𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒 || 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑊𝐻𝐼𝑇𝐸 𝑄𝑈𝐸𝐸𝑁

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑋𝑋𝑋𝑉𝐼

~Broken Sanctuary~

"Do I have to?" Eleanor whined as Marie pushed the list of noblewomen across the embroidered coverlet of the bed. She nodded, finding it hard not to laugh at her friend's childlike defiance, grinning as Eleanor folded her arms.

"Yes, you do" She said firmly "you are to leave London on Royal Progress in less than a week and still you have not chosen your ladies in waiting as Queen! You really should have done this before your coronation!"

"But you know I can't stand any of the damned women here!" Eleanor huffed, running her hands over the soft curve of her belly "They will smile and simper to my face and then plot behind my back! Besides I already have you and Anais!" She gestured to the flaxen haired woman sitting on the other side of the bed "and Lady Margaret had become one of my official ladies now! I don't see why I need more! Will you not support me, Anna?"

Anais shrugged a little, sending the Queen half a smile as her fingers played with the coverlet.
"I have to say, Leena, that I agree vith Marie!" Eleanor sighed and sank back into her pillows. "you are the Queen now and a Queen needs a band of Ladies to do her bidding! You don't have to like them all! Ve all know your sister tolerated vomen she resented...."

"I am not my sister" Eleanor cut in, sounding sharper than she had intended "and I will not tolerate women I neither like nor trust simply for the benefit of others!" Anais looked down and she felt a pang of guilt run through her "but I will pick ladies" she said, her voice softer "for you two if not for tradition!"

Anais and Marie smiled at her and offered her the list but Eleanor shook her head, waving it away "I'm perfectly capable of picking ones from my mind, thank you!" She said and bit her lip a little as she thought "Anne!" She declared with a satisfied nod "I shall have Anne Neville! Really I don't know why I didn't think of her before!"

"Of course!" Marie exclaimed and grabbed a fresh piece of parchment to note Anne's name down. "Who else?"

"Anne's daughter Isabel" Eleanor said, thinking of the honey haired girl that had once been her daughter Bess' greatest friend and really still was! "She will not properly serve me till she is older but she will be at court with her Mother and Bess will like to see her too I should think!" She paused again "the same goes for Kit. As my lady she will have a true position at court and I think she would like that! After all, Richard is thinking of making Johnny Captain of Calais! It would be unfair for Kit to be left out!"

"Issy...Kit...." Marie murmured as she wrote, nodding at each name "and who else?"
"Is five not enough?" Eleanor grumbled and Anais grinned.

"You had better make it an even six, my friend!" She suggested and Eleanor sighed, though a thought suddenly came to her mind that made her grin from ear to ear. The three looked towards the chamber doors when they opened and Richard strode in, a happy smile on his face as he walked to the bed and sat down, nodding as Marie and Anais curtsied to him.