The summer continues hot. We sit beside wide-open windows every afternoon, listening to one of my maids reading the Bible, with the drapes at the windows soaked in cold water, trying to cool down the rooms. In the afternoon, I go to my privy chamber where the shutters are closed against the glare and pray that the king’s health mends, and that he releases us from the wearying tedium of hot weather in the fetid city, so that we can go on progress. I long like a swallow to go south, to the sea, to the ocean winds that smell of salt, to Thomas.

Then, one afternoon, as we sit on benches beside the river, trying to get some air, I see the Seymour barge come down the river and tie up at the pier. At once I fix an expression of idle boredom on my face. “Oh, is that the Seymour barge? And who is in it? Is that Thomas Seymour?” I ask.

Elizabeth’s head bobs up at once and she jumps to her feet, shading her eyes from the glare from the river. “It is!” she squeaks. “It’s Sir Thomas! And Edward Seymour with him.”

“My husband?” Anne Seymour asks. “That’s unexpected. Your Majesty, may I go and greet him?”

“We’ll all go,” I say, and we get to our feet and leave our books and our sewing and walk towards the pier where the two Seymour men bow and kiss my hands and then Edward greets his wife.

I hardly see him. I can hardly say the polite words of greeting. Thomas takes my hand and brushes it with his lips. He straightens up and bows to the other ladies. He offers me his arm. I hear him say something about our sitting out by the river and that surely there are pestilential airs. I hear him say something about the court going on progress. I cannot hear for the thudding in my ears.

“Are you here for long?” I ask.

He leans towards me to reply, his voice low. If I were to lean towards him as he is leaning towards me, we would be close enough to kiss. I wonder if he is thinking that too; then I know that he is thinking that too. “I am here only for one night.”

I can’t even hear him say the word night without thinking of lovemaking. “Oh.”

“I wanted to report on the coastal defenses with Edward at my side. We are outnumbered at court. We cannot get a fair hearing. The Howards and their friends dominate everything.”

“I heard that you are not to marry Mary Howard.”

He slides me a quick smile. “Probably just as well.”

“I would have said nothing. She would have been welcome as one of my ladies.”

“I know. I trust you completely. But there was something about the whole business...” He breaks off.