Oh this was bad. This was so bad. The nice man had seen it. His guard person had seen it. She was going to be in so much trouble! Don't talk to strangers. They told her that over and over again. Her father-in-law was very adamant about that. And now she'd not only talked to one, he and the person he was with had seen what happened when she talked.
Her fear was compounded when instead of sending his group on it's way, or even better, leaving with them, he had them stop and said something about a patrol shift. Oh no! He was going to steal her away. Apparently being a “your grace” didn't mean he wasn't a brigand. Maybe he was the prince of thieves or something, but either way, she was in big, big trouble here! They were going to take her away and she'd never see her husband again!
Opal was very near tears when he said he'd heard of her. Had he been waiting to ambush her then? The man she'd thought was kind got off his horse, bent down and picked up the gems that had fallen. But he utterly surprised her when he simply put them into her basket. He hadn't even really looked at them. Why would he do that? Didn't he want them? Wasn't that why he was here with his people all spread out around her now? What--
His queen? He had a queen? He was a king then. That's what he meant by “our circle.” He meant other royals. They all knew about her? And what did he mean by a “proper wedding?” There had been a wedding, she got to wear a pretty dress, Henry's parents had been there, isn't that how weddings went? She didn't quite understand, and she blinked, causing a tear to slip out of one eye. Opal lifted the hand clutching the flowers and gems to brush it away with the back of her hand. She didn't want to embarrass her husband in front of this king, so she couldn't cry like a baby.
Dropping the handful into her basket, as he had, she lifted her chin and tried to stand the way she'd been taught. This king, King Charles, invited her to join him. So she would do her best to remember all the things she'd been taught, and try to do this right. She gave what she thought of as a regal nod and did her best not to shake. Then, to show that she wasn't afraid of him, even though she was currently terrified of messing up, Opal said, “Thank you.”
And simply caught the two diamonds as they clicked past her teeth, dropping them into the basket as well. She could do this, she coached herself. She could.