I felt as though my insides had dropped from my body into my feet.  My throat closed up on me, and I could not draw a breath.  I could see Whitney out of the corner of my eye as she stepped from one foot to the other and twisted her hands together.  I looked at Nelle on the floor at Branford’s feet and tried to comprehend what she was saying.

Handmaid?

Witch’s tea?

My head reeled, cycling through all the times Janet had brought my tea to my rooms—every morning, often staying to make sure I drank it.  I remembered when Hadley first came to Silverhelm, and how Janet had immediately offered her the same tea she made for me though she had never offered to make it for anyone else.

I glanced up at Branford as he stood there beside me, his face ashen and his eyes wide as he glared down at the woman near his boots.  His mouth opened slightly then closed again as the fingers of his hand twitched—as if trying to grasp something out of the air.

“What tea?” he uttered quietly.

Nelle simply stared up at him.

“I said what tea?” He bellowed as the woman startled.  She tried to push herself backwards on the ground, but Parnell held her in place.  As he tightened his grip on her shoulder, he angled her body to one side, and I could see he held a sharp blade at her back.

“Janet makes me tea in the morning,” I said quietly.

Branford turned his head toward me with a snap.

“She what?”

“I…I said…she makes my morning tea,” I whispered.  My gaze didn’t leave Nelle’s.

Branford turned from me back to Nelle and then to Edgar.

“This has been your doing all along,” Branford stated as he took a slight step toward the other king.  “This is why you have pressured my court to have me secure an heir.  You knew Alexandra would not bear my child because you made sure she would not.”

“Do not be absurd,” Edgar said with a wave of his hand.

“No…not absurd,” Branford said.  He shook his head.  “Actually, it all makes sense now where it did not before.  You have lied to this court, and you have plotted against another royal.”

“Surely you do not believe the mutterings of this woman,” Edgar said with a sneer.  “She is obviously mad.”

The murmurs of other court members became louder, and the anger in their tones was apparent.  Edgar glanced around nervously as he pulled his daughter close to his side.  Even I could see the guilt in his eyes.

“Get out,” Branford said darkly.  “Leave here now while you still can.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Branford—”

The sound of a sword leaving its scabbard echoed around the chambers as first Branford’s sword was raised to King Edgar, and then King Edgar’s guards did the same, only with the intent to shield Edgar from Branford’s blade.  The guards behind me stepped around with their own weapons drawn as did Lord Williams and Sir Rylan.  Soon, it seemed every man had a sword drawn and pointed toward either Edgar or Branford.

Branford moved his gaze in a circle from King Edgar to Nelle to me and then back to Edgar again.  Branford lowered his sword only a fraction and then snarled through clenched teeth.

“Get out of my kingdom.”

Edgar’s guards moved closer together, further shielding their king from the sharp end of Branford’s sword.

“Now!” Branford shouted.  “And do not return!”

Edgar’s eyes narrowed, and without a word, he took a few steps backwards.  Two of his guards stayed in front of him while the other two took positions at his back, ushering Princess Whitney into the protected area.  The first of the guards continued to walk backwards with his sword drawn until the group from Hadebrand was outside of the great hall.

“Parnell, follow them,” Branford said.  His gaze moved to Nelle.  “Once they have left the castle gates, have Brigham take nine others with him to make sure they pass our borders.  Six should stay behind as additional border guards.  No one from Hadebrand is to cross.  Understood?”

“Yes, my king,” Parnell replied with a quick bow.  He pulled his arm away from Nelle’s back and sheathed the knife he had in his hand.  He turned on his heel and quickly followed the retreating Hadebrand royalty.  Sir Rylan took a step closer to Nelle and put his hand on her shoulder to hold her in place.  Lady Suzette stepped off to one side, carefully watching Branford.

“Dunstan, fetch Janet.”

“Yes, sire.”

“Do not say a word to her,” Branford said as Dunstan started toward the back staircase.  “Only state Alexandra requires her presence.”

“Of course, my king.”

Branford turned to me then, his eyes dark and his expression not one I had seen before.  The green in his eyes seemed to have been encompassed by black, and his brows were drawn together in a scowl.

“She prepared tea for you?”

“Yes, Branford,” I said, barely able to force my voice above a whisper.

“Every day?”

“Yes.”

“And you said nothing of this?”  His tone sharpened.  “For how long?  Since she arrived?”

Branford’s voice rose again, and he took a step toward me.

“You drank tea prepared by her every day for years and told me nothing of it?”

“Branford, I…”  I had no idea what to say to him.  I had never mentioned it because it had seemed such a…a feminine thing.

His eyes further darkened, and the door behind us opened.  Dunstan emerged with Janet in tow.  My husband spun around on his heel, took two steps toward Janet, and grasped her arm roughly.  Janet let out a surprised squeal but was quickly cut off as Branford’s fingers reached up her neck and tightened around her throat.  He lifted her in his grasp, and her toes barely touched the floor.

“You fed my wife poisoned tea!” he screamed, his face mere inches from hers.

I could see her frightened eyes as they sought me.

“Not…poison…” she whispered.  Her fingers clawed at Branford’s hand but to no avail.  “She stands…”

“You made her tea?” Branford snarled.  “Every day?”

“Y-y-yes!”

“This tea kept her from having my child?” Branford turned to Nelle on the ground.  Janet tried to speak further, but Branford’s grip did not allow enough air.  Nelle nodded.  “And Edgar knew of this?”

Nelle’s gaze flickered to the door through which Edgar and Whitney had departed.  Her head nodded slightly.

“Kimberly came up with the idea after we were banished from Silverhelm.  When we arrived in Hadebrand, Whitney said it was the perfect plan to fit in with what she wanted…which was Branford, of course.  Kimberly and Sir Leland worked with Janet to get her inside Silverhelm Castle, and then after the war started, and it was clear Silverhelm was losing, Edgar heard Whitney talking with Kimberly.  He said the lack of an heir would allow him the opportunity to exploit Silverhelm from within.  As long as you had no heir, the court of Silverhelm would be in panic and more likely to listen to his demands.  Eventually, Whitney would end up on the throne next to you.”

Branford loosened his fingers from around Janet’s throat and dropped her back to her feet.

“You knew of all of this,” he stated.

Janet shook her head.

“I did not know what it was supposed to do…”

“Yet you gave it to her anyway!” Branford screeched.

Without warning, Branford reached out and grasped Janet’s wrist.  She gasped, pulling slightly though she had no means of escape.  I could see the muscles in his arm as they tensed, and he gripped her tightly as he began walking quickly with purposeful strides down the length of the great hall, dragging Janet behind him.

“Branford!”  I called out as I hurried after him.  Sir Rylan hauled Nelle from the ground and pulled her along with him as he followed me.  I heard the footsteps of the other nobles as they raced out of the great hall, through the doors, and outside the castle.

With my skirts gathered up, I still could not catch up to Branford though I continued to call out to him.  I could hear Janet’s cries and see her struggle against the grip of his hand as he pulled her through the marketplace.  The shoppers and merchants all stopped their transactions to watch as we hurried by, many of them dropping their wares and following the procession as we all followed Branford and Janet through the castle gates and out to the field where Branford trained his army.

Still many yards ahead of me, Branford stopped near a practice dummy—a burlap bag stuffed with scraps, made vaguely into the shape of a man’s head and torso, and staked into the ground.  Archers as well as swordsman used such things for target practice.  As Branford’s feet stilled, he hauled Janet up close, and I saw his arm rise high above his head before he brought it down to her face.  Janet screamed as she dropped to the ground.

Branford reached around the target, unwrapped a sturdy section of rope from around the base, and pulled the end of it loose.  He reached for Janet’s ankle as she tried to crawl away from him, pulling her back and wrapping one end of the rope around her leg.  Again, his arm rose and he beat down on her.

Before I could reach the edge of the practice field, I felt strong arms around my waist as my forward progression was halted.

“Release me!” I cried out as Rylan pulled me against his chest.  Dunstan was nearby with Lady Nelle’s arm in his grasp.

“No, good queen,” Rylan said.  “You should not be here at all, and come what may—I will not allow you closer.  Not now.”

“Branford!” I yelled out again, and I saw his shoulder’s tense as his gaze flickered to me briefly.

He did not halt his movements.

The rope was tied around Janet’s other leg and then around her waist as she was strapped to the dummy.  I could hear her cries and pleas as well as the smacking sound of Branford’s hand across her mouth.  There was blood on her lips as he wrapped the rope around her again.

I struggled against Sir Rylan’s grip, and just when I thought I would wriggle from his grasp, there were other hands on me, pulling me slightly backwards.  Dunstan moved in front of me, trying to block my view.

“Let me go!” I cried out again, pushing against the strong arms of the soldiers around me.

“Please, Queen Alexandra,” Dunstan pleaded.

Branford’s hands flew rapidly as he wound the rope around Janet’s form, further securing her as she cried for mercy.  He yanked roughly at the binds and then turned to walk several feet away to a large stack of firewood, stockpiled for the winter.

He piled it at her feet.

“No!  Branford, please!” I screamed, but he would not even turn to face me.

Janet, however, did look toward me.

“Lady Alexandra!” she cried out.  “I did not know—I swear I did not!  Please!  Please!”

Branford signaled one of the other guards, and a moment later, the sentinel handed him a brightly burning torch.  He moved close to Janet, and I could hear her pleading with him.  His chest rose and fell, his eyes narrowed, and he dropped the torch into the dry wood at her feet.

“No!” Janet cried out.  “I did not know!  I did not know!”

“Die, you witch!” Branford growled and spat in her face.  He took several steps backwards to avoid the flames as they spread around the practice figure, the dry wood, and my handmaid.  Though his back was still to me, he was at least close enough I knew he could hear my words.

“Branford—what if she truly did not know?  You cannot—you cannot do this if—”

He wheeled around suddenly, his bright green eyes blazing with fire and hatred.

“Did not know?  Did not know?” he screamed as he shook his fists.  “She was taking direction from my enemy!  She knew exactly what she was doing!  She used you, used your kindness, and plotted to destroy us, Alexandra!”

The flames grew brighter as Janet’s screams grew louder.  I yelled at Branford to stop what he was doing, but he turned back to me with eyes as bright as the flames behind him.  Branford’s body was shaking as he cried out.

“She took my dignity…she took the shine from your eyes when you knew I was leaving to try to father a child by another.  She nearly destroyed me, and I will watch her burn for it!”

He turned back to the scene in front of him, and Janet’s eyes looked around my husband, searching me out as she fought uselessly against her bonds.  I twisted my body in an equally fruitless attempt to disengage myself from the grip of our neighboring knight.

I could feel something sharp sticking into my side—something from Sir Rylan’s belt, I thought—as I watched the wood catch fire and the flame grow larger around the feet of the girl who had stayed with me many nights when Branford was not there.  It was the same girl who brought me breakfast and made me eat even when I did not feel like it.  It was the same girl who had tried to win the acceptance of my husband over and over again, always trying harder when he ignored her.

And the same girl who brought me my morning tea every day without fail.

“Please, no…” I heard myself whisper.  There was no way she could have possibly known what she was doing.  Edgar must have threatened her—given her no choice in her actions.  I could see her trying to kick out at the burning logs, but Branford knocked them back toward her, snarling words I could not hear.  I watched with wide eyes as her head tilted backward, and she let out a long howl.  The flames had reached her legs, the flesh blackening as her skirts burned away.

She screeched once more, and then Janet’s innocent, frightened eyes transformed into an expression I had not seen before.  They narrowed, darkened, and glared in my direction as her lips turned up into an inhuman grin.  She shook her head wildly as she looked into my eyes and screeched across the field.

“You are an idiot!” she screamed.  “You will believe anything!”

I felt the hard steel of Rylan’s armor as I fell back against him, and it felt as though the words coming from the mouth of my…of my friend…were burning me as surely as the flames from the fire singed her skin.

“I knew!”  The frightening image from the middle of the flames screamed out to me.  “Every time you drank that tea, I knew it was killing any child that would try to grow within you!  I knew his seed would never find purchase in your body!  I knew it, and I was glad!”

I tried to step back further, the horror of her words hitting me dead center in my chest and knocking all breath from me.  As I moved backwards, I was again met with Sir Rylan’s armored chest and strong arms as he held me against him and tried to turn me from the view of the field.

Janet laughed maniacally until the flames licked higher.  She screamed as the fire burst out along the clothing around her chest and arms and then her hair.  The brisk wind carried the smoke and filled the area, causing my eyes to clench shut when the smell of burning hair reached me.  I could still hear her screaming though Rylan’s body now blocked my view.

The screams abruptly stopped though the crackling of the fire continued for some time.  The stench covered us all, and I tried to block it from my mind as tears streamed down my face.  I felt a new set of arms on my shoulders, and Rylan released his grip as I fell into Branford’s embrace.

“It’s over,” Branford said, his voice expressionless.  “She cannot harm you again.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he pulled me against his body as I sobbed into his shirt.

“I thought…I thought she was my friend,” I whispered through my tears.  The repulsive smell of charred flesh attacked my nose and made it sting.

“I know,” Branford said as he pulled me tighter against his chest.  “I have felt that same way before.”

“Why?  Why would she, after what we did for her?”

“I do not know,” my husband said, “but I intend to find out.”

His gaze fell to Nelle, still on the ground with two of Branford’s soldiers standing over her.  Rylan was close by, his sword drawn to keep her at bay.  Branford approached the prostrate woman and glared down at her.

“Tell me everything,” Branford said through clenched teeth.

Nelle’s gaze flashed from the charred corpse on the field back to Branford.

“Will you burn me, too?”

“I have not yet decided,” Branford said with a sneer.  “It depends on what you reveal.”

I reached out and placed my hand against his arm, but he shook me away.

“Tell me everything.  Now.”

Nelle sobbed and placed her hands over her face.

“It was Kimberly’s idea!” she moaned between sobs.  “Kimberly and Whitney planned it all!”

“Planned what?” Branford yelled.  He took a step toward her and kicked her with his boot as she tried to protect herself with her arms.  “Tell me!”

Through her sobs, Nelle told us how she and Kimberly went to Hadebrand after their exile.  There they spoke with Princess Whitney and a young man who apparently wished to win her favor—Sir Leland.  He had a young cousin who knew the ways of witches.

“She knew,” Nelle whispered.  “Kimberly knew what happened to your mother.  She thought if the same thing was happening to another, you would be more likely take pity on her and accept her into the castle.”

“Janet…allowed those men…?” I couldn’t fathom such a thing.

“She did,” Nelle said.  “They knew how you cared for others around you and hoped you would try to help her and ask Branford to help her as well.  You believed her story and fell right into their plan.”

“Sir Leland planned to set it up as a wager between you with his slave as your prize.  He never intended to win.  That is why he opted for your second horse when you first refused to wager your stallion.  Once you had won, his cousin-slave was yours and would be allowed into Silverhelm.  She was to begin making the tea immediately to prevent your heirs.”

“Why would she do this?” I whispered.

“Sir Leland was to be placed as the head of Silverhelm’s army once Whitney was on the throne.  Janet was promised Sterling Castle for her part in it all.”

Branford looked to Sir Rylan for a moment, then back at Nelle.

 “You knew of this all these months,” Branford said.  His voice was cold, and when I looked at his eyes, they were equally frigid.

Sir Rylan tilted his head to the side as Lady Suzette emerged from the castle walls, carrying something in her hands.  She approached us slowly as Nelle continued to speak.

“Kimberly said once Princess Whitney was on the throne with you, we would be brought back into Silverhelm as nobles again.  But I heard Princess Whitney telling Prince Gage that there would be no reason to keep us around after she was wed to Branford—that we would be a liability.  Kimberly did not believe me, so I ran.  I knew I could not come back here.  You said you would have us killed if we returned to Silverhelm.  I did not know what else to do!  I had just enough to pay my passage to Seacrest.”

“Is that all?” Branford asked.  “It never occurred to you to send me a message?”

“I…I did not know what I should do!” Nelle cried as she threw herself at Branford’s feet.

“You had many options,” Branford said.  He stared down at her for a moment.  “Get up.”

Nelle slowly brought herself back onto her feet.

“Will you burn me?” Nelle whispered softly.  Her eyes dared glance up at Branford for only a moment before she looked back down to the ground.

“No,” Branford said quickly.

Before Nelle could utter a sigh of relief, the sound of a sword leaving its sheath rang out across the field, and Branford took a single step forward.  He grabbed Nelle by her long tresses, pulled her head backwards, and slid the sharp blade across her throat, opening her vessels and spilling her blood over her chest and down to the dirt.

“But you will still die for it,” Branford said softly as the light dimmed from Nelle’s eyes, and he released her hair, allowing her lifeless body to fall sideways to the ground.

“I want Lady Kimberly and Sir Leland,” Branford said to Rylan as he wiped the edge of his blade across the thigh of his trousers.  “I’m willing to offer a bounty to any mercenary who can bring them to me, preferably alive, so I may kill them myself.”

“I will put out the word.”

Branford placed his hand on Rylan’s shoulder for a moment and looked into his eyes.

“Where do we stand now?”

“Where we always should have been,” Sir Rylan said with a nod.  “Allies.”

They clasped forearms.

“Forgive me for ever doubting you,” Rylan said.

“There is nothing to forgive,” Branford replied.  “You see the light now—that is all that is important.  Edgar has shown his true colors.  He will lose followers who had always supported him before.  To interfere with a royal bloodline…”

Branford glanced at me and then at Lady Suzette.

“Did you find it?” he asked.  Lady Suzette nodded.  “What was in it?”

Lady Suzette held a small pouch in her hands, and I recognized it as the herb bag Janet used when making tea for me.

“There is willow bark and ginger,” Suzette said, “which would likely not cause any issue by themselves and would help with any pain Queen Alexandra might have felt in the Women’s Room.  But this”—she held up a small, feathery, dried set of leaves—“this is hemlock and quite deadly in large amounts.  In smaller doses, it will kill a child before it can begin to grow inside of its mother.”

Branford stepped out behind me as I felt myself begin to swoon.  His arms pulled me against his chest.

“She was killing our…our children?” I whispered.

“Yes,” Branford replied.

“She knew she was doing this?”

“Yes,” he said again.

My stomach churned again as I tried to understand what had happened during this day.  At first, I had thought my worst fear was going to come to pass—that Branford would renounce me to take Whitney’s hand.  Now I had discovered my own handmaid had been part of the plot to make it happen.  I could not focus enough on the thoughts inside my head to know what to make of them.

“I will never allow anything like this to happen again,” Branford said softly.  He turned my face toward him and crouched down to be eye level with me.  “Never again.  I am truly sorry you saw any of this.”

Branford stood tall as he spoke to Sir Rylan with words that I did not hear.  I could only nod, my mind still trying to understand what was happening around me.  One of my only friends had betrayed me—willingly and knowingly—for years.  I had been letting her destroy Branford’s children with every cup from her hand I drank.

I felt quite sick.

“Come, my queen,” I heard Branford say softly against my cheek.  “Let us retire to our rooms.  You need your rest.”

“She was…she was my friend…”

Branford wrapped his arms around my waist as he pulled me backwards against him.

“She lied to you,” he replied.

I looked into his eyes, and they were still solid green gems.

“I believed her.”

“I know.”   He touched the edge of my jaw.  “I did not see her for what she was either.  She slipped past my senses and got close to you.”

Branford turned me toward him, and he cupped my face.

“That will not happen again,” he said.

The words were not unfamiliar.  How many times had Branford made a similar promise?  Though I knew he endeavored to keep such oaths, there were possibilities that were simply too far beyond his control, and his own desires could not keep up with the world around him or his duty to his kingdom.  However familiar the words, his look and tone were completely different than they had been before.  Gone was the desperation I had often seen in his eyes, and gone was the sense of urgency in his voice.  His eyes were calm and intense and his voice laced with collected determination.

One of his hands went to the back of my head, and he leaned closer to put his forehead against mine.

“Never again,” he said.

We returned to our rooms, leaving the guard to spread the word about Hadebrand’s deception and the bounty on the heads of those involved.  Sir Rylan was to ride back toward Seacrest and return with the soldiers we would need to protect Silverhelm from Edgar’s army.  The betrayal of Nelle and Janet was enough to convince him that Silverhelm deserved protection from an unscrupulous neighbor.

With few words spoken between us, Branford called for our supper, and we ate in our rooms.  Afterwards, I offered to make Branford his tea, but he refused it with a raised eyebrow and pulled me close to him instead.

“I may ban tea from the kingdom,” he said, and I wasn’t sure if he meant it in jest or not.  He collected me into his lap sideways, with my legs across the arm of the chair and my head against his shoulder.  “When I think that she could have used more of that…that plant…enough to harm you…Alexandra, it makes me want to find every person she ever touched—relative, ally, friend, or enemy—and destroy them.  I want to remove all evidence that she ever existed.”

“She is gone now,” I said though my words brought me no comfort.  They did nothing to soothe Branford, either.

“And you,” he said suddenly as he pointed his finger at my face, “you drank something she made for you every day and never told me of it?”

I tucked my head into the crook of his neck, but he would not allow me to hide my face.

“I did not think it important,” I finally whispered as I felt a hot tear escape from my eye.  Branford wiped it away with this thumb.  “It was…only tea.”

“Only tea,” he repeated and then looked up toward the heavens with a sigh.  “Only tea, indeed.”

“I am sorry, my king,” I said softly.

“Do not apologize, Alexandra,” he said.  “It was not of your own doing, and I find no fault with you.  I just wish…wish I had realized…been more observant…”

He stopped and took my chin with his thumb and forefinger.

“Never again,” he said, and his eyes and tone matched how he had spoken on the practice field.  “I will not miss anything again.  I will always be at your side, and I will know exactly who is near you, what is said to you, and what is given to you.  I will not be so careless again.  You belong with me and I with you.”

“You have always cared for me,” I said, reminding him.

“It has not been enough.”

“You cannot always be near me.”

“Really?” he responded with a raised eyebrow.  “Watch me.”

“What if I am in the Women’s Room?”

“Then my mother will be in there with you,” Branford said, “and I will be standing outside the door until you emerge again.”

“You cannot watch me always.” I scoffed.

“I most certainly can,” Branford said, his words insistent.  “I will not leave your presence.  If there is distance between us, I will always keep my eye on you to make sure you are safe.”

“You do not have to do that, Branford.”

“But I do,” he responded softly.  He stood slowly with me still wrapped up in his strong arms.  “Everything I have done has been inadequate.  All I ever wanted was to keep you safe from harm.  I told you to trust no one but did not abide by my own words.  I allowed vulnerabilities and left wide-open gaps within my defenses.  Part of that was allowing others to be responsible for your safety.  I will not allow that again.”

He dropped me to my feet near the changing area and helped me into a nightdress.

“Nelle was right; I did think of my mother when you found Janet,” Branford admitted.  “I had told Kimberly many years ago what had happened to her.  It never occurred to me she would use it against me.  Again, I trusted too much.”

“There are some you trust,” I said quietly.  “Parnell and Ida.”

“Yes, some,” Branford said.  He changed into the soft linen sleep pants he wore and then took my hand to lead me to our bed.  “I trust you, my immediate family, Dunstan, and I may build some trust with Sir Rylan—it remains to be seen.”

“He seems genuine,” I said.

“Does he?” Branford looked over to me.  “Did Janet?”

I looked down at my hands as I sat on the edge of the bed.  I felt Branford’s lips touch the top of my head.

“I do love you,” he whispered against my hair.  “I do not know if you still believe it or not, but I do love you.  I’ve never been the trusting or the loving sort, but with you I can be someone else—someone worthy of you—if only I would stop making such grave mistakes.”

“You could not have known,” I told him.  “None of us could have guessed at their plan.  I still do not understand how they could have arranged it all—how they could have known we would bring Janet back with us.”

“They took a calculated risk,” Branford said.  “If we had not brought her back with us at that time, she would have found another way, no doubt.  We just made it easier for her to infiltrate our home.  She was quite believable, I must say.”

He growled out the last words.

“I do not think anyone could have seen through her ruse.”

“I should have anyway,” Branford said.  “I will not let such a thing happen again.”

I pushed myself up against the pillows of our bed, and Branford crawled after me.  He did not lie beside me but hovered over my body, using one of his arms for support while the other traced my exposed skin with light fingertips.

He leaned down to kiss me softly, his warm mouth molding against mine as his tongue moistened my lips.  I opened to him, taking in the taste of him as he wrapped his hands around my body and pulled me up against him.  I felt his heart pounding in his chest as he broke away from me, his eyes wild and urgent.

“I want you now.”

“Yes,” I responded, and he pulled me tighter against his chest.

He pushed my nightdress up and slid his fingers slowly up my legs.  He gripped my hips once, holding me against his hardness for a moment before he yanked at the dress and removed it from me.  His sleep trousers followed my dress to the floor, and he was atop me, his hands in my hair and the heat from his excitement pushing against my stomach.

“You are beyond beautiful,” he said as his hand stroked from my hair, down my arms, and then back up to cup my breasts.  He kissed the tips of each as my hands explored his back and the muscles of his arms and shoulders.  I reached down to his hip, then skimmed around front until I could grip him with my fingers.

I let my fingers trail up the length of him until I reached the tip, then ran my fingers around and back down again as Branford’s breaths left wet, warm spots on my skin.

“That feels so good,” he told me as his hand covered mine.  He led me in my touches for a moment only.  “But I need more.  I need to be inside of you.”

He shifted himself lower and groaned loudly as he pushed himself inside of me, burying his length completely within my body with a single stroke that left me crying out his name.

“Every time I am inside of you,” he whispered, “it feels like I am exactly where I am supposed to be.  It is like no one else exists except us when I am here.  I belong here.”

For a long moment, he held himself tight against me and did not move.  He slipped his hand down my back, resting his fingers just above my backside as his mouth began tasting my neck and jaw.  I stroked the curve at the base of his back, down the top of his thigh and back again.  I tilted my head to capture his mouth with mine, leading the kiss to deepen it as I wrapped my legs around his waist.  I felt his hand sneak between our bodies and gasped when his fingers found their goal.

“Please…please…” I heard myself begging as Branford rocked slowly against me, allowing the tension to build up gradually and maddeningly.

“You feel so glorious,” he whispered into my ear.  “I love feeling you come apart around me.  Do my fingers please you, my wife?”

The tip of his finger circled that sensitive area right above where we connected.  Branford’s hips bucked slowly against me as his finger probed and touched.  His lips went back to my jaw, then captured my cries as I tilted my hips against his and felt my body shudder around him.  I gripped his shoulders and pulled him to me as his movements hastened.  He reached down and slipped one arm under my leg, holding it high against his shoulder as he moaned with each thrust into me.  His pace quickened, and his hips met mine in quick, forceful strokes.  Only a moment later, he was crying out for me as I felt his release deep inside my body.

He kissed me again.

“I love you,” he murmured against my lips, “so much…my wife…”

“My husband,” I whispered back.  “My king…my Branford…I love you…”

He rolled to his side and brought me with him.  With our arms wrapped around each other, I watched Branford’s face as his breathing slowed and his heart began to beat a more regular rhythm.  I traced over his jaw with my fingertips, feeling the rough stubble that had grown there since morning.

With a long, deep sigh, Branford closed his eyes and pulled my head to his chest.

“I love you, Alexandra,” he said quietly.  “I have failed you regardless but no more.  I will be at your side, making sure you do not come to harm.  I will not entrust my most prized possession to anyone else to guard.  Never again.”

His arms tightened around my shoulders for a moment.

“There are times and places where I am not welcome,” I reminded him.  “There are traditions…”

“To hell with those traditions,” Branford said simply.  “I will not be parted from you.”

I thought about this for a minute.

“What if I go to the chapel to speak with Father Tucker?”

Branford cupped my cheeks and tilted my face to his.

“You have something you must confess?” he asked.   I could see the wry humor in his eyes.

“Perhaps,” I said, and I smiled through my blush.  “I do sometimes have…lustful thoughts.”

“Do you now?”

I nodded.

“Who is in your lustful thoughts?” Branford’s hot breath danced around my ear.  “For if it is anyone other than me, I will have him drawn and quartered immediately.”

“Branford!” I cried out.  “What a horrible thing to say!”

He only shrugged.

“It is the truth of the matter,” he said.

“It is a good thing only one man invades my thoughts.”

“Hmm…”—his mouth brushed over mine—“and who would that be?”

“You,” I whispered.  “Only you…ever…”

“Good.”

He rolled back on top of me, and his knees pushed my legs apart as he entered me again.  His movements were different as was the look in his eyes as he claimed me again and again that night.  There was no desperation or rush, only the two of us wrapped up in each other.

We were protected—the army of Seacrest would join with Silverhelm and shield us from any attack.  We might not be prepared to go to war, but we would be able to defend ourselves and would no longer have to bow to pressure from Hadebrand.  Edgar had been shamed in front of the other nobles, and word of his part of the treachery against Silverhelm would spread quickly.  He would no longer be allowed to cross our borders to make demands, threaten, or harass us.

There was one other thought that reverberated through my head as my husband’s body entered mine over and over again, and this was the thought that caused my lips to turn up into a smile as sensations flooded my body.

I was not barren.

Branford’s seed filled me again, and this time I joined him in prayer.

And that was when I knew there was still hope.