It made her Welshman laugh. “It is not a likely tale for a wedding feast,” he said, and ordered them to sing instead of more cheerful things. They looked to her to confirm this command and just as when they bowed to her, she felt a mild panic. But her husband smiled so wide that her heart leapt in her breast to see it. “Already are they devoted to you, my lady wife.”

They were so easy, and so forgiving, and so eager to have her as their lady. They almost seemed to love her more for having been wed in her simple dress, for having appeared as though from nowhere to claim a place at their lord’s side. They did not expect her to put on fine airs, or to know a great many things. They only wanted her to love them, and him. Without a doubt, she was certain she could do that.

When her Welshman said to her that as lord and lady, they were servants to their people before all else, she was even more sure of herself. This was a different kind of service than she was accustomed to, but she would gladly learn it. For him and for them.

In the chamber behind the hall, she put aside her blades one by one, and looked at him. Her Welshman, her prince, her husband. “Even the king cannot sunder this union, do you take me to your bed now,” she said.

“He cannot sunder it even do I not,” he replied. “I have said my vows, Nan, and I will not have them broken by any man.”

She meant to ask him if he was certain of this course, because the risk to him was so great – but he did not give her the chance to ask it. He only took her in his arms and kissed her. He bared her flesh to his touch and pleasured her, and then whispered into the night that he prayed their child would grow in her soon.

The light flickered dimly across his hair, his face. It made her heart beat fast only to look at him, every time. She had never thought it could feel so right to be soft and defenseless, but she felt more herself in this moment than ever in her life, anywhere. His eyes were drifting closed, but his arms were locked around her like she was a treasure he would hold close forever.

“Know you how happy you make me?” she whispered. The tenderness swelled in her, and she pressed him closer, her heart against his, as she silently prayed that he would never be taken from her. That God would keep him safe from the wrath of the king.