In The Library Ch. 11

"Ah girl, is he not magnificent, my cerval? And your girl, she too is splendid, and her hot mouth worthy of him. Come, we shall leave them." And Catherine turned from the gallery. "I will make sure the girl is back with you before dawn, dear child. It must be so."

So Alexandra learned that night that a man is not always a man, and that her aunt had deeper rivers flowing than she had first realised, and that her maid had more than one loyalty. And she knew that the strong, deep blood of her aunt was also in her own veins; for her aunt's brother was her own father; and that she, Alexandra, had her own deep blood line to keep alive.

She held her hand to her belly, and for the first time, felt a kick there. "Aunt, I can feel the life within me, I want to keep this child."

"My dearest child, you cannot. This blood must be separated, we have decided it. The child will be cared for, I will make sure of that, but you will have separate lives." And the older woman took the young girl into her arms, the young girl who looked so much the same as Catherine had at the same age, and held her close. "Sweet girl, you are not the first, I will teach you how to bear it."

And the green green eyes of the younger woman and the older woman held each the others' gaze firm and strong, and Alexandra finally understood why Catherine was so far from home. And Alexandra then accepted that she would be given the opportunity to return home, and that she would take it. But still, her cheeks were wet with her tears, yet she knew that her heart would not break. She was too strong for that.