Prologue

Author's Notes: This story crosses over many shows and miniseries: Starz The White Queen and The White Princess, Showtime's The Tudors, PBS' The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Shadow of the Tower, Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Once Upon a Time and Murder In The First

The Tower of London

England, 1537

The Earl of Mayford drew another line on the wall of his cell, marking the end of another day. He often wondered how many more days he would spend in that cell until it was time to face the executioner's axe. He'd been a loyal subject to five kings when he crossed realms decades earlier. Only fifteen when he arrived, many assumed Morgan Whitmore was a poor orphan struggling to survive in a divided England. Only a few trusted souls knew he was from another world known as Nonestica, a safe haven that had been created by the exiled Greek gods Hades and Persephone.

Now he was a prisoner in The Tower of London, his crime high treason against his current master, King Henry VIII. He and thousands of people from the northern part of the realm rose against the king's break with the Catholic church, the dissolution of the monasteries, seizure of lands and goods and the increasing power of the Lord Privy Seal, Thomas Cromwell. A minor noble at court, Morgan witnessed Cromwell's ascension firsthand and how quickly he destroyed those who crossed him. Morgan also knew those who rose high fell hard when they made powerful enemies and Cromwell made plenty of them among the nobles. It was only a matter of time before he too occupied a cell in the tower marking the days until he went to the block.

He'd been allowed few visitors during his confinement, many of them Cromwell's men with more questions about his involvement in the rebellions. He'd confessed to his part, but he'd refused to divulge the names of others involved. There was no need. They'd gotten what they needed from others.

He looked up from the book he was reading when the guard entered the cell carrying the plate with his evening meal. He ate without complaint though the portions he was being given grew smaller with each passing day, the water was often filthy and the bread stale. Still it was better than being starved.

The door opened again a short time later and he was shocked to see the Lord Privy Seal himself standing there.

"The King has sent me to offer you a full pardon."

"The King has sent you or you've come of your own accord? Do not mince words with me, Lord Cromwell. I may be confined here but I still have my sources on the outside and they tell me the tide is turning and soon it will be you in here awaiting execution."

Cromwell smiled. "Do not be so sure of that, Lord Mayford."

"You forget, Lord Cromwell, that I have served five kings in my lifetime and have seen many rise in favor and fall harder."

"Yourself included," Cromwell sneered.

"I did so with a heavy heart and a clear conscience. What does the King wish of me in exchange for this pardon?"

"That you honor the oath you took before this uprising."

"That I cannot do."

"Lord Mayford…"

"You have my answer Lord Cromwell. I will go to the block as His Majesty's pleasure, but my family will not be held accountable for my actions. My wife and children are loyal subjects."

"Your lands and titles will be forfeit if you die a traitor's death."

"They will not."

"You dare to presume the King's will!"

"No, I will hear it, from his lips not yours!" Morgan retorted. "Inform the King that I wish to see him in person."

"You will go to the block before he comes to see you."

"I think not."

Three more lines were drawn on the wall before the door was opened again and a new visitor arrived.

"You do not summon me, Lord Mayford. I summon you!"

"Yet here you are, Harry."

"This meeting never took place. Understood?" the King demanded angrily.

"The guards?"

"Will do as I command. They are at supper for the moment."

"Ah."

"Now why have you summoned me?"

"I will go to the block, but you will allow my family to keep my holdings."

The King's face reddened. "You DARE to make demands on ME? Your King?"

"I do and you know why I do. You will restore my lands and titles to my heirs and in return I will take your family's secrets to the grave. The spirits of those boys wander the halls at night, crying for their revenge."

"We did not have them murdered! Richard did!"

"You forget I was a loyal subject to Richard. He kept the boys in the Tower, but he did not order their deaths and your lady mother and grandmother laid a curse on everyone they suspected of having anything to do with it. Buckingham and his men may have done the deed, but he was already dead before the curse was spoken."

"You are from a land where curses can be broken! Tell me how to break it! I will give you anything you desire. I cannot lose this child if it is a son!"

"It will be a son," Morgan declared.

"You are certain?"

"You know how my gift works, Harry. Sometimes what I See is like a puzzle with pieces that do not always arrange themselves in the proper order. I've cursed this gift from the day I realized I had it because it blinds me to the fates of those closest to me. Were it not for your Lady Grandmother's tutelage, I never would have mastered it. But now I fear for my grandson. The dark warlock that seduced my Jane has given Malcolm his powers."

"Your grandson…he could break the curse!"

"He is too young and untrained. I have sent him back to my world to be trained as a white mage. Were his powers discovered here he would be sent to the fires. And I cannot be certain our magic will work on this land's magic."

"Then all I can do is pray that the curse has run its course. It has taken my brothers, my sons with Catherine and Anne. Is that not enough?"

"The curse will end when the bloodlines of the guilty parties die out," Morgan reminded him.

Henry buried his face in his hands. "Then I will lose this child too. I believed that my sons by Anne and Catherine did not survive because my marriages to them were unlawful."

"Your marriage to Queen Katherine was lawful. She went to your bed a maid as she claimed until her last breath. The loss of your sons by her was through no fault of hers or yours. It was God's will."

"It was the curse!" he raged. "I know that now! It matters not how devoted a subject I am to God, he will not undo this curse! You will undo this curse!"

"I cannot!"

"Then you will go to the block as you deserve to!"

"So be it. But you will allow my family to keep their lands and titles."

"I will. I dare not risk your family laying another curse upon me."

"I would not permit it. However, if you refuse to honor my final request, I will do much worse…I will haunt you from beyond the grave and you know I can."

"Then I will honor your request and keep your secrets as you have kept mine," the King declared. "Will you see my mother where you're going?"

Morgan shook his head. "When I ascend to the afterlife I will go where all Nonestican souls go…to Paradise in the custody of Ozmalita Diosa."

"Yet you took up arms for this realm's old faith. Why?"

"Because this realm became my home and I adopted its faith, a faith similar to my own."

"Yet can you deny the corruption that has taken place in religious houses?"

"I cannot. Reform was necessary Harry, but your advisors have carried things too far. That is why the people are unhappy. I fought for the rights of all, not the privileged few that I have the misfortune of belonging to."

"You know this is the last thing I wanted. You were my mother's oldest, dearest friend." The King looked away. "Don't make me do this, Morgan."

"You are the King of England. Your word is law. The Bill of Attainder against me has been passed and signed, so I will go to block."

The King sighed heavily. "And I will have another death on my conscience."

"The queen will give birth soon. You should return to the palace. Will you give her my regards?"

"I will, Lord Mayford."

At first, he thought he was imagining it, but Morgan could have sworn there were tears in the King's eyes. He shed his own tears weeks ago, not for the king but the children and grandchildren he would leave behind.

"Goodbye and Godspeed Harry."

"Goodbye…Morgan," the King croaked and quickly fled the room, slamming the door behind him.

Three days later a large crowd gathered on Tower Green to bear witness to the execution of one of its oldest and most loved nobles Morgan Whitmore, the Earl of Mayford. His family had been forbidden to attend the execution but there was someone in attendance that would carry the news back to them.

"I ask you all to pray for the King, Queen Jane, the child she carries and the Ladies Mary and Elizabeth. And I ask you all to pray for me."

He crossed himself and knelt, placing his head on the block and stretched out his arms.

"Into Your hands I commend my spirit," he murmured as the axe descended.

A young woman in the crowd waved her hand and the body of Morgan Whitmore, the first Earl of Mayford vanished and a construct was left in its place. She watched with anger while it was thrown onto a cart and before sunset the head would be placed on London Bridge as a warning to all of the price to be paid for defying His Majesty's will. She spotted a familiar face in the crowd and glared at him.

"Enjoy your victory while you can Lord Privy Seal," she said through gritted teeth. "For soon it would be your turn to face the executioner's axe!"

She flicked her wrist and vanished in a puff of smoke, reappearing in the gardens of the estate Morgan had been granted during the reign of the current King's grandfather, Edward IV. Tears were in her eyes when she discovered an elderly woman sprawled on the grass, clutching a red rose to her breast. Kneeling beside her was another woman the same age, weeping softly.

"They've killed him, haven't they?" she inquired.

"They have but it is not his remains they will defile and place at the four corners of the realm." The young woman held out a glowing pendant to her. "His soul is in my keeping and now I must reunite it with hers." Her eyes met those of the elderly woman. "Now you must honor the promise you made to him Katherine and continue to pledge your fealty to the King as his children have done and your lands and titles will be saved."

Katherine made a face. "The king is fickle. What he gives he takes away, and what he takes away he gives back. Cromwell would enjoy snatching Mayford though our Harry has always been a loyal subject. Nevertheless, I will do what I must to protect the inheritances of all our children." She smiled down at the woman on the grass. "Now go…be with Morgan my dearest friend and perhaps one day we will meet again in a new life."

"Katherine, is it your intention to surrender the custody of your soul to my keeping until it can be reborn again?" the young woman inquired softly.

"But I am not from your world."

"Neither was Bess but it was Morgan's wish that her soul be reunited with his in their next life. You Katherine, were their dearest friend and I think it fitting that you should make the journey to the next life with them."

"Without my William? I cannot do that. My heart longs to be with him as Bess's longed to be with Morgan."

The young woman placed her hand over Katherine's heart. The elderly woman stared in shock as her chest glowed with a bright white light.

"You will be reunited with your William, dear Katherine and you will be with your friends again, but not as they remember you. Your memories of this life will have to be forgotten until the time comes to remember them. But first you must give your consent. Do you recall how it was done?"

She nodded.

"Ozmalita Diosa, I surrender my soul to thee," she recited.

Ozmalita then held the pendant over the body of Katherine's friend. Seconds later her corpse vanished. Katherine rose to her feet and began the long walk back to the house to find Morgan's eldest son awaiting her.

"You are now Earl of Mayford Harry," she announced.

He nodded sadly. "And my lady mother?"

"She has joined your father in Heaven, my son," Katherine wept.

"Damn Henry Tudor and damn Cromwell! May his head be the next to rot on a pike!"

"Harry!"

"Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to call upon the McDermott to lay a curse upon them!"

"Do not say such things!" Katherine pleaded. "They practice the dark arts! You shame your parents' memories by suggesting it."

"Then I will go there…to Papa's world."

"No. Your place is here. You are the Earl of Mayford and your son must succeed you. That was your father's final wish and I will do what I must to see that you honor it!"

"He sent Jane to that world!" Harry reminded her.

"Because your nephew Malcolm has inherited his father's dark powers and your father felt he had no other choice but to send him there to have him trained to by a white magician!"

"If he can be."

"He must be. Come, the king will be summoning us back to court and we must be ready."

Harry Whitmore smiled. "Then you will remarry Lord William after your time of mourning has ended."

"I will. As he will remarry me after his time of mourning for your lady mother has ended."

"I wonder if the King and Lady Anne ever knew how you and Papa outfoxed them?"

"I don't believe they did. Your father and I were wed in their presence as were Bess and William but neither marriage was valid because I married William and Bess married your father the week before under our true faith. Though it was God's will that I would never bear children, I have loved you all as if you were my own."

"As we have loved you and our uncle William," Harry embraced her. "I will miss them terribly."

"I know. But there will be plenty of time to mourn. Now we must secure Mayford."

"I hope they will be happy in their next life."

"I believe they will be."

Two days later Queen Jane Seymour gave birth to the son the King wanted so desperately, naming him Edward. The kingdom rejoiced but the joy was short lived for twelve days later Queen Jane was dead of childbed fever, the same illness that had taken the King's beloved mother.

"My own darling. One day I shall lie with you again," the King murmured as he stood beside the sarcophagus of his beloved third wife.

"I am so sorry Harry."

"Morgan. Have you come to haunt me?"

"I've come to warn you."

"Warn me? Of what?"

"Your heart is darkening Harry. Do you remember what I told you about hearts in my world?"

"That one's dark deeds makes them turn black."

"I cannot show you mine because it is no longer in my body, but it will be in my new life. I am to be reborn into my own bloodline."

"How is that possible?"

"Much is possible in my world."

The King's eyes widened in terror as Morgan reached into his chest and removed his heart.

"What….how…how am I still alive?" he cried fearfully.

"Magic," Morgan murmured, holding the organ out for the King to inspect. Some of it was glowing red while other parts were black as night.

"My heart….it has black growths! I am dying!"

"No Harry. Those spots are the terrible deeds you have done. They cannot be removed, no matter how many good deeds you do in place of them. Take care what you do for if you continue on the path you're on your heart will be as black as night and you will become a man without a conscience, without a soul."

"You're trying to frighten me. Go away!"

"Listen to me!" Morgan hissed. "You know I speak the truth. I've spent years schooling you in my land's traditions to prepare you for others that may cross over." His eyes met those of the younger King as he carefully placed the organ back in his chest. "Be the man, the king you swore to be the day you were crowned and stop the darkness from consuming your soul!"

"I am being that man, that King!" Henry raged. "Leave me, spirit and haunt me no more!"

Morgan shook his head.

"Goodbye Harry. I wish you well. I truly do," Morgan said as he vanished.

The King awoke in his chambers wishing it had all been a dream and his beloved Jane would be sleeping next to him but all he saw was an empty space in his bed and his heart.

Paradise

The Nonestican Heaven Realm

"Welcome home Morgan," Ozmalita Diosa, the Nonestican keeper of souls greeted her latest charge upon his return. Beside her was his beloved Bess, no longer elderly but the young and beautiful ward to Queen Katherine of Aragon that he'd fallen in love with. He went into her outstretched arms and kissed her passionately, feeling his own youth return to him.

"I am home," he murmured into her hair.

"We have so little time," she said sadly.

"Why?"

"The time for your rebirth is coming Morgan," Ozmalita informed him.

"No! Please, let me stay a little longer!"

"You will stay until the births of your brother's twin sons. Then your soul must merge with theirs."

"I am going to be reborn as my own nephews? How is that possible?"

"Your soul will be divided between them Morgan. It is the goddess's will."

"Why?"

"The elder child has been chosen to be one of the eight Guardians of the Balance. The younger will be reunited with Bess but both must have the best parts of you if they are to survive their battles against the darkness in the years to come."

"Then we will cherish the time we have until we meet again in our next life."

And the princess will be awakened by the true love's kiss of a knight in blue, Ozmalita thought, leaving them to enjoy what precious time they had left for it would not be long before they were parted again.