The Consort, Chapter 30
They showered quickly together, resisting getting up to anything but a little grab-hands, and dressed in fresh clothes. “What’s this audience you have?”
“Lord Hocksley just got engaged, he’s requested an audience to introduce his fiancee to me.”
Cain frowned. “You granted a private audience for that?”
She shrugged. “I like Lord Hocksley. And he fought really hard against all the arranged marriages his parents wanted for him. He held out until he found a woman he loved. I guess I want to encourage that kind of thing.”
He watched her fixing her hair. “Because you didn’t? Hold out for a man you loved, I mean.”
DG paused, meeting his eyes in the mirror. “Maybe. Does that bother you?”
“What if it does? If you had…we wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t have what we have. That’s a frightening thought.”
She turned around on her vanity stool. “It would have been you either way, Cain.”
He didn’t look reassured. “Are you certain of that?”
“Yes. If I’d insisted on marrying for love, I would have stayed single. I would have searched in vain for the man I was meant for until I finally saw that he was right here all the time.”
He smiled, then stood up and walked to her side, pulling her to her feet with one hand. DG put her hands on his chest. “You think this was inevitable, then?”
She nodded. “Absolutely.”
“I wish I were as sure. I’ve just seen people’s fates turn on such random chance, tiny meaningless things that reshape somebody’s whole life. I don’t like the idea that there could be other lives we could have lived, lives where we aren’t together.”
“Then let’s just be grateful that we’re living this life.” She smiled and fetched a deep sigh. “And now I really do have to go.”
“I’ve got a lot of paperwork about the inspections. I’ll catch up with you later.”
DG nodded. “I’m glad you’re home, Wyatt.”
“Me too, sweetheart.” He kissed her one more time, then she stepped out of his arms and headed off to carry on with the business of the day. He watched her go, then set off on a small business matter of his own.
DG stole Cain away for a walk in the gardens after dinner. It was a beautiful spring evening, the air fresh with recent rain and new blossoms. She laced her fingers through his and let herself float along, unmooring from the dock that was her throne and all its attendant worries and responsibilities. Sometimes she had to just forget who she was and enjoy the moment, like this one, walking in a garden hand-in-hand with him. She could sense the same peace coming off him. Even his dress reflected his state of mind, his coat left somewhere inside, his shirtsleeves rolled up, his tie loosened.
“You haven’t asked about the wedding plans,” she finally said. In two weeks, the family would be going out to Finaqua for DG and Cain’s private wedding ceremony, after which the two of them would be leaving for a month’s retreat in the high Western mountains.
“Hmm. I was a little afraid to.”
She laughed. “Don’t be. No pomp and circumstance this time. You won’t have to do a thing. I’ll barely have to do a thing.”
“I like these plans.”
“I did want to ask you something, though. About the guest list.”
“What about it?”
“Are you sure there isn’t anyone else you’d like to invite? From…from when you were with Adora? Family, friends? Did Adora have family you were close to?”
He sighed. “You and Jeb are my only family, DG. Your family is mine, now.”
“Did you have in-laws?”
“Why are you asking about Adora’s family?”
“I just feel bad!” she exclaimed. “I don’t want you cutting yourself off from people who might have been important because you think it’s impolite, or something.”
They stopped and sat down on a bench. He turned to face her. “That’s sweet of you, but there isn’t anyone. Adora’s parents died when Jeb was little. My only other relative that I know of is a cousin I haven’t seen since I was a teenager. The only people I’d want there for myself, besides Jeb of course, are Stu Dwyer and Danny, and they’re both already invited, right?”
DG nodded. “Right.”
“Then I’m set.” He smirked a little. “The person that I most want to be there is you.”
She rolled her eyes, laughing. “You ought to bring me wine with that cheese, Mr. Cain.”
“I thought you liked it when I get romantic, Mrs. Cain.”
“Romantic is one thing. Drippy is another.”
A peaceful silence fell in the darkening garden. DG let her head fall to Cain’s shoulder, their linked hands tucked between them.
There was something else she’d wanted to discuss with him. Something she’d been working up the guts to ask him for weeks now, waiting for the right moment.
There’s not going to be a better moment than this. Just ask.
DG mustered her nerve and spoke. “Wyatt?”
“Hmm?”
“There’s…something I need to talk to you about.”
“Okay.”
She straightened up and turned her upper body so she could look at him. “It’s…well, it’s an idea I had, and…um…if you don’t like it you should just say so, just say no way and that’ll be the end of it, I will totally understand if you hate the idea, it’s no problem if you don’t want to, but I was thinking…well…”
“DG.” She met his eyes. “Just spit it out, huh?”
“It’s about…Adora.”
She saw him stiffen slightly. No doubt he hadn’t been expecting that. “Adora? What about her?”
“I’ve been thinking…what if…” She shut her eyes for a moment, then plunged ahead. “What if we had her moved to Finaqua? To the royal cemetery?”
Cain said nothing for a long moment. She kept her eyes averted as long as she could, but as the silence spun out she finally chanced one glance. He was watching her like he wasn’t quite sure what she was suggesting. “You want to move Adora’s body?”
“Only if you want to,” DG hastened to add. “Only if it’s something you and Jeb think would be…appropriate.”
“How is it appropriate to have her in the royal graveyard?” He didn’t sound upset, just confused.
She hung onto his hand in both of her own, hoping she could make herself clear. “It’s just…I don’t want you to have to choose.”
“Choose what?”
She met his gaze again. “Which of us to be buried with.”
Comprehension crashed into Cain’s face. He closed his eyes and his chin dropped down to his chest. His hand squeezed hers. “Oh. Oh, DG.”
“I had to think about this when I thought you were dead, about where to bury you. Of course I wanted you where I’d be someday, so we’d be together, but then I thought…what if you wanted to be with Adora? Do I have the right to keep you from her? Should she lie where she is, alone? I mean, you had more years with her than you have with me. It didn’t seem right, but then I thought about my own death, and I just want us to be together, but if you were with her, it’d mean burying me away from Finaqua, and the rest of my family and the royal line, and…well, you see where I was going.”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“So if we moved Adora to the royal graveyard, we could put her…you know, by where we’ll be. So you can be with her and me.”
Cain lifted his head and looked at her. His face was creased with something DG couldn’t quite read. “You really love me, don’t you?” he whispered.
DG blinked. “What?”
He shook his head. “Never mind. DG, I’m…I don’t know what to say. Is that legal?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Adora wasn’t royal.”
She flapped a hand. “There are non-royals in the royal cemetery. Close advisors, and favored servants. Ambrose has a plot with our family, he isn’t royal either. And Adora is connected to us. Through you, and through Jeb.” DG sighed. “I just want to do whatever will give you peace.”
Cain nodded. “Let me talk to Jeb. For myself…yes. It would make me very happy to have her there. Not only for the reason you’re thinking of, but to have her away from that cabin, where there was violence done to her and Jeb.” He reached out to DG and she came gratefully against his shoulder. He kissed her forehead. “Thank you. Just for even thinking about it.”
“Anybody would do the same.”
“I don’t think so. A lot of people would be selfish and think only of what they want for themselves. But not you. You’re thinking of me, just like you think of your sister and your father and your subjects before you think of yourself.”
She sighed. “I’m the Queen.”
“That’s why Queens have Consorts. So they have somebody who’ll think of them first.”