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“Here. Here,” I said, tapping my glass to Gale’s before moving to sit on his lap, his free arm wrapping around me. “When do you suppose we’ll get used to all of this?”
“I’ve been asking myself that for a year now…still working on it,” he replied, lifting his glass to his lips.
“If you are still working on it, how long will that take me?” I asked.
“Oh, please. Odette the kind-hearted.” He rolled his eyes.
“Where did this name come from?”
“You batting your eyes and smiling at all the people?” he shot back. “Anyone with half a heart gushes over you.”
“Am I overdoing it?” I asked, serious. “The singing today…was it okay—”
“It was perfect. You are perfect. A born natural,” he praised, and it made me feel so good to know. He really had no idea how good.
“I wasn’t much of a history lover. Until I realized everywhere we go, there is some connection to your family. To you.” It was amazing how one family could impact a nation of millions of people. “There are whole towns that exist today just because of your family moving there or staying there. Statues are everywhere of people that are related to you. All of your family history is on street corners throughout the country.”
He paused and tilted his head to the side. “I’ve never really thought about it like that.”
“How could you not?” Right. Privilege. “Some of us are not lucky enough to know our whole family lineage like this. And not just that—it’s taught to other people to always remember.”
“Don’t look at me like that.” He pouted.
“Like what?”
“Like I am spoiled.”
“If the shoe fits,” I muttered behind my glass of wine.
“Aye…okay fine. Sure. But in my defense, when you’re told all your history all the time, it gets boring.”
“King Maximus V creating towns far away from the capital for his other sons, so his wife didn’t end up killing them, is not boring. That’s the work of a historical thriller.”
He grinned. “Ah, I see you’ve learned a lot about Queen Sybell, the terror.”
“Why is she the terror when he’s the one who publicly declared his mistress and threw big celebrations for her and her sons?” I remembered what Elspeth had said. Bad kings were normal. Bad queens made history.
“Because she killed them both!” he exclaimed.
“Allegedly!” I snapped. “There is no proof but a bunch of people spreading rumors. Of course, she wouldn’t have liked Miss Daphne Montampes or her kids.”
“Why is she French in your mind?” he snickered at my French accent of her name.
“I don’t know. That is what came to me. But I was listening to all the history of them…” I said seriously, shifting again to explain, which caused his eyebrow to lift. I held my finger out in front of his face to tell him to calm down. “Anyway, Queen Sybell was a brilliant nurse who could have become a doctor if she had been allowed! She pushed her son to introduce new sanitation measures, fought to allow more females into hospitals, ensured better care for mothers and widows. But because she was so smart, everyone said she had to be the one to poison her husband’s illegitimate sons.”
“I don’t know, bevilën. It could have been the letter she wrote to her sister saying she would kill them,” he shot back, trying not to laugh at me.
I shook my head. “I believe in Queen Sybell. I think she was misunderstood and was blamed for anything that went wrong.”
His chuckles and laughs were so deep I could feel his chest vibrate. “There are a lot more sympathetic queens in our history for you to get attached to. Though I’m glad you are impassioned and not bored.”
“It’s all the footprints that lead to you,” I said gently, and he leaned in and kissed my lips.
“Careful, Queen Odette, you keep sweet-talking me like this and you’ll end up on your back again.” He kissed my chest next to my breast.
And I didn’t want to get distracted.
“Anyway”—I pushed his head back—“all around us is history. And we are making history. Sometimes I am a little bored and just playing nice. But times like today, I really was excited. The kids were a highlight.”
