Chapter 7: Bathing Lady Stephanie

“Good morning my lord,” Theresa cooed when Henry stumbled out of the bedroom. Since Radzig had left the night before, she was now back to wearing his favourite outfit – nothing at all. Being too lazy and not yet awake enough to rummage through the wardrobe, we wore the same set of absolutely nothing.

“Don’t you even start with that shit, woman,” he grumbled. “Or I might forget that you’re the fairest wench in all of Bohemia and spank your arse.”

“Good save,” she said and planted a kiss on him. “Was that a promise, by the way?”

Henry answered with the most thoughtful reply his still foggy brain could muster. “Huh?”

“Spanking my arse...”

“Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into,” he lamented theatrically, but couldn’t suppress the chuckles.

“Love, I think we should get started on the farms and the mines,” she said as they sat down for the morning meal. “It pains me to think that there are still some of our friends begging in Rattay.”

“I know,” he agreed. “I had planned to get them back to Skalitz, but with Radzig not wanting to rebuild it, I have to make new plans. We’ll have to extend Pribyslavitz, and I need to find someone to oversee the rebuilding of the mines.”

“Master Feyfar would be the obvious choice, wouldn’t he?” she asked.

“Damn, I completely forgot about him,” Henry said and slapped his forehead. “Of course...”

Before he could launch into a rant about his own lack of concentration, Theresa’s incessant giggling distracted him. Looking around he saw Lady Stephanie stand at the top of the stairs, looking wide-eyed at the fact that both of her hosts were having their morning meal completely naked.

“You aren’t offended, are you?” Theresa asked their guest about their lack of clothing.

“It’s somewhat unusual,” Stephanie explained and took a seat. “But I’m not offended. It reminds me of my youth.”

Henry disposed of his ale through his nose, coughing as the drink had gone down the wrong pipe.

“Wait, you went naked too?”

“Not as brazenly as you two,” she explained with a smile. “I used to sneak out of the castle in the evenings and after the bath house closed, we used to go bathing in the pond.”

“Who is ‘we’?” Henry asked.

“Some younger women from the village and I,” she recalled. “But, alas, it didn’t last long. I was just eighteen and freshly married to Divish. He was absolutely livid about the fact that I mingled with our subjects, and even worse, that I took my dress off in their presence, even if they were all women.”

“Well, the rules are a little less strict around here,” Theresa noted with a giggle.

“Obviously,” Stephanie agreed dryly.

Both noted that Henry had gone quiet after his coughing fit. Theresa fixed him with a stern glance.

“Henry,” she said, dragging out the end of his name with an undercurrent of accusation. “I can tell you have an idea again, and something tells me it involves our guest taking off her dress!”

He ignored her intervention and addressed their esteemed guest. “If you went into the pond, does that mean you know how to swim?”

“I do, indeed,” Stephanie said. “Olga taught all of us.”

“What, that crazy wife of the fisherman?” Henry asked wide-eyed.

“She was different back then,” Stephanie said. “She fell a few years ago and badly hit her head. Since then she’s been delusional.”

“Oh,” Henry muttered, self-consciously.

“That idea of yours...” Theresa insisted. “What is it?”

Henry sighed. “Well, I know a spot where we could take a bath in a pond, unseen and undisturbed. I was thinking, maybe we could finally learn how to swim. It’s long overdue I finally learn how to do it.”

“And get Stephanie out of her dress in the process,” she mocked him.

Henry shot up from his place at the table and fixed her with an angry stare. “I didn’t ask to be put in this mess. If you can’t deal with the fact I still care about her, stab me!”

He stormed off down the stairs.

“HENRY!” Theresa shouted after him and he looked back angrily. “Put on some clothes, will you?”

Throwing his arms into the air, he disappeared into their bedroom. Coming back out in full armour, he stormed out of the Rathaus.

“What have I just witnessed?” Stephanie asked, horrified about the domestic strife she seemed to have cause.

“He will now go to the arena and some poor guardsmen will learn what it is like to fight against him when he’s pissed off. Even a wooden sword hurts when Henry whacks it over your head.”

“Have I caused this crisis?” she asked.

“Yes,” Theresa said bluntly and pointed at Stephanie’s bulging belly. “Half a year ago when you had him put that kid into you without thinking what it would do to him.”

“My husband’s decision was poorly though through,” she admitted, but Theresa was having none of it. Hurt by the uncalled for domestic crisis she was going to give her freshly acquired adoptive mother a piece of her mind.

“So was your decision to go along with it. Stephanie, you cared for him when he arrived in Talmberg, half-dead, and from what little Henry has ever told me, you weren’t very subtle about the fact that you were, and probably still are, quite fond of him. Has it never crossed your mind what the result would be when you offer yourself to him? Has it never crossed your mind that he might also grow fond of you?”

“But ... But he has you now,” their guest stammered, confused about the stern talking to. She wasn’t used to that.

“I know, and he loves me and cares for me with most of his heart, but I will never have all of it, because a small part of it belongs to you. Right now he is probably completely livid with himself, because he thinks that still caring about you means he is betraying me.”

“I will have to speak with him!” Stephanie decided.

“What will you tell him?” Theresa asked her sternly. “Do you want to order him to forget you? Do you want to order him to forget that this child inside you is his? What has happened cannot be undone. I don’t have to like it, but the truth is, I will probably have to share the love of my life for years to come.”

Stephanie stared at her, her eyes moist with unshod tears. “What are you talking about, Theresa?”

“What I’m talking about is, that this hunk of a man will have to satisfy two women,” Theresa explained bluntly. “You might be older than me, but you are by no way an old woman. Don’t try to take me for a fool and pretend you are not desiring the touch of a man once in a while. Sir Divish was broken by Havel Medek, you told us as much, so there are only two options left. You lie with a guy who genuinely cares for you once in a while, or you wait until you are desperate enough to invite any old random guy from the village to your bed. That’s the choice you have given Henry and me.”

By now Stephanie was crying. The brutal truth of Theresa’s words had hit her hard.

“I’m sorry I had to be so blunt about it,” Theresa back-pedalled slightly. “But it’s the truth is it not? If it wasn’t for me, you would have invited Henry back into your bed again, and Divish would have been okay with it.”

Stephanie nodded silently, tears dropping into her lap.

“Well, then so be it,” Theresa decreed. “Don’t expect me to give him up three times a week, but I’d rather have you lie with someone who cares about you, then someone who doesn’t give a fuck if he sticks it in a noblewoman or a bath house wench.”

Stephanie looked at her, terrified by Theresa’s vulgar outburst.

“That’s not what you expected when Henry said he wanted to talk things over, is it?”

Her guest nodded again, still terrified by the situation.

“Now you know what I think about it. And I told you what my solution is. You can take it, or lump it.”

“You would really allow him to lie with me?” Stephanie asked meekly.

“Occasionally,” Theresa said curtly.

“Well, I’m not an old woman yet,” Stephanie said, her eyes still moist. “But I’m also not eighteen any more. Your generosity won’t be stressed too hard.”