Prologue

Henry sighed as he heard the gentle rhythm of Anne's breath. It was 1534, and instead of lying on separate sides of the bed, he and Anne should have been gazing happily at her stomach, which would have carried a Prince for England. Instead, their son lay dead in an unmarked grave. 'What did Anne do?' he wondered, slightly angry. But what had happened, had happened. Even though he was King, and could always find a way to get what he wanted, even by breaking with the Catholic Church, this was one thing he could not control. He could only hope that soon enough, England would have its heir.

Why did God seek to punish him? What had he done to make the King of the Heavens forbid the King of England the one thing he wanted more than anything else? Henry had realized the truth about his incestuous marriage, instead making one that was true. Mary had been declared a bastard, and England was no longer under the power of the corrupt Church. Instead, he was responsible, as it should have been from the start. What else was needed?

Of course, he knew that miscarriages were a normal occurrence. Many ladies of the Court experienced them, and even if his marriage to Katherine was valid, she would probably have had one, although not too the amount that she ended up having. He winced as he remembered the many miscarriages. The five miscarriages and premature deaths had been a blow to him every time. He was deprived of having a large family, as he had hoped for, and his pride had been crushed that men poorer than him had sons. They could not afford his grand palaces, his luxurious clothing, his sumptuous foods, but God had granted them sons.

He could not have a daughter upon the throne after his death. Now, it was even worse than before. Elizabeth was, for now, the heir to the throne, but she was just an infant, and not many supported her. They clamoured around Mary, the daughter that they had believed for so long to be the Princess of Wales. Who knew what her and her mother, both with Spanish blood in their veins, would attempt? If Mary ever got the throne, under the influence of Katherine and other Spaniards, she would undo all of his work – and what would happen to Elizabeth and Anne?

But a son –

Mary's loyal countryside supporters would desert her in favour of a son, even if it was borne of his "concubine". What made them hate Anne so much? He was not in love with her as it was before – when he would do anything to have her, anything to make her his wife – but she was his legal Queen, and their marriage had been declared valid and true by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Yes, a son would solve everything. Anne had conceived quickly for her past two pregnancies, and he could only pray that it would be so for the next.

Author's Note: The story idea does not belong to me. Rather, I found it on ReganX's Fanfic forum for the Tudors. It is Challenge #4, posted by ReganX, on the Challenge Master List thread. Read here (.net/topic/51905/12262547/1/) to find more information; simply scroll down until you see it.

This prologue took place no more than three weeks after Anne's miscarriage. I know that it is short, but it is a prologue, and from what I've read, those are generally shorter than normal chapters. So next time, it will be longer! Another thing to note is that I have only watched up to Season 2, Episode 4 so far. Please don't be angry with me if I mess up as I don't know what happened after that in the show, only what happened in real history, which I won't always be referencing. I plan to watch the rest of the episodes when I can find the time. Also, throughout the story, I will be trying out multiple points of view, so I would like to let you know that if one character insults another, that does not necessarily mean that I hate them. I will just be trying to keep in character.

On that topic, please tell me if a character is OOC (Out of Character).

Anyways, keep in mind that this is my first Tudors fanfic, so don't be too harsh. I will listen to constructive criticism, so if you dislike something, instead of 'flaming', please nicely give me suggestions. Nice reviews will help me to keep going!

The next chapter will be a time jump of four months.