- The dimly lit corridor momentarily came to life with gentle laughter, a warm embrace welcoming the golden haired duke back into the arms which took great joy blocking out the rest of court life when holding him of an evening, whilst Mary allowed herself to almost melt with his swaying. “ Almost but no you may not. If a shepherdess is what you desire then a shepherdess I shall be, by hook or by crook I will always seek to guide you home, though we need not wander much further. ” Reluctance ran heavily through Howard veins as she moved to press on wards, a kiss being pressed upon his lips in consolation and hands retrieved Henry’s to resume leading him further, though not too far. Only a dozen of steps or so stood between them and the door which when opened revealed a rather modest chamber, the kind given to the nobility before it was decorated with paintings and baubles of their own, glowing with candlelight for Mary’s grand reveal.
“ Before his majesty’s coronation the Privy Counsel must have been organising your father’s documents when Master Cromwell came across plans which he believed might be of interest to me, I gratefully accepted them but I could not bear to keep them to myself… ” When she had stopped them in the middle of the room, Mary’s voice had been but a whisper as she had moved behind her husband to untie the knot which had been supporting the blind hold over his eyes to finally allow him to see what all of the secrecy had been over. The small chamber, at least it was small by their standards, almost appeared dwarfed by the large canopy bed as it demanded attention; with it’s tall posts and headboard boasting an intricate design incorporating a tudor rose, the Duke’s crown and cross-crosslets from the Howard crest amongst others. “ Your father designed it with his own hand. It may be three years too late but I see fit to mark the occasion of our true unification, of the beginning of our life together and to do so in something that would last through times of trials, separations and with enough room to also house restless children in the future. ” The pictures she painted alone made the almost nervous Duchess smile out of excitement, remaining where she had paused behind Henry where her arms were able to circle around his torso, hands pressed against against the fabric covering his abdomen in a bid to hold him close as he had previously pulled her, before rosy lips fell into silence and fought away nervous anticipation with kisses adoring the dip between neck and shoulder.
The silken neckerchief placed over Richmond’s eyes fell away like an albatross wrung from the throat being untied, for though the circumstances were dichotomous in the extreme Henry felt great relief in being rid of the contraption. He allowed the ribbon to drift away but then captured it in his fist a moment later, crushing it into a shapeless knot as a memento of Mary’s unique blessing unto him and their first Valentine’s spent together as man and wife, his light irises fluttering rapidly to adjust to the candlelight flickering within the chamber. What he witnessed when his eyes readjusted was–in a singular word–simply magnificent, above any prediction he could have devised in his nine and twenty years and beyond any invention DaVinci himself could have construed in his seven and sixty. It was evident beyond a thread of doubt that Mary had slaved over her gift, and though the duke was seldom overcome with emotion her thoughtfulness and tenderness had done the trick and rendered him speechless – robbed of his natural acumen of fodder and flattery, his jaw was rendered agape and his thoughts a disjointed runnel of gratitude. His heart was aflutter and his lungs convulsed with a sterling form of elation as he wafted a hand atop his wife’s, planted in union above his abdomen as he stepped forth with Mary in his wake. Moving further into the chamber to admire the sumptuous and intricate fourposter she commissioned and the additional furnishings she endowed to the space, he left no detail unappreciated in his stride of silence. The room was redolent of his father’s similarly monumental tastes, and yet Richmond was most eager to christen the space as their own – as they would soon do with their own lives – as a sanctuary of sorts where all dreams were permissible and all love true. It dawned upon Henry for mayhap a first in his nine and twenty years that he would no longer be branded as the king’s son forth, and what was once a trepidatious reality morphed into something of a beacon he navigated toward with ease so long as Mary Fitzroy was at his side and he in her heart.
Fair brows knitted together as his tongue lay heavy between his jaw, at a loss for words as he swiveled on his black heel to face Mary. Henry’s eyes had raked through every minute element of the gift, his heart infused with the passion and warmth she all but poured into their chambers, reflecting and symbolising the union between the Tudor and Howard branches. Moving toward his wife, his calloused hands encircled her waist as he drew her nearer so that she could feel and hear the clamor of his heart beneath the rich fabrics of his doublet and the gilded and ruby livery collar slung about his neck. He lifted her up in one swift movement and spun her around, her skirts shuttering wildly as her feet lifted from the ground with ease. ❛ I am robbed of all coherency, tongue-tied, and I have no notion of how to thank you properly other than with this token, ❜ Richmond bent his head and bestowed her mouth with the gentle caress of his own, his hand burying in the dark curls at the nape of her neck. ❛ It is beautiful, Mary. I wish nothing more than for the opportunity to begin my life with you, here. I believe this room to be a symbol of that, and I will treasure it for the remainder of my life. Although our conjoined cross-and-crosslets remind me of the nature of our union, and on what grounds it was predicated, I would have chosen to be with you – if the choice were mine to make, in every reality, any circumstance, and through whatever plight. I love you, Mary Fitzroy, even if this is a blasted consolation prize I am entirely indebted to you. ❜
