Persuasion in the Pantry [Maid for More #1]

Chapter 38 Part 1- The Royal Box

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Queen Victoria gazed out of her carriage at the pitch black sky. The London weather had been gloomier than usual of late and she felt its effects more deeply than ever before. The palm of her silken gloved hand slid consciously over the soft swell of her belly. Perhaps the child was pulling at her emotions already in whatever strange bond mother and babe were speculated to have. Victoria made herself stop rubbing the infants abode and instead pressed her hand into her husband's warm grasp. Albert turned to her and smiled in that way that melted her heart and gave her strength. The effect was instantaneous.

She listened as the wheels of the carriage moved from smooth pavement to the rough clatter of cobblestones, flicking up the shallow pools of water in their grooves. They must be close, she surmised and once again leaned against the pristine glass to watch as the warmly lit lanterns of the Covent Garden Theatre came into view. The night had started to clear up beautifully, permeated with a gentle warmth like the promise of sunshine for the day ahead. Only the scent of damp earth laced the air with memories of rain.

"It has turned out to be a fine night, wouldn't you say?" she asked congenially.

"I hardly think so, Your Majesty, particularly if it ended with your head chopped off," her sober companion responded.

"Really, Lord Bexley," she tsked. "Must you be so effusive?"

"I am trying to make you see reason," Cain ground out, casting a beseeching glance to the Queen's Consort. Prince Albert however appeared to be fascinated by the curtains that trimmed the carriage window at that present moment.

"I am fully capable of understanding your meaning, Lord Bexley, having been apprised of the situation by the Director of your Agency at dawn. What I do not understand is why you are so dogmatic in your belief that I should now sequester myself in my chambers."

"I can only protect you when I am able to control all the variables that surround you. Continuing to go about your daily business while 'with child' presents constant changes which I cannot foresee. Your opponents are amassing their power and if you choose to persist in your course of action, you leave yourself open to danger."

"And what is the alternative?" Victoria snapped, the veneer of her Royal composure cracking against the heat of her temper. "To sit in a room like a brood mare while the Cabinet makes decisions on my country and its people without me? Must I suffer to wait while others seek out betrayers, usurpers and threats?" She pursed her lips in discontent. "It is not in my nature to hand over my power to others."

Cain's fist clenched on his knee. "And, it is not in my nature to let you do otherwise."

"Let me?" The words dripped from the Queens lips like venom and Cain saw the stubborn supercilious streak that so many royals were bred to have.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty. I misspoke," he conceded. Cain watched the slope of his monarch's shoulders ease, as did her pride, but he had his own stubborn bent that refused to break. "And, yet I cannot in good conscience see you to endanger yourself further."

Victoria sighed in frustration and released her husband's hand. "Your advice is duly noted, but it is not your decision to make, Lord Bexley."

"Victoria," Cain began softly and watched her eyes flash defiantly at the use of her Christian name. "You are not the only one who lost a father in some way to this threat against the Crown. The dead are not the only victims; the living have their own horrors to bear."