"Has King Henry asked yet?" I ask Catalina.
"No, not yet." We are walking in the gardens, and as usual, Anne is not with us. Her father sent her back to Hever for some "family matter" other than the fact that the rest of her family is at Court. They're certainly up to something. Maggie, Jane, and Rocky are walking with us and remain at a close distance. I don't know what they're talking about, but I think it's about Anne. Hardly anyone has stopped talking about her since she defied the King. "Mistress Seymour, do I have any letters from Mistress Anne?"
"Nothing yet, Your Majesty," Jane replies. "But Anne would have only just arrived at Hever. Give her some time to settle in."

We continue walking, and we come across the King. He is walking with his advisors, and I can hear him clearly, which must mean the others can too. "I doubt my marriage, as you well know, Cardinal."
"I do indeed," a man in red says. He must be Cardinal Wolsey—he'll be dead in a few years after failing to produce an annulment. "I am sure the Pope will be lenient and give you an annulment."
"Indeed. The Leviticus passage worries me greatly, and the previous Pope should not have granted a dispensation."
"His Holiness was right to grant the dispensation, Your Majesty," I interrupt. "You and Queen Catherine have had six children, and while only one survives, God clearly meant for the two of you to be together."
"Are you turning against me, Mistress Emma? After everything I have done for you?"
"My first duty lies with history, then to the Queen, whichever one that may be. You, Your Majesty, are near the bottom."
"The bo—this is no laughing matter!"
"I agree. Any monarch who wishes to set aside his wife for any reason is extremely low in my respect. You, sire, will set aside five wives, so the only respect you will get from me is so I keep history on track and nothing more. I hope you understand that." We walk past the King and his group and continue walking.

"You should not have said that," Catalina says.
"I will say what I please when it comes to the King. He is not my ruler." I don't care if a comment like that will get me in trouble; I have bigger worries to think about.
"You might think you have worse problems to deal with, but you couldn't be more wrong."
"Did I say that out loud?"
"Yes, you did." Catalina stops, and I stop with her. "You must survive Tudor England before you can move on to other events, which means in public you must keep your thoughts to yourself, especially when it comes to King Henry."
"I don't like him. He bullied me."
"That might be the case, but he is still the King. Whether you respect him or not, you must pretend to respect him."
"I'm not so good at pretending."
"You must be. You pretend well enough that you are religious."
"That's different because I can just follow what everyone else does. I cannot do that with the King."
"No, but you cannot say things like you did just now. King Henry has a quick temper."
"I know, Your Majesty. It will only grow worse with time."
"Then you must learn to watch your tongue. Compared to the rest of history, it will not last long."
"I guess you're right."

We head back inside soon afterwards. "Your Majesty?" One of the ladies asks—and I recognise her as Joan Meutas. When did she arrive? "There is a letter for you."
"Thank you, Mistress Astley." Wait, she also used her married name when she introduced herself? I guess Maggie and Rocky weren't the only ones from my childhood that preferred to use their married names.
"Your Majesty," I whisper, "Mistress Ashley will also be in on the secret. We must tell her."
"I see," Catalina nods. "Come with us, Mistress Astley."

"From the future?" Joan splutters a few minutes later when we finish telling her. "Goodness gracious! I thought you were from Tudor England when you walked in."
"That is the idea," I say. "I want people to think I am from Tudor England so they don't ask awkward questions."
"That makes sense. You probably either cannot or will not answer those questions. Being from the future must be difficult."
"More difficult than you can imagine; so much changes in five hundred years, and my mums and I must live through it all."
"What are you most looking forward to?"
"Becoming a sailor. I'll attend nautical school in the 1890s and begin at the White Star Line as a trainee officer in 1900 and become a seventh officer in 1910."
"You want to work at sea? I would never have thought that."
"I am full of surprises. What about you, Joan? If you could do anything you wanted, what would you do?"
"I do not know. No one asked me that before."
"It's all right if you don't know now; there is plenty of time for you to figure that out."

"What do you mean?"
"You will be one of the ones that travel through time with me. Everyone in this group does that."
"All of us?" Maria asks. "We get to travel through history with you?"
"Absolutely."
"We better write to Bessie and Anne so we can tell them," Rocky says.
"Indeed. Does the King know about it?" Catalina asks.
"No," I say, "and he's not going to. If we tell him, he might try and change history, so the Tudors remain in power for as long as possible rather than losing power in 1603 when Anne's daughter, Elizabeth, dies."
"1603? King Henry would hope that it lasts a lot longer."
"We cannot let it last longer than 1603. Hopefully, we won't need to step in, but we can't guarantee that."
"Maybe we should focus on things that are closer to home."

Catalina's right. "In 1529, there will be a legatine court to decide your marriage to King Henry. The Pope is backing it, but he is not there to decide on the marriage."
"What do I do?"
"You attend the first meeting, and Bishop Fisher backs you. You want the case tried in Rome and told the King you will not leave since your marriage to Arthur was invalid. Cardinal Campeggio says the case must be tried in Rome, which causes King Henry to break from the Church in England. You might win the battle with the case, but you will not win the war."
"Thank you for telling me. I guess we should all prepare ourselves."

We all go to different corners of her bedchamber so we can talk in our groups. I initially go over to Mum and Mummy, but Jane pulls me away. "We have barely had a moment together."
"I know." I've been avoiding her, and I have a pretty good reason as to why.
"Are you avoiding me?"
"I never said that. We've just been busy, that's all." I move away from Jane and head back into the presence chamber so Jane won't get a chance to talk to me about our relationship.