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Marian half cheered, half slumped in relief. “Richard!”
Chapter Twenty-One
TUCK
For a moment, the sound of that hallowed name rang out over the square. Then the great man jutted his pointy, silver-streaked beard, making everyone fall silent. His horse’s harness and armor jangled as it strode toward the balcony.
Marian elbowed me. “It’s the king. You have to bow.”
I shook my head. Not if it meant releasing the prince, who would surely pull some kind of trick.
King Richard peered around in disapproval. His dark eyes were framed by eyebrows that rose and fell in little Vs, intensifying that look that said, I am not amused.
The men behind him threw off their cloaks, revealing armor, shields, and flags emblazoned with three golden lions — the royal insignia.
The king turned slowly, taking in every detail, from Bess’s huddled family to the dragon standing defiantly by the gallows and the two bold women beside it — Robynne and Willa. Then he swept his gaze over the bear on the parapet, the trembling archers on the tower, and finally, to the balcony. There, his eyes narrowed on the spectacle of me, in lion form, pinning the prince to the balustrade.
My stomach sank. One didn’t exactly tell a king, I swear, I can explain! Because, yikes. That was his brother I was about to kill.
His king only brightened — and only momentarily — when he spotted the woman I loved.
“Marian!”
She gave a cheery wave. “Richard!”
I stared. She was on a first-name basis with the king? I doubted his wife called him anything but Your Majesty. Then again, they didn’t spend much time together.
And just like that, I felt sorry for him. Yes, him, the king. He might be a Crusader knight and king of England, duke of Aquitaine, Poitiers, Normandy, and who knew what else, but he didn’t have his true love.
Then I gulped, because neither did I. The moment the dust settled over the mess of this day, it would be over. I would head back to the abbey, and Marian would return to her manor house, both of us with only memories for company.
Suddenly, spending the rest of my life celibate didn’t seem like a problem. If I couldn’t have Marian, I didn’t want anyone.
Marian waved to one of the men accompanying the king. “Father!”
Both men waved while hundreds of people looked on, including me. I’d grown up in a noble family, but wow. Hers really did hobnob with royalty.
When the king’s gaze returned to his brother, he sighed. “John.”
Robynne always sighed her younger brother’s name, but always with a solid dose of exasperated, yet heartfelt love. Richard’s sigh for his brother…not so much.
“Thank the Lord you’re back!” John squeaked. “This beast was about to kill me.”
The king’s eyes turned to me and stayed there a while. “Indeed.”
I snorted, holding my ground. The prince deserved to die, and he knew it.
“Well, aren’t you going to stop him?” the prince demanded of his brother.
The king considered. And considered…
Every man, woman, and child in the square held their breath for his verdict, though none more feverishly than I.
“Perhaps,” the king murmured. “Perhaps not.”
“Richard!” the prince squeaked.
The king tilted his head, studying his brother. “What on earth are you doing?”
