The White Queen (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #2)

by Philippa Gregory

“It is a battle to the death,” she says simply. “That is what it means to be Queen of England.

She promised him that she would come to him and be his wife, she promised him that she would make him as happy as a mortal woman can, she promised him that she would curb her wild side, her tidal nature, that she would be an ordinary wife to him, a wife that he could be proud of; if he in return would let her have a time when she could be herself again, when she could return to her element of water, when she could wash away the drudgery of a woman’s lot and be, for just a little while, a water goddess once more.

He promised her that he would give her everything, everything she wanted, as men in love always do. And she trusted him despite herself, as women in love always do.

“And I shall make you happy,” I say, quoting the marriage vows. “I shall be bonny and blithe at bed and board.”