A/N: If it's Thursday for you, then my newest ofic is currently available for purchase on Amazon. It's called Spaces Between Notes (no connection to my fic of the same name).

My other three books, Finding Purgatory, One to Tell the Grandkids, and Duplicity are also available free of charge through Friday.

You can find all my work on Amazon under Kristina M Sanchez.

Thank you so much for your support.

Synopsis for Spaces Between Notes:

Nikolai Amorosa is one of those men's men. You know the type—allergic to feelings, couldn't have a heartfelt discussion if he tried, which he never did. Then, he lost his voice, and any chance of communication went out the window.

Unable to speak or otherwise interact with anyone, Niko's anger was off the charts. It could've been worse; he could've been in jail. Instead, he found himself doing construction on Carys Harper's house. Carys talked—a lot—both with her voice and her hands. She was also at the beck and call of her deaf little brother, Benny, which drove Niko nine kinds of crazy. Not that he would've said anything, even if he could.

Something else that drove him crazy? Carys was stubborn. She wouldn't let him wallow. More than that, she seemed to hear all the things he couldn't say. She understood him like she understood music. She heard what existed in the spaces between notes. She knew that sometimes silence screams the loudest.

"Bella." Edward quickened his step, spotting his wife as she walked with the other ladies, following the Queen Mother somewhere or another. She turned at the sound of his voice, and a wide smile broke out on her pretty face.

"My Lord." She hiked up her skirts and walked to him at as brisk a pace as could still be deemed ladylike.

"Isabella." The Queen Mother frowned at her.

Edward reached out his hands to take his wife's in his. He looked to his sister and gave a polite nod. "I'll have My Lady back to you presently, Sister."

Jane scowled, but Edward paid her no mind. He led Bella down a hallway in the opposite direction the Queen Mother was going. Once they were away from prying eyes, he took Bella's face in his hands and kissed her. She sighed into his mouth, wrapping her arms about his neck and pushing up onto the balls of her feet to kiss him back.

Quickly, though, Edward pulled back. He looked her over. "Are you all right, Bella?"

She furrowed her brow. "Yes. I'm quite well. Glad to have you home again." She ducked her head, looking at him shyly from underneath her eyelashes. "I've missed you."

Warmth spread through his chest. He'd wondered if she would miss him when he was gone.

The king's vengeance for what Edward had done, thus far, was underwhelming. That worried Edward, given that Felix's anger was anything but small. The king had ordered Edward to travel five day's ride to the south to oversee the delivery of a statue being given as a gift. Why that fell under Edward's responsibilities, he didn't know.

With him gone, Edward had worried Felix would take advantage of Bella's vulnerability. Bella had been the king's plaything—the object of the torments conjured up by his demented mind—and Felix wasn't overly fond of being told he couldn't have something.

Edward looked his wife over once more, trying to find the right words. "Had the king anything to say to you in my stead?" He kept his tone as light as possible.

The look in Bella's eyes told him she knew exactly what he was asking. A dark expression came over her features but only for a moment. She brightened. "As it happens, Carlisle and Esme's son, Jasper, and his wife will be in residence for some months. Some favor to the crown. Esme is somehow under the impression that I need practice setting up a household. I've been pressed into service finding a place for them to stay and getting it habitable. It's quite the task, and the servants given to me need near constant direction."

Edward threw back his head and laughed. He'd asked Carlisle to help him look out for Bella, knowing full well there was little the man could have done had the king come for her. A woman needed her husband's protection. Edward had tried to make that case, but Felix, of course, insisted she was as safe there in the castle as she had been before Edward married her.

Letting go of his worry, Edward tilted his head down to kiss Bella once again. "And what, pray tell, are you doing with my sister then?" His hands danced along her sides. How he'd missed the feel of her against him.

And for her part, his proper wife didn't seem to be bothered by their impropriety. She pressed back against him, her fingers gently untangling the knots of disheveled hair at the back of his neck.

"She's bound for the marketplace," Bella murmured between kisses. "I thought I would take the opportunity to get a few things I need."

"Hmm." Edward stroked his hands up and down her back and kissed her once more. "Come then, wife. As I've sent your escort on without you, I have no choice but to take up their duty." He offered his arm.

Grinning, Bella wound her arm through his. Together, they walked down into the city, heading for the marketplace.

"I'm happy I found you," Edward said. "I have a gift for you."

"Do you? Some pretty bauble I may show off at court?" she said, teasing him.

"Oh, a bauble. That may have been a fine idea. A necklace perhaps." He did love her neck. "A large jewel just here." He brushed his fingertips briefly at her collarbone. "Alas, you will have to forgive me, wife. I'm new to this marriage game, and rather than bring you something to show up the other wives, I have only brought this."

He slid his sleeve back to show her a dagger he had strapped to his wrist under his shirt.

Bella gasped and stopped, her hand going to the dagger. She looked up at him. "This is mine?"

"I could not come home to my wife empty-handed." It was a fine thing. Slim, with a tastefully jeweled handle—bauble indeed.

"But I thought you were having a dagger made for me."

"So I am. This one is for special occasions. It's more dressed up."

Bella laughed. He did love the sound of her laughter. "Do you carry a dagger for special occasions?" She hefted the thing carefully, turning it over in her hands.

"No, but then, I'm not a lady."

"I see." Bella pushed onto her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Edward."

"Accessibility is a problem," he said as they continued walking. "Your dresses aren't as conducive to hiding a dagger like this." He tucked the thing back into its sheath at his wrist. "Nor are your more dainty boots. Perhaps a satchel. I have seen some ladies carry one at their waist." He nodded. "We'll see if there's a good one at the marketplace. Something easy to open."

Bella smiled at him. "Yes, My Lord."

~Bella~

Bella hummed to herself as she worked. She sat at the desk in her room, going over the ledgers for all her purchases that day.

Behind her, Angela chuckled. "If I may say so, My Lady, I'm glad My Lord is home. You've been much lighter these last few days than you were when he was gone."

"I was worried for him," Bella said with a sigh. "It's silly, I know, but I think he's done something to upset the king."

"I haven't heard anything," Angela said, still bustling about the room, setting out what Bella would need for the night.

Bella got up and went to sit on her chair, ready for Angela to take her hair down and brush it out. "Edward wasn't pleased about being ordered to leave. Less so when the King refused to let me go with him. He's been back two nights and yet has been unable to come to me because the king has all the council running around at his beck and call." She sat back with a sigh, closing her eyes as Angela unwound the tight braids of her hair.

"Of course, the king is not yet wed." Angela's fingers were methodical. "Perhaps he simply doesn't understand a man separated from his wife need not attend anyone else; not even a king."

The room fell silent with that. Bella stared straight forward.

"I'm sorry, My Lady." Angela's voice was soft. "That was too forward."

"No." Bella's voice trembled ever so slightly as her heartbeat had picked up speed. "We're friends, Angela. You should speak your mind."

Her maid was silent for another few moments before she spoke. "You still refuse him?"

"I do not refuse him," Bella said defensively. She sighed. They both knew what Angela meant. Edward had kept his promise to let her lead. If he asked—if he pushed—she would not refuse him.

"Is it that you're frightened, My Lady?" Angela drew the brush through her hair. "My Lord is so gentle with you, and tender. You cannot think that he would hurt you."

"I know he wouldn't," Bella said. "I think that's part of what scares me; that he's so good." She swallowed hard, a fear she pushed down almost constantly coming to the surface once more. "Gods help me, Angela, sometimes I think this is all no more than a ruse. His nephew. His sister. They hate me. His father watched the king…" Bella closed her eyes, her throat tightening. "He watched, and his eyes were cold as ice. He gave me to Edward, but it wouldn't have mattered to him who he gave me to, so long as it offered him an advantage. That's why he let my engagement to Felix go on so long, though he saw what his grandson did to me.

"So why should I believe that Edward is any different than the rest of his family? Certainly the Queen Mother and the King are fond of mindgames. Would this not beat them all?" A chill went down her spine. "If he is not who he says he is, it will destroy me." She took a steadying breath. "I think that I don't go to him, because I'm waiting for his patience to run out. I'm waiting for him to take this choice from me. It makes no sense for him to be this good. If I were a pauper's wife, it would be his right to lay with me."

"So it must be a ruse?" Angela concluded.

"I don't want to believe that." Most of her couldn't fathom that it was true. She had no experience with such things, but the way her husband looked at her… That couldn't be an act, could it?

"Some of the others dither and daydream about being in your place—any of you," Angela said. "But oft I have thought I'm much luckier where I am. True, we have little agency, little power, but—"

"But I have never in my life had power," Bella said, her tone wry. "Even as a child, I was dutiful. I didn't go out to play with my brothers as I wanted to. I didn't touch swords or bows, or—"

"Daggers?" Angela asked, picking up Edward's gift.

Bella was stunned silent at that. She hadn't seen it that way until that moment. Her husband gave her power at every turn.

Angela put the dagger down again and squeezed Bella's arm. "It's a hard world you live in, My Lady. I have seen how finely honed your survival instinct has become. I cannot imagine what it takes to trust anyone in this world after what you've been through."

Bella's hands were clenched in fists at her side. She stared down at her lap, listening to the sound of the brush pulling through her hair. After a long moment, she reached a hand up, pressing it over Angela's. "Thank you."

~Edward~

"By the old Gods and the new, I swear this child is trying to aggravate me to death." Edward shook his head.

Beside him, Carlisle chuckled. "At least it's a clear night. A good night for a walk."

"Yes, and perhaps his undoing," Edward muttered under his breath. "I can't imagine my father will stand for this. What excuse can he possibly have for demanding a council meeting at a building across the damn city?"

"Oh, I imagine it will be the same excuse as usual. He is the king, after all."

"Ordained by the gods in their infinite wisdom." Edward shook his head. He gritted his teeth, remembering the glee on Felix's face when he waved him out the door. The king, of course, would take a carriage. The rest of the council could walk.

"Calm down, my friend." Carlisle patted him on the back. "Riled up is exactly how he wants you. Whatever game he's playing, you can't win if you're not calm."

Edward grunted, but he made an effort to unclench his jaw. "Your son will be here in a few days time, will he not?" he asked, searching for a subject change.

They walked on in companionable conversation. Finally, they neared their destination. Turning the corner of the street, Edward stopped short.

The building was locked. There was no one there. He furrowed his brows. If the king had come by carriage, how in all hells had they beat him there? Edward had even gone to call Carlisle before he left the palace.

It dawned on Edward then that they hadn't. He was suddenly certain that Felix had never called a meeting of the inner council. No. He'd simply wanted Edward very far away.

"Son of a bitch," Edward yelled. Turning on his heel, he ran for all he was worth back to the castle.

Back to his defenseless wife.

~Bella~

Feeling a mite peckish, Bella had sent Angela to the kitchens to find her something to nibble. That had been some time ago. She must have become distracted.

Lacking anything else to do, Bella went about the business of getting ready for bed. She slipped out of her clothes and into her thin dressing gown.

When she emerged from her privy chamber, Bella stopped short, crying out in surprise.

The king was on her bed, his hands behind his head, looking as though he belonged there. He smiled—that snake-like, vile smile she hated. Her heart began to pound hard. Her eyes darted once to the desk where she knew her dagger lay, but only briefly. She didn't dare take her eyes off the viper in her room.

His devil's grin deepened. "Good evening, Lady Isabella." His tone was serene. Funny how serenity coming from him was sinister.

"Y-your Grace." She only just remembered to curtsey prettily. "To what do I owe this honor?"

Felix laughed, an unnerving sound. Nothing amused the king so much as tormenting someone. He got to his feet, his eyes, like a wild beast on the hunt, intent on hers. She took a hurried step backward as he stepped toward her. "You're quite right. I am here to bestow an honor on you," he said, walking toward her one even step at a time. "One I don't think you deserve. You see, I have heard a rumor about the court that you aren't doing your womanly duty by my uncle."

Bella pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Unnerved as she was to find herself alone with the maniac king, she was also taken aback by his rudeness. Reminding herself again that she was a proper lady and that deserved respect even from a king, she straightened her shoulders. "Forgive me, Your Grace, but that's a matter between a husband and wife. If my husband is well pleased with me, I should think that's no one's concern but his."

"Is that what you believe?" He was close enough now that he reached out to stroke the back of his knuckles down her cheek. Bella did her best not to flinch at his touch, but a moment later, he backhanded her hard enough her head snapped to the side. Only his grip on her arm kept her upright.

He leaned in, intimidatingly close, so he could snarl in her ear. "I am not your pathetic excuse for a husband, thank the Gods in their wisdom. I am your king. I am above all except the gods. You are my subject, My Lady. It's a king's duty to ensure his subjects are contributing to the good of the realm, doing their proper duty." Felix pushed her away from him, and she stumbled back, her hand to her cheek, her wide eyes on him. "Tell me, what good are you serving now, hmm? You sit at my table, eat my food, and are entertained by my players. Your one and only use is to further the proud Masen name, and you think yourself above that? You're married to the king's uncle. Do you know how many women would kill to be in your position? Would fall on their knees and do whatever my uncle wanted them to?"

Bella bowed her head. So this was what he was after. It had been too long since he'd beaten and shamed her. Well, she had survived that over and again. She would survive it now. "Your Grace, it's not that I don't intend to fulfil my duty. My lord and I are simply taking the time to get to know each other first."

"I'm not interested in your excuses. My uncle is remiss in putting up with your girlish nonsense, so it falls to me to correct you. If I have to teach you how to do your duty, then so be it."

Bella's head shot up. All the blood drained from her cheeks as she processed his words. She skittered to the side as he reached for her. "Your Grace, you couldn't possibly mean—"

He took her arm in a crushing grip. "Masen blood does run through my veins, after all. It won't make such a difference if it's one Masen or another."

It was an automatic reaction to lash out as he stepped threateningly toward her. She swept her leg at his and, as he wasn't standing solidly, he fell. Bella didn't wait to see if he was hurt. She ran for the door and wrenched it open.

She gave a shriek and jumped backward when two swords clanked together, blocking her path. The king's guards had obviously been instructed not to let her out of this room.

Behind her, the king's footfalls were slow and unworried. Her skin crawled. She looked around the room wildly, trying to find some other way out, something to do, some way she could defend herself. There was nothing. Felix now stood between her and her dagger. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but the king was there. He clapped a rough hand over her mouth and pulled her back against him.

Felix squeezed her cheeks as she screamed against his hand and gave her head a hard shake. "What are you screaming at, idiot girl? No one is going to come for you. I'm the king. Do you think anyone would stop me from taking what I want?"

With one foot, he kicked at the door, and it slammed shut. It was the most sickening sound she'd ever heard, save for the swish of the axe that cut off her father's head in front of her.

A/N: Yes, the next update will be my first priority.