I don’t have to feign my delight. “I do love pretty things.”

“They’re a tribute to your own beauty,” he says gently. “I have wanted you draped in the royal treasures ever since I first saw you.”

“Thank you, husband. Thank you so much.”

He chuckles. “I am going to love giving you things. You blush like a little rose. This purse of gold is for you, too. Spend it on whatever you like and then come to me for another. You will have lands and rents and income of your own soon. Your steward will show you a list of all that you will own. You will be a wealthy woman in your own right. You will have all the queen consort lands and Baynard’s Castle in London. You will command a fortune in your own name. This is just to tide you over.”

“I should like to be tided over,” Will Somers observes. “For some reason it is low tide with me, all the time.”

The men laugh as, unobserved, I weigh the purse in my hand. It is heavy. If they are gold nobles, and I imagine that they are, this is a small fortune.

The king looks at his page. “Give me the list,” he says.

The young man bows and hands him a rolled piece of paper. “These are men and women who want to serve in your house-hold,” the king says. “I have marked the ones that I wish you to take. But you can please yourself for most of the posts. I want you to be happy in your rooms and choose your own playmates.”

It is the right of the queen to choose her own ladies. They are with her night and day. It is only fair that they should be her friends, family and favorites. The king should not be making out the list.

“I daresay I will approve your choices,” he says. “I am sure there will be none that I do not approve. You have such beautiful taste, you are certain to choose ladies who will be an ornament to your court and to mine.”

I bow my head.

“But they must be pretty,” he specifies. “Make sure of that. I don’t want an eyesore.”

I say nothing to his plan that I should choose as my companions the women who will please him, and at once, he squeezes my hand. “Ah, Kate, we shall deal well together. We’ll go hunting this afternoon and you shall sit with me.”