The King’s expression was severe upon entering, as if he had just finished an argument with Marcus. Nesta could imagine what her husband had said.

Upon seeing her, Edward’s demeanor softened. He smiled. “I was hoping that time had not been kind to you. Instead, you are as beautiful as I remember.”

“It was all those years in the Highlands. The cold weather is good for the complexion.”

The allusion to her Scottish marriage made him uncomfortable. “The Queen—”

“If your knights had not told the world about me, if they had granted me the courtesy given your English ladies, if you had demanded their silence, the Queen and I would have both been spared a lot of humiliation. A high price was paid for one little mistake, and she and I paid it, not you, although the sin was yours.”

He appeared quite boyish and abashed for a moment. It passed quickly.

Of course it did. He was a king.

He gestured to the other chamber. “Did you tell him?”

“The songs told him.”

“That is not what I mean.”

“I never told him which song was true. He asked once how it had been, and I only said that I was not forced.” A vivid memory of that night beneath the window filled her head. One word from her, and everything that followed might have unfolded differently.

Just one word.

She had been unable to give it, even if the word would have been true.

“That was generous of you. Although, to my mind, it is the truth, more or less,” Edward said.

“Since you did not stay long enough to learn my mind on the matter, there is no point in discussing how much more or less. I did not tell Marcus, because he could have never served you if he knew how … ambiguous it was.”

“My lack of restraint can be excused. You bewitched me. I was in love.”

“Oh, tosh. You were bored and randy and full of yourself. And I was ignorant enough to be dazzled that the young king favored me.”

“Not so ignorant, it seemed to me.”

“Since I was Welsh, you probably assumed I had ceased being ignorant years earlier. But I was a child. I met you in that garden expecting a kiss at most.”

“I will admit that things went too far, but I did not force you.”

She realized that it mattered to him. He really wanted her agreement on how it had been. He did not comprehend that the episode had become so insignificant to her that she did not care what he called it.

“Do you seek absolution, my lord? Fine, it is yours.”

“Not so much absolution as an indication of affection. I have often thought of you, and that moonlit garden.”