"The monthly allowance of the concubines in the palace has to be reduced in half!" Queen Rosalyn made her first demand.
King Edmund's breath caught. The appeal would turn his harem upside down and make all his women angry.
He massaged his head to wade off the headache he felt coming in the days to follow once the concubines learned that their allowance would be reduced. But weighing their anger with Mistress Diane's life, he could live with it.
"Done."
He agreed and wrote it down on the contract Queen Rosalyn insisted they have to mark their negotiation.
"My husband will be mine for five days a week. For the remaining two days, he can pick any concubine or mistress of his choosing to keep him company but I must approve of her before he keeps him company!" her soft voice roared in the throne room, loud enough for the king to feel the chains she was putting on him.
"Rosalyn, be reasonable. What..."