Neither of us should have been surprised by this turn of events. But the threat of the possibility could never match-up to the reality of it.

I was thrown unceremoniously into a solitary cell and abandoned. I had nothing to do but hope and pray for Catherine's safety. And mine, though that continued to come more as an afterthought.

Catherine, meanwhile, had also been arrested and locked in the Tower. Francis had been there with her for support, but Henry was beyond reason, focused as he was.

Trying to sleep was pointless, there was no chance my mind would submit to rest until I knew how she was faring. Instead, I watched as the moon and stars claimed the night sky, then later the pinky orange mist as the sun beckoned over the horizon. I eventually managed to doze, woken shortly after by the sounds of my door being unlocked.

Francis entered, I rose quickly to my feet.

'How is she?' I asked instantly.

He looked so grim, my stomach went queasy with nerves.

'Equally sick with worry. She's putting up a good facade, pretending to maintain a sense of calm, but I can see through that.'

I let out a breath, relieved that she had not been physically hurt. I felt as though my body had been tense all night, waiting for news of her well-being. It was my only comfort.

'Francis, what happened? Did Henry say? Bash mentioned the guard, but not much else.'

I pleaded for more information, desperate to understand just how severe our downfall was looking.

His look pained me.

'It seems Father became quite interested with his disappearance. He led a private inquest to track him down. Then he had him taken prisoner and tortured him severely until he confessed.'

Francis looked somewhat traumatised.

'I don't quite know how he survived it, to be honest.'

'But… I don't understand.' I stammered. 'Why is he doing this now?'

'It's not just now.' Francis looked at me as though I was missing the obvious. 'Charity, Father's been building a case against you for quite some time. Probably years.'

'Building a case? But then, why force me to marry William at all? I know it wasn't another game - if I had refused he would have had my head, no matter the reason!' I protested. But then I wondered; perhaps I was missing something obvious. 'How much does he already know?'

'More than he's letting on, I suspect. Probably not much more than his suspicions, but he seems more determined than ever. He's been interrogating the servants already, so…'

'Terrorising them, you mean.' I finished for him. Then, groaning into my hands, I added 'So it's only a matter of time!'

'So it's only a matter of time.' I finished for him, groaning into my hands.

'No, none of that now.' Francis chastised me. 'Now is when you need to fight.'

'Fight? How can I possibly fight this? Not even William will be able to protect me from this now.'

'Can you afford not to?' he persisted.

I took a deep breath, trying to take control of my rising panic. I had to focus, I couldn't afford to fall subject to my emotions now.

'I know you're right, I have no choice.' I said, shaking my head. 'I stayed so we could plead our case.'

'Charity, Bash told me you refused his help to escape, but do you really think you have any hope of saving yourself?'

'No, of course I don't.' I said ruefully. 'Henry's been looking for a reason to get rid of me since I survived the poison. He never really trusted me, even if he hadn't found the guard he'd have kept on looking. Searching for something - anything - else to use against me. He's clearly been plotting long enough to have discovered something else. The fact that he hasn't needed to fabricate anything is almost inconsequential. It was always only ever going to be a matter of time.'

Pretending otherwise was no longer an option.

'Francis, I have no way out of this. I don't think any of us believe otherwise.'

'But you stayed anyway. You stayed. You're sacrificing yourself to save my Mother.'

'Catherine doesn't have a hope of surviving this if I don't. It's the smallest glimmer of hope, admittedly, but if I'd left, I'd have taken any chance of her being spared along with me.'

'You should get some rest.' Francis opened the door.

'Whatever you have in mind, if you're hoping to convince Father, you'll need to be clear-headed.'

I watched as the door closed behind him. Then my body crumpled with shock, dowsing me with chills that went through to my bones. My legs lost all feeling as I reached to the walls for support. I didn't know what was coming next. The one thing I knew for certain? I was not coming out of this alive.

I tried hard not to think about how Catherine was faring, locked in the Tower. I really did. I suspected it would be just as easy for Henry to ignore her, as it would to antagonise her about where my risks had landed us both.

I wasn't sure which was worse. I knew he would still be seething from what he deemed his own public ridicule; having his wife fall into the bed of another man, while still treason, was one thing. But into the bed of another woman? No doubt it serves a purpose as a fantasy, but the reality was it made a mockery of the King. And that was a very dangerous game indeed.

I found myself unable to even pray that God would show some mercy on her, such was my feeling that no high power was even listening to me anymore. The sad fact was, I had little confidence that I could get us out of this. Perhaps it was foolish, but I'd always assumed Henry would spare Catherine of consequence, should we ever be discovered. I'd always expected the full brunt of his anger to fall on me.

Bash appeared shortly after. I hugged him, comforted by his presence.

'I was afraid you might still be too angry to see me.' I told him.

'I was at first.' He admitted. 'But you're my friend and I won't desert you in your hour of need.'

'How positively uplifting of you.' I commented, drily.

'There's nothing positive about this trial. Henry just wants to use it as your public humiliation.'

A trial would only ever grant us one outcome. It was a facade akin to strapping stones to our feet and tossing us into the sea. Not even Bash could deny that one.

'We all know the trial is just for show. Henry needs to make an example of us.'

Bash was silent. I knew he had always assumed my fear was for my own demise, but I'd faced death before and had always wondered if the nature of my recovery would someday come back to haunt me. But this wasn't on Catherine. It never had been and I'd be damned if I'd let it be now. She hadn't asked for any of this and yet now, regardless of whether she faced execution, it would destroy her.

'I'm worried about her, Bash. I know she thinks a trial is our safest option, but she won't cope with it and it won't save us in any case.'

'I don't think either of you are meant to cope with it.' Bash pointed out. 'These trials are meant to incriminate the prisoners. Whether or not they actually bear any guilt is, more often than not, usually irrelevant. The idea is to break them.'

And we were actually guilty. The thought of what this would do to Catherine was almost too much. It filled me with dread and made me sick to my stomach.

'So then, what am I supposed to do?'

'I'm afraid I can't answer that for you, Charity. Not anymore. My best suggestion was to get you out of here.'

'You know I couldn't do that. I wasn't going to leave her to face this alone.'

'I know, but my concern will always be for your safety first. I understand why you stayed, Charity. Truly, I do. But we both knew what making that decision meant for you.'

'Now that I'm going to lose my head, you mean?' I settled back on my bench.

It was meant as a light-hearted tease, but poor Bash looked dismal.

'Bash, please don't. We both knew it would come to this.'

'True, but I'd hoped you'd see sense long before it could. Particularly with recent events.' he reminded me, joining me on the bench.

'I did too. But in the end...' I shrugged, squeezing his hand. 'Bash, you were the one who told me, we can't control where our hearts lead us.'

'That doesn't mean you shouldn't exercise some level of caution. When we had that conversation, I wasn't talking about you and Catherine.'

'I know you weren't and I know none of this was ever easy for you either. You've been my greatest support, ever since I arrived at court. I couldn't have survived that first year without you.'

We shared a teary smile. My friend was hurting and I would have given almost anything to take his pain away. Almost anything, except the one thing it would take. I rested my head on his shoulder.

'You can ask about Catherine.' he broke the silence. 'I know you're worrying about her.'

'How is she?'

'Increasingly unable to hide her growing concerns. Constantly asking after you.' He smiled sadly.

'Well, aside from dismissing the accusations and declaring Father to be both brainwashed and mad. Neither of which are particularly helping your case, I'm afraid.' He added grimly.

'I confess, when I encouraged you to explore your feelings for Catherine, I never expected any of this to happen. This is not the ending I foresaw for you, dear friend.'

'It's not an ending any of us would have hoped for, but I never dreamed she would return my affections.'

I sat back up.

'I don't know if we can do this.'

He looked at me in surprise.

'Charity, this trial is the whole reason you stayed!' He reminded me.

'No, the reason I stayed was to protect Catherine. And I don't need the trials to do that, fake or not.'

I rose to my feet.

'Bash, I need your help. Please, I need to speak with Henry. Convince him he needs to hear what I have to say.'

'And just what do you have to say?' His voice was full of suspicion. 'Charity, what are you planning?'

'The final card in my hand. I'm going to fall on my own sword.'