Chapter 33

Edward might have made sure that he and I presented a united front for the people, but that didn't mean that he was incapable of doing something behind my back.

When he didn't come to visit me again in the days following our public appearance, I knew something was up. He had been so attentive during the course of my illness; something had to have distracted him now.

What it was both stunned and infuriated me, particularly since he didn't even have the nerve to tell me himself. I had to find out from Kat.

"Lady Lucy?"

Yes, Madam?" Lucy murmured, laying her embroidery aside and lifting her head at my question.

"Do you know where Lord Edward is? He hasn't been to see me in days, not even when the Princesses are here. It's most unlike him. Is he ill?"

"No, Madam. Not that I am aware."

"Well, then. Where is he?"

Lucy hesitated. She glanced awkwardly at Kat and, in that instant, I knew that, whatever it was that my ladies were helping Edward conceal from me, I wasn't going to like it.

"Where is he?"

"Your Majesty. Come with me," Kat rose, clearly intending to take me into the privacy of the next room, as though I were a child. I rounded on her, "No! Just tell me, Goddamnit! Edward is my husband; I deserve to know where he is!"

"Elizabeth!"

In her determination to make me listen to her, Kat actually took me by the shoulders and shook me in a way that she hadn't done since I ceased to be a Princess. I stared at her in shock and this time, when she said, "Come with me," I didn't argue, but instead followed her into the next room.

Shutting the door firmly behind us, Kat took my hand and led me over to a chair.

"You need to stay calm, Elizabeth. What I'm about to tell you won't be pleasant, but just think of the Prince."

"Go on, I hissed warningly, already feeling my patience beginning to wane.

"His Highness Lord Edward hasn't been to visit you recently because he isn't actually present at Court."

"Where is he, then? Is he in Suffolk?" I asked, my mind automatically leaping to the natural conclusion. Edward's father was getting on in years. He'd just retired from Court, pleading ill-health. Perhaps he'd taken a turn for the worse. Perhaps Edward had gone to visit him. Though why he wouldn't have told me he was going was beyond me.

Kat shook her head, "His Grace is not in Suffolk. He has gone to Ireland to visit your sister and her husband Lord Ormonde."

"What?" As the full import of Kat's words sank in, I found myself on my feet, shrieking in horror, "He can't! People will think I approve!"

"The Queen Dowager asked him to go. She wanted to make sure that Blanche is happy in her chosen union," Kat explained, "If Blanche isn't happy with Lord Ormonde, Anne will find some pretext to annul the marriage on, don't worry about that."

"She should have done that first! She should have done that first!" I screamed, practically beside myself with rage, "She should never have sent Edward to Dublin and particularly not behind my back! Doesn't she know what this will look like? Edward's as good as condoning Blanche's marriage. People will think I approve of the match! People will think I approve!

Kat watched my temper burn itself out, coolly impassive.

"You've changed, Elizabeth," she said eventually and her voice was heavy, "You've changed. The Princess I brought up would never have held a grudge like this."

Then she turned on her heel and swept gracefully from the room, letting the doors swing shut behind her.

I stayed alone in that little room until I could feel my anger subsiding; until I was at least no longer trembling; until I could muster a somewhat natural smile.

Only then did I slip from the room and go, unattended, to visit my daughters in their nursery.

"Katherine, Maddie," I called softly as I pushed open the door, declining any other sort of announcement. The girls were so precious and I so rarely got to see them without protocol surrounding us that, for the moment, at least, the sight of their little faces lighting up as I entered was ceremony enough.

"Mama!" Katherine sprang up and flew across the room to me. I hugged her gently, mindful of my swelling belly and then held out a hand to my younger daughter as she toddled over too.

"Maddie," Caressing her hair, I whispered her name and stooped to kiss her brow, trying hard to ignore the stab of pain that tormented me as she raised large, wistful blue eyes to mine. She looked like my mother. Just like my mother. And Blanche had inherited Mama's eyes. Meeting my daughter's gaze was like staring into a mirror image of my little sister's. The little sister who had betrayed me.

Luckily, Katherine interrupted my musings before they could get any more painful, "Mama, where's Papa? Why hasn't he come with you?"

"Papa's gone away for a bit," I explained, forcing a smile, "He had to take care of some business for Mama."

"Where Papa go?" Maddie asked, clearly crestfallen at not seeing Edward. I reached out and pulled her lightly on to my lap, hoping the warmth of her young body would be enough to steady me as I answered, "Papa's gone to Ireland."

"Has he gone to see Auntie Blanche?" Katherine interrupted eagerly, "Can we go with him?"

"I'm afraid not, darling. He's already gone," I murmured, silently thanking God that this was the case. I wasn't sure I would have been able to deal with Katherine pleading to go and see Blanche, not under the present circumstances. She pouted.

"That's not fair. I miss Auntie Blanche."

"I know. But this visit was to do with business. It would have been boring for you."

"But when will we see Auntie Blanche? We haven't seen her for ages!"

"I don't know, Katherine. It depends on her, not me!" I snapped, tiring of my daughter's protestations. Couldn't she see that I didn't want to discuss it?

A second later, however, I realised that I shouldn't be taking my anger out on a little girl. She didn't deserve it. She was just curious. I stroked her cheek.

"I don't know. Perhaps she'll come back with Papa. For the Easter Celebrations. Would you like that?"

Katherine nodded and I smiled, "In the meantime, shall we go and see if there are any ducklings on the pond?"

Thank Heaven little girls are easy to distract. The moment I mentioned the ducklings, Katherine clapped her hands with joy and ran off, shouting for Lady Latimer, while Maddie looked up at me trustingly, "Feed them? Maddie feed ducks?"

"If you'd like to," I assured her and she bobbed her head eagerly, "I want feed!"

"Very well," I promised, turning to young Catherine Grey, "Send a maid down to the kitchens for some stale bread, would you? And fetch the Princess's wrap for me, please?"

"Of course, Madam," Catherine murmured, curtsying and hurrying to do my bidding.

A few moments later, she returned, Katherine reappeared in a fur-trimmed cloak and, Madeline firmly wrapped up against the biting April chill, we headed outside into the gardens.

A few days later, I was with the girls again when the door suddenly opened and my youngest sister, Lady Jessica Percy, Countess of Northumberland, came in, "My Lady?"

"Jess! What are you doing here?" I sprang up, calling to Katherine and Madeline to come and greet her, "I didn't know you were at Court!"

"Anne sent for me. She said you might like to see me."

"Of course! You look well," I said encouragingly, kissing her warmly, "I think married life agrees with you, My Lady Northumberland."

"Beth! Stop it!" she blushed furiously, then grew serious again. "Anne sent me to tell you..."

"Yes?"

"Edward's written from Ireland."

At her words, I clenched my jaw. Edward's current trip was still not a matter that I could discuss particularly calmly. Sensing my tension, Jess hurried on, "It seems Blanche and Lord Ormonde really are happily married. They really do care for one another, Beth."

"I don't care," I growled, "They should never have married in the first place."

"I think you do care," Jess retorted, "The mere fact that you're still angry at Blanche proves that you care. But you have to forgive her some time. You have to let her come back to Court."

"Why? She betrayed me! Why should I forgive her?"

"She married for love! How can you say that's a betrayal? How can you stand there and say it, Beth, when you yourself married for love?"

"I wasn't promised to a King at the time! And that was in wartime. The rules were different, Jessica."

"Not this different, Beth. Not this different," Jess persisted, "After all, you never annulled your marriage to Edward, did you? No. You fought like a lioness to stay at his side. Don't deny it – I've heard the stories."

"That's different. Edward is loyal to me," I protested.

"And George isn't? He's both your cousin and your uncle by marriage, for God's sake! How much more loyal do you want? And don't even try the "he's not good enough for her" card. George is an Earl. He was born of better blood than your Edward."

"Edward is Great Lord of England and Wales and a future Duke!"

"He's only a future Duke because his older brother got disinherited! He's only Lord of England through his marriage to you! In reality, he's nothing more than a second son and well you know it!" Jess snarled, momentarily heedless of the fact that we were in the nursery suite. I gaped at her. I had never known Jess this angry. I knew Blanche was her favourite, but I'd never dreamed that Jess, my sweet little rosebud of a sister, would go this far in defending her.

Seizing upon my hesitation, Jess pressed her advantage, "And Mama, Beth? What about Mama, whom you profess to love so much? Would she want you to do this? Would she want you to estrange yourself from Blanche for this? Would she want you to banish her; to cut off all contact with her," Jess lowered her voice and glanced towards my daughters, who played, happily oblivious to our heated argument, as she continued, "Would she want you to stop your girls from knowing their Aunt? I don't think she would."

"What would you know of Mama?" I objected, though my voice rang hollow and weary, "You were little more than a baby when she died. What would you know of her?"

"You've told me stories, Beth. Countless stories. So has Anne, so has my second mother, Mary Stafford. I many not have known her personally, but I do know this; she wouldn't want you to turn your back on Blanche. She'd want you to forgive her. She'd want Blanche back here; back at Court, as befits a true daughter of England's Rosa Sine Spina; England's Rose Without A Thorn."

I fell silent, abruptly turning away from my sister. She came up behind me and reached up to lay a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"And you know it too. You know it too, don't you, Beth?"

It was her touch that did it. All of a sudden, I could fight her no longer. I gave in, "Yes."

"Then do it. For our Mama's sake, even if you won't do it for anyone else's. Forgive Blanche. Bring her back to Court. Honour her as your sister and George as your brother. Please."

I took a long shaky breath. I removed my hood and ran a hand through my hair distractedly. And then, at last, at long, long last, I said the words that Jess had been so desperate to hear.

"All right. All right. If the French accept Anne, I'll do it. If they agree to take Anne to be their Queen in my sister's stead, then I'll forgive Blanche. I'll bring her back to Court."