"Mama. Be well." Victoria stood before the Duchess of Kent in gloves, a bonnet, and a warm cape. She sighed as the Duchess broke into fresh tears.

"How can you send me away, Drina?" the Duchess demanded.

"I have had quite enough of Sir John," Victoria said simply, "and I wish for an independent reign. You will be happy and healthy at Kensington; I have no doubt."

"No doubt," the Duchess repeated, narrowing her eyes. She daubed at her eyes with a handkerchief. "Very well, Drina."

"I think it is time that we made our departure," said Sir John, walking up and giving a perfunctory nod to Victoria. "It is clear we are no longer wanted at Court."

"I am her mother," the Duchess snarled angrily. "She is unmarried. It is uncouth for her to live without me."

"I find myself wholly unconcerned with what is believed to be uncouth. It is not illegal for me to hold Court without you, Mama. It is, however, my prerogative."

"You have made your feelings quite plain indeed, Your Majesty." Lady Flora came up beside the Duchess and snared her arm through Victoria's mother's. Lady Flora's face was sour. "You won't have us to aid you, Ma'am. That's all we've ever wanted to do. To help you."

"Oh, is that so?" VIctoria tipped her chin up and scoffed. "When the three of you worked to keep me isolated and uneducated on matters of State, was that your way of helping me? When you kept me away from my Hanoverian relatives, when you wouldn't let me play with other children, when you -"

"Drina," cut in the Duchess, her eyes still swollen and wet. "Everything we did at Kensington, we did for you."

"No, Mama," Victoria countered. "Everything was done to me. And I won't live with those ghosts anymore. Goodbye. I wish you well."

The Duchess of Kent just stared for a very long moment. Finally she sniffed and nodded. "Goodbye, Drina."

Victoria watched from the steps as Sir John, the Duchess, and Lady Flora all climbed into a fine coach. She felt a swell of happiness as the carriage horses trotted off, as her mother and Sir John and Lady Flora made their way off the grounds of Buckingham Palace. No more would Victoria have to deal with their abuses, she thought. And neither would Lord M.

She turned and walked back to the grand entrance of Buckingham Palace, and the doors were opened with bows. Victoria started to make her way to the green drawing room, but halfway there, she saw a figure approaching her in the corridor. It was Emma Portman. Victoria plucked off her gloves and smiled at Emma.

"Lady Portman," she said, and Emma curtsied.

"Your Majesty. Have you need of me right now?"

"No; I'm off to see Lord M," said Victoria, and Emma's eyes shifted. She sighed and asked,

"Ma'am, if I may advise caution… William would never… it's only that people have begun to talk, Ma'am."

"You sound like Lady Flora," Victoria warned. Emma shut her eyes and shook her head.

"If I do, I apologise," she said. "It's only that I do not wish for a scandal for you, Ma'am. Nor for William. He's endured enough of those."

"Emma, may I ask you something?" Victoria said quietly, pulling on Emma's sleeve until they were at the edge of the empty corridor. Emma frowned but nodded.

"Of course, Ma'am. You may ask me anything."

Victoria hesitated. She swallowed hard and finally asked, "The act which puts a child on a woman. Is there anything else? Besides kissing?"

She felt her eyes flash, and Emma's gaze went very serious.

"Oh, Ma'am," she said gravely. "Please tell me that you and William haven't…"

"He kissed me." Victoria whispered the words. "I know I can confide in you, Emma; you're the only one I've told. But he told me that I can't be with child after that."

"No, Ma'am. Kisses don't lead to children." Emma huffed. "You must be very careful to avoid that which does put a child on a woman. If you were to… you could be deposed."

"You have children," Victoria pointed out.

"So I do, Ma'am," Emma nodded. "I know well how they come about."

"Lord M would barely give me any information," Victoria whispered furtively. "He told me it's something like the story of Onan in the Bible. But I don't understand… the seed? What is the… I don't…"

"Oh, Ma'am," Emma said again. She reached for Victoria's hand and squeezed gently. She gave Victoria a serious look and said, "That which hangs between a man's legs is his organ for all of this. It grows firm when he is filled with want. The man then places that organ within the woman's body and moves it back and forth. After awhile, the movement feels so good to him that he spills his seed within her, and that is how a child is made."

Victoria stood in stunned silence. She blinked. "Oh."

She felt like such an idiot, not knowing any of this, but then she remembered Lord Melbourne telling her that he had operated on instinct the first time he'd done it. She let out a shaking breath and asked,

"So that act is forbidden?"

"It is highly encouraged, Ma'am… between a husband and a wife," said Emma stoutly. "To anyone else, it is ruinous. A woman with child with no husband…"

"But there is nothing else?" asked Victoria. "It is either kissing or that? For you see, Emma, I…"

She trailed off then, thinking she'd said too much. Emma sighed and said gently,

"I think you ought to express to William that you can not abide a child, but that you long for him. Believe me, Ma'am; he'll know how to make all of this better for you."

"Emma," whispered Victoria, "you won't tell my secret?"

I'll know if you do, she thought. But Emma gave her a sincere look and said kindly,

"It is plain to me that you and William make one another happy, Ma'am. It's plain to everyone, but I know him well, and I… I am not about to destroy that happiness."

"They'll make me marry," Victoria said worriedly, "and then I shall have to leave William behind."

"You've not even had your Coronation, Ma'am," said Emma, squeezing Victoria's hand again. "There's plenty of time for you to be on your own."

"Perhaps I shall stay on my own forever, like Queen Elizabeth," mused Victoria. Emma smiled, but this time the smile did not reach her eyes.

"Yes, Ma'am. Perhaps you will."

"Emma Portman told me more," Victoria said as Melbourne bowed. She walked further into the room as the door shut behind her, and Melbourne looked up and frowned.

"I beg your pardon; Your Majesty. She told you… more?"

"Yes." Victoria neared him and took his face in her hands, leaning up onto her toes. "She told me that a man puts his rigid organ inside a woman and stirs it about until he finds his pleasure."

"Oh, Heavens. Emma…" Melbourne rolled his eyes a little and puffed a breath. "She's always been bold, if nothing else."

"She also told me that there was more for you to instruct me about," Victoria said earnestly. "She said that you would teach me what comes in between kissing and the act that puts a child on a woman."

"Oh, she did, did she?" Melbourne's eyes twinkled. "Emma."

"I wish to know, Lord M, what comes between kissing and that act."

Melbourne let out a long sigh and gulped. He murmured to Victoria,

"I do not wish to go too far. Even without putting a child on you, there are things, Ma'am, which go much too far. For you are the Queen, and I am your Prime Minister, and we are not married."

"Well," Victoria hummed, "what is something which is not too far, then?"

His hands went to her waist and rubbed her there. Even through her dress, her corset, and her shift, she could feel the warmth of his hands. His fingers trailed up her torso, all the way to her constricted breasts. She sucked in air and whispered,

"I feel it already. Desire."

"Yes, Ma'am," mumbled Melbourne, lowering his eyes. "I feel it, too."

He trailed his fingertips up and over the neckline of her dress, and she gasped as he started to caress the swell of her chest, her collarbone, and then her neck. His knuckles dragged around her chest with one hand and her jaw with the other. Victoria swallowed past the lump in her throat, and she asked,

"Is it meant to make me shiver with need?"

He smiled crookedly, and his eyes actually watered a little. "It's meant to make you feel good, Majesty."

"Well, it is making me feel good," Victoria confirmed. Melbourne released Victoria's jaw and reached for her hand, his breath audibly shaking as he unfurled her fingers and cradled her hand in his. He began to drag his fingers from her wrist to the very tips of her own fingers and then back again. He circled his thumb around the inside of her wrist and murmured,

"You are so very beautiful."

He began to trace the lines on the palm of her hand, studying them carefully. Victoria asked him,

"Are you a soothsayer, Lord M?"

"I see a long and healthy life," Melbourne said gently. He leaned down and brushed his lips against Victoria's, and he said softly onto her lips, "I am still learning the art of foretelling, but I read greatness upon your palm, Ma'am."

She giggled softly and felt a fresh flush of wet heat between her legs. Beneath her corset, her nipples puckered and hardened. Her face felt warm, and she whispered to Melbourne,

"Such desire I feel for you."

"Mmm." He carefully closed her hand and dragged his fingers around her knuckles. He pulled his thumb around the back of her hand and then mumbled,

"I'd like to kiss you now; I've not wanted anything so badly in a great long while."

"Do it," Victoria hissed, and then he crushed his mouth against hers, surprising her with the vigorousness of his kiss. His tongue worked its way into her mouth and dragged over the roof. She moaned softly into the kiss and felt his hands on her - one at her throat and the other on her hand. She was still holding his face, but very much on instinct, her hands drifted southward. She touched at his chest, and then her right hand continued down until she reached the front of his breeches. He sucked in air hard through his nose, and his mouth stilled. There was a firm lump beneath Victoria's hand, and she yanked her mouth off of his.

"Are you all right, Lord M?" She looked down to see that his breeches had tented, and she wondered if she'd hurt him. But he just looked her right in the eye and said seriously,

"Desire, Ma'am."

"Oh."

"Shall we sit, Ma'am?" Melbourne suggested, and she noticed that his cheekbones were pink and his eyes were glazed. She nodded, feeling a little confused, but he let Melbourne guide her by her hand over to the divan. They sank down together and sat side-by-side, and then Melbourne said,

"Much easier to kiss you properly without such a height difference as when we're standing, Ma'am."

"Oh, I see," she said nervously. "Kiss me, then, will you?"

He dragged a knuckle over her throat and asked gravely, "Shall I kiss you here?"

"On my neck?" Victoria gulped. "I don't… I don't know. Will I like it?"

"I certainly hope so," Melbourne smiled. He took her face in his hands and moved it gently to the side, and he leaned forward. He touched his lips to the skin beneath Victoria's ear, and she gasped. He kissed her once, twice, thrice, and then she felt his tongue lathing the skin. She shut her eyes and tipped her head back, astonished by the feel of his mouth caressing her here.

"Help, Lord M; I am overcome by my need for you."

"I am right here, Ma'am," Melbourne promised. He kept kissing her neck, his other hand stroking her décollete. His fingers trembled as they brushed over her collarbone, as they traced the shape of the tops of her breasts. His mouth worked wonders on her neck, and then suddenly she felt a little nip there. Victoria squealed softly and shifted where she sat.

"Oh, more of that, please," she whispered, but Melbourne's breath was hot against her skin as he insisted,

"No, Ma'am; I mustn't mark you up."

"May I touch you?" she asked. "I haven't got any idea how, but I…"

"Perhaps today we keep things… mild. As mild as they can be," Melbourne suggested. Still, when Victoria reached to brush her fingers over the lump in his breeches, he did not protest. She felt so warm, so tightly wound, like a violin string about to snap. She was soaked between her legs, she could feel, and she finally mumbled,

"Something is happening to me, Lord M."

He pulled his mouth off of her neck and gazed at her. His lips were pearlescent and swollen from kissing her neck, and his hand slowed on her neckline. He shut his eyes and said,

"You could always go to your bedroom, Ma'am, and… attend to yourself."

"Attend to myself," Victoria repeated in a confused whisper. "Whatever do you mean?"

"My God, your innocence, Ma'am." He wasn't mocking her, she knew, but she still felt awfully self-conscious as he rubbed his forehead and said, "You could put your hand between your legs and touch until you… you could caress yourself with your fingers until you…"

"Do women find pleasure somehow, too?" asked Victoria, and he let out a little cracked noise and nodded.

"Desire," she whispered, and he nodded more vigorously.

"I need to go," he mumbled. "Ma'am, I need to leave now."

"Well, I think I shall go to my bedroom and try what you've suggested," Victoria said. "We shall see what exactly comes of it."

He scoffed and shut his eyes again. "Mmm-hmm."

"I'll let you know the next time I see you whether or not -"

"Mmm-hmm." Melbourne licked his lips. "May I go, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, Lord M." Victoria felt so tingly and warm that she thought she would burst. "You go to Dover House, and I'll go to my bedroom and put my fingers beneath my skirts. I shall think of you all the while. I shall imagine your hands on me. Your mouth on mine."

He huffed a breath and nodded. He leaned forward and kissed Victoria square on the mouth and said,

"What bliss you bring me, Ma'am."

"Likewise, Lord M." Victoria smiled at him, and she rose, dragging him up. He bowed and appeared to be attempting to cover the front of his breeches with his hand as he broke protocol and turned to walk quickly from the room.

Author's Note: Whew! Things got a little heated. But at least the Duchess and Sir John and Lady Flora have gone! And at least Emma Portman is willing to help! Maybe that will come in handy later. ;) What will Melbourne say when Victoria reports back about her first time putting her hand beneath her skirts? And what of Canada and other political matters? So much coming up in this story.

Thank you so very much for reading. I really, really value your feedback.