"Anne?" Mary questioned, alarmed as Anne swallowed the food.
The effect was immediate.
Anne was as pale as death; she clutched at her throat and started gasping.
Katharine stood abruptly.
"Lady Elizabeth, fetch a Physician at once." She commanded
Elizabeth hurried off.
"I will alert His Majesty, Madam" Chapuys offered. Although Chapuys would gladly let Anne die, he knew that failure to inform the King immediately would mean that suspicion would fall on Katharine and Mary, perhaps even himself.
Anne was drifting.
She had eaten something...
Her throat had closed.
She was gasping.
She could not breathe.
Help me! She tried to scream.
Katharine!
Mary!
Please. Do not let me die!
But the words would not come.
She was alone.
She was dying.
Anne was poisoned.
Henry's heart raced as he thought of his beloved Anne, seriously ill, possibly dying, maybe already dead...
No!
He shook his head to clear it.
With the intensity of the situation Henry failed to realise that Anne's poisoning meant that he would have to come face to face with Katharine, whom he had not seen in years.
Henry willed his Horse to go faster as he finally approached the More.
He dearly hoped that neither Katharine nor Mary had had anything to do with the poisoning. Because there was only one punishment for poisoning the Queen.
Death.
Katharine enlisted the help of the physician and Lady Elizabeth to carry Anne to the best room in the decrepit house, which was her own.
Katharine sighed when she realised that she knew more than the physician did!
When Mary saw that Katharine intended to nurse Anne, he was appalled.
"Mama...?"She questioned her, noting that she looked unwell.
"Sweetheart, believe me, I have little desire to nurse Lady Anne, but do you not think it will look suspicious if the King learns that I not only refused to sign the heretical oath, but that I also stood by and watched while his beloved Harlot died?"
"Now, can you fetch a cool cloth for the Lady Anne Mary?" Katharine asked her.
Mary nodded numbly.
She could not believe this was happening. Her mother. Here. Alive. The voice of her mother in her head. The fact that she had changed the past.
It made her head spin.
When she returned Katharine smiled at her.
"Do not worry, Mary, my darling, Henry will know it is not our fault. I do not know how our food could have been tainted, especially since it was brought in from outside. But I am confident that my husband will see reason."
Mary doubted it. Especially when his 'beloved Anne' was involved. The real question was, if none of the people in the household poisoned the food, then who could it have been?
Anne's vision was blurry but before she had time to take in her surroundings she was struck by a vile retching, worse than she had had even when pregnant with Elizabeth.
"The bucket." Someone called and then Anne was vomiting into a bucket and it felt like her insides were pouring out into it. Her mouth was burning with a spice that she had never known before. Several minutes later, she finally stopped retching and realised what was happening.
"K...Katharine?" Anne whispered hoarsely.
"The King will be here soon. You were very lucky, had you eaten anymore it would have killed you. I saved you with a Spanish remedy, you swallowed a herb which is very hot and which caused you to bring up the poison. "
Anne nodded and fell back into unconsciousness just as Henry entered the room, followed closely by Anne's father and Chapuys.
There was a moment of shocked silence.
While Mary had immediately noted that her father had entered the room and stood up at once, Katharine remained oblivious, completely focused on her task in place of the useless physician who had long since left.
"Katharine?" Henry said, trying to sound stern but merely ended up sounding confused.
"Henry" she smiled softly.
Then her eyes turned to the other figures in the room.
"Dowager Princess" Thomas Boleyn smiled his cold smile.
"My Lord" she replied coolly.
"As you can see, I have taken great care of the Lady Anne."
"You mean, Her Majesty, the Queen, do you not Princess?" Thomas demanded.
Katharine stared him down unflinchingly.
All the while, Mary watched in complete silence, struck dumb by the man who had terrified her for many years and had an ambition that was greater than even John Dudley's.
"That matters little at this moment. Lady Anne had induced but a bite of the powerful poison which otherwise would have killed her, it is I; you have to thank, Lord Wiltshire, for the fact that your daughter is still among the living. Something, I have no doubt you are very grateful for."
Thomas was silent.
"What in God's name happened to the physician? I was told you already summoned one here or else I would have brought my own! Katharine, what were you thinking, you do not know how to treat the sick! In fact it was probably you who poisoned Anne in the first place!"
Henry finally spoke up.
Katharine glared at him.
"Henry, after all of the years we have been married, surely you would know me better than that? The physician was a useless fool and probably would have killed the Lady Anne rather than saved her. I used one of the remedies from Spain, like so many others that I have used on you over the years, do you not remember?"
Henry nodded grudgingly.
"As for the poisoning, would you really believe me capable of such an act? I, the woman who refused to allow my nephew, the Emperor, to wage war in England because I have such love for this country and its people, though God know, my treatment is deplorable. I would never hurt the Lady Anne, for all that I dislike the woman, as, if nothing else, the suspicion of her poisoning, would fall onto Mary, whom you well know, I would do anything for."
Henry then turned his attentions to Anne. She was pale and looked close to death.
"She woke up just a few moments ago, she has brought up all of the poison and I believe she will be well again." Katharine said, watching Henry watch Anne.
As Henry watched Anne, little did anyone know that he was coming to a decision.
His poor Anne could still die, despite Katharine's assurances and he would not rest until he found whoever poisoned her.
Even if it was Katharine.
He doubted his daughter Mary, after bonding with Anne so quickly, would poison her; she was, after all, an innocent.
However Katharine was an entirely different matter.
She had seemed sincere when nursing Anne but that could have been a clever ruse.
No, it was better to keep her where he could keep an eye on her.
He took a hold of Anne's limp hand as he made his announcement.
"Katharine, as a reward for saving the life of my beloved wife, the Queen, I have decided to invite you to court. Permanently."
At court? Permanently?
AN: All medical knowledge in this story is made up. Katharine did not have any medical knowledge either as far as I am aware, although I believe she used to make a poultice for Henry, but certainly no knowledge of ridding the body of poison. I just thought it would be ironic for KOA to save Anne's life.
