She watched from the barred window of the Tower as the carriage approached. When it was close enough, she saw that it contained a large bundle and a small bundle, both wrapped in winding sheets.

"He will be given a Christian burial," someone told her.

"Guilford...my Guilford..."

"Jane! Wake up!"

She didn't realize that she was sobbing out loud until a hand was gently shaking her awake and she was looking into a pair of loving eyes full of concern for her.

"The soul takes flight to the world that is invisible..." she mumbled, struggling to shake off the last foggy remnants of the dream.

"It's all right, Jane. It was just a dream. Everything's all right, my darling." There he was, still in one piece and blessedly alive, lightly sweeping a strand of damp hair back with his fingers and kissing her forehead.

"Why did I dream about it again, Guilford? I thought my nights of dreaming those kinds of dreams were all behind me."

"I don't know." He looked thoughtful. "Overindulgence on food and drink yesterday, perhaps?" He smiled gently. "But then, you were entitled, of course. After all, it isn't every day that a daughter of ours gets married."

"Perhaps." She thought that her dream had more likely had something to do with the fate of her poor, dead sister-in-law Amy, but she wasn't about to bring that subject up again.

She idly ran the fingers of one hand through his golden hair; he took that hand in one of his own, kissed it, and held it to his cheek.

"Stay," she whispered. "I want to feel you beside me for just a little while longer."

"Hold me close...never let me go..." Guilford sang softly as he gently traced Jane's facial features with his finger. Jane joined in on the next line of the song. "Hold me close...melt my heart like April snow..."

The last vestiges of the disturbing dream finally disappeared.

Grace's wedding night turned out to be a rather disappointing experience. The first time she and Henry had intercourse, Henry climaxed almost immediately, leaving him mortified and Grace non-plussed. Once Henry had recovered sufficiently from his acute embarassment, they made a second attempt, which, while better than the first, still left Grace with the opinion that the act was highly overrated. Surely God, in His infinite wisdom, could have devised a less awkward scheme for getting babies here.

Afterwards, as they lay waiting for sleep to overtake them, Henry shared more of his family background with his bride.

"My grandmother would never say for sure, but it has always been rumoured that my true grandfather was King Henry VIII himself rather than her husband William Carey," he told Grace.

"If that's true, then you and I are related, as the King was my mother's great uncle," Grace said. "That would make us second cousins, I believe, or perhaps it's third cousins."

"Second cousins, once removed." Henry laughed gently. "But I don't suppose it matters."

"No, I suppose it doesn't." Grace yawned and cuddled closer to Henry. She felt warm and safe.

Jane felt very awkward around the Queen the next time she and Elizabeth were together. How many times had Elizabeth and Robert been together before she had found out that he was married to Amy? How did one deliberately deceive a queen and still manage to keep his head? Of course, being nice looking, charming, and male couldn't possibly hurt...yet, how dare Jane think that way? Robert was her brother-in-law, after all...

As perceptive as she was, Elizabeth immediately realized that something weighed heavily on Jane's mind.

"What troubles you, my dear cousin?"

"Guilford told me about the death of Robert's wife Amy," Jane said quietly.

"An unfortunate accident that was."

"Yes, that's what Guilford told me."

"Yet it was more then ten years ago. Why is it so much on your mind?"

"Only that she was my sister-in-law and that she was so young and her death so tragic."

"Yes. Well, it was much talked about at the time. I'm sorry that the subject brings you such distress, but as it was, as I said, well over ten years ago, it belongs in the past, and I don't wish for it to ever be mentioned in my presence again."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

Jane grew alarmed at the thought of the number of times she had been less than completely honest with Guilford. While she had never told him an outright lie, she had often hid her true feelings about certain things, as she had been afraid of upsetting him. She couldn't help but wonder whether he had been the same way toward her. Was there something about court life that brought to the forefront one's basest instincts? If so, what had she gotten herself and, more importantly, her children, into? Would Grace truly be happy married to Henry? What was in store for the younger children?

Grace had imagined that she would feel really different upon visiting her family as a married woman for the first time, but once she was actually inside, everything somehow felt much the same. Right away, there was her sister Temperance, her eyes sparkling with excitement, grasping her hand and leading her down a hall to a private alcove.

"Tell me, Grace! What was it like?"

"It was all right. Nothing special."

Temperance looked shocked. "Didn't you enjoy it then?"

"Not particularly."

"Did it hurt then, as they say?"

"It did a little at first, yes."

The girls heard a suppressed giggle and soon discovered nine-year-old Katherine hiding behind a drape.

"Go play with your dolls, Katherine. You're too young for such matters," said Grace.

"I'm too old for dolls," retorted Katherine, scampering away.

"Perhaps I shan't marry at all," Temperance said thoughtfully.

"But of course you shall. It's our duty to marry and produce heirs for our husbands, just as it's our brothers' duty to marry and beget heirs. When the time is right, Her Majesty will find someone nice for you, as she did for me."

"Her Majesty has never married, and she's older than Mother, even."

"That's because she's the Queen, so she never has to do anything that she doesn't really want to do."

"Uncle Robert loves her. When I see him looking at her, I see our father looking at our mother. He would marry her quickly enough if she would have him."

"I know that."

"Why then won't she marry him?"

"God only knows, Tempy."

Temperance smiled coyly. "Don't you think our cousin Philip is nice looking, Grace?"

"I suppose so. I haven't really given it any thought."

"He is a Protestant, isn't he?"

"Of course he is!"

"Tell me again why Catholics are going to hell, Grace."

"Don't you pay attention in church? It's because they rely on good works and superstition, rather than grace alone through faith in our lord Jesus Christ, for salvation. That, and they hold that the Pope is infallible, and they also pray to Mary and the saints, when we are to pray to God alone."

"Why do we not tie them to stakes and burn them, as they once did to us?"

"Because that isn't what God wills. Instead, He wills that we should pray for them, that they would see the error of their ways and repent and turn to the true faith."

Temperance was troubled by a nuance she had picked up from something Grace had said earlier. "You do love Henry, don't you, Grace?"

Grace was looking not at her sister but at a point far beyond. "I shall, in time," she said softly.

Her eyes were open, but all that she could see was blackness. She realized that the reason for that was the cloth that had been tied behind her head, entangled with her hair.

"Where is it? What do I do? Where is it?" Never before in her life had she felt so frightened and helpless. A hand - she had no idea whose, but it felt male - gently took her own and guided it forward. Now she could feel the hard, cold stone...

...and her eyes suddenly jerked open to stare at the ceiling. She turned her head slightly and saw that Guilford was still sleeping peacefully beside her. Thankfully, she hadn't awakened him this time.