Mary Tudor was looking over some paperwork for her brothers' birthday celebration. Her regency was about to come to an end and for Mary it couldn't have come soon enough. Norfolk had been silenced early enough thanks to her alliance with Edward Seymour, Henry Brandon and Henry Carey. Mary Stafford had placed her daughter Anne in the French court to keep an eye of the Scots Queens' progress.
Judging from the reports Mary of Scots was either very clever at hiding her true motives or very foolish because it looked to the world that the Scots Queen had no interest in politics but more frivolous pursuits. However Elizabeth advised her sister to not be fooled as Elizabeth herself played ignorant to the politics of court but in reality listened very carefully to what was happening around her. Perhaps Mary of Scots was doing the same but Lady Mary Tudor was not so sure.
The other issue were the Spanish. Chapuays may have been a lying deceitful worm but Renard had the audacity to tell Mary how she should be running the kingdom. Mary knew if it had been her father or brother in her place Renard wouldn't have dared but because she was a woman he thought she could be easily controlled. Mary quite happily played the ignorant fool as it was easier to discover his intentions. It was very clear to Mary that her cousin wanted his son Philip to marry her sister Elizabeth. Mary was surprised that Philip himself would want to go through with the match given his previous encounter with Elizabeth. Mary thought the match was absurd as the two were so different but she knew such a thing did not matter in royal marriages.
Another suitor who was insistent was Charles Valois who had got it into his head to write letters to Elizabeth. Some fool had informed him that Elizabeths' parents had exchanged letters often so he thought to romance her in the same way. Unlike her mother Anne Boleyn who would treasure every letter Henry VIII he had written to her Elizabeth simple treated the letters from Charles like any other correspondence. She would read the letter write an appropriate response and then discard it.
Henry Brandon barely concealed his jealousy when a letter would arrive from France. Mary would have to do something about that soon. It wouldn't have been so bad except Brandon had Tudor blood of his own. Should they marry any heirs they would produce could rival Edwards' which could bring about a civil war that England could not afford.
Mary was just debating with herself when her chief lady in waiting Lady Katherine Culpepper Nee Howard had announced a surprise visitor. "Who?" Mary asked in disbelief.
"Juana of Castille your grace." Katherine revealed.
"Are you going to stand there on ceremony or are you going to offer me a seat." Juana leaned on a cane exhausted from her journey. "I'm much too old for ceremony but it is good to see you my dear."
"I'm pleased to see you as well Aunt though I am surprised that my cousin would let you leave the convent." Mary quickly helped her Aunt into a seat and offered her some wine.
"My foolish son hopes I could convince you to make a match for my dull grandson." Juana took a sip of wine enjoying the flavour. "Philip is not getting any younger he'll need heirs soon, preferably one that is not mad."
"So he is mad then?" Katherine heard stories of the mad Queen Juana but Mary assured her that wasn't true. The stories she heard about Philips' son Carlos seemed so unbelievable that she thought that there was no possible way for it to be true.
"One of life's obscure little ironies isn't it." Juana commented, "My family spread rumours about me so Charles could take the throne and now Philip produces a son completely unfit to rule. I would say it's Gods' justice."
"About the match for Elizabeth." Mary bringing the conversation back on point. "My cousin must be truly desperate if he sent you to convince me."
"Not that I ever would." Juana casually taking a sip of wine. "However I do suspect he knows that which means…"
"He's planning something." Mary finished and then turned to Katherine. "Inform the Duke of Suffolk that my sister may no longer be safe at Hever and have him escort Elizabeth to another estate." Although Mary didn't like Elizabeth spending more time with Henry Brandon than necessary but she knew that he would protect Elizabeth without question.
"Which estate your grace?" Katherine enquired.
"It is best no one at court knows." If something did happen the search for a traitor could be narrowed down. Mary just prayed that nothing would happen to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth hated writing letters to Charles Valois. If she had her way she would never write to him at all but her sister Mary wanted France to believe that relations between the two countries were good. Elizabeth was starting to wonder if this charade would ever be finished. She just threw another failed attempt at a letter into the fire when Henry Brandon walked in.
"Another letter to the Duke of Olean?" Henry noted the look of pure frustration on Elizabeths' face.
"How did you guess?" Elizabeth muttered cynically.
"You could tell him that you don't love him." Hal stood behind Elizabeth rubbing her tense shoulders. "Tell him that you would rather stay in England with your Lord Gentleness."
Elizabeth smiled remembering the pageant they performed in her debut at the English court. "I would if I could but it seems I've lost my will to persevere."
"Does Lady Perseverance need my assistance?" Hal stopped rubbing Elizabeths' shoulders and knelt before Elizabeth and kissed her hands.
"Have you come to rescue me Lord Gentleness?" Elizabeth leaned in a kissed her Duke it was rare for them to have a moment alone so she cherished every minute that they had together.
Henry almost got lost in the moment but then he suddenly remembered why he was here. "Unfortunately I am. Your sister had a visitor today."
"A suitor?" Elizabeth began to worry. Elizabeth wasn't supposed to marry until her brother the King married first. Edward had just come of age and it looked as though he was going to marry Mary of Scots which meant that a betrothal could be made with Charles Valois, a marriage that Elizabeth didn't want.
"No." Henry held her hands in his to offer reassurance. "It was Juana of Castille."
"I'm surprised that she could make such a trip at her age." Whatever the reason it must have been important for Juana to come to England. Elizabeth had heard from Mary how there was no love lost between Juana and her son the Emperor. "Did she say why she came to England?"
"The official reason is that the Emperor wanted Juana to convince your sister to agree to a match between you and Philip of Spain." Henry scowled remembering the cold man who came to Elizabeths' debut in the English court uninvited. "I personally think she agreed to come to England just to get out of the convent."
"The Emperor didn't send his mother here just to have a break from the convent." Elizabeth stood up from her seat and began to pace trying to think of the Emperors' true motive. "There must be some other reason for it."
"Your sister believed so as well which is why she asked me to come here to escort you to safety." Henry explained, "Only a handful of people are supposed to know where we're going. Pick a handful of your most trusted servants and we will leave at first light."
"I'll see to it right away." Elizabeth quickly began to make preparations for her travel. She didn't know where she was going but she trusted Henry Brandons' judgement. Maybe on her journey she can figure out what it was the Emperor had planned.
The More wasn't going to break Jane like it broke Katherine of Aragon. Fortunately for her she found an ally who allowed her to remain in contact with her son. Those letters gave her the strength to continue on and soon when her son would gain control of the kingdom away from that ungrateful bastard Mary, Jane would make her triumphant return to court. However she still needed to get her precious son away from his vile sisters' influence. Mary who had sentenced her to live in the wretched More where Marys' own mother had perished and Elizabeth who spread her heresies as her whore of a mother Anne Boleyn had once done. Both had to be gotten rid of and thanks to the help from the Spanish ambassador Renard it would soon be done.
She had already been informed by her friend in the English court that Elizabeth was set to leave Hever with the Duke of Suffolk. Neither Elizabeth nor Suffolk knew that one her ladies had told her ally where they were headed. Jane's Spanish friends would ambush the Princess on route and would take her to Spain. Hopefully the Spanish inquisition will help Elizabeth see the error in her ways. Then Elizabeth would marry Prince Philip and then England would have a powerful Catholic ally. Mary Tudor would be exposed for her incompetence and would be forced into exile allowing Jane to take her rightful place by her sons' side.
Jane would teach her son the true religion and not the heresies her brother Lord Hertford had taught him. Instead her brother would burn for his betrayal and heresy along with his whore of a wife Anne Seymour. England shall return to the Catholic fold even if Jane had to destroy her own brother to make that happen.
Elizabeth sat nervously in the carriage with Brigitte Rousselot and Jane Grey. Elizabeth selected Brigitte to accompany her because she knew how to handle a weapon should the worst happen. Jane Grey, Elizabeth brought along as favour to Henry Brandon. Should the Spanish attack her household Elizabeth preferred Henry Brandons' niece would be out of danger by bringing Jane with her. However even that was not without risk as Elizabeth soon found out when the carriage suddenly stopped.
Henry who was on horseback came to the carriage window to inform them what happened. "The road is blocked your highness. You need to prepare yourselves in case there is an ambush."
Elizabeth nodded in agreement. She trusted Henrys' instincts and proceeded to arm herself with a knife that her Aunt Mary had given her. Knowing that her life maybe in danger from her mothers' enemies Sir Francis Bryan had taught the young Princess how to defend herself from would be assassins. Brigitte had practiced sparring with her to keep her skills up in private for propriety sake and also to insure that Elizabeths' enemies didn't know what the young Princess was capable of.
Jane Grey started panicking as she heard shouting going on from outside. "What's going on?"
Brigitte calmly peered outside to see who was fighting. "It seems we have been betrayed." It was clear to Brigitte that the men were not English as they spoke to one another in Spanish. Brigitte noticed some woodland beyond the fighting and quickly turned to Elizabeth. "Switch cloaks with me so I can make a distraction."
"Once they'll discover you're not me they will surely kill you." Elizabeth didn't want her friend to die for her.
"It has been an honour to serve you Princess." Brigitte smiled tying the cloak around her neck and pulling the hood over her face. "When the guards are distracted you'll quickly head for the woods. There should be one or two stray horses about so take one of them. If not keep running and don't look back." Elizabeth quickly hugged both Jane and Brigitte. Elizabeth stayed out of sight whilst Brigitte and Jane exited the carriage.
Brigitte kept her head down as one of the men grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away. The rest surrounded Jane drawing their swords. Fearing for the young girl Brigitte quickly withdrew her dagger and stabbed the man who was dragging her away. She then took the fallen mans' sword and tried to defend Jane but she was too late. Jane screamed as she was viciously stabbed to death. In a savage rage Brigitte killed any man who had gotten close to her. Brigitte fought to avenge her lover Charles Brandons' grandchild and she would not stop till every one of those men were dead.
Unfortunately she wasn't skilled or strong enough to overpower them and was quickly apprehended. One of the men pulled the hood from Brigitte's head and flew into a rage when he realised that the woman they had in their custardy was not the Princess they were looking for. The remaining men quickly searched the carriage but found no one there. The man who had removed Brigitte's hood held a dagger to Brigitte's neck threateningly, "Where is she?!"
Brigitte spat in the man's face, "You'll have to kill me because I'll never tell you anything."
The man went to stab her but was stopped by a man who Brigitte assumed was the leader. "Don't kill her. She may be useful to us. The Duke of Suffolk isn't amongst the dead; he could have taken the Princess somewhere else." The men spoken to each other in Spanish but fortunately for Brigitte she knew the language so she could understand what they were saying. She did her best to conceal her relief when she heard that Henry Brandon was alive and also escaped. Brigitte had faith that Henry would find Elizabeth and would take the Princess to safety.
However her relief was short lived when the leader turned to Brigitte, "We'll have the inquisition deal with her. She will tell us what we need to know." Brigitte did her best not to let her fear show but deep down she was terrified. Everyone knew of the Spanish inquisition and their methods. She prayed to God to give her the strength to not betray her mistress. She prayed for the Duke of Suffolk Henry Brandon to find Elizabeth and deliver the Princess to safety. Brigitte knew Henry Brandon would protect Elizabeth as he had the best qualities of his father but he also had his mothers' Tudor blood. Not many saw it in the young Duke but Brigitte had witnessed it when Frances Grey and Catherine Brandon had pushed him too far. Woe to anyone who would harm Henry Brandons' Princess.