Chapter 348: Do Not Hate Me

"Please," he said. "Do not hate me."

She crossed the room quickly and went into his arms.

Alessandro caught her against him with a sound somewhere between a breath and a sob. His arms tightened around her like he could somehow make up for nineteen lost years simply by refusing to let her go now.

Henry turned away.

This moment did not belong to him.

He walked towards the window and stared out into the darkness, keeping his face carefully composed. He concentrated on the night sky instead.

For once, something had gone right. Was his fortune finally changing? Had God forgiven him? Or had Henry simply suffered enough that even Heaven had eventually decided the account was settled?

Behind him, Alessandro finally loosened his hold on Livia, though one hand remained against her hair.

"Non ti chiederò del tuo passato, cara," he said softly. "Ma ti chiederò del tuo futuro. Vuoi sposare il re d’Inghilterra?" (I will not ask about your past, but I can ask about your future. Do you want to marry the king of England?)

Livia gave a wet laugh. "Parla anche italiano, papà." (He speaks Italian too, Papa)

Henry turned from the window.

Livia looked over at him, tears still shining on her cheeks.

Alessandro glanced towards him. "I had hoped for one private conversation with my daughter."

Livia laughed again.

Then Alessandro looked back at her.

"I love him."

No matter how often she said it, those words still found some unguarded place inside Henry.

"I want to be his queen."

Henry’s lips lifted into a small smile.

Alessandro studied the two of them, perhaps looking for anything suggesting his daughter had been cornered into another life she had not chosen. He found none.

Instead, Livia looked at Henry with certainty.

Alessandro nodded slowly.

Then he turned to Henry.

"May I stay for the wedding?"

Henry raised an eyebrow. "You had better. Tradition requires that someone give her away, and considering you have appeared at the last possible moment, the privilege seems to have fallen rather conveniently into your hands." Then he quickly added, "And before you ask, yes, the wedding is still happening as soon as possible. I have spent quite enough time fighting to marry this woman."

Alessandro looked down at his daughter again. "You will have everything worthy of an Italian princess."

"Thank you, but..." Livia hesitated. "Would it be possible for Lord Langford to stand with us as well? He has been incredibly good to me when he had no obligation to be. He gave me his name when mine meant nothing here. He protected me, treated me as family."

"Of course. Of course. He has been a father to you when I could not. And I owe England a debt I may never fully repay. It gave you protection when your own country failed you. Your own people cast you away. That cannot be forgiven easily. I understand."

"I need to make sure the lady returns to the Abbey, Your Majesty," Henry said. "Whatever else needs to be discussed, the Lord Chancellor of England will handle it."

"Of course." Alessandro still held Livia’s hand. He seemed reluctant to release it, as though letting go too soon might somehow make her disappear again. "I will see you at the wedding," Alessandro looked at her for another long moment. "You really do look like your mother."

"You seem to have been very fond of her."

"I was. But she was a serving girl. I was a king. Forever was never something we were permitted to imagine." His eyes shifted towards Henry. "I suppose I was not as strong as your intended."

Livia stepped forward and hugged Alessandro again.

When she pulled back, Alessandro looked reluctant to let her go.

"I will give you away in a manner worthy of an Italian princess," he promised.

She nodded.

Henry moved forward and took his place beside her, closing his fingers around hers. "Have a good night,"

Alessandro inclined his head. "You too, Your Majesty."

Livia gave her father a final curtsy.

Then she left with Henry.

The moment the carriage door closed behind them, the silence changed. The carriage began to move.

Livia stared ahead.

Then slowly, she leaned back against the seat.

"Holy Mary..."

Henry looked over at her.

A quiet laugh escaped him.

"I am glad you are happy."

Livia turned to him. "All my life... Everything I know about my life just went up in flames."

Every certainty she had carried since childhood had been torn apart in a matter of hours. Lorenzo had not been her father. She had not been discarded. Her mother had not simply chosen some careless man who sold his own daughter away.

There had been a father who would have wanted her if only he had known she existed.

"I spent years thinking I was unwanted."

The carriage rattled over the road. Tomorrow, everything would be different.

She would return to the Abbey as Lady Livia Valenti, but the truth would already be moving behind closed doors. Geoffrey would begin negotiating. Alessandro would begin preparing to claim her publicly. The Archbishop would be given the lineage he had demanded.

And England would eventually learn that the woman whispered about as a witch was, in fact, the daughter of a king.

"The people will be glad about a treaty with Italy," he said. "Merchants will chant your name by morning."

"Princess Livia," she said quietly, testing the name for herself.

"Soon to be Livia, Queen of England. My wife."

She moved closer to him on the carriage seat until their shoulders touched. "I think the heavens are finally on our side."

Henry gave a faint smile. "For the first time in my life."

Livia leaned over and kissed him gently.

Henry kissed her back at first, but after only a moment, he broke away.

She frowned. "What is wrong?"

"Now that the time is near, I am finding it increasingly difficult to control myself."

"Oh." Henry exhaled slowly.

There were only so many nights a man could spend imagining the moment he would finally be allowed to have all of her without stopping himself halfway through. He had restrained himself because he wanted that moment to belong to them properly.