One night, we are preparing Catalina for bed when King Henry walks in. Anne is still serving Catalina, and they take any moment alone they can. King Henry eyes Anne for a moment before his eyes fall on the rest of us. "Leave us," he commands. We curtsey to the King, then to Catalina, before we walk out and shut the door behind us.
"What do you think they are talking about?" Joan asks. Mum shrugs.
"I think I know what this is," I say. "King Henry is announcing his intention to his want of an annulment."
"Catalina will not take this well," Jane says, "what are we going to do?"
"We must be there for her. We are her friends. Maggie, can you write to Bessie? Catalina might want her support during this time."
"Of course," Maggie nods. She hurries off to find some parchment, ink, and a quill so she can start on the letter. The rest of us stay by the door and start listening to the conversation.
"Catherine," we hear Henry say. "As far as I am concerned, our marriage is over. Well, there is no need to end something that was never real in the first place." The other ladies look at each other, and I move away from the door. I do not want to listen to this conversation. Besides, I know how this will end. King Henry will annul his marriage, and there is nothing I can do to change it. There is nothing I can do to change anything.
King Henry storms out after several minutes, slamming the door behind him. We hear Catalina starting to cry, and we run inside. She is lying on the floor, face-down, and sobbing her heart out. Jane and Anne help her up. When Catalina sees Anne, she slaps her. "What was that for?" Anne asks. "I did not want this!"
"Are you happy now? The King wants you."
"But I do not want to be with the King. I want to be with you, Catalina!"
"Well, I do not want to be with you anymore if this is what you will do."
"Catalina, plea—"
"Your Majesty. You no longer have the right to call me by my first name. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Anne curtsies to Catalina before she walks out.
We all look at each other in astonishment. If Catalina could make Anne leave the group, could she try and do the same with us? I finally meet Jane's gaze, and she goes after Anne. I walk over to Catalina. "Catalina, may I be honest?"
"Of course." Catalina is staring past me at the wall.
"Maybe you were a little harsh on Anne. Yes, she is the reason why your marriage is breaking down, but she does not want to be queen."
"So, she says, but do you trust her?"
"She's changed by the future. You are as close then as you were before King Henry announced he wanted an annulment."
"What are you saying?"
"Maggie, can you send for Jane and Anne, please? I think they need to hear this."
"Right." Maggie heads out the door.
"What is so important that Lady Boleyn needs to be here?"
"I will explain when they arrive, Catalina, I promise."
Jane and Anne finally return, and it's clear by Anne's red eyes that she's been crying. "What is it?" Anne asks.
"I want you all to think of this. King Henry will marry six times. His first marriage breaks down because he reads a passage in Leviticus and takes it literally. He executes you, Anne, because his advisors feed him poisonous lies about you and Catalina. Jane, you die in childbirth because he wanted a son and once you give him that, he ignores you until you fall ill. When he first meets Anna of Cleves, he calls her ugly because she didn't recognise him. Sure, he would've changed drastically between then and now, but he disguises himself and believes Anna will recognise him even though it's unlikely she'd have ever seen a portrait of him. He has Katheryn Howard executed because she was raped and abused since she was a child. Now, in all those examples, who causes everything to happen? What is the common denominator?"
"King Henry," Maria says.
"Exactly. Catalina, this is not your fault, but it's not Anne's either. None of us is to blame for what will come."
"You did not include yourself in any example," Catalina says. "Why not?"
"My trauma will be nothing compared to yours."
"Do you not know what will happen to you during your marriage?"
"I tried to ignore it." The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them.
"I can see why. Sarah Jane and Ruby mentioned a William before and that you want to wait for him."
"Is that why you are avoiding me?" Jane asks.
"Yeah." I look at the floor instead of at Jane. I don't want to see the pain and hurt in her eyes. Sure, Jane is a lovely woman, but I don't want to love her because she'll get me locked up in the Tower. "That, and when you die, King Henry locks me up in the Tower for a month."
"He does what?" Catalina almost shouts. "He cannot do that!"
"He must. If he doesn't, history could change. It's in the Tower that my aunt tries to eat me for the first time."
"Wait, what?" Jane asks.
"Qetesh are known as soul stealers. I think she tries to kill me because I'm only a hybrid. She will try and kill me again in 2007 and at some point in the future."
"I see. But there must be something we can do."
"I'm afraid not. If we change anything, it might change history forever."
"What we need to do is think about the here and now," Anne says. "For example, what is the next step? How do we keep history on track?"
"Ladies, can you give Anne and me a moment?" Catalina asks.
"Of course," Maggie agrees. "We should meet again in the morning."
"I agree; goodnight."
"Goodnight, Catalina," we chorus before we walk out.
As I settle down that night, I think about William. Sure, he wants me to keep history on track, but can I really do that? Can I deny what my heart wants and continue keeping history on track? Surely, he'll understand it if I don't want to.
The following morning, I head back to the Queen's rooms, and Jane stops me. "Can we talk?"
"Of course."
Jane leads me towards one of the windows, looking out onto the gardens. King Henry is walking there with his advisors. He seems to be spending more time with them than with Anne, and he's supposed to be in love with her! "I know you do not want a relationship with me, not if you want to wait for this William person."
"He will be born several centuries from now, though."
"That is a long time."
"I do have a way to communicate with him. My older self gave me a piece of paper that allows me to communicate with my future husband. I think about my current problem, and he responds."
"How does he know what you're thinking about?"
"I have no idea. That might be something I have to ask him."
"Also, how do you know it's him?"
Ah, that is a good point. "He died in 1912, and my older self said the slip of paper stopped working after that point until she gave it to me. Does that make sense?"
"I guess. But where does your older self get it from, or is it an endless loop?"
"I have no clue. I don't think she said."
"Hmm." Jane looks thoughtful as she looks outside. King Henry looks up, and we move away from the window.
"What I was going to say was, if you don't want a relationship with me, then we should end things here."
"That will change history. Somehow, historians know we had a relationship right up until you died. I don't think we can change that."
"What if we leave things for historians to hide? Love notes, pieces of embroidery, things like that?"
"People must also see us as a couple in public. One example historians will look at is the joust."
"The one where you pretended to be your brother?"
"Yeah."
"So, we need to make everyone believe we're a couple when we aren't."
I nod. "But it might be more complicated than we expect. If I do grow feelings for you during that time, it will make things more complicated. I will become Katheryn's official mistress, and I could potentially develop feelings for her too. That will complicate things when I bring you both back along with Catalina and Anne."
"I see. So, you think it is better for us to go along with everything so we can keep history on track but not actually be a couple?"
"That could be the best way forward."
We head into the Queen's apartments, and many of the ladies are talking and looking towards the Queen. "You are late, Mistress Smith-White, Mistress Seymour."
"Sorry, Your Majesty," we chorus.
"It was my fault," Jane adds. "I wanted to talk to Mistress Smith-White before we came here, and we lost track of time."
"I see."
We head to chapel like we do every day. Catalina kneels before the altar and begins praying. Our group stay together, but the other ladies return to Catalina's rooms. Catalina stops praying when they're gone. "What are we going to do now?"
"I guess we must follow what history dictates," Anne says.
"I just remembered an argument you two had in the future," I say. "Catalina, you accused Anne of dating Jane once you found out she was why King Henry wanted an annulment."
"I will keep that in mind," Anne says, and both Catalina and Jane nod.
"I don't think that will be enough, but I only know about it because of that argument. Historians don't find any evidence of the relationship—"
"So as long as we have that argument, we keep history on track. It does not need to be what happens, but if we have that argument, we will be safe."
"I think so. It's worth a go."