Highland Heather - Highland Heather Part 51
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Highland Heather Part 51

"Your scones are the finest I have ever tasted, Mistress Leems. Please teach my cook how to make these fine biscuits."

The housekeeper beamed with pleasure.

"Ah." Elizabeth sighed in contentment, then turned to Richard.

"I have yearned for the peace, the solitude of Grey- stone Abbey."

"Aye, Majesty. I know the feeling."

She glanced at him.

"There are times I envy you, Richard."

Envy. He stifled a laugh.

"There are so many people tugging at me, wishing my ear. I am never alone, with time to collect my thoughts. Solitude is a luxury a monarch cannot afford."

"Perhaps, when your consort is chosen," Madeline said innocently, "your husband will lift some of the burden from your shoulders."

The queen's eyes flashed.

"Husband. It does not seem fair that I should have no choice in the matter." Her gaze fastened on Brenna.

"But then, as you have learned, life has never been fair to those of our sex, has it?"

Brenna's lips curved into a smile.

"As a child I used to wonder what it would be like to be born queen of the land. Now I realize that life is life. Whether in a palace or a hovel, there is birth and death, love and hate, and obligations, no matter how distasteful, to be met."

"Then you are indeed wise for your age, Brenna MacAlpin." The queen gave her an odd little smile.

"But I have always enjoyed a challenge."

Elizabeth turned to Madeline.

"It is good to have your sister and brother with you, is it not?"

Brenna glanced at Adrianna, who sat primly beside her brother, her eyes downcast. Every so often she glanced at the man in the wheeled chair.

But each time he looked at her, she flushed and stared at the floor.

"Aye, Majesty. I miss them so much when we are apart. Ours is a large, happy family."

"Family." The queen spoke the word softly.

"I have no family left.

"Twas my fondest wish that Edward could have lived."

Brenna detected the note of pain in Elizabeth's tone as she spoke the name of the young prince who had died of tuberculosis at the tender age of sixteen.

"I adored my half-brother. As you and Richard did, Morgan."

"Aye, Majesty." Morgan placed a hand over the queen's in a gesture of comfort and affection.

"Richard and I taught him to ride. As we did you."

She chuckled.

"You were very impatient teachers. You allowed me to fall on my royal"

She seemed to catch herself, remembering that there were strangers in the room.

"I threatened to have you both whipped. Do you remember?"

Morgan and Richard burst into laughter.

"Aye. We hid in the wine cellar for hours to escape your punishment.

And by the time we finally crawled out, we were both too drunk to remember anything."

"You drank the royal wine?" The queen lifted an eyebrow in a haughty gesture, then dissolved into peals of laughter.

"What else could we do in the wine cellar? We had to wait until your royal temper cooled."

"Sometimes," the queen said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, "I am amazed that the two of you lived to manhood."

"Aye, Majesty. Sometimes we are amazed as well."

"Do you recall how I begged the two of you to become my ministers?"

"And we argued that we yearned for a life of adventure, away from the stifling rules of court."

"Aye." The queen looked fondly at her two friends.

Across the room Lord Windham watched with a look of fury. How he envied Morgan and Richard Grey their close friendship with the queen.

Brenna sipped her tea and nibbled a morsel of cake, and lost herself in thought. It was strange to picture Morgan as a lad. Even living among royalty, it would seem, he managed to be himself, a teasing, fun-loving rogue, and to discover adventure. She smiled. Aye, it was strange to imagine Morgan playing pranks with Richard and a very young Elizabeth.

She glanced at Richard. What must it be like to lose the ability to walk, run, fight? To a strong, virile man like Richard, it must be a nightmare from which he never woke. And yet, he seemed less affected by it than his brother.

She saw the way Richard's gaze followed the young French woman. And she noted the lingering looks the girl gave Richard when she thought he was not looking. There was no pity in Adrianna's eyes; only admiration for the handsome rogue who sat beside the queen.

Brenna realized for the first time since her arrival in England, she felt completely relaxed. Was it, she asked herself, because the queen had gone out of her way to be kind? Or was it because she was seeing Morgan Grey as a person, and not as her jailer? Usually, whenever he was around, there was a tension in her that she could not explain.

"And what of your childhood in Scotland, Brenna? Was it so different?"

Elizabeth asked.

"I think not. I learned to ride as soon as I could walk. My earliest memories are of being astride my father's shaggy red stallion while he stood beside me, speaking words of encouragement in that deep, wonderful voice of his."

Morgan listened with interest. It was rare to hear Brenna speak of her childhood.