Livia let out a short, incredulous laugh. "Surely you exaggerate."
Henry's mouth tilted into a smirk, dangerous and infuriating and so thoroughly himself that it made her heart lift. "I can and I will."
The absurd certainty of it made her smile widen.
He nodded toward the book still in her arms. "Go," he said. "Enjoy your book and have wet dreams about me."
Her smile broke fully then, bright enough to rival the moonlight itself. Livia stepped forward, rose lightly onto her toes, and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. She turned and slipped toward the rooftop door, where Jane waited just beyond it in breathless curiosity and badly concealed excitement.
*****
Lionel escorted the king back to Whitehall through the sleeping city, each man mounted on his own horse, their pace steady but brisk beneath a sky the color of ink.
