Chapter 1

Katherine's POV

Not long after I returned to Peacock Hall, a warm body pressed against my back. Jeffrey Stuart wrapped his arms around me from behind and placed his palm on my lower belly, stroking it gently. "You came looking for me earlier?"

I did not answer him as I only stood there in silence.

He sighed. "Kat, if the royal household still doesn't have any heirs, the councilors will bury me with complaints. You don't want to be called narrow-minded either, do you?"

I thought of the days when we first arrived in this era.

Back then, he had dismissed every other concubine in the royal household and kept only me.

At court, one councilor complained I had bewitched the king with my beauty and would bring the realm to ruin. Without another word, Jeffrey banished him a thousand miles away.

Another councilor complained that as queen, I should welcome more concubines into the palace to provide more heirs for the royal bloodline. Otherwise, I would be failing in my duty as queen.

Back then, he said, "If my queen doesn't want children, then she will have none. At worst, we can adopt one from a branch of the royal house. If anyone dares speak of this again, they better hold their tongues lest I cut them out."

But now?

He had chosen a way that forced me to swallow my every grief. He took concubines and summoned them to his bed. He favored Cecily York and made me watch helplessly as he slept with another woman.

I gently pushed his hand away. "It's alright. I understand."

I understood that he had turned our marriage into a political wager. I also understood that once he sat on the throne, we could never go back to what we had been.

I thought of when Cecily first entered the palace and how coldly Jeffrey had treated her. She began praying for the king's health and the kingdom's eternal peace from sunup to sundown everyday.

The year the army in the North ran short of provisions, the treasury was empty and the treasurer had no answer. Cecily's family opened their own granaries, cleared the road for supplies to be delivered, and saved the army from disaster.

When an assassin struck in the Royal Gardens later, she rushed forward and took the blade meant for him, almost dying in the process. She later forced herself up in the biting wind for an entire night, begging Jeffrey for mercy before her wounds had even healed. "Your Majesty, I know you and the queen share a deep bond, but my father has ordered me that if I fail to receive Your Majesty's favor within a year, he'll send the maid who grew up with me to die.

"Your Majesty, I did not come here willingly. If I had a choice, I would never have chosen to disturb you and Her Majesty..."

Jeffrey pitied her, so he bedded her that night.

I had long understood that he was the king of a realm. For the sake of his kingdom, he would have a palace full of concubines. He could not belong to me alone for the rest of his life.

But that night, whatever hope I had in my heart had finally died.

After that, he spent fewer and fewer nights in Peacock Hall, and I stopped waiting for him every night.