Authors Note: This is my first Tudors fanfiction and was written after I finally saw the Tudors season two finale. I was thinking of Anne's state of mind as she was addressing the crowd and the result was a drabble. I am not sure if this was the version Natalie used but this one fits better with my idea.
The mask was removed from her life, the cool breeze tainting her bare soul. Her voice was steady and even as she moved to greet the gathered masses.
Good Christian people, I am come hither to die,
She felt her voice crack; Anne felt the first wave of nauseating dread and fear gush through her mouth in the form of her address. Her fingers flexed behind her, knuckles white as the eyes of the fallen bored into hers.
'for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it.'
She could not speak against it nor wished she could. Words in her defence, protests of innocence uttered from her mouth would mar her daughter's life, a life filled with bitter horror and things to young for the pure eyes of a child.
'I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king '
The King. From Prince, to King, to lover to dust, how cruel the wheel of life had spun. The torrent of heartache and hurt caused by the man to others and not just herself, was the reminder of the passion that engulfed good King Henry's body. Her pain, she thought, will be long since passed in moments, the dull thrum of despair disbanding.
'To me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord.
Anne held her breath deep. It was ironic, she mused, how little she had done and yet how much was lost for her to be returned to her brother. She remembered the time when her dreams were filled with passion filled trysts and sidelong glances and her heart ached, longed for the days that naivety was bliss. Her resolve was beginning to crack and she felt the last moments of her sanity and peace float from her body as her last words were uttered.
And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me.
The end was here, the reprieve, the remorse, the life she had wished to be returned to her all forgotten as the last breath of the queen was blown and the world darkened.
O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul...