Hello readers!
Thanks to all the faithful reviewers. Here we announce great news to the realm, and some people take dangerous steps.
Enjoy (and don't forget to review, your comments are always pleasant to read ;) ).
IX. Announces and their effects
2nd of March
The queen's drawing room was rustling with quiet activity. Here one was embroidering a cloth, there one was reading... All the little bees were peacefully working around her beloved queen. Only Lady Jane remained in a corner without doing anything, nervously biting her lips.
At last, unable to wait more, she came to curtsey deeply before the queen.
- Your Majesty...
- Lady Jane, what would you want?
- Could I have a discussion in private with Your Majesty?
All around them, the others ladies, Lizzie, Jane Rochford, Maddy Dormer, fluttered nervously. Knowing Jane Seymour's position in the king's « esteem », none of them considered this request as really innocent.
- Well... If you don't object to hour sister's presence...
- Absolutely not, my lady.
Anne gestured the two Seymours to follow her in her bedroom, and pulled the heavy velvet drapes shut behind them.
- Right. You can speak, now.
- I am deeply embarrassed, Your Majesty, Jane said, twisting her hands. The king... you have noticed... his advances...
- Yes, yes, Anne impatiently cut in. I should be blind not to see them. He wants to make you his new mistress? And so?
- But I don't want to! the young woman wailed, on the verge of tears. His moods are ever so changing. For now he likes me, but what will happen once he has tired of me? I do not wish to be pointed at everywhere I go like a... a... dishonest girl.
Anne turned toward Lizzie, who winked. She had explained her sister, at length, what dear Edward had hatched up to put one of them or the other in the king's bed.
- I thought that every noble young lady's dream was to wear the crown one day, Anne pointed out, provocative.
- Not when it is only their family's dream, my lady, Jane answered frankly, without thinking that her comment could as well apply to the queen.
- Do you have a friend at Court? the queen inquired.
- Master Weston is very nice to me, Jane admitted, but I would not go as far as to say I am in love with him. Majesty, I humbly beg you to grant me your help and your protection. I was very flattered of the attention the king gives me, and I accept to be his friend, a real friend, someone whom you talk with, who you tell your worries to feel better, but nothing more.
- Of course, of course, Anne conceded, smiling. Go and dry your tears, child, I will find a pretext to send you away from London to somewhere safe.
Once Jane had left the room, the queen traded an amused look with Lizzie Seymour.
- What did you tell her?
- That becoming queen, from our father and brothers' point of view, was just the icing on the cake, and they would content themselves with the office of « maîtresse en titre », that would earn them enough money, titles and jewels to satisfy them. The poor girl remained speechless with shock. Furthermore, Jane is a very pious young woman, thus suggesting her to commit the act of flesh out of wedlock... She just loved the idea...
- If I were you, my dear, Her Majesty advised, I would quickly find myself a nice boy before the king turns his looks on you.
- Do not worry, my lady. I already have an idea in this topic, the young woman answered before falling in a curtsey.
# #
18th of March
It was done. The church bells were ringing everywhere in the city to spread the wonderful news. The queen was pregnant! And this time, it would be a prince, of course. A beautiful little boy to wear the crown of England.
In the great reception room of Whitehall, Henry was strutting about, exchanging jests with the ambassadors. He had momentarily forgotten his wish to get rid of the queen. Once more, he did not doubt he would have a son. He did not doubt the general enthusiasm.
Eustache Chapuys was looking at the king with a small pout. He had hoped that after her last "accident", the concubine would not conceive any more. Too bad... No one could win every time. Too bad... No one could win every time. With any luck, she would give birth to another girl, the king would tire of her and he could be suggested a new candidate, fresher. Less heretic. The best would be that she died in childbirth, that would solve the problem without giving anyone a headache.
Sitting on a platform, Anne was smiling at all the flatterers complimented her for her happy state, even tough her mind was a hundred leagues away from Whitehall. She should have been praying for a son with all her strength, and yet she was hoping for a daughter. It would not be so easy to spot her father's features on hers, this way. Anne had dark hair, no one would ask questions if the child inherited them, and the blackness of her eyes would hide any other colour. Anne patted her belly. My God, please make so that she looks like Elizabeth, the reste, I am taking care of it.
Standing some steps behind the queen, Master Secretary was watching the crows, seemingly impassive. He id his best to convince himself that he had just done what was necessary to keep Anne in place, because he needed her tp achieve his Reformation. Of course, he felt nothing seeing Henry spreading his tail and being full of himself, taking credit for the conception of a child that was not his. No more than he would felt anything watching another raising this child. Of course.
Right. Sure. That's a good thing I do not have to confess any more...
He should better concentrate on the Act of Dissolution of the small monastic houses, that the king had signed, at last, and the Parliament, ratified.
Anne quickly pretended that the noise and the crowd were tiring her, and she came back to the relative quiet of her rooms. She needed to think. Now, no way to go back. Within two weeks, the whole realm would be aware of her pregnancy. That would leave her about six months to make friends of the commoners and protect herself against her husband. She knew he did not love her any more. Even if she gave birth to a son, nothing would ever be like before, like the seven years he had ardently courted her. She had wished to give him a son, more than anything else. Now she was carrying the child of a man for whom she felt a deep friendship, who she trusted... but she did not love Tom Cromwell. Not this way. Not yet. And Henry? Well, let us admit she had grown tired of him...
# #
9th of April
The king scarcely came into his minister's lair, and Cromwell was grateful for it. The royal presence paralysed all his team's activity. It would indeed have been improper to go on sorting notes or another thing while His Majesty was there. The worst was that today Henry was disturbing his secretary and his clerks for a business that had nothing to do with politics.
- I was thinking of a little trade, the king said while looking through the window. You could take the Seymours' rooms, and give them yours, which is so opportunely located close to mine.
And allow you to meet with your little wench in peace? And lose the opportunity to watch over the come and go in your chambers? And what more?
But that was not something you could tell the king of England without risking – at least – a huge cuff on the back of your head.
- If I may...
- YES?
- People will believe that you want to visit Lady Jane away from prying eyes... and the Court being what it is, there will be talk about the lady's virtue...
The king seemed disappointed at Jane Seymour's mention. Apparently, despite her brothers' pressure, the little miss did not answer the king's advances as positively as he had hoped. And Cromwell knew Anne was busy introducing other men to her. He had even advised some...
- Well, Henry mumbled, more for himself that the company, she has a sister who seems more... lively.
Cromwell had the distinct impression that a quill had just snapped behind him.
- Good. I thank you for your excellent advice. Good day to you.
The king rose, receiving bows from all the staff. He had reached the door when he turned, a facetious smile on his lips.
- Concerning young ladies, maybe it would be time to find one for your boy...
Once the door was closed, Cromwell risked a glance to Gregory, who was compiling incomes behind him. His lips thinned, biting his cheek, the « boy » looked ready to explode.
- Not the ink pots, his father advised.
- It's all right, I respect our tools, the young man hissed, throwing away what remained of his late quill.
He noisily blew out before falling back on his chair.
- Yet for Christ's sake, could he not choose another?
His father leant against the panelling, feeling his headache coming back with a vengeance. Thump, thump, thump. The back of his skull softly hit against the wood. No need to worry about the incoming bump, after the multiple slaps given by one Henry Tudor, there was one permanently now.
So, let's sum this up. I had an... affair? No, I... have fucked the king's wife for about a month to get her pregnant, I'm helping the same woman to pair the king's new sweetheart with another man, and now he finds himself a third lady, he must choose my son's good friend. Oh Lord, you really make me pay climbing up this high...
# #
18th of April
Locked up in his chambers, Henry Tudor did not let up. The previous day he had expressed his interest for the younger Lady Seymour and she had treated him in a... perfectly disgraceful manner! Yes, that was the word, disgraceful. She had dared claim that the situation of « friend » had caused too much sorrow to her elder sister Jane to make her wish she could take it, and that she wanted to remarry, which would take a bit long if all the gentlemen in Court knew her for the king's mistress. On top of this, the little... trollop had downright said that the king was too old for her and, in a nutshell, absolutely not to her tastes. Such an insolence!
The king brutally gripped the bell-pull, and a page arrived running. Henry quickly wrote a message to the queen, ordering her to expel Lady Elizabeth Seymour from her service, and demanding that the girl left the Court until new orders. The boy left running with the billet, relieved to leave the monarch.