Reign A Romance Anthology - Nina Levine Page 0,252

every person in wait. When she reached the tired mother and her rambunctious child, the woman had struggled to curtsy, so weighed down by the weight of exhaustion and anxiety."

"'Please,' said the Queen. 'Don't worry yourself. Now, come. Let's sit and talk.'

'I'm sorry, my Queen, but I need my cheque to feed my little one.'

The Queen had looked at one of her guards. 'Take her place and call us when you near the front of the line.'"

"And with that, the Queen had taken the woman away. They sat at a local café, sipping drinks, and eating more food than the mother and her child had seen in months. They ate their fill while the Queen asked questions about their life and what the mother needed."

"'A job,' the woman requested. 'So I might look after my child.'"

I cleared my throat, the next part always difficult to tell. "The Queen had considered the woman, a hand on her own stomach.

'Do you know, the first time my child kicked was when I saw your son's face? In times gone by the elders would say that means their spirits are connected. I may not put stock in that story, but I do believe our future Monarch wishes me to help. The crown will pay for a house, and provide an allowance for as long as you need. You have my word.'"

Kit's fingers flexed, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"And she honoured her word. The Queen purchased the woman a house and provided her with an allowance. And every day the woman wrote to the Queen. And every day the Queen wrote back. As the babies grew, the woman found she needed a purpose. And one day, while passing the unemployment line and seeing another woman who was pregnant with a toddler in tow and nowhere to lay their heads, she stopped, and invited her home."

Kit raised her free hand to her lips, pressing them there.

"The woman wrote the Queen, as she did every day, and told her of this new living arrangement, and of her burning desire to help other women like her. And together, the women formed a plan. A charity was founded, and the women worked closely to build a foundation that would become a bedrock for those in need."

"Mallory House."

I nodded, the familiar bittersweet kick of grief and love swirled in my chest. My mother had passed from this world nearly ten years before.

"Is that the end?"

I grinned, pressing a hand to my heart. "You wound me, my Queen. Didn't you listen closely enough? We've been connected since before your birth."

She chuckled, then sobered, squeezing my hand. "I'm sorry I missed your mother's funeral. She was a magnificent woman."

"She was," I agreed. "And you were in London representing the country at Climate Change talks."

Her lips quirked. "My first appearance without my father hovering over me."

"I believe that was the event when you told the President to please stop talking over you and that you were more than capable of speaking for yourself."

She groaned, her head dropping forward and a blush tinting her cheeks. "The man was an ass. He constantly interrupted, spoke over, or tried to present his opinion as my own. 'What the Princess is trying to say is….'" She lifted her head. "I will not allow another to speak for me or our people. Do I regret my language? Perhaps. But I don't regret doing it."

Our people.

"I'm glad. It gave me a laugh in a dark time."

She squeezed my hand. "Jon, this was a lovely story, and I'm sorry for your loss. But what does this have to do with me?"

I hesitated, wondering what my admission would cost me.

"You kicked. If not for the kick my life, my mother's life, the multiple lives their charity has assisted… it would have all been for naught." I cleared my throat. "I grew up on this tale. A simple kick that changed the course of my life. If the kick of an unborn monarch could have such a long-lasting impact, then what could a woman, fully formed and fierce, achieve?"

A small, confused frown marred her brow. "What are you saying?"

"I watched you, Kit. For years. I knew pieces of you through the letters my mother and yours shared. I knew of your habits and friendships. Your heartbreaks and daring. Long after we ceased to be playmates, I learned of you through those letters, developed a sense of the woman you were learning to be. Perhaps hero worship formed part of it, because