She had hired a professional. Not those cheap, clumsy dogs Nicholas Beaumont's girls might have scraped from an alley. The rider had been meant to finish what the masked men began.
But Livia lived.
"You forget yourself, Lionel," Theodora said.
"No." His voice hardened. "You forget yourself. I warned you...Did I not?"
"You warned me?" She laughed softly. "You speak as though you are in command of anything."
"I am in command of myself. That is more than I have been able to claim since I first let you speak to me."
Her gaze narrowed as she set her cup down with great care. "You cannot threaten me. That requires power. What is the worst Henry will do to me if he learns?" she asked. "Banishment, perhaps. But you?" Her smile widened. "Your head would be on the block before I finished the Lord's Prayer."
"I do not care. I do not," he said again. "I will tell the king everything when he returns."
