Here it is chapter 3! I really want to thank you again for the reviews, I'm happy you like the story and I hope you'll like also this chapter! :)


3.

Lucia remained in front of the Palace in the dark for nearly an hour, waiting for some signs, that anyway never came. She would have done anything to help Mary, but she didn't know what else she could have done. She only hoped that the mysterious man would have found a way to help more than her. Lost in her thoughts she didn't notice a person beside her.

"Are you fine?" asked a voice in a worried tone.

"Y-yes… Thanks" she answered jumping a bit for that appearance.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, forgive me" said the young man, who that voice belonged to.

"It's alright" she simply said with a smile, understanding his good intentions.

"Anyway, I'm Gregory Cromwell" he introduced himself, bowing his head "I'm not used to be at Court, truth be told, but I don't believe I've already seen you before, who are you?" asked then intrigued by that beautiful lady.

Lucia hesitated a moment, then a smile appeared on her lips. Yes, she would have done anything to help her best friend and she had a plan to discover the truth.

"I'm Lady Lucia, one of Queen Anne's ladies"


"Thank you for the hospitality, Lady Potter" said Charles reaching the wooden door of the room given to him for that night.

"Of nothing, Your Grace" answered the old woman "Instead, who is the lovely lady you have taken with you?" asked then with the typical curiosity of who had been far away from the gossip for too long.

Charles smiled at that question, he remembered well the woman's character, who had spent the most part of her life at Court and only recently had retired in her Palace to take care of her ill husband. He had always been on good terms with the couple and so, running away from WhiteHall, he had thought to ask hospitality for that night right at the Potter Palace, not so distant from the Royal Palace. Obviously, despite ho much he trusted them, he hadn't revealed the Princess's real identity.

"A lady" he answered evasive, sure that it wouldn't have been enough to her.

"And this lady has a name?" she in fact asked again, more and more curious.

"Lady Violet" Charles revealed after some moments of hesitation.

Lady potter remained a minute in front of him, waiting to hear other information; but when she didn't obtain any answer, she couldn't do anything but go away annoyed and disappointed, leaving behind her the duke's laughter. After some other moments, he knocked on the door beside the one of his room and waited to be let in.

"How are you?" he asked once the door was opened.

"Lady Violet?" asked Mary confused, ignoring the question.

"Yes, it's better that people don't know who you truly are, for a while at least… And Violet was the first name that came into my mind" he simply explained.

"The first name that came into your mind?" repeated the Princess now amused.

"What is it, do you find funny to repeat every word I say?" Charles asked a bit annoyed, with a deep sigh.

It wasn't enough risking his life and being now a wanted person; he thought at least to have passed the interrogatory phase with Lady Potter and now instead he had to be subjected to the irony of that girl, who seemed to speak only repeating other people's words. And he still wasn't able to believe that girl was the little Mary, Henry's daughter. Maybe he had been a bit abrupt, but the Princess didn't seem to notice.

"It's a like I like very much, I mean I would have liked to give this name to my daughter, but I haven't had the chance yet" he finally said alluding to his marriage with Margaret, the King's sister, who had died before giving him a heir.

Mary perceived the hint of bitterness in his voice and so she simply nodded, staying silent for a while.

"It's a good name" declared in the end, with a little smile.

Smiling in return to the girl who was basically his niece, Charles left the room strangely happy to have made her smile. But that smile lasted only a moment and when the door was closed again, the Princess wore again her usually sad expression, and continued to think, about her mother.


When Catherine woke up was already morning, but from the doors and the windows totally covered it would have been impossible to know it. Instead the man who was keeping her prisoner, had checked the time untile that moment and he had followed the orders preparing everything to the execution of his plan. It took only the glass of water, filled of poison, on the table near her bed and when she, once awake, would have drank it, it would have been her end.

"You are finally awake" he simply said, watching her moving.

The Queen continued to flail a bit before she widened her eyes in fear. For a moment, a simple moment, she had forgotten everything, but little by little the memories turned back in her mind and the discovery to not be in her bed at The More, nor or course in the one at WhiteHall, was fatal. She turned quickly and at the sight of the man in front of the bed, she jumped, while the fear only increased.

"You!" she exclaimed widened even more her blue eyes.

The man in front of those eyes, looked down, feeling strangely guilty. Yes, he had prepared everything while she had been sleeping, but now that she was awake, it took only looking in her eyes to see in them his unsteady beliefs as a reflex.

"Why are you doing this to me?" asked then the woman almost desperate, forcing him to look up.

"I'm nothing but a pawn, and you know that" he answered, looking again away.

"And your conscience?" she asked again while the irritation increased in her voice.

"I do what the King asks me to do, as you yourself would do" the man answered quickly, too busy in his own defense to not notice the inconsistence of his accuse to her.

"I do what my conscience says before, and after all you're not obeying to the King now, but to the Boleyns, don't you?" replied Catherine one last time before the silence filled the room.

The mysterious man looked down again, suddenly unsure. Maybe it was the moment to listen to his conscience and to something that he wasn't able to identify yet but kept him linked to that woman. She was the one who had been able to face him, the only one who could have made him change his mind, the only one who could have given him the desire to change way of life. Maybe she would have been defeated anyway, but he couldn't be the one to condemn her. It was time to make a decision.

And in the meanwhile, Catherine raised the glass full of poison to her lips…


Ok, I'm not so good to end the chapter this way, but, knowing what happens next, it's strangely funny LoL

Who is keeping catherine prisoner? Will she really die? And Mary and Charles, how will their relationship evolve? And what about Lucia, what is her plan? The answer in the next chapter (hopefully!) Please let me know what you think :)