her about you, would he?" Bella whispered again.

Henry telling his mother about her? About Livia? About the past? About the auction, the brothel?

No.

Surely not.

Henry would not hand her history to Theodora.

"Do not worry," Livia said, forcing calm into her voice. "I am sure it is nothing."

The rest of the walk through Whitehall passed in a tense silence, broken only by the guards’ footsteps and the distant hum of palace life. Every corridor seemed longer than it should have been.

A few moments later, they were shown into the Queen Mother’s apartments. Theodora reclined with ease.

Livia understood at once why people feared her. Theodora looked cruel, beautifully cruel. Livia and Bella curtsied.

"Your Grace," Bella said stiffly.

Theodora’s gaze moved first over Bella, then settled on Livia. "You must be Diana Bellamy," Theodora began, her voice rich and smooth. "My dearest Bella’s French tutor."

"I also consider her a close friend of mine, Your Grace," Livia replied.

Theodora’s smile widened slightly. "How sweet. I gathered as much when she would not stop pining for you even before you left England. I feared we might have to commission another mourning gown for her. Tell me, how did you manage to get the Duke of Kingsmere to want to marry? Richard is infamously difficult to tie down. Half the mothers in England have tried."

Livia kept her smile faint and polite, though her pulse had begun to quicken. The question was not innocent. Nothing about this woman was innocent. She was measuring something—Livia’s confidence, her affection the duke, her fear, perhaps even her usefulness. "I am not so sure I know how to answer that...but I am just as taken with the duke as he is with me."

"The duke’s reputation is legendary," Theodora continued. "It must take a very special kind of woman to rein him in."

Livia held her smile in place.

(Brought to you by Missy Dionne 2/2)