“I’m sorry to bring an intruder into what was meant to be our private supper,” Giabella said.
He tilted his head and his expression softened as he lifted a hand to brush her cheek. “This seems important,” he said. “Of course it would take precedence. Do you wish me to be there? As a buffer?”
She smiled. “I think you are my buffer often enough, aren’t you? Always protecting me.”
His fingers flexed against her skin and then he dropped them away. “It has been the great pleasure of my life to protect you, Giabella.”
“Well, tonight I think I do not need one. Or perhaps shouldn’t use one, at any rate. But I do want you to join us, as my friend. As my confidante. As a man who cares for me and one I…I care for.” She stumbled over the words, wishing she could make them stronger but recognizing how unfair that was considering the future he was planning for himself.
He smiled down at her. “I am happy to come to your table as all those things, Gia.”
She nodded and smoothed her hands down her gown. She glanced back toward the dining room where Marabelle awaited them. “I do fear what she might say with all that anxiety and regret on her expression. But if you’re there, I know I can bear it. Let’s join her, shall we?”
He motioned for her to lead the way and she did, crossing the hall and entering the dining room. Marabelle was seated on the left of the head of the table and Giabella took that space as Dash placed himself just at her right. If she moved her foot just so, she could let it brush his boot, but didn’t.
She needed to focus at present.
The first course was brought out, a shellfish bisque from the fresh catch of the day at the southern port. As they began to eat, the servants left them alone and in that moment, Marabelle set her spoon aside. “You have been kind to be so welcoming, Your Majesty, but I have such anxiety about what I came here to say. Perhaps I might just say it and then you can decide if you wish to evict me from the house.”
Giabella sent a side glance to Dash and he frowned. “That sounds very serious, Miss Fowler.”
Marabelle glanced at him and nodded. “It is.” She drew a long breath. “Your Majesty, I…I fear I have hurt you.”
Giabella drew back at that statement. It had not been what she’d been preparing for since she overheard Marabelle’s voice in the parlor. “You…you are direct, my dear.”
The young woman blushed. “I fear that is true. But I also know that indirectness has also caused both of us to suffer over the years. I wanted to apologize to you for my role in your suffering.”
At that Giabella reached out and covered Marabelle’s hands. She felt them flex beneath her own and the young woman’s eyes went wide as saucers at the action. “Now listen here,” Giabella began. “Your parentage is not your fault. You had no control over what my husband did or didn’t do any more than I did. You are as much a victim of his flagrant disregard for certain aspects of his duty as I was, so there is no apology necessary.”
Marabelle blinked. “Truly? You can be so forgiving?”
“Of course.” Giabella sat back. “In truth, I actually admire you. I’ve watched you work with Grantham over the past few months.” She hesitated and glanced at Dash, drawing strength from his steady expression. “Work with…with your brother.” Marabelle sucked in a sharp breath at that correction, and Giabella felt Dash lean a little closer at her side even though she didn’t look at him. “You are intelligent and tenacious. You think first about your country, just as he does.”
To her surprise, Marabelle’s blue eyes filled with tears. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for those kind words. For your absolution of my guilt. I have carried it a long while.”
“Well, set it down, my dear!” Giabella said with a laugh that she tempered as the second course was brought in.
When the servants had left them again, Marabelle shook her head. “I have enjoyed working with King Grantham, I admit. Helping to shape this new form of government has been satisfying. And exciting, because since we are allowing women to vote, it follows that they will also serve in the future. And my apology precedes my telling you that…that…”
Giabella tilted her head. “You would like to run for a position in the common representation?”
“I would,” Marabelle said.
“I think you would be a wonderful addition,” Giabella said without hesitation. “And I would give my full support to such a notion if that is what you’re asking for.”
“Your Majesty,” Dash said at her side.
She glanced at him to find him looking evenly at Marabelle and she back at him. The unspoken communication flowing between them was run through with tension. “What is it?”
“Surely you must understand that my coming into such a public space, especially with there still being some grumblings from the nobility about this new form of government, that it might…it might create problems.”
“You mean that your parentage might be discovered,” Dash said more plainly. He glanced at Giabella. “A man like Count Hadley would take that information and run with it, trying to make it a scandal. Or a way that the royal family is lining the new government with their own operatives.”
Giabella flinched at both options. Ones she hadn’t thought through in her desire to ease this woman’s fears. The second was especially sharp. It was the same reason she could not pursue anything more from Dash than what they were already sharing.
And the scandal…well, Athawick was far more open-minded in their views on sex and passion, but the king’s illegitimate daughter would make a stir regardless. People would look at Giabella with…pity, she feared. They would whisper when she entered a room and not because she was queen or former queen.
They would whisper about her husband’s mistresses and wonder if there were more children out there with his eyes. She wondered it, after all, even as she tried not to do so. She squeezed her eyes shut at the thought, already feeling the weight of humiliation in her chest.
“Perhaps the queen needs some time to digest this situation,” Dash said, sliding back into his role so easily.
“Of course,” Marabelle said. “I realize this must be a shock to you. I can leave if you’d like.”
Giabella shook her head at that suggestion. “Wait a moment, both of you.”
She stared at her plate, trying to reorganize her thoughts. She had so many when it came to Alistair and their long and miserable marriage. Things she pushed down. Buried, because what was the alternative?
“Gia,” Dash whispered, and when she dared to look at him she saw how much he wanted to touch her. To comfort her, as if having him at her side wasn’t the deepest comfort.
“Alistair was a great many things,” Giabella said, slowly returning her stare to Marabelle. “I’m sorry that he was not good to you or to his other children. But my dear, you shouldn’t let your future be influenced by your past. You should do what you think is best and not worry about the rest.”
Marabelle drew back. “You would be so kind, even though it would also affect you?”
“I would be remiss in denying this country of good leadership for something my late husband did.” She smiled at the young woman. “Take your rightful place. You will only find support from the rest of your family, including me.”