no other will but mine.

calvino iv of spain. i found rome a city of bricks, and left it a city of marble.

[resilientwill]

    –  ❝It appears I have come at a BAD time        no?❞

[msmctthews-deactivated20160928]

—– She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “No need for repetition, Your Grace. I heard you perfectly.” The brunette stated evenly, holding the goblet in her hand out for the King to take. 

Therese wanted to snap back at him as if she were one of her fathers old hunting dogs, but she resisted the urge and instead bowed her head. “I will sit at Your Highness’s pleasure, but I shall not take a chalice. I fear the heat and the vino will prove to be an ill put together ensemble for me, and I do have a son to get back to.” She let out slowly, as she sat down in a chair. 

[resilientwill]

     –  Inquisitive eyes followed her as she settled in her seat, ❝A son? And a husband, I presume? Or perhaps... a LOVER.❞ To suggest such a thing was an incorrigible act, but the King’s leverage over the Duchess and his lukewarmness towards comme il faut etiquette thrusted the words past his lips naturally. 

[vittoria-z-deactivated20161217]

The Tudors (2007-2010)

[duchessclemence-blog]

Joan sighs, blocking out her husband’s oaths as they wash over her. Her husband may think what he likes, but befriending Alexander’s only daughter - a marriageable bastard - could only help them. Still, she plasters her Good Wife smile on her face and says, “Of course.” It’s clear, now, that she’ll have to make friends and influence nobility herself.

She brings her own wine goblet to her lips, careful to sip, not gulp, despite her urge to feel woozy as quickly as possible. “I’m always pure, as a good Catholic wife should be,” she says easily, “but I would never deny my husband his rights.” The sooner they have an heir, and maybe a spare, the sooner Calvino will stop visiting her chamber - and that, she wants to accelerate.

[resilientwill]

    –   His head dips at her misunderstanding, but he concedes nonetheless. It was not her purity he asked after; rather, the plague which visited her at the apex of the moon’s rising. ❝Very well,❞ he agrees. Juana was, admittedly, a beautiful women, and a benevolent Queen to his bloodthirsty people, his country having been unified by a battle, but he found no pleasure in the comfort of her bed, nor between the stretch of her thighs as he did his lovers. Whether it be his slew of mistresses or own conscious that drove him away from her, he could not be sure - the only certainly to be had was their loveless match. Yet he knew and anticipated the fact that their carnal relationship would come to an abrupt end when she bore him a son. ❝Will you not sup with me tonight?❞

[geneva-somerset-deactivated2016]

Despite trying to keep her face firm, Geneva could no hold in the small laughter for very long. ‘That remains to be so, but if the company is not to your L I K I N G and I took my leave, who would be here to listen to your rambles?’

[resilientwill]

    –   A veteran of the quotidian masquerade, a smile did not meet Calvino’s lips as a laughter spilled from Geneva’s rosebud mouth. ❝Oh, to be sure, the walls would make for better company than Your Grace. They hearken well and SELDOM protest.❞

[duchessclemence-blog]

Certainly Calvino can’t fault her for trying to pretend to like him, Joan thinks to herself. Sure, she’s no great beauty, but she’s bright, and she’s a true Catholic, and at the height of their newest victory, she’d like this to work. She’d like to receive some kindness. “I do try,” she says, lowering her voice. Ignoring his brush-off, she changes tactics. She is a Stuart, and if Calvino understands anything, it’s superiority. “I was simply planning on visiting the Lady Lucrezia Borgia - she’s just becoming a woman, and she could use a truly refined friend at this court. No Spanish lady should have to associate with riff-raff.”

[resilientwill]

     –   Calvino finds himself only half-listening to his Queen, although he provides a curt nod to the cessation of her words, eyes trained on her lips as they chatter away. ❝You may do as you like with her - she is of no value to the Borgias, and therefor none to us - asinine CHIT she is. It is of little import to me, specifically.❞ He lifts his chin, eyes narrowing, ❝I ask that you not bother me with it again.❞ He brings a chalice to his lips, gaze dancing over the burning hearth. He had been quite fond of the sound of crackling wood in the past; but now he can only feel the heat which emanates. ❝Have you your impurity this night, Juana? I should visit you in your chambers... Perhaps you might prove a serviceable wife.❞

[geneva-somerset-deactivated2016]

‘I have found the wine quiet agreeable,’ Geneva said, the decibel of her voice a little louder than she would have liked. ‘Which is not to your liking, your Majesty? In suavitate bibes?’ She was unsure she should even bother trying to make conversation, but she feared of becoming bored if they were to just sit in silence.

[resilientwill]

     –   Calvino repressed a slight chortle towards her embittered words, his inhibited tongue curling beneath the roof of his wine-sheathed mouth. ❝Perhaps it is the company which lacks, Highness,❞ He jested, eyes flitting over the woman he’d known for only few, transient years - but had come to APPRECIATE to some meagre extent. 

[tcmpestuovs]

“Perhaps not,” Adeline replied, eyebrow quirking. “If, of course, I was making a remark about about anything but your wine. I was just calling for more, your Majesty.”

[resilientwill]

       –   ❝Your FATHER must have taught you well, Highness.❞

[mildredholland]

“That depends whether your palette prefers Spanish or Italian.”

[resilientwill]

     –   ❝It is only a MATTER of moving lips to me, madam.❞

[duchessclemence-blog]

As always, Juana holds her breath, trying deeply to humor her husband, despite the difference in age. She knows his hearing isn’t his fault, so she lays a hand on his shoulder gently. “I can ask that servant over there to fill your goblet again,” she said gently. “I was just saying, it would be good to throw the might of Spain behind His Holiness. He is Spanish himself, after all. There’s great kinship in that.”

[resilientwill]

       –   Calvino flinches from his wife’s caressing touch, his lips furling into a snarl. ❝At last, something USEFUL out of you,❞ He mutters, gazing at her as if she were a NUISANCE. The King was not the kindest to his Queen, and until her womb filled with the fruit of their marriage he would continue to treat her inequitably. ❝Leave your tongue out of foreign affairs, darling - it is unbecoming on a woman.❞

[msmctthews-deactivated20160928]

—– Therese felt her eyebrows pull together at his comment, she had foolishly thought that he had been listening to her well wishes. “I do not think that the vino is going to be particularly helpful in your CONDITION.” She said poignantly, as she walked over to a table which had a jug of wine perched on it, pouring out a glass for the man. “I would suggest something a little less pungent, but you need not listen to me, Your Grace.” 

[resilientwill]

       –   The King chuckled, a guttural sound emerging from his throat which he himself could not hear, as a natural frown again fitted around the corners of his lips. ❝It is not a condition- it is a result, and vino is the cure. Do you understand, or need I repeat myself - perhaps in a slower cadence for Your Ladyship?❞ 

     ❝Do not look away from me when you speak, madam; pretty lips such as your own should not go UNSEEN,❞ He growled sardonically, only distinguishing the preamble of her statement. ❝Why don’t you sit? Enjoy a chalice.❞

[celiadifirenze-blog]

Turning a color she could only describe as akin to a strawberry, Celia curtsied deeply ones more, anxiety bubbling. “I-I was only bidding you good morrow, Your Majesty. I beg your forgiveness. The wine here is…excellent, I think. The servants will fetch it for you, Your Majesty.” Feeling herself begin to babble, she stopped herself.

[resilientwill]

       –   Though the King had become remarkably adept at reading lips in his year of aural disadvantage, the young woman’s rapid REGRETS went deliberately unnoticed.  ❝Very well.❞ His eyes precariously set on her countenance, nigh evaluating her forthcoming counterargument, Calvino pressed: ❝Tell me, madam, do you not think it preliminary to imbibe so early in the MORN?❞

[resilientwill]

        –   As his company speaks, Calvino’s head can only tilt backwards - brows drawn together in a SUBTLE evince of perplexity. ❝Paenitet me. I only caught the latter half of your remark - but perhaps it is in my best interest not to solicit a REPETITION. Is there no decent wine to be had in this Palace?❞

[mandsukic]

D U K E  of  S U F F O L K.