I was devastated. As hard as I had tried to please the King, nothing I had done had been good enough. I had failed to earn his love, and now I had been cast aside.

The words Edward Seymour had just spoken to me rang over and over again in my head. Our marriage had been annulled, leaving Henry free to pursue a lovelier bride. Yet he had given me a generous settlement in exchange for my agreement, if I were to stay in England. But of course I would stay in England. What was left for me in Germany except to return in disgrace, with my whole family knowing that I had failed to gain the King's love?

Numb with shock, I began to pack my belongings for the journey to my new home. I was on my way outside to the carriage that was awaiting me when I heard a voice calling to me.

"Excuse me, madam. I believe you dropped this." Surprised, I turned to see none other than Edward Seymour himself, holding a single glove out to me. It had fallen out of one of my bags.

"Why, thank you!" I attempted a gracious smile as I accepted the glove from him.

"Madam?" He called to me again as I turned to leave. "It brought me great distress to have been the bearer of such dreadful news to a lady as gracious as yourself. I hope that you harbor no ill feelings toward me on that account."

"Why, of course I don't!" I was quite taken aback. Why should he, one of the King's closest associates, care how I felt about him? As of today, I was no longer a member of the royal household. "Please don't concern yourself with such matters, kind sir. I hold no bitter feelings toward you at all, nor indeed toward anyone. Everyone has been so gracious toward me since my arrival in England, and for that I am very grateful."

"Please, call me Ned," he told me. "And what shall I call you?"

"You may call me Anna, the German form of my name."

"Would it be all right if I were to call on you sometime, once you are settled in your new household?" he asked me.

"Why, of course, if you want." I doubted that he was sincere, suspecting that he was merely trying to be polite as well as to soften the blow a little. Why should a handsome, high-ranking noble such as he have any interest in an outcast like me?

Hever Castle was magnificent, just as I knew it would be. It was tall and stately, with vast, beautiful gardens and a double moat. I knew that I would be happy there.

Over the several weeks following my arrival, I was so busy with getting settled in and exploring my lovely new home that I quite forgot about Ned Seymour until suddenly one day he was there.

"Did I surprise you?" he asked me.

I was too stunned to respond.

"Good," he said, kissing my hands. "I have come for dinner. I hope that does not inconvenience you."

That evening, we sat across from one another as he told me about his family. "I lost my wife to the sweating sickness several months ago," he told me. "I have a three-year-old daughter and two-year-old son who are the light of my life. They are being raised by governesses, but they miss their mother."

"I'm sure they do," I said. "I'm very sorry that happened." I noticed that he didn't look very grief stricken about his wife at all and wondered whether his marriage had been unhappy.

I told him about my childhood in Germany, my parents, my brother William and my sisters Sybil and Amelia. Much later he left, promising to return soon. I watched him ride away, wondering whether I'd ever see him again.

I hoped that I would.