Madge did not return to her chambers early the next morning. She walked alone, through the halls, a cloak the king had given her wrapped around her body with the hood up.

She entered her room, planning on getting right back into her bed, when she found William, sitting in a chair by the fire, looking weary. His weariness disappeared as he heard the door shut behind her and stood up immediately, acting as if he were not tired at all.

"Where were you?" He asked, looking at her with concern. "I was worried."

Madge's heart ached a little at his words. If he was worried already, things were only going to get worse from that point on. Madge looked up at him sheepishly, her eyes wide. For the first time ever with William, she felt speechless. She had never felt like this before around him and the time had come at last.

He looked at her with concern, approaching her and touching her shoulder with his hand comfortingly. "Tell me love, what's wrong? Where were you?"

She could not bear to have him touch her in a caring way. She felt like she had betrayed him on all levels, so she took a step back and looked at the ground, a tear falling from her eye. "I was…." She began, trying to speak though it was a struggle. "Not in my chambers last night."

William chuckled to himself. "I know you weren't, as I was here waiting for you and you never came to bed. Where were you? Did you get hurt? Did someone hurt you?" Now he was getting the completely wrong idea. No Will, no one hurt me but I'm about to hurt you. She thought uncomfortably. Finally she could not hold it in any longer; she had to tell him where she had been.

"William," she began, finally finding the words. "I was with the king."

He raised his eyebrows in confusion. Apparently this was not enough information for him. "Doing what all night?" After asking this, his expression shifted and he looked away for only a moment. When he turned back to Madge, he looked nervous, unsure; had she slept with the king? His eyes looked weary. "Did you…" he began, not needing to finish his sentence. He knew Madge knew what he was talking about because she had done what he had thought she had.

She looked up at him, now with more tears rolling down her cheeks. She nodded timidly and began to cry. "Not by choice Will. Can I have a chance to explain what happened?"

William felt hurt, more hurt than he had ever felt before. He shook his head glumly. "Do you think you deserve one?" He asked.

Madge continued to cry, looking up at Will, her cloak still wrapped around her. "Yes, frankly Will, I do." She wiped her tears with her sleeves. "If you could just listen to me…"

He shook his head continuously, as if trying to block out the sound of her voice. "Maybe I will listen to you, but not right now Madge. I've waited here all night for you and you didn't come back because you were sleeping with another man! I can't even bear to look at you right now, nonetheless hear your explanation for your faults. I just need to go for a walk and have some time alone and I'll think about hearing your explanation while I do, okay?" He did not wait for her to reply, he stormed past her and out the door, slamming it heavily behind him.

Madge's tears did not cease once he left. She sunk to the ground and put her head into her hands and balled. She had just cheated on her fiancée and then broken his heart because of her duties to her family and to the king. She could understand why William could not bear looking at her, as she could barely look at herself. She felt disgusted with her own skin, as if it were no longer her, as if the skin that she bore belonged to someone else. She knelt there, crying, for hours, until she was forced to get up when she received a letter from her uncle.

The servant knocked on the door and pushed the letter underneath it before he walked away. Madge heard the knock and turned unwillingly to look, seeing the letter lying flat on the ground. She sighed and crawled over to it, seeing her uncle's seal on the outside. She tried to contain herself, standing up and walking the letter back to her bed where she could open it and read it more comfortably.

She opened the seal of the letter carefully, revealing its content.

Lady Sheldon,

I hope to see you before dinner tonight. I want to hear of your encounters with the king, though I have seen him already this morning and the grin he bears is much an indication of how much he enjoyed his night. Please come to my chambers an hour before dinner so that we may discuss what needs to be discussed.

Thomas Howard

Duke of Norfolk

Madge read the letter, trying to remain as calm as possible as she reminded of her night and the results of it she had faced in the morning. She knew she would have to push by her feud with William as if it were nothing for now. Her focus would have to be on the king and nothing else. Plus, she had faith in William's good heart. After he cooled down, he would at least hear her side of the story and take it into consideration when he decided what his next step was. She would at least have to believe that he would for now. Knowing that she would have to be ready soon, Madge called a maid to set up a bath for her so she could bathe and dress in time to be able to go see her uncle before dinner.

She bathed as fast as she could and then chose another of her nicer dresses to wear for the night, though it was not as nice as the one she had worn the night before and this worried her a bit. What if the King was not as impressed by her outfit? What if she did not look as good as she had to him the night before? She felt stupid for worrying about these details, but with the King, they were all important. She felt herself longing for William. It didn't matter what she wore around him, it could be any old thing and he still loved her. Maybe not anymore… she thought for a moment, but then she cleared her mind of all thoughts involving William and focused herself on the task at hand; the King.

Once she was ready, her hair done and her hood on so that the front of her dark tresses showed just the perfect amount, she left her room and headed towards her uncle's. On her way there she saw William in the hall ahead of her with a woman; it was Nan. Madge wasn't surprised to see them together, as Nan was of course, still pregnant with his child. She took a deep breath in and walked by them both smiling to Nan and then to William, though by the time her eyes moved to William, she had become a bit nervous and her smile, a bit lopsided. Nan looked back at her with a smile that made her bones chill and William looking back at her lost, no smile upon his face. Madge tried to make nothing of it. They were just talking; William wasn't interested in her, as always.

She reached her uncle's chambers and knocked on the door. A guard opened it for her and she entered, immediately curtseying to her uncle who as usual, was sitting at his desk with hundreds of papers in front of him.

"Lady Sheldon." He said, without looking up from his papers. "You are on time. That is good, the King likes when people are on time, as do I."

Madge smiled at him and rose from her curtsey. "Thank you, my lord uncle. I try to be on time all of the time, as Her Majesty also likes it."

He looked up to her and met her gaze, lifting his hand and shaking a finger to her. "No need to call her that here, Madge. Anne is fine."

"Yes, my lord uncle." She replied obediently.

"Now," he said as he stood from his seat and walked over to the other side of his desk. "Things with the King went well?"

Madge nodded. "Yes." She replied shortly. She didn't really want to go into detail with her uncle.

"He seemed pleased, I thought it had to be for a good reason. How many times did you lay together?" He asked, as if it were a simple how are you type question.

Madge smiled nervously. "Only once, my lord."

He nodded. "Then it must have been very pleasing if he had such a large grin on his face after only bedding you once."

Madge was not sure whether she should reply or not, so she chose to remain silent and nod.

"You cannot be shy, Madge. You're going to have to get used to me knowing of things, and everyone, for that matter. Your personal life is far from personal now, understand?"

"Yes, my lord." She replied unwillingly.

"Good." He replied, turning around and walked again to the other side of his desk. "Now, the King has sent you a surprise. I thought to have it delivered to your chambers, but since you were coming here anyway, I kept it."

Madge raised her eyebrows in surprise. A present already? Had she deserved that? "He has given me a gift, my lord?"

"Don't seem so surprised girl, of course he has. You have given him a gift of your own, your virginity. Why should he not return the favour? He is the King." Thomas retorted. He looked to one of his men who stood idly in his Howard uniform near the door. The guard walked over to another desk in the room and picked up a small sack and a gown. He presented it to Madge and stood beside her.

Madge examined the gown. It was beautiful, more beautiful than any gown she had ever owned in her life. It was stitched so perfectly with pearls encrusting it's neckline and sleeves and the colour was absolutely fabulous; a beautiful emerald green. She smiled to herself as she looked at it; it was not often she received gifts as she never expected them from William, nor cared, but now that she had finally received one, even if it was from the King and not her love, she felt content.

Madge grinned as she looked the gown over once more and then handed it to the guard, who remained standing beside her with it in his hands. Next she opened the small sack. Inside of it she found a pearl necklace with a gold chain and a emerald pendant, that went well with the gown, attached to it. She touched it carefully and smiled up at her uncle.

He did not smile back he merely watched her touch the jewels and examine the gown in silence. "I think it would please him very much if you wore his gifts tonight, so I advise that you do so."

Madge nodded, for once she agreed, she wanted to wear her gifts, to show them off in all their splendor, though she knew one person would not appreciate this, if he even bothered to show up to dine and dance that night; William. "Of course, my lord uncle. I will go change in to the new gown right away and I will wear the necklace too. I want nothing more than to please His Majesty in all the ways I can, while Anne cannot."

Thomas nodded sternly. "I hope that Anne will find herself pleasing the King in some months time, because if she does not…" he paused for a moment, thinking. If she did not deliver a son, an heir, to the King, what would happen? "She may find herself very out of His Majesty's favour."

Madge heard his words, though she knew they meant more than they seemed. It meant that the King could discard of Anne as he had Catherine before her and with much less difficulty this time. Madge crossed herself and curtseyed to her uncle. She didn't want to venture more into that subject; Anne would have a son this time. "My lord uncle."

"Lady Sheldon." He said, taking a seat in his chair once more and returning his eyes to his papers. "See you at dinner."