A/N: - And now, I give you, the chapter most of us have been waiting for! Chapter 50 of Edward's Reign! Don't hurt me! Please!

25th Demember 1556

"Good Christian people, I have come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die by the pleasure of His Majesty, your Sovereign lord King Edward VI, and therefore I will speak nothing against he nor the law. I have come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die. But I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle Sovereign lord and husband. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus, I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. Oh Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul." She spoke proudly and calmly, the way a Queen was supposed to. Her surprising dignity moved many a heart in the crowd, and, as Anne Stafford, Queen of England, Ireland and France, knelt before the block to recieve the black satin blindfold, every man, woman and child in the crowd before her sank to their knees as well, silently paying their Queen Anne, who was about to die, the respect that they had been so reluctant to show her whilst she lived.

She lay her head on the block, spread her arms wide and repeated, quietly several times "To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesus receive my soul."

In her last moments, before she would, inevitably, lose her head she thought of her cousin 'Forgive me, Elizabeth, for I have left you alone with the trials of the court, and for that I do humbly apologise'

The executioner, meanwhile was looking at the axe. Last night, someone, he couldn't remember who, had gotten him drunk, and his head was pounding. He leant down, picked up the shining, brown handled axe, and swung it. The axe whistled as it flew through the air, colliding with Anne. However, it missed her neck, making a large, throbbing, red, oozing gash in her shoulder.

"Jesus, take my soul" Anne muttered, as the axe came down again, this time hitting the back of her head. She repeated her statement again, but with a hint of pain this time.

The axe swung again, colliding, hard, against her neck, slicing it off in one fell sweep, and the last thing Anne saw, was an image of her ex-husband, her step-daughter, Jane and her cousin, Elizabeth. Oh, how she'd left Elizabeth alone in the court, she would never forgive herself, even in death. Nor would she ever forgive herself for how she treated her step-daughter. Never. Not even in death.

The executioner then picked up Anne's head and showed it to the crowd, which erupted into a cheer.

The cannon fired, smoke rising high into the sky.

Elizabeth gasped. Edward looked up, and smiled. He was rid of Anne, and was free to marry Mary of Scotland, she would provide him with the much needed Tudor heir. Not that his daughter wasn't capable of ruling, she was only three and more than capable, even at her young age, of ruling a country.

Horrified at her brother's callousness - how could he smile at the death of his wife, the woman he had raised to sit at his side as Queen Consort of England? Just because she had miscarried his child? It was true he said she was a traitor, but Elizabeth knew her cousin. Little Annie, as she still sometimes thought of her, was no more a traitor than she herself was. The charges were false. Anne had been sentenced to die, and that sentence had been carried out, just because she had miscarried Edward's child - Elizabeth turned and pushed her way out through the crowd, blind to the way they all bowed before her. She ran over to her grey gelding - a marriage gift from her beloved Robin, and flung herself on to the horse, cantering away from the Tower without a backwards glance. Back in the palace, she stumbled, trembling with shock and grief.

"My Lady -?" One of her ladies tried to catch her arm, to comfort her. Elizabeth wrenched herself from the woman's grip.

"No! Leave me, all of you. I need to be alone. Whether that woman was a traitor or not, she was still my cousin. I need to be alone." Her voice broke on the last statement, and her ladies hastily did as they were told, filing out of the room, leaving Elizabeth alone as she sank to her knees on the grey stone floor, which was adorned with rugs.

"Annie. Annie. Cousin Annie!" she cried, tears coursing down her cheeks as she muttered a litany of words, all of them her cousin's name. All she wanted was for this to be a nightmare, to wake up and find it was not real, but she knew that was impossible. She had seen Anne die with her own eyes. God, how her cousin had suffered!

"ANNIE!"

The Princess Elizabeth wept until she could weep no more, and then, exhausted with the force of her own grief, she drifted into a fitful sleep.

[To Be Continued]