When I wake up, it’s to the sound of knocking at the door. I rub my eyes as I force them open, gradually dragging myself up to a sitting position on Bessie’s bed. I look out the windows and a crescent moon is just appearing in the sky. Bessie is passed out on the mattress beside me. She rolls over, mumbling something about hating goats’ milk, when the knocking starts up again. I shimmy out of bed and totter to the door, slowly opening it to find Simon out in the hall.
My mouth drops. I can barely breathe. Not because of Simon. He looks great and all, but in his arms is without question the most adorable puppy I have ever been blessed to see. Simon chuckles at my reaction, situating the pup-pup angel more comfortably in his hold.
“The king bid me to give you this gift as an early wedding present. One of your maids told me I could find you here.”
Henry VIII is good. He doesn’t know me in the least, yet he found my goddamned kryptonite. The urge to jump and squeal is so consuming that it almost knocks me down. Somehow I keep a handle on my composure long enough to ask, “Is she really mine?”
Simon’s face softens. “He. And yes, I believe that is the sentiment.”
He hands the puppy over to me and my heart explodes. “You’re a boy?” I coo into his fleecy brown fur. “That’s okay. I still love you.”
I give him kisses. A lot of kisses, and it’s as if I can feel the color returning to my cheeks. I turn to face inside the room.
“Bessie, look! Look at this mushy little bubba!”
My friend scrunches her face as she looks over. “Adorable,” she grumbles. “Now close the door. And make a note of the time!” She drops back onto her pillow and is snoring within seconds.
I step out into the hall, and Simon closes the door for me. My hands are filled and will be for the foreseeable future.
“What will you call him?” he asks. I can tell that he wants to pet him but keeps his hands pinned behind his back.
“I think I’ll go with... Theo.”
Simon nods. “It’s a good name.”
I agree. Every psychologist needs a theory, and my Theo is the cutest. I’m content to carry on with my hallway snugglefest forever when Simon asks, “Shall I see you back to your room?”
That would make sense. But I’m too amped up for tonight to be over, plus I might have just slept for five or more hours.
“I think I’m going to take Theo for a walk,” I tell him. “You should join me.”
Simon looks down the hall. It’s deserted. He pauses for only a moment before answering. “If the future queen insists, who am I to refuse?”
Outside in the gardens, I’m sitting in a soft patch of grass with Theo rolling in my lap. Simon is sitting a few feet across from me, leaning his weight back on his arms.
“Wait, is this the urgent task Henry told you about at the tournament? Bringing me a dog?”
Simon offers a relaxed shrug. “The king honors me with his trust.”
“Apparently so.” Theo scratches at a shiny pleat in my skirt, and Simon’s lips twitch as he watches. My gaze lingers on the cut under his eye, which I’m glad to see has been cleaned up since the joust. I’d ask Bessie to have a look at it, but I’d never hear the end of it if I did. I’m wondering if I could set up an impromptu urgent care appointment between the two of them when Theo begins to squirm in my lap. As I struggle to wrangle him, I realize that he’s doing everything in his power to run off in Simon’s direction.
“You know, I’m trying not to be offended by just how much Theo prefers you to me, but it’s getting difficult.”
Simon chuckles as I keep switching my hands under Theo’s belly, trying to keep hold of him. “Theo doesn’t prefer me,” he says.
“Really?” I place the puppy on the ground, and he immediately darts over to Simon, jumping up and down in front of him in a desperate plea to be held. Simon tenderly picks him up and rests him in the curve of his arm.
“That was little more than luck,” he tells me.
Not for nothing, but Simon could make a killing selling pictures of himself holding puppies. It’s a niche market, but I’m now a part of the fandom.
“Right,” I reply. “Was it luck that helped you win the joust today, too?”
“In part. Training is required, of course, but luck is the deciding factor in all things.”
“I’d agree with that.” I scoot myself closer on the grass, getting myself within arm’s reach to scratch Theo’s beckoning belly. “I’m starting to think that I’m notoriously unlucky.”
Simon looks at me in slight surprise. “Few people would agree with that.”
