Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter 24 – Power Plays: The look on the page's face was Anne's first warning. Katherine didn't often lose her temper, but when she did, that worried look was the normal reaction. The worst of it was, Anne didn't even know what was going on. She didn't know if she was the reason Katherine was upset – and if she was, why? If it was someone else… Well, that would be easier to deal with, but didn't lessen the mystery.

"Please, my lady, she said she wanted to see you straight away," the page said worriedly.

"Right, I'm coming," Anne said absently, standing up.

"Mama, what's wrong?" Cecily wanted to know.

"Nothing, sweetheart. I just have to go talk to Mary's Mama for a while, all right? Aunt Mary will stay, though," she added. Mary looked as though she might protest, but a sharp look from Anne silenced her. Whatever was going on, she didn't think it would be a good idea for her sister to go along. If she hadn't given Kate a few hours to herself, she'd have said the same of her. It was likely best if this conversation was held in private.

She told the page that he didn't have to guide her, she knew the way herself, but he said it was his duty to accompany her, especially as she was otherwise unattended. Anne almost laughed, despite her concern. She'd found, over the years, that servants sometimes actually became even more wedded to the social order than nobles did. So she didn't press further, deciding not to upset the boy by telling him not to do what he perceived as duty.

Instead she let her mind wander while walking. She almost stopped dead when a stray memory popped into her mind. Henry had said that he was signing the new heresy statutes into law. Though if that was what this was about… How did Katherine know she had anything to do with it? She didn't think Henry would admit to it, but… He could have said something in passing, she knew, or someone else might have suspected something and mentioned it.

Or this could be about something else entirely, and she was worrying about the new laws for nothing. She'd find out soon enough in any case, so worrying about it now wasn't doing her much good.

"I told you he wouldn't take it well," Brandon said mildly. Even though he knew the comment was more likely to send his wife into an even greater fury than it was to calm her down, he couldn't help it.

Margaret glared at him. "He has no right to scold me like a child!" she exploded.

"Why not when you've been acting like one?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Losing your temper because you don't like your brother's taste in women is childish. You've been acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum, and you're lucky that all Henry has done is yell at you. It could be a lot worse, and if you were anyone but his sister it likely would be. Even that relationship won't count forever."

Margaret rolled her eyes. "You've said this before, Charles. Unless you have some new point to make, stop. It's aggravating."

"There's going to be a banquet in three weeks to welcome the Imperial envoys," he said, ignoring that. "You know that one of the reasons why they've come is to negotiate a marriage between Philip of Spain and Cecily. I know you said that you were planning to leave beforehand, so you wouldn't have to cede precedence to Anne, but I think you should remain at court, and attend."

"I don't want – "

"We've already discussed this. It doesn't matter! What matters is that you make your brother think that you've learned your lesson with regards to your disapproval of Anne. The best way to do that is to show it publicly."

"I don't see why. I've said all the right things, I've promised to behave from now on. Why should I have to force myself to do something that makes me sick just thinking about it?"

"Because words aren't enough anymore! Margaret, he had to all but force you to yield precedence back when Anne was pregnant with Cecily, you refused to attend your own niece's christening or the earlier ceremony that installed Anne as handmaid – "

"That was different. We couldn't have made it back in time."

"You know that if we'd tried, we could have. But I decided not to fight with you about that, because I hoped it would give you time to calm down. Clearly, it didn't. So now I am going to push this, because it's time that you grew up. We have to play this game, and we have to play it well, because your attitude has already hurt us both. And anything that hurts us hurts Edward, remember that."

"I know that, Charles, you've been saying it for a long time now."

"I wish you'd act as though you understand," Brandon muttered.

Unnoticed by either of the two, a maid finished straightening up in the outer room of their apartments. Idly she wondered if the Duke and Princess were aware that she could hear every word that they were saying. Probably not, or they wouldn't be saying half the things that she'd heard them say. Honestly, why was it that nobles seemed to think that servants were part of the furniture?

As for what she'd heard, well, it was probably just the temperamental Princess blowing off steam. But she'd heard the rumors among those who'd been with the Princess in Portugal, about how the King had died very quickly after the marriage. Some people suspected he'd been helped to his grave, though of course such things were only spoken of in whispers. But if it were true… The implications were certainly not comforting.

Katherine hadn't been this angry in a long time. It reminded her, somehow, of the very first time she'd found that Henry had taken a mistress, while she was in her first, disastrous confinement. She had not shown it at the time, but she had been furious. Furious at the crackpot doctor who swore she had only miscarried one of twins, furious at herself for believing him even when her instincts said otherwise, and furious at Henry for caring so little that she could have died in labor had the pregnancy been real.

As time went on Henry's philandering had stopped upsetting her so much. It had become essentially a fact of life; still quite unpleasant but something tolerable. But she had never forgotten just how angry she'd been the first time, because she couldn't ever remember being so upset before that. The fact that this felt similar unsettled her, only making it worse. Why should she feel so betrayed by this?

Katherine had been pacing the length of her presence chamber, having dismissed all of her ladies, but now she forced herself to stop and sit down, taking a deep breath. This was ridiculous. She was acting like someone with no self-control. She knew better than to let her emotions rule her this way. And, she reminded herself, she didn't know for sure that it was Anne behind the new laws. Just because she had a French Bible from her days in France didn't mean she was a heretic. The French King's sister was known for her Protestant leanings, and it made sense that all of the women and girls who attended her would own a French Bible.

Even if Anne was the one who had put Henry onto the path he was following, it might not be entirely her fault. Her chaplain, Cranmer, had been the Boleyn family chaplain first; he could have started teaching Anne – and likely her siblings as well – heretical ideas, which were reinforced in France. If that was the case, surely all Anne needed was to be shown the error of her ways.

Outside, Anne glanced at the still-nervous page. "Stay out here please," she said firmly. The boy nodded, and Anne left him standing in the corridor as she entered the Queen's rooms. Katherine was sitting in her usual chair, not looking toward the door, but she turned her head when Anne walked in. There was an oddly cool look in her eyes, which made Anne a little more nervous.

She dipped her usual shallow curtsey, but unlike other times, Katherine didn't wave her to a seat. So, whatever had happened was something she'd done. Wonderful. Now if she knew exactly what it was, maybe she could do something about it.

"Have you heard about the latest changes in the heresy statutes?" Katherine asked. Her voice was level, but something about her tone had Anne feeling a sudden chill. Or perhaps that was just the fact that she'd asked about the heresy laws. Apparently Anne's earlier suspicion had been correct. Not that she was pleased about that, of course.

"Yes, I have."

"And what do you think?"

"They're… quite innovative."

Katherine raised an eyebrow. "I see. So you don't think that the risk of them backfiring, of allowing heresy to grow stronger in England, is something to be concerned about?"

Anne shrugged, trying to seem casual. "I don't think that will happen. Forcing a group to stay quiet is the best way to make them slowly fade away."

"Odd. That's the exact same thing Henry said. Almost as though he was repeating what someone had told him."

"Are you suggesting that I had something to do with the changes?"

"Are you going to tell me that you didn't?"

She had a chance. She could deny it, and everything would blow over – except, that if she did that, not only would she risk Katherine finding out later, she would also have to pretend that she didn't think anything was wrong with the former statutes. "No. I don't see any reason to lie about my involvement."

Katherine's lips thinned. "Is this some ridiculous idea you picked up from Marguerite of Navarre or that chaplain of yours? If it is, it's understandable and – "

"It's not an idea I picked up from anyone! I don't need to steal other people's thoughts; I have a mind of my own, and I see no reason why priests should be the only ones who can read the Bible, or why a person should be burned to death for daring to question the way things are!"

"Those people die because they are heretics, who disobey the Church and God's law, who want to lead people into sin. Priests read the Bible because only they are fit to interpret it, having been consecrated to that duty."

"Consecrated! What about Wolsey, with a mistress and two bastards? Was he a proper keeper of men's souls? And what of the monasteries that boast fake relics? I can't say that they all are, but I know that some of them are no more real than the tales that a child's nursemaid tells."

"What of your soul?" Katherine snapped, standing up herself. "Do you even care, while you read those heretical books, that you might be consigning yourself to Hell? Did you ever consider that encouraging these ideas in Henry might damn him, and that his new laws could do the same to the English people?"

"I don't believe that the new learning is evil. It's just new. And if only priests can read the Bible, then why is it scholars and the upper classes can as well, after lessons in Latin? Clearly, the only people 'unfit' to read it are those who can't afford proper schooling – the people who are misled by such things as colored water labeled as saints' blood – and that only tells me that the reason the Church is so obsessed with controlling the Gates of Heaven is because doing so maintains earthly power!"

"I want whatever heretical books you have."

"No."

"That is an order, and may I remind you that I still outrank you."

"Why don't we bring this to Henry?" It was a low blow and Anne knew it, but she also knew that if Katherine could pull rank, she still had the greater influence on Henry, and that likely would make her the winner.

"Get out." Katherine forced her voice to be steady as she gave the order, knowing that if Anne did not leave now, whatever happened next would be something that both of them would regret. All the anger she had tried to repress was back in full force.

"Very well, Your Majesty." Anne's tone was biting and the curtsey she gave before leaving seemed more mocking than respectful. Katherine turned away, trying to reassert control over her unruly emotions. Why was it that as angry as she was, part of her felt as though she were about to cry?

Anne ordered the page boy away from her, not wanting to have even his unobtrusive companionship. She walked quickly until reaching the nearest stairwell. Once she was partway down the steps, away from any landings where she might be spotted, she leaned heavily against the wall, trying to swallow the lump in her throat.

She hadn't thought about this. Somehow, when she'd been so caught up in the idea of using her position to help push reforms that would make England all but a sanctuary for free thinkers, she'd forgotten how orthodox Katherine was. And she certainly had never considered what might happen to her relationship with the Queen if the other woman ever learned that she was behind the changes.

Friendship had been all that she could ever expect from Katherine. Anne had trained herself to be happy with that, to be glad to even have that much. She was more fortunate than some, at any rate. But now… She wondered if it was worth it. She suspected that Katherine would never forgive her for this. Even though deep down she knew that the changes she'd convinced Henry to make were for the greater good, it was hard to remember that when it felt like her heart was breaking.

"A woman can smile even when her heart is breaking."

She remembered a woman at the French court making that observation, and she'd seen it in Queen Claude… and in Katherine. Even if things never went back to the way they were, even if Katherine saw her as an enemy forever, she would have to pretend it didn't matter. She would have to hide it, and wasn't it fortunate that she had so much practice in hiding her feelings where the Spanish Queen was concerned?

Taking a deep breath, Anne straightened up and began walking down the stairs again. But she'd only been moving for a minute or so when she felt hands on her back. Before she could turn to see who was touching her – indeed, before she could react at all – she was shoved forward. She lost her balance, and the last thing she heard before falling into darkness was her own shocked cry bouncing off the stone walls.

A/N: I'm going to die again, aren't I? I think I'm very glad that the only person on this site who knows where I live doesn't read this…