‘Ah, fool,’ she said pleasantly as she came out of her rooms. ‘Are you dining with me?’

‘If you wish, Princess,’ I said politely, falling into her train. ‘I saw a curious thing today in the garden.’

‘In which garden?’ she asked.

‘The summer garden,’ I said. ‘I saw two lovers walking side by side and reading a book.’

‘Not lovers,’ she said easily. ‘You lack the Sight if you saw lovers, my fool. That was the king and I, walking and reading together.’

‘You looked like lovers,’ I said flatly. ‘From where I was standing. You looked like a courting couple.’

She gave a little gurgle of delighted laughter. ‘Oh well,’ she said negligently. ‘Who can say how they appear to others?’

‘Princess, you cannot want to be sent back to Woodstock,’ I said to her urgently. We were approaching the great double doors of the dining hall at Hampton Court and I was anxious to warn her before we had to enter and all eyes would be on her.

‘How would I be sent back to Woodstock?’ she demanded. ‘The queen herself released me from arrest and accusation before she locked herself up, and I know that I am innocent of any plot. The king is my friend and my brother-in-law, and an honourable man. I am waiting, like the rest of England, to rejoice at the birth of my sister’s baby. How might I offend?’

I leaned towards her. ‘Princess, if the queen had seen you and her husband today, as I saw you, she would banish you to Woodstock in a moment.’

Elizabeth gave a dizzy laugh. ‘Oh no, for he would not let her.’

‘He? He does not give the orders here.’

‘He is king,’ she pointed out. ‘He told her I should be treated with respect, and I am. He told her that I should be free to come and go as I wish, and I am. He will tell her that I am to stay at court, and I will. And, he will tell her that I am not to be coerced or ill-treated or accused of anything at all. I shall be free to meet who I choose, and talk with who I choose, and, in short, do anything at all that I choose.’

I gasped that she could leap so far in her confidence. ‘You will always be under suspicion.’

‘Not I,’ she said. ‘Not any more. I could be caught with a dozen pikes in my laundry basket tomorrow, and I would not be charged. He will protect me.’

I was stunned into silence.

‘And he is a handsome man.’ She almost purred with pleasure. ‘The most powerful man in Christendom.’

‘Princess, this is the most dangerous game you are playing,’ I warned her. ‘I have never heard you so reckless before. Where is your caution gone?’

‘If he loves me then nothing can touch me,’ she said, her voice very low. ‘And I can make him love me.’

‘He cannot intend anything but your dishonour, and her heartbreak,’ I said fiercely.