Hellooooo! Hope everyone is having a good Monday, the sun is shinning where I am and I'm a very happy bunny today. It kind of feels like I'm dragging the divorce between Henry and Catherine out a bit but they did that in the series so I'm ok with it haha hope you enjoy :)
During the summer of that year England was hit by a plague known only as 'The Sweating Sickness' because of the powerful bouts of sweating it caused among its victims. The disease travelled all around the country and spared no one form its clutches; servants and noblemen alike all found themselves contracting the Sweat. Many of the King's servants were either taken ill and eventually died or they died very swiftly with no way to prevent it from happening. One of the first to be taken by the illness was Henry's trusted friend Sir William Compton which caused His Majesty great pain. Many subjects all over the land fell ill and died and many of them felt as if the sickness that had befallen them was a punishment from God.
Even Henry found himself questioning why this plague was happening to his Kingdom. He was offered a great number of reasons why this was happening by the likes of More and Wolsey; his marriage to Catherine when she was his brother's wife, his flaunting his relationship with Anne throughout the court and (according to Thomas More) the ongoing heresy at the hands of the Lutheran population residing within the Kingdom, all reasons for punishment but resolving none could stop the sickness from spreading.
All these fuelled Henry's paranoia and when he discovered that Anne had fallen ill he began to suffer from delusions, hallucinations and nightmares. He could not stop picturing himself rapidly decaying, Anne lying dead beside him and the Devil tormenting him at every turn. He shut himself away from the world (even Isabella, which he had never done before) and made it his aim to combat the disease and purge himself of whatever was affecting the rest of his Kingdom. He could not succumb to it now – not when he was so close to getting everything he desired in the form of a divorce from Catherine.
Thankfully, for Henry at least, Anne pulled through the sickness. Those who had fallen ill began to regain their previous health and the plague that had caused so much misery and grief passed over the Kingdom. After mourning the death of so many of his subjects, including a very treasured friend Henry then turned his attention back to getting his divorce much to the displeasure and pain of the Queen. Being a close member of her court Isabella could see what Henry's decision was doing to Catherine but being a servant she could not speak to him about the subject, it wasn't her place.
It had been weeks since he had come to her or called her to him and Isabella was beginning to suspect that this was because of Anne. Actually she knew it was because of Anne – Henry made his love for her no secret, much to the chagrin of a number of Catharine's beloved subjects because she was greatly loved by a great many people in England. She had no great love for the girl, after beginning to catch a glimpse of her true colours, and Isabella suspected that Anne had no great love for her either...well at least they were in accord there, she thought to herself. So she was pleasantly surprised when the King called her to converse with him late one afternoon.
"Your Majesty." she curtseyed as she entered his chambers. Henry stood up and walked over to great her.
"Miss Lockhart." he bowed, took her hand and kissed it softly. "Isabella, it has been a while." He said this with a smirk that told Isabella he still thought about their last encounter together. She had to admit she did too – it was hard not to sometimes as Henry was still as handsome as ever.
"It certainly has." she said, giving him a look that said she felt exactly the same way. Henry motioned for his servants to leave the room and led Isabella over to a chair. She sat down and he pulled his own chair up next to her and took a seat.
"How have you been keeping?" he asked.
"Fine." Isabella replied. "And Your Majesty?" she asked.
"You realise you are still at liberty to call me Henry." he told her. Isabella smiled and looked at her hands.
"That is a liberty I would much prefer to only exercise in a certain place, Your Majesty." she stated. Henry chuckled.
"You never change Isabella, it is one of the things I love the most about you." he replied. "Come tell me, what has become of you over the past few months?"
"Nothing in particular, not since I have left the company of your daughter." she said sadly. Isabella missed the young Princess dearly; during their time together she had become very fond of Mary and very much missed being in her company.
"I have heard that Mary is doing very well in Ludlow. You should be very proud of her." Henry replied smiling.
"As should you Your Majesty. The Princess is a wonderful child and will grow into a wonderful young woman." Isabella replied. "But I suspect that it was not about the young Princess that you wanted to converse with me."
"You are very astute Isabella, as always." Henry stated. "You are correct it is about an entirely different matter which I would like to discuss with you. I very much desire your opinion on it as you have never steered me wrong before."
"I only wish to serve Your Majesty." she replied, smiling slightly.
"I'm sure you are aware that I desire to divorce Catherine and once that has been taken care of I would like to take the Lady Anne as my new wife." he told her. Isabella remained silent; she had nothing to say on this matter.
"I am aware of this, yes." she replied, suddenly becoming stoic and cold, when she realised that Henry was going to say nothing else until she spoke.
"What do you think of this match?" he asked.
"I think that if this match is what you want then this match is what you will have." she told him. She had known from a young age that it was not a good idea to say anything that went against the King's wishes and those who did often found themselves a head shorter. As much as Isabella felt nothing for the King's new fancy she greatly desired to keep her life and stay in his good graces.
"This match is what I greatly desire." Henry stated.
"Then I am very much in favour of the match." she told him. "I am wondering if Your Majesty will receive the divorce that you so greatly desire though."
"What do you mean Isabella?" he asked.
"I mean that I wonder whether You Majesty will be granted the divorce by the Pope despite the fact that you have scriptural grounds for it." she replied. Henry leaned slightly closer to her in his chair.
"What do you know Isabella?" he asked.
"I know very little Your Excellency, only what I have heard in passing from the likes of Cardinal Wolsey and his confidants." she stated truthfully. "I am not a confidant of the Cardinals so only know what I hear while preparing his rooms while he ignores me."
"I don't know whether to relieved that he hasn't told you anything or upset as I feel there is much he is not telling me." Henry stated.
"What, pray tell, will you do if you are not granted the divorce by His Holiness?" Isabella asked changing the subject somewhat. Henry stood up and began to pace the room slowly.
"I know not," he stated as he walked. "There is nothing that I would not do to right the wrongs I have committed in marrying my brother's wife."
"It has been a matter that has plagued You Majesty's conscience for a long time." she stated, although she knew that this was hardly the reason for Henry's desire for a divorce. That reason rested entirely between the legs of Mistress Boleyn, but Isabella would never voice that particular opinion. Henry continued to pace for a few moments, lost in his own thoughts before he suddenly struck out and knocked a goblet off one of the tables, crying out in rage. Isabella kept her composure, over the years she had seen Henry fly into a number of rages and she had learnt that the only way to deal with him when he was like that was to calmly wait for him to regain himself rather than react to it. "Majesty?" she asked once he seemed to have calmed down.
"Wolsey is stalling!" he exclaimed.
"I don't understand Your Majesty."
"The divorce proceedings," he told her, his voice still filled with fury. "it seems as if he is stalling. He seems unwilling to take the matter to court and grant me what I so desire but he tells me that he has everything under control."
"I am sure what Your Majesty desires will be given to you some way or another." Isabella replied as calmly as ever. "You will find a way to get what you want...you always do, Your Majesty." Henry laughed softly, his anger leaving him.
"I hope you are right, Isabella." he replied returning to his seat next to her. "I certainly hope that you are right."