Disclaimer: I own nothing if I did I would be Goddess Supreme. But I do own the plot and my wonderful OCS, Bella, Maggie, Mary and Ned and George's children.
Warning: Adult and Mature content ahead. If you do not need a cold glass after this, tell me, something is wrong then!
Game Of Shadows
~o~
"There's only two types of people in the world
The ones that entertain and the ones that observe
Well, baby, I'm a put-on-a-show kinda girl
Don't like the backseat, gotta be first
I'm like the ringleader, I call the shots (call the shots)
I'm like a firecracker, I make it hot
When I put on a show...
I feel the adrenaline moving through my veins
Spotlight on me and I'm ready to break
I'm like a performer and the dance floor is my stage
Better be ready, hope that you feel the same
All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus
When I crack that whip, everybody gonna trip just like a circus
Don't stand there watching me, follow me, show me what you can do
Everybody let go, we can make a dance floor just like a circus
There's only two types of guys out there
Ones that can hang with me and ones that are scared
So baby, I hope that you came prepared
I run a tight ship, so beware
I'm like the ringleader, I call the shots (call the shots)
I'm like a firecracker, I make it hot
When I put on a show...
I feel the adrenaline moving through my veins
Spotlight on me and I'm ready to break
I'm like a performer and the dance floor is my stage
Better be ready, hope that you feel the same
All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus
When I crack that whip, everybody gonna trip just like a circus
Don't stand there watching me, follow me, show me what you can do
Everybody let go, we can make a dance floor just like a circus
Let's go!
Let me see what you can do
I'm running this
Like-like-like-like a circus
Yeah!
Like a what?
Like-like-like-like a circus
All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus
When I crack that whip, everybody gonna trip just like a circus
Don't stand there watching me, follow me, show me what you can do
Everybody let go, we can make a dance floor just like a circus
All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus
When I crack that whip, everybody gonna trip just like a circus
Don't stand there watching me, follow me, show me what you can do
Everybody let go, we can make a dance floor just like a circus
~"Circus" by Britney Spears
"Power is a curious thing. Who lives and who dies? ... Power resides where men believe it resides ... it's a trick, a shadow in the wall and a very small man can wield such power."
~Varys in Game of Thrones 2 X 04
1546
The former pudgy fifteen year old had tuned into a strapping, broad-shouldered, lad who every boy his age wished to be like him and every young girl wished to be with him. Charlie enjoyed the attention but he was interested in capturing only one –his cousin Meggie.
She was currently with her brother Edmund trying to teach him how to ride but he failed miserably.
"I don't want to ride anymore!" He whined. He was afraid of being mocked again. Their younger brother was always mocking him, making crude jokes that he was stupid and not good enough for this family.
Finally Meggie grabbed the reins and took their horses to the stables where she helped her younger brother down.
She whispered soothing words to him but nothing could calm him down. Just then Charlie appeared. "Having trouble I gather." Megie nodded, her eyes bloodshot. He figured she had been up all night singing to her brother so he would go to sleep while her parents were indisposed.
"Again?"
Meggie nodded walking hand in hand with Edmund to the gardens.
"When are you going to let him go Meggie, he is almost seven." She glared at him.
"Do you think I do not know that?" She hissed.
"I want mummy, I do not like horses. I want my mummy!" He cried rubbing his eyes, seeing his cousin only made things worse. He hated being little. When Charlie was born he had been fat and ugly and now he was handsome and strong like his grandfather said he had been at his age.
Why couldn't he be handsome and strong?
Even his younger brother was handsome and strong. He never missed an opportunity to make fun of him and mock him before his friends.
Charlie tried to comfort him but wanting nothing to do with him, Edmund stood and ran.
"Two crowns he is going to cry at mummy's shoulders?"
Meggie chuckled "Don' be so mean to him, he is just a little boy."
"His brother is a little boy and I have never seen him cry once. In fact I have never seen you cry once. I wonder where does your brother get it?"
"They say that all the good traits skip a generation."
"I bet that's it" Charlie said laughing louder as they heard the echo of his Aunt Mary's footsteps resonating outside the hall as she raced towards Edmund who was crying "Mummy I do not want to go horse riding anymore! Please take me with you and papa!"
"And I thought my family was screwed. Ouch!" Meggie elbowed him. "That hurts!"
"Really? Thank you for stating the obvious" She said with high sarcasm, then locked her gaze with him. "Why have you come here Charlie, really? Come to hide more of your indiscretions?"
He chuckled. She knew him very well "Not quite, well yes … I mean…" God damn it, she was the only woman, girl, who could make him stutter. "It is actually something very important that concerns you. I was hoping your answer would be yes."
"Oh?"
"You know our grandfather has talked about uniting our houses and Cromwell has spoken often about it to our mothers. It would solve a lot of the rivalry between our mothers."
"There is no rivalry between our mothers."
"No, but some believe there is and one way to put down these nasty rumors is,"
"Marrying me"
"Exactly." He blushed looking into her dark blue eyes she had gotten from her father, his eyes trailing all the way down to her mouth that had the same rosebud thin lips of her mother. "I always knew you were the smarter of the bunch and you know how god our grandfather often speaks of you."
"And our mothers are they informed?"
"They should be or at least I think they will. Think about what this means for us, you and me, Earl and Countess, maybe someday Prince and Princess if Fortuna is good to both of us." He said moving his hand to her cheek but she shied away from his touch.
"Charlie" she started. As tempting as the offer was she had to refuse. "I can't marry you."
"Why not? Our houses would be united and if this is because of your parents, look Meggie" he took her hands and pulled her towards him "don't worry, I will talk to them and tell them our grandfather approves. He has already agreed to it so there is no reason why they should refuse."
"It is not that Charlie"
"Then what is it?"
"Charlie … m parents would want nothing more than for our houses to join and keep the family closer but … you know what people say about me."
"They can say all they want, when we are married."
"No! Charlie you are not understanding. This is not about you, it is about me, what they will say about me and you if you marry me." She said brusquely "You very well know what they say, you know the truth behind those words and you know fully well what I am."
"Yes but it doesn't matter to me. I love you, you are the perfect woman for me and I would not want it any other way, I love you just the way you are and I don't care about your birth or what people whisper behind you. Once we are married it will stop, believe me, it will. No one will ever say a word against you cousin" He ran his fingers through her golden hair. She looked like the pagan goddess, Aphrodite. "I will worship you, I will shower you with many gifts, I will,"
"Charlie!" She cried. She had to stop him before she broke down in tears. She wrenched her hands of his grip and looked into his dark grey eyes that were similar to their grandfather's. "As much as I would like it to be so, I could not subject you or our children to this pain, questioning their mother's birth, their place in the world. Is that the life you want to give your children Charlie? Believe me it is no life and I would never subject a child to that kind of life."
"But you would be my wife, my mother could someday be Queen and you could be my Princess then, it will be like in the tales of courtly love,"
"Charlie there is not courtly love. Our marriage would purely be a business contract between two men to get rid of all potential risks between both our families. Nothing more." She stated.
But it was impossible to reason with Charlie. He wanted it all like his grandfather and he was willing to go to great lengths to get it.
"I want to be your Queen, your Princess, your Countess, your wife, I really do with all my heart … but …" her voice broke "I-I c-can-not Charlie. I cannot."
"Then be my mistress."
"What?!"
"What you heard, my mistress. No one would question you and it is not like anyone would disagree with me, I could be Prince, maybe even King one day and as my mistress you would be my true wife in all but name. Think about it, you would hold the keys to the kingdom as Alice Perrers held Edward's."
"Yes, and we all know how she ended, old, forgotten and abandoned. Is that the same you want for me Charlie? To be your whore?" He looked away. "I thought you better than that!"
"You don't want to be my mistress and you refuse to be my wife, what do you want to be then?! Edward's Queen, is that it?"
"Of course not!"
"Then what?" He asked desperately falling into his knees. "I come to you with no gifts, only my love. I love you. Please."
"Charlie I can't. Edward will be King, it's true, but you know how he feels about you and me, you know how he wants what he cannot have and when he finds out about our betrothal, he will do everything in his power to stop it, even harm you."
"I would go to war with him if I must to have you." He said, dead serious.
She licked her lips. She found nothing else to say. "Do you really love me cousin?"
"Yes, cousin, you know I do. My heart is yours, take it"
She spoke before he could continue "How much do you love me Charlie?"
He looked totally befuddled by her question.
"With all my heart cousin, my heart is yours you know that."
"No, what I mean is how much do you love me that you would be willing to do anything for me?"
"Anything, I would go to the edge of the world for you if I must. I would go to hell and back." He answered her honestly, his eyes pleading, clearly besotted with her. "I want to be with you Meggie, I want to spend the rest of my days with you."
"Why?"
"Why? Because I love you!"
"Then let me go. Tell my grandfather that I have accepted the engagement, he will draw a marriage contract and Lord Oxford will take it to our mothers, it is unlikely they will agree but they will sign it anyways because it is what the King commands and after that we are free to go our own separate ways."
"I do not understand."
She smiled sweetly at him and helped him, and gave him a kiss in his cheeks. It was as far as they would ever go. "Don't you see Charlie? Our grandfather needs to be pampered. He is a man at the end of his life and he wants nothing more than to settle all old scores, he knows that our houses united means peace within our family but we know better."
"I will not let you go."
"No, you won't, but you will have to someday."
"I would give anything to be with you" she added. He could feel the heat in his body rising. If she was five years older he would not doubt himself and take here and now.
"Is this goodbye then?"
"No, of course not but we will have to eventually" She said as a matter-of-factly looking away from his gaze. He did not want to say goodbye and neither did she. She wanted nothing to be with him and be his Queen but her reasons were motivated more by ambition –the main factor that drove her entire family- than by love.
If she was Queen nobody would question her, they might whisper and say things behind her back but they would also do with fear knowing that every word could be used against them, and there was nothing more than she would love than feel power in her fingers.
But Charlie deserved better. He could be a better King than Edward and he did not need a conniving wife or a bastard one for that whose legitimacy would always be questioned.
It is for the best. She told herself later that night as she slept with Ermine, her mother wolfhound. Her wounds inflicted on her by her new uncle had recently healed and her bite seemed to be as sharp as ever.
A light click from the doorknob interrupted her thoughts. "Enter" she said softly.
A light brown head peered into her room "Can I come in?" He asked shyly.
She nodded and told him to close the door behind him.
He hopped on her bed and slipped under the covers, pulling them close to his chest. "Are the windows closed?"
"Yes, there will be no monsters coming into the room don't worry." She said without preamble knowing the scary stories that Neddie had told him.
Ermine growled softly at him but succumbed under her soft touch and snuggled closer to her mistress.
"Don't worry Mundi, she is not going to eat you, right Ermie?"
Ermine responded by moving her head towards Edmund and licking his face. The little boy's fright did not disappear but at least he was not shaking anymore.
He looked uncertain from her pet to his sister. "What?" She asked, knowing something was troubling. With Mundi it was always easy to know.
"Can you tell Ermine to move a bit farther away … p-please?"
She nodded and the wolfhound reluctantly obeyed her mistress. "Come little man." She said pulling Edmund closer to her, embracing the way her mother would.
"You will never leave me will you Meggie?"
"Of course not, why would I?"
He shrugged his shoulder. He, himself did not know why he said or did some things. He was a mystery even to himself. "Just saying."
"Sleep Mundi tomorrow you have a big day ahead of you."
"Yes sister" He said and closed his eyes.
Their mother watched them sleep from the doorway wondering if it was a good idea that the wolfhound slept with them seeing that it didn't like Edmund but sensing only loyalty from the beast as she entered her daughter's bedroom, her heart became at ease.
She closed the door silently and tiptoed back to their bedchamber so she wouldn't wake the children, where her husband was waiting for her.
"How are the children?" He asked.
Mary only smiled, rubbing the tip of his chin with her forefingers. His beard still tickled her. "They are fine, in fact Edmund is proving to be his father's son. He loves to read and is gentle with the royal ladies."
"Well, I should know he is my son." He boasted proudly.
She shook her head. "You proud bastard."
"Aye but your bastard and only your bastard and you my lady wife, my bitch."
"If any man dared to speak that way to a King's daughter they would already been thrown in the tower, but I sense you want more than that don't you?"
"I am not like any men dear, there are no men like me."
"You over-proud, arrogant lecher"
"But you love me either way and I have never heard you complain when we engaged in lechery." He moved closer to her "It is the way of the nobility after all."
She withdrew her fingers from his chin and her eyes gleamed as she felt her heart beating fast against her chest. "Will you make love to me?" She asked boldly.
His eyebrows rose "Again?" He asked startled.
She lifted herself up and came like a wolf on her prey. He had transformed her from a quiet and scared cub into a bold, lusty and hungry she-wolf, ready to take on her prey. She purred softly in his ear "I need all the love I can get to fill my infertile womb." Her lips descended upon his and he savored the sweet flavor of her tongue, yielding himself to her.
"Sweetheart, I will love you no matter what, to me you are the most beautiful creature that ever walked the earth."
"Is that so?" She asked slightly excited.
"Yes." He answered.
In gratitude she lowered herself and licked the tip of his lance feeling its erection and the swelling of it against her touch and pushed it further in her mouth feeling it about to explode.
No, not yet. He gripped her shoulders and gently pushed her up, locking their lips in a searing kiss and she opened her eyes, only for a second before closing them and watched in wonder as lance dived into her and pierced her sheath repeatedly. No longer able to hold it under her command "Fill me" he released into her, filling her with his love-juices, entering a state of perpetual bliss. They stayed like this for what seemed to be an eternity until he pulled from her abruptly.
"I want you to caress my love lance." He told her as the sun began to rise. She realized they had fallen asleep, their bodies still joined.
"Now?" She asked. She had just woken up and her legs were still sore, she didn't think she could move.
"Touch it" He encouraged helping her lower herself.
"Would you let me go if I don't?"
"No." He said, grinning, winking at her.
Smiling she swallowed hard and pushed her mouth into his member, feeling the organ take a life of its own in her mouth as her tongue did soft movements around his entire being.
His body arched, clutching the sheets, he could feel himself exploding all over again but he didn't hold it this time. She felt the sweet nectar released into her mouth, pumping and pumping more into her until she had drained him entirely. She came up and cleaning with her tongue the white liquid around her lips she asked: "Is that what you were hoping my lord husband?"
He answered by taking her in his arms and rolling over, inverting their positions, plunging himself into her again, earning long moans from her begging him not to stop.
"I love you" Bella whispered in his ear. She would not have it any other way. She was happy the way things had turned out and that she was married to Liam. It was how it was meant to be.
Let Mary's husband keep her brother's regency, she had all she wanted with her.
Henry drew his wife into his loving arms. He could feel the end was drawing near and he needed to feel constant reassurance and comfort like his younger grandson, Edmund. Poor Edmund, he thought. He often wished that his father had drafted another act to skip Edmund in favor of his younger brother, Edward so he would inherit his father's lands and titles.
Edmund was proving to be a poor and weak, sensitive lad. And the realm was no place for a weak and sensitive lad.
He often thought of proposing it to Ned Seymour but he knew the man was too proud to admit his faults, and would refuse. But he had already skipped on his oldest son by his first marriage to Catherine Filiol, supposedly because as the rumors went he was not his son but his father's son, making him a bastard.
He watched his wife nestling in his chest. Soon he would be dead and she would be free to wed the man she loved and he would be free to lie in eternal bliss with the woman he ever loved –Jane Seymour.
Maggie watched her children play feeling a tinge of regret as she ran her fingers down her youngest daughter's auburn hair. Her mother should be with them. She thought with longing. She always said how she dreamed of having a horde of grandchildren and spending time with them.
When she found out about Bella's children she had been very hapy with her happiness also came sadness when she realized she would never meet her grandsons and that her days were numbered by her refusal to grant her father his annulment.
"Things could have been much easier if she had accepted, would they not?"
"You know full well that even if she had it would have been very unlikely my father and the Boleyn-Howard faction would have left her alone, she would always be a threat to the concubine's legitimacy."
"Why cousin, I never thought the day I would hear you call your former stepmother the concubine. Applause!"
Maggie shook her head. "There is no need to celebrate cousin, she was never my stepmother and I never acknowledged her as such."
"Then why did you sign then?"
"Same as my sisters, I know which way the current flows and which way it flows I flow with it. You see, many have tried to swim against it and have drowned, but I, I keep paddling." She said with a wicked smile.
"Cousin I would hate to be your enemy. You are a true devil Margaret Tudor!" Meg said ruffling Maggie's hair. To Meg, Maggie would always be her little cousin and it was easier getting along with her and Bella than it was with Mary who seemed more interested these days in her husband's bed lessons in politics than their little talks and gossip like she used to.
"Nay, I am just the lion's daughter cousin, I have happened to be since I have use of reason. I knew what she wanted the moment I saw her so I befriended her and did the only reasonable thing I could to save myself and my sisters."
"Silent Maggie…" teased Meg "Me and Bella shall not tease you any longer, we discovered in you a lioness cousin!"
Maggie blushed, pleased by the comment though she never considered herself a mighty lioness like her older sister, Bella. She was more of a lion's cub, a kitten, who preferred to remain hidden, behind the shadows as a silent observer, watching the events unfold and only coming out when the tide was favorable to her.
"You need not to fear me Meg, I mean no one any harm but I am not blind, I have eagle eyes and if someone were to harm my family I will use all the arsenal at my disposal to hurt them."
"And what are those?"
She pointed to her mind. Meg laughed. "My sister has her sharp tongue, Mary has her charms while I have my mind and like everything it requires feeding." She gestured to the books piled up on top of one of the stools.
"You should have been the Prince of Wales me thinks cousin. Nature wronged making you the younger sister. Without you Bella and Mary would have already been boiled alive."
"Nay cousin, I am happy to lie in obscurity. Darkness is my ally and I love the cloak and daggers game. It is more fun to be behind the scenes than the central figure."
"You play a dangerous game, you will not be the only one placing their bid to be the next Margaret Beaufort." Meg said rocking her only son, Henry and kissing down his forehead to make him go to sleep again.
His nurses were not able to make him fall asleep so they just gave him to his mother who was not able to part from him anyways. They all regarded this as an action of motherly love when in reality Meg was only interested in showing off her and the Earl of Lennox's fertility, and that her son was healthy, thriving male who could one day –God willing- be the next King of Scotland.
The Earl of Lennox had after all a strong claim and if things continued the way they were between England and Scotland; the girl-Queen and her mother could be replaced in favor of her son.
"I can think of no more apt description of your name than our great-grandmother for which we are both named after, Margaret Beaufort, the Countess of Richmond." Meg said, smiling as she saw herself reflected in her son's dark grey eyes who had woken at the sound of her mother's loud, booming voice.
Maggie smirked looking down at her own cub, her youngest daughter –Matilda. Their eyes met and seeing the gleam in her eyes, Maggie asked: "What are you thinking cousin?"
Meg lifted part of the blanket covering her son's forehead and gently turned him to watch his cousin, Matilda to get familiarized with.
"He seems to like her already."
Meg snorted. "She is barely four cousin."
"So? Women have made younger marriages, her late Majesty married your father was twenty three when she married your father who was barely out of puberty. How old was he again? Ah yes, eighteen."
"There was a huge difference."
"Enlighten me."
"My mother was Princess of Spain, true, still considered widowed but a Princess nonetheless and none of our children's mothers are Princesses."
"But they are royals." Meg intervened raising herself and going to sit next to Maggie who was still holding her sleeping daughter. "She is plaint, submissive, she has all of the qualities of a Princess, grace and virtue no doubt from her mother. She and Henry are perfect together and Henry seems to like her already."
"Henry loves to smile at everything that moves, he smiled at a horse last time around."
"Well, he is just a baby, do not expect him to have much common sense." Meg defended lulling her baby back to sleep.
Maggie rolled her eyes. Typical of her cousin, she always knew –like Bella- how to get out of an argument.
"And my uncle would approve, he wants all his grandchildren taken care of, especially the older ones but why should just the older ones get the better deal, I say take care first of the wee ones. You never know if all the old ones are going to last." Maggie glared at her but Meg ignored her "You remember what happened to Prince Arthur, it always good to put all your eggs in one basket. And I also have selfish reasons for wanting this union,"
"Besides the ones you already told?" Maggie asked with sarcasm.
Meg nodded. "Well yes, don't you want our children to remain close to us?"
"I do but I am no fool, I know what you and Lord Lennox intend to and I do not want to put my daughter's in harm's way not because I disagree with you. If I were in your position I am sure given the opportunity I would do the same, but I am a King's daughter and despite being considered a bastard albeit being included in the line of succession, I still have my pride and that is something difficult to shake." She whispered lower "I aim for bigger fish."
"If you ever have different plans then" Meg said "you know the offer is always open."
Maggie nodded, watching the rest of her children play. She had bigger ambitions but not only for herself but for her family, especially Bella.
A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and followed this story, you've made this possible. Special thanks to my awesome Beta Mimi Dubois :)
Sources used: Henry VIII and His Court by Alison Weir and the Tudors by John Guy.
R/R!