𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒 || 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑊𝐻𝐼𝑇𝐸 𝑄𝑈𝐸𝐸𝑁

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐶𝑋𝐼𝑉

~The Boar and the Phoenix~

Seven days Richard had rested within the great bedchamber and seven days the castle had echoed with the shouts and songs of victory that lasted long into the night. A week of safety, a week of peace.

News of Queen Eleanor's victory and King Richard's return had spread throughout the land like wildfire and the people and nobles alike had rejoiced! Bards and poets crafted their greatest ballads finest verses that were soon sung throughout the country, praising their blessed Queen and telling of her great deeds, of the people's great love for her!

Each day the Yorkists awoke to more tales of how wine flowed freely in city streets and church bells rang for days without ceasing for all wanted their joy to be known!

Their joy and their relief that the country was safe once more, even the French army in London was welcomed with open arms!

Many had taken the Queen's victory at the Battle of Middleham as a sign from God, a true sign that York was meant to rule, that Eleanor was meant to rule and that he had faith in her.

The Golden Queen they had begun to call her and she had laughed out loud when she had been told, promising that when she rode into London she would live up to that name! Truly, it thrilled her to be worthy of their adoration but she did not think on that as she walked to her husband's chamber that day with a precious bundle in her arms.

Richard was still weak, his body was fail after many weeks of the near deadly combination wounds and malnutrition concocted but little by little, day by day he grew ever so slightly stronger and by the seventh morning could sit up! It pained him to do it but he was determined and Eleanor knew that it would do him good to prove his determination was worthwhile.

So what better way was there to do that than presenting his infant daughter to him? And one named for his very first beloved child too!

That morning, after a hearty breakfast with her children, she gathered little Katheryn into her arms and wrapped her in her blankets of cerulean silk before strolling to her husband's chambers.

Richard was reading when she entered, propped up comfortably on his pillows, but the book of myths and legends that had consumed his mind for the past hours became entirely forgotten as he saw the babe within his wife's arms. His eyes widened, filled with the wonder Eleanor had grown accustomed to seeing when he first gazed upon their children but her knowledge did not make her smile any less joyful, it rather made it more so!

After all, a week prior she had thought Richard would never see their child. He all but flung the book aside, only just managing to resist the urge to leap from the confines of his bed and take their baby into his arms. It was almost as if this child restored life to him when he looked upon them for he could feel the strength returning to his limbs! He felt truly alive again for the first time!