“It’s my honor to meet you, Your Majesty,” she returned.
“You must call me Tansy, please,” the queen insisted, seated opposite her in a cozy solar, a tray laden with sweets on the table between them. “We are sisters now.”
A brown-haired woman with gray eyes and a regal air, the queen was undeniably lovely. Not nearly as intimidating as her husband, however. King Maxim was tall and stern, with a wall-like chest and black hair with hints of silver flaring at his temples. He was the opposite of Nando in so many ways, the dark to Nando’s light.
How she missed her husband.
“I have always wanted a sister,” she confided to Tansy, trying to distract herself from thoughts of Nando and how she would be received.
Misgiving returned, swirling, making her question herself, question her actions. What if he had not truly left her because he loved her, but because he had grown tired of her? What if he no longer wanted to be a married man? What if the recklessness he was so known for had overtaken him?
“We shall be fast friends, I have no doubt.” The queen took another sip of her tea.
Her easy manner and unfettered kindness had been a pleasant surprise to Eleanora. She hadn’t known what to expect,and Eleanora was relieved that the queen had accepted her presence with such grace and ease.
“I must thank you for welcoming me,” she said politely. “Particularly since I can only assume my visit must come as a surprise, given Nando’s failure to return any of my letters.”
“You must forgive us for not giving you a proper welcome. Your letters did not arrive until yesterday. Please know that we are so pleased that you’ve come to Varros and are more than happy to have you here at the palace with us. Tell me, how did you find the journey?”
Her letters had only arrived yesterday? That knowledge certainly soothed some of her concerns. Nando hadn’t ignored the missives she had sent him, then.
“Long and arduous,” she admitted, thinking of the sometimes storm-tossed journey she had made over the sea, along with the challenge of traveling so far while carrying her first child. “But I am happy to have arrived.”
And desperately anxious, too, an ocean of uncertainty rising within her by the moment. Despite learning Nando hadn’t received her letters until the day before, she still scarcely knew what to expect from him, or how he would react to the news she brought with her.
“You look overset,” Tansy observed gently. “You need not be. Nando will be overjoyed to see you. He has been in misery these last few weeks without you.”
She hoped he would be. But she wouldn’t be sure until she saw his beloved face. Until she could touch him, speak with him. Box his ears for leaving her as he had.
“I understand the misery,” she admitted. “I have been lost without him as well.”
Lost did not begin to describe the way she had felt in his absence, as if a gaping hole had been torn in her very existence and there was no conceivable means of mending it.
“Nando is stubborn, just as Maxim is,” Tansy said, her tone conciliatory. “I expect he believed he was acting in your best interest by leaving you in London as he did. He was devastated over what had happened to you when he arrived. I have never seen him so disconsolate.”
Nando was always quick to smile, to make a jest of everything, especially himself. It wasn’t gratifying to hear he had been unhappy and grim, even if it was the same way she had felt without him. Perhaps there was hope for them yet. But she didn’t dare to allow her mind to drift any further.
Not until she saw him for herself.
Her heart was already fragile, bruised and battered as it had been by his abrupt departure. She was too afraid to even contemplate what would happen if his mind was unchanged and if he remained unmoved after she had traveled all this way for him.
“I have missed him,” she admitted quietly.
“You love him,” Tansy said.
Eleanora could not deny it. “I do.”
“I believe that he loves you too.” The queen settled her dish of tea back upon the table. “Love is stronger than distance and stronger than pain. It is the single strongest bond two people can share. Love tore you apart, and now love will bring you back together again. Trust me, Eleanora. You shall see.”
“I hope you are right.” Eleanora replaced her own dish of virtually untouched tea on the table as well.
Before they could indulge in further discussion, the heavy footfalls of the king heralded his return to the salon.
“Did you find him?” Tansy asked expectantly, brightening at the sight of her husband.
It was plain for Eleanora to see that the king and queen shared a love match. Their mutual admiration was almost palpable whenever the two were in a room.
She turned to the king, holding her breath as she awaited his answer.
