-If absolutely must read the disclaimer, it is in chapter 1 & 2

- Review, reviews, reviews, the more you do, the better I do.

- I thought about adding Finn to the story, buts it's complicated enough.

Chapter 10

The crowd gathered as Marguerite and Veronica were led to the center of the square.

"Burn them! Burn them!" the crowd chanted.

"Do you deny the charge?" the priest asked.

"I will not deny what I know is not the truth".

"For your sins, mistresses, you shall burn in this life and the next" the wood around them was lit.

"The crown is as good as yours" Alice turned to her daughters.

As the fire burned closer to their bodies and the smoke overwhelmed their senses, all the women could think of was the children growing inside them and the pain of being accusation fresh in their mind.

"Marguerite" Veronica struggled to breathe.

"When were dead, we can haunt them for the rest of their lives".

"Ned, where are you?" Veronica asked as the world went dark around her. Next to her, Marguerite fell silent as the fumes overtook her mind.

As John, Ned and the men approached the square, they noticed the crowd.

"What's going on?" Ned asked.

"The witches are being burned" the boy pointed to the center, where there flames started to lick the bottom of the skirts.

"Marguerite!"

"Veronica!" the rode toward the center as fast as they could.

"Release them now!".

The fire was put out as the women were cut down.

"Who ordered this?" John bellowed.

The crowd grew silent as the accusers disappeared.

"How are they?" John and Ned jumped up as the physician exited Veronica's room.

"If you hadn't arrived when you did, they would have died".

"Will they wake up?",

"It's not a question of if, not when. If they wake up, I strongly suggest bed rest until the children are born, including withholding marital relations. Any unnecessary stress may force birth before its time" The physician gathered his belongings and departed.

"I want too see the council, right now" John charged toward the council hall.

"I want to know who ordered the pyre and I want to know now".

"But your majesty, it was you who ordered it" one council member spoke up bravely.

"Why would I order the pyre for the women my brother and I are marrying?" Ned demanded.

"I do not know sire, Sir Rice gave us the order, he convinced us that they has bewitched you" they were shown the order.

"That is not my handwriting".

"Pardon me, majesties, Sir Rice and accomplices have been found" they dragged in, surrounded by guards.

"Who freed him?" John bellowed.

The council remained silent.

"Who freed him?" Ned's voice echoed louder than his brother's.

"An angel freed me. An angel who has seen the light and knows that the wives you need are far from the women who you claim to want to marry" Rice entered the room.

"And who, may I ask, are these women who you think would be better wives for us?".

"The Viscountess's daughter's, Narnia and Brywik. As we speak, they are touring the rooms".

Marguerite awoke to hear female voices getting. They were not the voices she would have liked to hear.

"I think mother, this, will be the first thing to do" As she slowly opened her eyes and turned around to see Narnia and Alice pointing the picture of Lady Margaret.

"What are you doing in my room?" she demanded.

"Don't you mean my room?" Narnia smirked.

"Where is John?" Marguerite's first instinct was to cover her abdomen.

"His majesty is eagerly awaiting me, his future queen, while you, will always be his whore and your child, a bastard who will never inherit the throne" Alice stood back, this was the moment she was waiting for. She thought marrying Henri, a Viscount with a fortune several times the size of her first husband's was a coup. But this was better; her daughters would be queen and princess.

"Marguerite?" Arthur rushed in, relieved to see that she had survived.

"Sir Summerlee" Alice always regarded the man as a nuisance, but he was also a very powerful nuisance and she knew this was one obstacle she could not overcome.

"Milady" Arthur had never fully approved of Alice, but right now, there more important things to worry about.

"Inform his majesty that she is awake" the maid hovering over the door ran toward the council hall.

Across the hall, Veronica had begun to wake up.

"Veronica?" standing over was what she swore was a mirror image.

"Mother?" she asked, still groggy.

"Yes, dearest" the haze cleared as she finally opened her eyes.

"What are you doing in my room?" she noticed the redheaded Brywik going through her clothes.

"This is to be my room, your things should certainly not be here" Brywik replied in the same tone that her sister used in Marguerite's room.

"Veronica" Ned ran in, not seeing Brywik.

"Sire, I was wondering if you could give me a tour of the gardens?" Brywik asked, trying to pull him away from the bed.

"Another time" he tried to talk to Veronica, who turned away from him.

"Please, we want to see our daughter" they heard a commotion from the hallway.

"What is going on here? Release them" the couple struggled against the wall of guards.

"Majesty, we do not mean to cause trouble. We only ask to see our daughter, we have not seen her in many years" Thomas pulled his emotional wife to her feet.

"Are you Veronica's parents?" one look at Abigail's tear strewn face and Ned knew exactly who they were.

"We only ask to see her for a moment; the voodoo witch took her right after she was born" Abigail begged.

"Release them" they were given a proper escort to Veronica's room.

"Highness…" Brywik begged.

"Milady, please" Brywik was unhappily escorted out of the room.

No reviews, huh? That's ok, glad I'm saved Marguerite and Veronica from burning, letting them die would have killed the story anyway. I would appreciate a review or two, but if you don't want to, that's fine.