Twenty-Six

 

 

Siward's heart sank. He'd known all along this was too good to be true. A beautiful woman waiting for him, inviting him into her bed, where he was unable to resist her charms. She'd been waiting for someone else.

He rose. "I am Siward, Lord Protector of the Realm and Regent appointed by the king until a suitable heir is found. By my count, for only a few weeks more." Siward bowed low before her.

Her lips moved, but no sound came out. "Regent? But...what is wrong with the king?"

Did she truly not know? "He died," Siward said gently. "Just this spring. He was an old man, and he rarely left his bed. He passed peacefully in his sleep, but not before he named me Regent."

"How long ago did the queen die?" she whispered.

"Almost fifty years ago now. Before my father was born, and after the Wall closed us in," Siward said.

"What of Sir Warin?" Her voice was so quiet now it was barely audible.

"If by Sir Warin, you mean my grandfather, who was the captain of the guard who lost the princess, he died when I was a boy, but not before he told me every story he knew." Siward swallowed. "He had one regret in his life, and he spoke of it more and more as he got older. He wished he'd found a way to save her."

Rosamond didn't seem to be listening any more. Her eyes had a faraway look. "How long did I sleep?"

Siward scratched his head. "I don't rightly know. You were asleep when I found you, just before you woke."

"Did Sir Warin tell you how long ago he lost his princess?" Her voice shook as her eyes filled with tears.

Siward considered his words before he spoke. "She was never his princess. Too high for him, and he knew it. He was just a captain of the guard. He would have given his life for her, if he could. She was his charge, and he failed her."

Tears spilled down her cheeks. "How long?"

He relented. "Fifty years."

She started to sob.

Siward had no idea why she was crying – what was so sad about some princess who'd been dead for fifty years? – but he could at least try to comfort her. He opened his arms to her and held her close while sobs shook her body for what seemed an eternity.

Finally, the storm seemed to subside and she mumbled something into his tunic.

Cautiously, he asked her to repeat it.

"Release me," she ordered.

He complied.

She straightened, wiped the tears from her face and managed to look every inch the queen he wanted her to be. "How dare you," she said, her voice shaking with fury now. "You pretended to be another man to make me feel affection for you, stole my maidenhead, and only now you tell me the truth? Your grandfather was a good man and an honourable one, but he would turn over in his grave if he knew what you have become."

"I stole nothing you did not give me freely," Siward shot back. "You opened your arms and your legs and all but begged me to climb into your bed. You never asked my name, and I never pretended to be anyone but myself. What kind of woman waits naked in the woods, anyway? Not an honourable one, that's for certain."

If anything, this only enflamed her further. "When I took to my bed, I was clothed as modestly as I am now. You know nothing about honour, or what I have endured." Green eyes blazed.

Siward spread his hands wide in invitation. "Tell me, then. Make me understand."

She gave a slight nod. "Very well. The day I went to sleep, I was dying of a plague picked up shortly after King Erik and Queen Margareta's coronation. Two of my travelling companions were struck down with it, too. I managed to heal them both, but not myself, so I barricaded myself in that courtyard and lay down to die. If what you tell me is true, fifty years I lay there, dreaming without waking, as my body slowly rid itself of the deadly disease and everyone I knew and loved died. Until the day you woke me."

No. She couldn't be. If the princess were still alive, she'd be more than sixty years old. Nothing like the stunning beauty before him, who didn't look a day older than twenty. It wasn't possible.

Steadily, she continued, "Then I was Crown Princess Rosamond, daughter of King Almos and Queen Maria. Now...I am your queen."