Disclaimer: I don't own Thor or any properties of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even though there are historical characters featured, this is a work of fiction, so there will be many departures from established history.

Sources used: The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir and Elizabeth I by David Starkey. The documentary Elizabeth I and Her Enemies also contains a lot of good information. I would also recommend the documentaries The Six Wives if Henry VIII and Monarchy, both presented by David Starkey. These both give a lot of perspective on the Wars of the Roses, the start of the house of Tudor, and why Henry VIII was so set on having a son and heir. I would also recommend Britain's Bloody Crown, a documentary series about the Wars of the Roses.

I can also promise some good scenes with Loki and Henry!

Rewrite the Stars, or The Queenmaker

Chapter Two

May, 1536.

London.

She was no longer queen of England, and no longer wife to Henry Tudor.

Her marriage had been annulled.

She let out a sob of relief when she heard the news, but then the despair hit her again: her daughter Elizabeth would be a bastard, and God only knew what would happen to the child after her death.

She was a free woman, if only for a few days.

Anne Boleyn couldn't bear to see her brother and the others along with him, Henry Norris, William Brereton, Mark Smeaton, and Francis Weston, executed. Executions for high treason were painful, messy affairs, all to make the accused suffer. And no one adored suffering of those who had supposedly betrayed him like King Henry VIII did.

But I never betrayed you, she thought to herself, tears filling her eyes once again. I just couldn't give you what you wanted…

At least Catherine of Aragon had been able to give Henry what he had wanted, if only for a little while. Anne, despite her promise that she would bear Henry a son, hadn't even been able to deliver on that.

And this is why, she told herself as she fiddled with the pendant about her neck, the gold B that she still treasured so, even though the man who had given it to her was but a distant memory. A distant memory that perhaps she should have waited for, instead of going back to England so quickly after her father had called her back from France. Because her father had had plans for her, plans for her to take her sister's place in the king's bed after his ardor for Mary had cooled.

And look what it got me, she thought, letting out a giggle so shrill that one of the women appointed to watch over her, Lady Shelton, looked up at her, frowning. A few weeks ago, she would have been angry with herself that the mask she had so carefully constructed had slipped, but there was no reason to deride herself about it now. Now when she was to die.

Therewithall sweetly did me kiss, and softly said, "Dear heart, how like you this?"

You should be careful, Master Loki, else Master Wyatt will steal your poems and making a living passing them off as his own. And what will you do then?

I'm a man of means, Lady Anne. Even if Master Wyatt stole all of my poems from me, there would still be more where that one came from. Especially with you here to inspire me.

She had been shocked to discover what he really was, not a man, not an angel, nor God or the Devil themselves, but something in between.

And you have my heart, Nan. You will always have it, no matter what might happen between us. I beg of you, I beseech you, do not marry him, even if he is the king, even if you are carrying his child. Come away with me, and we shall make a life, you and I, far away from here. We might raise your child together along with our own, and you need never worry about him or his court again. You will be so loved… my people will love you…

You know I can't do this. I've already made my promise to Henry, and it's his child I carry, not yours, no matter how much you would like it to be. Now go away, and do not think to come to me again.

She closed her eyes in tears as she remembered his face blanching and his jaw going slack in disbelief, as though she had stabbed him in the gut and twisted the knife for good measure, to bring him more pain. After all, it was he who had left her to tarry in France, only for him to never return. And when he had come to her, it was too late.

Too late. Too late. Too late.

But I loved you, Loki, I did. Even after you told me the truth about what you were. And if I had known then what I know now…

She would have gladly run away with him. Forgotten her promise, her family, her duty, thrown all caution to the wind and run away with him.

She could have sworn she had heard his voice in the early hours of the morning, lulling her to sleep.

Dreams. Visions of a life that might have been.

She had no doubt that he would have been kind to her, and a good, dutiful father to Elizabeth. They might walk in the gardens, Elizabeth bounding ahead of them, picking blooms for a posy, and then presenting them to her mother. And Loki laughing, taking them from the little girl, and handing them to Anne with a flourish, as though he was giving her the world.

I would give you everything you ever wished for, Nan. I would move heaven and earth and not stop until you had whatever it was your heart desired.

She laughed bitterly. Stupid, foolish girl she had been. Duty. It had always been about duty, to her family, to her husband, to her kingdom, to her position as queen consort. And she could not fulfil any of those duties: to bear an heir for her husband, a son, to guarantee that a Tudor might sit on the throne should her husband breathe his last.

She turned away from the window, watching dejectedly as her old nurse, Mrs. Orchard, brought a tray in for her, with steaming stew and a bit of crusty bread, along with a flagon of wine. "Go away," she told the maid petulantly. "I'm not hungry."

The maid looked up, her green eyes meeting Anne's. Anne clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp as the maid's face changed, contorted into a much more masculine one, a much more familiar one.

"You weep so, my lady," Mrs. Orchard said, though through the feminine tones Anne could hear his voice. Loki's. "Perhaps you would feel more at ease after you ate?"

Anne took a step toward the table, keeping her eyes on the tray of food on the table. "I do not understand," she said, sitting down at the table. "Usually I take my meals with Master Kingston."

"Master Kingston is indisposed as of right now." The old woman's voice faded, and a shimmering of green and gold light enveloped her form. In just an eyeblink, it wasn't Anne's old nurse who stood before her, but Loki Odinson, Prince of Asgard, the man who had so generously given her his heart so long ago before leaving her. He pulled out a chair and sat down, then waved his hand, conjuring another goblet out of thin air. He set it down on the table and took up the flagon of wine. "Let us eat together, Nan, so that we might talk and make some sense of your predicament."

"My predicament?" she demanded, her ire suddenly rising. "What do you know of my predicament?"

He poured some wine into her goblet, then handed it to her, before pouring some wine for himself. He gestured to Lady Shelton, who was now fast asleep, her needlework having dropped from her lap onto the floor. "Before I answer your question, I'd like to tell you that you may speak freely. Lady Shelton cannot see me, or hear us. When I leave, she will only say that she nodded off while you ate the dinner Mrs. Orchard brought up for you." He pushed the bowl toward her. "Please eat, Nan. You've not taken much nourishment since you've been brought to the Tower, and you need your strength."

She raised an eyebrow, but drew the bowl toward her, her fingers accidentally brushing against his. He did not make any remark about it, nor did he react. Instead, he raised his eyes up to hers, and she could have sworn she saw a flash of sadness in his expression. He sipped his wine, heaving a melancholy sigh. When she began to partake of the stew and the bread, he began to speak.

"It was my mother who showed me what she had seen of your fate and your daughter's fate, after I was wakened in the middle of the night by a strange dream." He paused, his head inclining just a little bit, the continued. "I was being led to my death. Beheading by the sword…"

She dropped her spoon in the stew, almost choking on the contents. She took the goblet of wine when he offered it to her, then drained it. Once her coughing fit had passed, she sat down again, overcome with weariness. "I am to die," she said, the words sounding foreign on her tongue. "He… Henry… has sentenced me to die by the sword. For high treason, for incest and adultery…"

A glare marred Loki's perfect face, and he bared his teeth. "Incest and adultery!" he spat out. "All false accusations, I know that much…" He sprang up, coming to her side, taking her hands into his and kissing her wrists with the same fervor of so long ago.

"And how would you know?" she asked him.

He looked up at her, then reached out to touch the pendant he had given her so long ago. "When I gave this to you," he told her, "I said that I would always be near to you, even if I was far away." He cupped her cheek in his, staring into her eyes.

She caught his hand in hers. "The pendant," she murmured. "With the pendant, were you able to see…"

He nodded. "I never meant to pry, Nan. You must believe me. You see, I have its mate." He reached into the collar of his shirt and produced a simple gold pendant on a chain, embellished with pearls. "I meant to show you how to use yours, after I returned…"

She reached out to touch his hair, dark and silken just as she had remembered. "But you're here now."

"Yes, dear heart, I'm here now." He pressed his lips to hers chastely, as though a deeper kiss would be too much to ask for right now.

"I am a free woman," she said once he had pulled away. "You might have kissed me with more passion."

He laughed, his cheeks coloring slightly. "if I did, I would want much more than a kiss, and I would stay far too long. No, Nan, there is much to do as of yet. I only ask you to be patient, and to trust me. By tomorrow evening, you will be gone from this place, and you will be safe. And I promise you that I will move heaven and earth to see you happy."

"And Elizabeth?" she asked him, her heart leaping to her throat. "What of my daughter?"

"I would never leave her behind to suffer at the hands of that tyrant," Loki replied, his lip curling. "I will spirit you both away to someplace safe and take you to wife as I promised you. And she will be as a daughter to me, just as I vowed to you before you bade me to leave you in peace."

She felt tears prick her eyes, and she leaned her forehead against his, taking in the sweet scent of cloves that he had always worn. "And yet now I don't want you to leave," she admitted, her voice cracking. "I wish you would stay with me and never be parted from me again…"

"Soon, Nan. Soon," he murmured, and this time he seized her, drawing her to him. He kissed her deeply this time, and she tangled her fingers in his hair, just as she had done while caught in his embrace in France, when he had first told her that he loved her.

"I will come to you as soon as I can," he told her, kissing her on the tip of her nose. "Trust me, Nan. Trust in our love."

She twined her arms around his neck, leaning toward him for one last kiss. "I do trust you, Loki. And I do love you, with all my heart."

He smiled wanly. "Then let me be a hero to you, Nan. And you will enter Asgard by my side as my wife."

He kissed her again, and she held him as tightly as she could before he let her go. With a snap of his fingers, he awakened Lady Shelton, who started out of her sleep. He laughed as she blinked a few times as though disoriented. Anne stifled a giggle herself as her eyes met his. He pressed his fingertips to his lips as though to say farewell before stepping into the column of light behind him.

"God's blood," Lady Shelton said. "How long have I been asleep?"

Anne glanced at her. "Oh," she said lightly, "not too long. I didn't want to wake you."

Lady Shelton shot her a disapproving look, then sniffed as she picked up her sewing again. "Well," she opined, "it's just as well. It isn't as though you're leaving these chambers anytime soon, is it?"

Anne bit her lip for a moment before answering. Oh, the things Lady Shelton didn't know! "No," she said, "I suppose not."

Lady Shelton tutted, then picked up her needlework again, leaving Anne to finish her dinner. Anne ate with more zeal than she had in the past few days.

For the first time, in a very long time, there was hope. And a chance at happiness that she had once thought lost had returned to her.