Killian MacDonald
Treasonous Love
"Dying the second time,
She had no reproach to bring against her husband,
What was there to complain of? Only thing, only:
He loved her. He could hardly hear her calling
Farewell! when she was gone." (Ovid: Orpheus and Eurydice)
"Praise the Lord for giving me such as fine a gift as you. My sweet Mary, are you as happy as I?" He laughed simply at my eager nod, his arm slipping around my lower back to pull me in closer. My body relaxed against his, never imagining such peace in a man's touch. "Do you not wish you married someone more than I, such as a Duke?"
"I am content enough to sacrifice a life of wealth for such a trivial thing as love." I merely prayed my smile could match his in merriment.
"Is it true that you love me?" Thomas beamed, quietly pointing out one of the first flowers of spring as we walked on.
"I believe I do. However, I fear fifteen is too young to understand such things." His strong arms enwrapped me, as if I was a frightened child.
"Then perhaps my own nineteen years are enough, and when I say I love you, you shall know it is true." His whisper was soft in my ear, forcing a tingle to pass through my body. "Play an alman!" Willingly the musicians struck up the dance, our wedding guests dancing along.
Colors blurred around me, skirts flying in the twirls of the dance as maidens hoped to find their future husband while I dance with my own. Thomas held my arms firmly; reminding me of the first time he had asked me to dance at Court. In that moment I never imagined he could be the same Thomas I was betrothed to, nor the happiness I would feel on this day.
Not one person noticed my father's pageboy running into the crowd of our garden wedding. Not one of the cheerful dancers could have hoped to foresee his message.
"My Lord Cranmer! The Undersecretary, Thomas Cromwell, is here!" At his yell, the party froze, then, after a mere moment, broke into frenzy as guests tried to prepare themselves for the sight of an accomplished courtier. Without the proper invitation of my father, Cromwell entered the garden, joined by four guards adorned in the livery of the Tower. He waited for no greeting or pleasant exchanges, only removing a scroll from under his traveling cloak. "By order of our blessed and beloved monarch, King Henry VIII, Sir Thomas Stafford is under arrest for committing high treason in the name of the King."
With what seemed as little warning, tears of confusion stung my eyes. Thomas left a soft kiss on my wet cheek, before bravely stepping forward as the guards approached him. "Surely the King would be gracious enough to tell me what this act of treason was?"
Cromwell snickered darkly. "You shall be reminded of your crime while withering away in the tower. Take him away." Neither the guards nor Cromwell thought to give me a moment with my husband before pulling him away. Fear swept over me, cementing my feet to the ground. I caught my husband's gaze as they led him around the corner, the sun reflecting off a single tear while his eyes darkened with fright. I knew in that moment that I was a girl in love, for only a lover could be convinced of innocence in one small gaze.
I waited for news in despair, remaining as a virgin in my childhood bedroom. Prayers for my husband's safety were short, for prayers could only fall on an unfavorable God. A night passed, then a day, and another night, before courage grew inside me to find aid. In a last desperate prayer, knowing my love had no chance if I did not try, I placed myself before the Queen of England.
"Lady Mary Cranmer, I did not expect you to come before me dressed as a married woman. Surely in light of recent events, and a lack of consummation, your brief marriage has been annulled before God?" Her German accent made the words seem harsh, forcing me to gather courage to speak the words I longed to say.
I did not raise my head as I spoke to the Queen, hands shaking between the folds of my skirt. "Your Majesty, I stand before you married, for in my heart I know that in the eyes of the Lord I am still a married woman. I return to your court, to speak my heart. Your Grace, I beseech you. My husband is preparing to spend the rest of his God-given life in a cell. I beg your Majesty to pardon my husband. I know in my heart he has done no wrong. Though I have only spent two nights and one day without him, I cannot bear the pain of our separation. My husband has captivated my heart as the King once captivated yours. My lady, you have cared for me deeply whilst I have been in your service. Please, care for my husband in the same way. I shall forever be in your debt and your humble servant."
No noise filled the air as the court of Her Majesty, Anne of Cleves, waited for the response of a Queen to a young girl's plea. "Rise, Mary Stafford." Still unwilling to face her fully, I rose with eyes gazing at the ground. "God seems to be in your favor as Henry has left this matter in my control. I shall free your husband of his crime. You, my favored lady, must make an agreement with me. You must promise that as long as you live, you shall never know the exact crime your husband committed as treason, for no doubt he shall be eager to tell you. If word reaches me that you know of his specific crime, I shall annul the pardon I have bestowed on him, and the consequences of his crime shall grow." In gratitude, I raised my face to hers, as she called to a page in the back of the room. "Fetch Sir Stafford from the Tower. His wife shall be waiting for him at the steps of the Thames in an hour's time." The boy nodded, slipping away from the room.
"Thank you, your Grace. I do not know ever how to repay you."
"Keep our promise, and you shall never have to. Now go and meet your husband." With a final curtsy, I backed quickly from the presence of the Queen.
My love stood on the dock of the Thames, the mere sight of him provoking me into a run. His arm was bandaged from a fresh wound; his skin darkened with dirt, yet the glistening of the sun in his eyes allowed me to be content.
"My angel, my lovely Mary!" His call led me onto the small dock, then immediately into his arms, as he whispered words of love into my ear. "To see you again brings me great joy. I would sit a hundred nights in the tower once more for ten of these moments with you."
"You won't have to. We are together now for eternity. Come, Thomas, let us go home." My husband ended the embrace, taking my hand to lead me away from the docks.
"We shall be content and not even the letter I wrote to Lord Darcy will come between us ever again, for all has been forgiven."
In sheer glory of God granting me this triumph, the Queen's words were forgotten. "What letter Thomas? Did you tell him I did not please you as a wife?" I stopped walking, turning to face him.
"No, my love. I told him that you made the king look like such a fool, for what man would need four wives if he could have you? What is more foolish is to call it treason when they found the letter while searching Darcy's home for evidence that his wife was a heretic." Thomas laughed as I processed his words, the Queen's suddenly echoing back to me. Eagerly I looked to see that no one had heard, but I was too late, and my eyes started to swell with tears as two guards approached. In a last moment, I pushed myself into his arms once more.
"Thomas, I am so sorry. I am so sorry." The words were barely audible through my tears.
"You have nothing to be sorry for love. It is I who was foolish." He turned my face up towards him, kissing away the tears.
"Sir Stafford, the agreement arranged by Queen Anne and the Lady Mary has been broken. You are ordered back to the Tower immediately, to await your execution." His kisses only stopped, yet his face remained close to mine as I felt each slow breath.
"Mary, what are they talking about?" Rough hands pulled us apart and a blindfold was placed over the eyes of my struggling love. "Mary! Mary!" His cry tore my heart, the guard holding me firmly in place. As my husband was pulled away from me a second time, again I could not rush towards him.
Silence took hold of me as he was taken down across the Thames, without me at his side. When he was gone from my misty vision, I turned to race towards the palace. The guard blocked my path, refusing to allow my passage. "I must see the Queen! It was a mistake! I'll do anything, if only I may have him once more!"
"My lady, you are forbidden from the presence of Queen Anne until after the death of Sir Stafford." At the moment, when all hope for redemption slipped away, my heart died within my breathing body.
The shining sun and thousand blooming flowers in the morning acted as a curse from God. My mother held the hand of her frightened child as Thomas walked towards the scaffold. The small crowd on the Tower Green allowed me a clear view of my beloved calling his final prayers to an absent God.
"Mary, I have spoken to the executioner on a way to make Thomas's pain less. When he begins to raise his axe, you must call to Thomas so that he will not turn his head towards the axe when he sees it. It is the only way the blade will not have to swing twice." Without a thought, I nodded my head, never paying attention to my father's words and only to the scaffold.
Thomas knelt carefully in the straw, the executioner directing his head to the block cased in drying blood. In a last desperate hope I let my eyelids fall. The executioner raised his axe and, as foolish as a child in love, I closed my eyes, believing that not seeing the sword fall meant it could never touch his bare neck. "Call him, Mary. You must do it now." My father's whisper was heavy in my ear, yet I tuned it out to wait for the sound of a scream to know it was over. Seconds ticked by as hours do, no sounds coming from the scaffold. "Mary, now." The words still did not slip into my conscious mind.
My heart leapt with joy as my ears were met with continuing silence, believing he was spared. "Now." My father's words caught my attention, bursting my eyes open too late. The blade flew down, my beloved seeing the silver shine in the sunlight and turning his head towards it the moment blade severed flesh. I could not find the energy to close my eyes once more as the crowd watched his head lying crooked on shoulders wet with blood. One more strike, and his heart was gone as well.
No one understood my sorrow. My family hiding the scandal of marrying their eldest daughter to a criminal. They constantly paraded me in front of men, men who I could not look in the eye, for marriage had lost all fortune. With no word of our broken agreement, the Queen welcomed me back as an unmarried lady-in-waiting.
Summer, fall, and winter passed in long silence. May Day came upon the court, forcing happiness on the sorrowful. "Mary Cranmer," Queen Anne called, smiling from her garden throne, "Perhaps you would be so kind as to go and pick some flowers with Lady Eleanor, and we shall make floral crowns?"
"Of course, your Majesty for we must remember to enjoy each flower of spring, before they are chopped away by the weeds of autumn."
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