Auhor's Note: Thank you so much for your kind reviews, they really mean the world to me and I am so grateful for everyone who took the time to write to me. I am truly overwhelmed.
What first struck Anne as she took her first step out of the tower wasn't the warm rays of the sun that warmed her now pale cheek, nor the soft breeze that whipped her ebony hair against her face. It was how fresh and crisp the air tasted out here. After almost a month stuck in that stuffy and stifling apartment, the cool spring air was like a spoonful of sorbet that completely refreshed and invigorated her senses.
It felt peculiar to be out and about again. Her legs had stiffened from the lack of exercise and she had noticed that her thighs had grown flabby from the inactivity. Even now they felt like jelly as she walked away from the dreaded building that she daren't look back at. It was as though they didn't trust that their mistress wouldn't betray them and send them straight back into that dark, dismal cell.
Her heart wouldn't let her forgive what had happened to her this month, but her head exercised caution. After all, she was well aware that this could all just be a clever plot to get her to let her guard down. But every step she took away from the confines of her own private hellhole, the more liberated she felt.
She was free at long last.
As she arrived at the great gate, she was met by her jailor, Master Kingston, who greeted her with a discreet bow. She stood tall and proud with her head held high, trying to remember what it felt like to be the Queen.
"Master Kingston, where is my brother?" she demanded, desperate for any news on the wellbeing of her beloved sibling. Although it had not been outright confirmed, Anne had been under the impression that they would have been released at the same time. How she longed to see his bright face and charming smile once more. Perhaps it would be for the last time?
Is he aware that I am to have a second chance? Does he know what sad terms surround this sacred chance? she pondered sadly. The thought made her even more anxious and determined to see her brother one last time.
"Yet to be released, your Majesty" was his simple reply.
Anne bit her lip.
I must see him, she thought, or I fear I might lose the will to live.
"May I visit him?" she desperately requested. She was well aware she was losing what little composure she was trying to retain in their conversation.
"Your Majesty..." Kingston began despondently but Anne cut him off before he could refuse her.
"Please Master Kingston" she pleaded, dropping to her knees and taking his hands within hers, "I do not know if I should ever see him again and I would like to make my final farewell to him" she begged.
Kingston looked down into those beautiful onyx eyes of hers that he had always admired from afar. Usually they glistened like rare jewels dancing in the sunlight, but today they were so mournful and sad. She reminded him so much of a doe, so fragile with those large, soulful eyes, that he felt utterly compelled to grant her wish despite knowing the trouble it would surely bring him.
Anne could barely contain her excitement at the thought of seeing her brother again, and no sooner had his cell door been opened that she burst forth within.
"Anne?!" George exclaimed in pure wonderment. He had been sat at the small desk that had been granted to him for writing his correspondences. He had been in the middle of penning a particularly long letter to his father to explain what future plans lay ahead of him, when he had been interrupted by the most beautiful surprise that God could grant a wretched soul in a time like this. The mere sight of his beaming sister was truly a treat for his sore, wearied eyes.
"Oh George, I feared I would never see you again" she cried, running into her brother's warm embrace and allowing him to envelope her within his strong arms. She inhaled his scent deeply, but was repulsed to find that his usual fragrant scent of rose and cloves had long disappeared and was now replaced by the stench of stale sweat and damp must.
"You are well?" he asked, lifting her head from his shoulder and taking a step back to look down into her face.
"Yes. Yes, I'm fine. But what of you? They did not hurt you?" she desperately enquired, lifting her hands to his face and examining it for any signs of wounds or stress. He seemed perfectly fine except for the dark bags that hung below his usually bright eyes. His demeanour, however, seemed very affected and she noticed he looked tired and utterly defeated.
"No. But poor Smeaton was not as lucky as we" he lamented, trying not to think about the tortures that they put that sweet, innocent boy through, all for the ego of a tyrannical King.
"Poor Mark" Anne sighed and crossed herself out of respect for the suffering of her sweet darling musician, "Do you know what is to happen to you yet?"
"I am to be released tomorrow and given safe passage to Paris. If I am not welcomed there, I shall travel to the Lower countries and try to make an honest living for myself" he revealed and this seemed to please her. She nodded her head and repeated 'good' a great number of times in order to reassure him as well as herself.
"And what of your wife?" she pressed.
That wicked bitch whose deprived accusations has brought all this about, she scowled. How she wished she could repay the deed and see Jane Parker suffer, lonely in the tower without a hope in the world. But no Anne, her time will come. Their time will come, she had to remind herself. For now she had to focus on the positive.
"She refuses to come with me" George replied half heartedly, as though it made no difference to him whether she came or not. In truth, he was glad to be rid of the sour faced wench with her pinched face and whining voice. What man could be happy being married to such a nag of a wife?
"Do not worry, I shall make sure she gets her comeuppance, I can guarantee you that" Anne assured him and George raised an eyebrow in concern.
But before he could say a word in his wife's defence, footsteps approached the room and they were interrupted by Master Kingston.
"Your Majesty, it is time to leave" came his soft reminder.
He hated to disturb such an emotional reunion but he knew that if he didn't hurry things along it would be his head on the block instead of hers. Anne nodded her head in acknowledgement and Kingston decided to give them their final minute in peace.
"I fear I shall never see you again" Anne stated mournfully, barely able to look her brother in the eye as her own began to glisten with unborn tears. She had done well to hold her emotions in for so long but now her good work was being betrayed by a trifling sniffle that she could not contain.
A stray tear splashed on to her cheek.
George smiled at her kindly and brushed the tear away with his thumb.
"We will always be with each other. In here" he whispered in her ear, pressing his hand lovingly over her heart. She savoured the touch.
"Always remember, you are a Boleyn. Nothing gets us down" he reminded her with an affectionate kiss upon the cheek and she embraced him deeply one last time.
And as Anne left the cell with the knowledge that she would probably never see her brother again in this life time, his words of encouragement rang loudly in her ears. These words would nourish her. They would spur her on in her darkest moments. They would reassure her in her times of doubt.
I am a Boleyn. Nothing gets us down!
It was to be her new mantra.
King Henry sat in his privy chamber with Jane Seymour and had left strict instructions with the guards that they were not to be interrupted for any reason for the next couple of hours. He had craved some private alone time with his latest love and he hoped that he might be able to have a quick fumble or two with her without any fear of being interrupted.
He needn't have bothered.
Whilst he had tried in earnest to coax her into sitting upon his lap, Jane had remained stringent upon the matter. He could barely even tempt her with a glass of his recently imported claret for Jane's brothers had warned her of the dangers of drinking alcohol with men in private, and Jane had protested that she must be a good girl until she and her family were compensated for her loss of reputation and social standing.
"Will you come to my bed tonight, Jane?" he enquired with all the hope and determination of a lustful youth.
He just couldn't control himself around her.
She was so beautiful. The way the sun's ray bounced of her golden locks and cast an angelic halo around her. How her hair cascaded over her exquisite ivory décolletage. How her pert bosom heaved when she became overwhelmed. How her plump coral lips formed into a sweet yet equally provocative smile. He needed to own her mind, body soul. And he intended on doing just that.
"You know I will not, Majesty" she gently chided him albeit with a good natured smirk. She certainly couldn't fault his perseverance.
Jane was no fool, though she often let people think she was. She knew that men were threatened by power and intelligence, especially if these virtues were found in women. She only had to look at Queen Anne for confirmation of this. The only power that was acceptable for a woman to wield was her virtue, and once she lost this she was powerless again for the rest of her life. So she carefully hid her intellect behind a façade of sweet docility and quiet obedience, careful to dangle her one advantage for all to see yet always keeping it out of reach until she had all that she desired.
She would not allow herself to be cast off penniless and shamed like her predecessor's in the King's affections. Bessie Blount. Eleanor Luke. Madge Sheldon. Even the Queen's own sister, Mary Boleyn. No, Jane had sold her virtue to the highest bidder, but she wouldn't let her goods be usurped until every last penny had been paid.
She was a shrewd politician and a calculating strategist.
The court would soon learn this.
"I've told you, you must call me Henry" he sighed, both frustrated by her lack of co-operation and her refusal to call him by his Christian name. She would not even allow him this one intimate gesture. If he was lucky, she would grace him by allowing him to kiss her hand or even rarer, oblige him with a quick peck on the cheek. But she never allowed him to kiss her on the mouth, never mind giving her a French kiss or God permit allowing him to take her maidenhead.
It drove him crazy!
But it made him want her all the more.
"Henry is a named reserved solely for the bedchamber" she wisely reminded him, "And I will not visit yours until I have security"
"But Jane..." he tried to plead his case.
He knew she was young and naïve. She didn't know how wide reaching the lust and appetites of a King ran. If only he could explain to her the importance of consummating their love then he was sure that she would yield. He wanted to be her first, to show her how beautiful love making could be. He promised to be gentle and considerate towards her, and he would woo her with finery and poetry before he made her his one and only lover.
"It may seem a little thing to you My Lord, but it is a great deal to me. Once I have lay with you I am considered damage goods. No man will want to marry me and I will live out my life as a shamed spinster" she revealed.
"I would never forsake you" he instantly swore, believing that he could and would be faithful to his beautiful, innocent Jane. This time he was so sure that she was the one that would keep his heart for ever and always.
"It is the way of the world, you know that as well as I do. We can never predict what will happen tomorrow" she wearily proclaimed. "Give me land and a befitting title, and I will be yours for all eternity" she promised.
"And a crown is not good enough for you?" he enquired bitterly, the sting of her initial rejection of his marriage proposal was still fresh in his mind.
After all, what woman wouldn't want to be Queen of all the realm? Well, an honest one if truth be told.
And even though his enormous pride was still wounded on the matter, it warmed him to know that she wasn't after his crown. She wasn't a gold digger or social climber like all the others, namely that whore of a woman whom he had the misfortune of calling his present wife. No, his Jane was an honest girl who loved him for the man he was, not for the crown he wore. It made him love her all the more.
Sensing the tension that was coming between them, Jane decided to cosset him by sitting upon the arm of his chair and taking hold of his hands, smiling that honeyed smile that came so naturally to her and kissing them in reverence.
"I do not want a crown. I have never been ambitious, My Lord, even as a child. Edward wanted to be on the King's Council and Thomas wanted to be a rich nobleman. But I was always content with the thought of living quietly in the country with the man I love surrounded by many children" she reminisced, thinking back to her happy childhood and how everything seemed so simple and peaceful back then.
Henry was touched by her sincerity.
"Oh Jane, so sweet. So pure. You would have made such a noble Queen" he smiled, chucking her under the chin. "Now, tell me more about your Wiltshire upbringing" he coaxed her, smoothing her golden curls down and giving her an affectionate peck on the cheek as she began to recant her childhood memories.