Chapter 45
Yvonne's eyes cracked open to the soft insistence of a voice she did not immediately recognize.
"My ladyship, you must wake. It is almost time for the king's morning repast."
The words were spoken in careful Spanish, the tone deferential but edged with urgency. Yvonne groaned and rolled onto her side, burying her face in the pillow.
"Five more minutes," she mumbled in English.
She felt the sudden stillness in the room, the absence of movement, the held breath of several bodies. Her brain caught up a second later.
Yvonne sat up abruptly. The sheet fell away. She was entirely naked, skin still flushed from sleep and the faint ache of last night's bruises. She did not bother to cover herself. Modesty had never been in her.
"I'm up, I'm up," she said, switching to Spanish this time.
The young maid standing closest, a girl Yvonne did not know blinked rapidly, mouth parting in confusion. "¿Perdón, mi señora?"
