Livia slowly pieced it together. "So my mother… She was the king's mistress?"
"Yes."
All her life, she had believed one story. Now, it was being torn apart and replaced with another that sounded too extraordinary to belong to her.
She was the illegitimate daughter of a king. "What does this mean for us?"
"If you acknowledge Alessandro publicly as your father, then our marriage becomes a royal marriage, a matter of diplomacy between England and Italy."
"Does it change anything? Does this mean it will take longer?"
"God, no. I cannot wait another day, never mind several more weeks. I made that perfectly clear to the archbishop."
Whatever treaties, titles or political agreements now had to be dragged into their marriage, Henry had no intention of allowing any of them to postpone it.
"This changes your standing. Perhaps how England sees you. It does not change us. Would you want to meet him? Your father?"
"I don't…" Livia stopped and let out a long breath. "All right."
