Chapter 297: Your Household May Need It
The king sat beside Livia with his cup in hand. His eyes moved from Richard to Livia. Then he cleared his throat.
"Lord Langford," he said, far too pleasantly. "That luncheon?"
Geoffrey almost blessed him for it. "Yes," He said at once and signalled to the maids. Geoffrey rose to oversee the arrangement.
"Geoffrey," Henry called.
The Lord Chancellor paused. "Your Majesty?"
Henry glanced around the chamber. "Have you ever thought of remarrying?" he asked. "Your household may need it."
Geoffrey smiled faintly. "There was only one woman for me, Your Majesty. Besides... I have my hands full with Richard’s nuptials and my duties to England." He bowed, then turned and left.
The moment he was gone, Livia turned to Richard.
"You are getting married?"
"Yes," he said. "Wedding bells are jingling all around, are they not?"
"Congratulations," Livia said. "When is it happening?"
"I have no idea," he said. "I should probably ask His Majesty."
Livia frowned. Richard turned his head towards Henry.
"How soon shall I be married, Your Majesty?"
Livia looked from Richard to Henry. "What does that mean?"
Henry’s gaze had hardened. He kept it fixed on Richard, and the softness he had worn only moments ago vanished. It was astonishing how quickly he could do that.
"Richard’s condition for returning to England was that he marry as soon as he arrived," Henry said. "About how soon that should happen? I do not know, Richard. Will tomorrow do?"
Her anger arrived before she could stop it. He was forcing Richard into marriage?
"Whatever you say, sire," Richard said, bowing his head with poisonous obedience. "You are our sovereign."
"Enough!"
Both men stopped.
"For God’s sake," she said, voice trembling with fury. "I am fed up with this." She looked from one man to the other. "I cannot be the ball between you two. Do you have any idea how much it hurts to feel as though I am responsible for ruining your friendship?"
"You did not do anything," Henry said immediately.
"It is not your fault," Richard said at the same time.
Their voices collided again, as their apologies had done before.
"I do not care what either of you says. It is how I feel. I know I did not ask for this. I know I did not force anyone to love me. But I am still standing in the middle of it. For God’s sake...please be civil to each other. Please."
She stepped back from the table.
"Where are you going?"
"To help His Lordship," she said. "You both can sit there and strangle each other for all I care."
Then she turned and left the room. The chamber became instantly quiet.
Without Livia, the room felt exposed.
"You cannot help it, can you?" Henry asked Richard. "You just have to be troublesome."
"It is who I am," Richard replied. He glanced towards the door Livia had just passed through. "Being around you has changed her...Her anger used to be cute. Funny, even. Now it is vicious."
"You should pay more attention to your own intended, Richard," Henry said.
"She is right anyway. I once told you that if we went to war with each other, she would suffer."
"I am not warring with you. All I wanted was the woman you stole from me."
"She was never a thing to belong to either of us." Richard looked down. "I am glad you are doing right by her."
Henry looked at Richard and, for the first time that day, truly saw what it cost him to sit there. Richard loved Livia. Henry knew that feeling. He had felt it when he discovered Diana Bellamy had been made from Livia Valenti, when he realised Richard had taken the woman he loved and hidden her behind another life. He had felt the madness of being near her and unable to claim her.
Henry got to his feet. He could not sit there any longer. "I will tell you one truth right now...you may do with it what you will."
Richard looked up.
"Whether or not you had agreed to my terms for returning to England, I would still have had you brought home. Because I still care about you." Henry’s throat worked once. "You are..." He stopped, because the correction hurt before he made it. "You were a good friend."
He turned and walked out of the withdrawing chamber. Henry moved towards the dining room, following the sound of servants and Geoffrey’s measured voice. He found Livia standing beside the Lord Chancellor as he oversaw the arrangement of the meal at the table.
She was smiling, conversing easily with Geoffrey now that the suffocating tension of the chamber had been left behind.
He paused in the doorway and watched them for a moment. Geoffrey looked gentler with her than he did with most people.
A strange warmth moved through him. Then he stepped forward.
"It smells delicious in here," Henry said. "But this definitely looks too much for one luncheon, Geoffrey."
Geoffrey turned with a mild expression. "It is not every day one has the King of England and the future queen dining in his home."
Livia looked over Henry’s shoulder. "Is Richard staying for lunch?"
Henry shrugged.
Livia turned to one of the maids. "Would you fetch His Grace, please?"
The maid curtsied at once. "Yes, my lady."
Livia looked back at Henry. He gave nothing away. Henry’s temper had become familiar in its own terrifying way. His face was still, his mouth relaxed, his eyes unreadable. He looked almost resigned.
The maid returned. She curtsied, her eyes carefully lowered. "My lady, His Grace has left the house."
"Oh," Livia said. She felt foolish at once, though she could not have said why. Richard had no obligation to stay. He had been forced to sit through enough awkwardness to poison his appetite and then left before luncheon could become another battlefield. Sensible, perhaps.
Still, something in her chest sank.
"Thank you," she said.
The maid withdrew. Livia looked at Henry again.
"I did not do anything," he said at once.
"I did not say you did anything."
"You looked at me as though I had."
Livia threw both hands up. "I give up. One cannot argue with the man." She took the seat beside him as the maids began to serve the meal.