If absolutely must read the disclaimer, it is in chapter 1 & 2

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Chapter 4

"I will be back in a little while, I expect you to prepare dinner and finish your lessons" Danielle climbed down.

As soon as Danielle disappeared, while Veronica's hair still dangling out the window, Ned climbed up.

"I don't want to hurt you, I only want to talk to you" Ned begged.

"You cannot be here" She knocked him out the window.

Ned winced as he felt the branches connect with his skin.

"I told you, my aunt does not take kindly to strangers" Veronica tended to his wounds after lifting him from the trees.

"I love you, Veronica" he confessed.

"Please, you cannot love me, my aunt…".

"Your aunt is not here" he gently kissed her.

"Ned, you must leave" she looked away.

"If I leave, you must promise that we will meet again".

"Veronica, Veronica let down your hair" Danielle called from below.

"Coming, aunt" she lowered her hair to ground. When it was safe she lowered him to the ground.

Mouthing "I love you" she caught the kiss he blew.

"Veronica, is dinner ready?" Danielle asked.

"I'm sorry, aunt I was caught in my lessons".

"Very well, but I expect dinner to be prepared next time" Veronica breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you ready?" Francois asked impatiently later that night.

"If I am to be queen, I must give a good impression" Marguerite stepped out of the room.

"If you are to be queen, then you will be my queen and this is a job" Francois kissed her gently as they rode off.

"I'll be right here, you know what to do" Francois watched from the balcony.

Marguerite entered the ballroom and the line with other young women eager for their dance with the king.

"Mother, are you sure this will work?" Narnia asked impatiently.

"There is only one king and Prince Edward is nowhere to be found", her sister Brywik pointed out.

"Now, now my girls, Prince Edward may not be here right now, but he will return" Alice assured her daughters.

John surveyed the girls who stood on the line to dance with him. They all looked the same, straight out of the school room and the nursery, pushed by their parents and guardians, more excited by the possibility of the title than being with the man. But he had to find a bride and if this was the way to do it, then he would do it.

"Do you have a name, my lady?" Marguerite was escorted onto the floor.

"Maggie, your majesty" she demurely curtsied while making sure he got a complete view of her bosom rising out of the gown. Maggie had been her father's nick name for her and her mother, Margaret. There had been Margaret's in her mother's family for generations, the name Marguerite had been chosen to both stay within the boundaries of family tradition and changing the tradition.

"Well Maggie, do you dance?" the music beckoned them the floor.

"It was part of my tutoring; my parents believed that my education was incomplete without dance lessons" she replied.

"Are your parents in attendance tonight?" he surveyed the ballroom looking for a couple that might resemble her.

"My parents died, majesty, when I was child".

"I am sorry for your loss, Maggie" he met her flashing green eyes and something somehow clicked as he led her back to the line.

"You two look very cozy" Marguerite approached Locke from his perch on the balcony.

"I told you, he is still a man".

"And the good lord chancellor is keeping an eye on both of you" they watched George as he watched the action from the sidelines.

"He expects us to complete the job" Marguerite walked down stairs.

"Remember, midnight, we must return home" Locke called out.

"I see you didn't come alone" John approached her at the edge of ballroom.

"I am a woman without husband or kin to protect me, Henri provides me with protection".

"He seems to be infatuated with you" John observed.

"Henri tends to be a little over protective of me"

"Have we met before?" John had always had keen eye for detail and he watched the lady with the same level he always watched the world.

"I do not know, sire, I have been abroad" the clocked ticket midnight.

"Will you come tomorrow night?" he asked.

"I am sorry, I must leave".

"Maggie, you will come tomorrow, please" he asked.

"Sire…" she started to protest.

Without reason or logic, he started to kiss her and for a moment, she returned the kiss.

"I am sorry, majesty, I must return home": Marguerite broke to kiss.

"I will see you tomorrow night, Maggie" he said.

"Yes, majesty" she curtsied and left the ball.

"It seems like he bought it" Francois commented as they rode away.

"I told he's still a man".

Hours later, Marguerite woke up, feeling Francois's arm wrapped firmly around her. Maybe this was more than a job; the same connection she felt in the meadow days ago was stronger in the ball, as if somehow, they were meant to be. Looking around the sparse surroundings and Francois lying in the bed next to her, she wondered if she was meant for more and maybe one day, she might actually be queen.

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