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“A travesty,” Lucy said, putting on her bright smile. She inhaled to clear away her heated thoughts, both passionate and furious, and fetched her scepter that was propped against the throne where she’d left it barely an hour ago.
Lucy turned, brandishing the scepter in the air. “Kisses for everyone!” she called out as if casting a spell on the room. Every man turned to the nearest woman, taking her hand or leaning in to kiss her cheek. Robert Dudley, Lord Leister, however, kissed the queen’s painted red lips.
Cordelia stood beside Lucy, watching William pick up two goblets of wine. Her sister leaned into Lucy. “Were you with Greer Buchanan?”
“’Tis my affair, not yours, Cordy.”
Cordelia’s sharp look dissolved as a shine came to her eyes. Tears? “I forbid you to fall in love with him,” Cordelia whispered. “He will either break your heart when he leaves, or you will break my heart when you leave with him. Either way, meddling with him will leave us torn asunder.”
Her sister was afraid for her? Lucy squeezed Cordelia’s hand. “What if lust, not love, is what I feel?”
Cordelia’s eyes opened wide. “Have you slept with him?”
“In the wine cellar just now?” She frowned. “No, sister. If I’m going to learn the ways of love, I need a light to see.”
“Lucy, you looked…undone when you ran out. Did he take liberties?”
“No,” she said. She’d been the one who started it all. In the chapel of all places. She felt her flush increase.
“But you were running out,” Cordelia said, her gaze outward toward the merry room.
“I was angry about something else.”
“What?”
Lucy huffed. “He thought I might be the assassin.”
Cordelia stepped in front of her, staring in her eyes. “Why ever would he think that?”
“Well…he’s seen me lie,” Lucy said. “Well enough to escape Walsingham. And I’m a Cranfield.” She threw her arm out. “I swear I will start going by another name altogether.”
“Oh, that won’t look suspicious at all,” Cordelia quipped.
Lucy sighed. “And he heard Simmons talking about a plan he has to get close to the queen and mentioned that I know about it.”
“What plan?”
Lucy stared at her sister. “It involves purchasing land not killing anyone, especially not the queen.”
Cordelia’s hand had gone to her cheek. “People assume the worst about us.”
“To be fair, Greer assumes the worst about everyone.” But that hadn’t stopped him from kissing her when she threw herself at him.
Cordelia tipped her head. “But you were in the wine cellar with him, in the dark, alone, and he wasn’t taking liberties?”
Lucy glanced toward the arched doorway. “I may have been the one taking liberties,” she whispered.
“Lucy!”
“Don’t chide me for adventures you have already had.”
Cordelia looked out at the room, her gaze stopping on William. “You would give yourself to a man before you wed? It will ruin your chances of a good match.”
“You have,” Lucy said.
Cordelia’s face snapped around to her. “And I regret it. I was young and foolish and now I cannot bring my maidenhood to a marriage. Don’t follow my folly.”
Lucy touched Cordelia’s cheek. “I have never thought you foolish, sister. Passionate, beautiful, and adventurous, but never foolish.”
