Page 28 of The Rest is History
Meeting her family was never part of the plan. There’s only one thing for it.
Stay in character.
‘Good gentlewomen,’ I boom. ‘Welcome to my fine palace. You may call me Your Majesty.’ I wink at the girl, Olive, and she giggles.
‘Where are your other wives?’ she asks. ‘Are they here too?’ Her voice is low. Quiet. She cranes her head around.
I peer down at her. ‘How many wives do you think I have?’
‘Six! But not all at the same time.’
‘Ah,’ I say. ‘You are correct, child. Most sadly for me, todayallof my wives are here. Together. Do you know how much noise they make? Alas, not all of them give me as much trouble as this one.’ I elbow Elodie.
‘Can I see them?’ Olive asks.
‘I believe they are in the Great Hall, my Lord,’ Elodie says in her Anne Boleyn voice. Olive giggles again.
I thrust out my arm, cursing the weight of my robes in this warm weather. ‘To the Great Hall, then.’
CHAPTER 12
Elodie
Charlie is a big hit with my family, which is annoying and gratifying in equal measure, though I can’t quite work out why it’s gratifying.
Or I can, but I don’t want to dwell on that too much.
Olive is so transfixed that she forgets to be shy and peppers him with questions, which he answers good-naturedly. Once we get to the Great Hall, the queens make a huge fuss of her. She’s very taken with Shelby and with Cassie, who plays Katherine Howard and is the youngest of the queens. She’s only eighteen and is in her first year at drama school. She and Shelby break character to discuss their favourite hair tutorials on YouTube. I didn’t even know Olive watched hair tutorials.
They’re a cool gang of women, and I’m reminded that I should spend less time with Charlie when I’m here and more time with them.
Definitely healthier. And more fun.
I tell Charlie I’m going to see Grace and Olive back down to Base Court.
‘I’ll follow you down,’ he replies. ‘We should circulate.’
‘He seems… nice,’ Grace says as she hugs me goodbye. ‘He’s a lot more personable than I thought he’d be.’
‘He was in character,’ I point out. ‘Try sharing an office with him. He’s Mr Hostile Silence during the week.’
‘Maybe he’s just shy,’ Olive says. ‘Maybe it’s easier for him to be friendly and silly when he’s acting.’
I bend and kiss her on the nose, holding her cheeks in my hands. ‘And that is why you are one of the wisest people I know, Olive Clancy.’
Her words echo in my ears as I duck through to Master Carpenter’s Court. There’s a cut-through back to Base Court—a kind of cloister—that means I can avoid the majority of the crowds. I discovered it last week.
Maybe Olive is right. Maybe Charlie is painfully shy. He’s certainly socially awkward. Though that wouldn’t explain his hostility towards me.
A middle-aged couple stops me smilingly, and I pause for a photo before ducking into the passageway. It’s quiet, and cool, and dim, and?—
Oh my God.
Oh myGod.
I can’t—I can’t breathe. It’s the strangest feeling I’ve ever had, like my head is spinning and draining of blood, and my skin is cold, and the only phrase I can conjure up to describe it is it thatsomeone just walked over my grave.
Like I’m half here and half not.
