Chapter Thirteen~
August 29th 1475, Palace of Westminster, City of Westminster
I was with my sister and her children, having brought five year old Kate and one year old Eddie to be with their cousins waiting to hear news of the war in France. Anne had come to Court and would often been seen with her sister Isabel who was still awaiting the birth of her son. Lady Margaret was still a strange one to be sure yet I tried to be as friendly as I could to her. As often as he could, Richard would write to me telling me of how the campaign was going. His most recent letter talked of how Edward has signed a peace treaty, and of how the King of France had offered his sons hand to my niece Lizzie in exchange for being the Queen of France and trunks full of gold. At that I could not bear to believe it, but dare not tell Elizabeth or risk a fight between her and myself. Let her and Edward sort that matter out when Edward returns from France. What is worse, Richard feels betrayed by Edward for everything this war was supposed to mean and seeing it meant nothing he is bitter for it. Worse yet, George has gone from ambitions to furious as this war was meant to make him Regent of France, and once again he has lost. Now I sit watching the children play their games, I turned to see Elizabeth and Lady Margaret talking in soft whispers as Anne and Isabel all but ran from the room. Raising an eyebrow, I glanced at my sister who merely gave me a tiny shrug. Narrowing my eyes, I leaned forward to my Kate telling her,
"Do not leave your Aunt Lizzy's room do you understand? And watch Eddie for me." She gave me a firm nod as Lizzie told me,
"We shall watch her Aunt Kathy." Smiling down at her, I swept out of the room to find Anne and Isabel and followed their voices to a door with a small window open.
"George says she is a witch! Father said it too! What if everything is her fault! Ever since she sent that storm to kill my poor baby boy." I heard Isabel said only Anne told her,
"We fear her because of what our Father did to hers. We feel his sin."
"The sin is all hers! It is all hers! And now she casts her evil eye on me and if I cannot give George a boy, it will be all her fault." Isabel tells her hotly then I hear Anne ask,
"Then what of Kathrine? She is her sister so what if she too is a witch?"
"But—how would we even know? She goes to chapel with Lady Margaret, George is not afraid of her if anything they are friends!" Isabel tells her so that Anne says,
"What if she bewitched Richard into loving her instead of me? She could have bewitched him to fall in love with her just as Father said Edward did with Elizabeth. What if that is what happened!"
"Oh goodness Anne." At this I sneak away from the door and the moment I can catch my breath and try to stop my racing heart. The two Neville girls suspect not just my sister the Queen of witchcraft, but now myself! Feeling the world tilting, I return quickly to my chambers and once there shut and lock the doors behind me. Once inside, I take an unlit candle and put it before a clean mirror. With a match, I place the candle before the mirror and light the candle so that the smoke is wafting right in front of the mirror. I had seen Mother do this before and so sitting down, wave my hand before the mirror trying to see through the smoke and find myself zoning out. The walls around me disappear as the smoke surrounds my eyesight. I watch as I see a woman lying dead in a cold bed and a man drowning in red before a sun in the sky goes out. When I come to it is with startling clarity and I find myself sweating and panting harshly. The necklace around my neck feels like ice and I have the greatest urge to throw it across the room. However instead I find a bowl of water and rinse the sweat from my brow, face and neck. As I clean my face with a towel I hear someone knocking on the chamber door and call out to watch a Lady Margaret come in saying,
"The King has returned Lady Kathrine." Standing up and making my way towards her, when she asks,
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I was just overcome with worry for my husband." She nods as the two of us head out to the Main Courtyard to find the men returned home safe. Elizabeth and her girls rush off to Edward as I take Eddie into my arms with Kate by my side. When Richard spots us he dismounts and comes over towards us, giving me a longing kiss before picking up Kate and swinging her around in the air. Putting her on the ground, he then kisses Eddie on the head gently.
"Edward laughed, said I was a fool for chivalry, then he stuck his own nose in the trough." I place a hand on his chest to soothe him as he turns towards his brother before I look around asking him,
"Where is George?"
"He has gone home already. Surly he wanted to be as far from Edward as he possibly could be, then he will be sending for Isabel."
"Isabel was just here, and the moment she becomes pregnant again George will be in a dangerous mindset that it will be a boy." I told him before adding,
"And Anne has a son to worry about also, what of him?" Richard merely shook his head before saying to me,
"Come, we are heading for Middleham Castle as soon as we can. I do not wish to stay here any longer than we have to." Nodding, I helped my children up into the palace to have servants make ready for our departure to Middleham. When in our chambers I began giving out instructions on packing just as Elizabeth entered and she laughed asking,
"Where are you going?"
"Back to Middleham."
"Oh you surly cannot be serious!" She said watching the servants pack but I turned towards her saying,
"Oh we are more than serious."
"We?" She wondered raising an eyebrow as I nodded telling her,
"Richard was betrayed by Edward when the whole war with France as a fool's errand. He said that the moment they made the treaty it was sex and drink all day and night. Gold to pay off English soldiers and Edward himself!"
"That is a lie!" Elizabeth shot back yet I continued,
"Then why are there so many chests of gold and nearly no dead men? If it was a true war there should be more dead men and less trunks of treasure! Now George is furious that nothing, yet again, has gone his way which makes him even more dangerous and Richard who has been loyal throughout everything has been betrayed now too. Edward is doing a fantastic job as of now!" Forgetting the servants in the room, when I calmed down Elizabeth dragged me into an unoccupied room and slamming the door shut hissed at me,
"You will NOT talk to the Queen of England like that in front of the servants!"
"No, but I will warn you that Isabel thinks you have cursed her children. And if she tells George you better start fearing him." I say in a low voice before leaving the room and snap at the servants to make sure to make sure we are able to leave tonight. The next day Richard and our family are making our way for Middleham with myself riding with my children.
"Think of it this way Kate, now we can have our picnic." Richard had told her when she had begun to cry at the thought of leaving her cousins. After three days we arrive at Middleham Castle and Richard sees that everything from matters of government to household are taken care of. I hand the children off to their governess Eliza before making sure that everything brought from Westminster Palace was put away safety. It was not until later that day when everything was taken care of that I went to find Richard.
"How could he do this to me? Now Edward tries to buy my honor! He confuses me with my brother George. He does not even know me." He says standing at the table and over a trunk filled with gold from Edward's foolish 'war' with France.
"Then send it back and show him that you do not care for wealth." I tell him simply watching his face carefully only he shakes his head saying to me,
"The insult has been paid now. Though everything I thought I knew has been shaken, perhaps there is no in anyone and each of us is alone."
"But we are not alone, because we have each other." I say to him as he walks around the table and though he pauses next to me, he continues walking past making me frown and shoulders slump.
For the rest of August my little family stayed in Middleham away from the rest of the world. As promised, Richard had our picnic by a river near out home to the delight of Kate and fast growing Eddie. I received no letters from either Isabel or Anne since I last heard their conversation about me and Elizabeth being witches. Richard never wrote to Edward and we never heard anything from George. So imagine my surprise when in July we received a letter from Elizabeth saying that her son Thomas had been betrothed to one of the richest girls in England! Of course we were invited and so leaving behind our children, Richard and I set out for the celebration. Arriving at Westminster Palace and returning to our chambers, the tense feeling in the air was not pleasant to enter into. George and Isabel along with Anne and her husband Francis arrive and neither seemed to want to talk to Elizabeth. However I did see Francis take Richard aside to speak to him. During the feast to celebrate in the Great Hall, I sat across Richard with Isabel across from George and Anne across from Francis. As they all talked I kept my mouth shut, even when George said that Elizabeth probably used an enchantment to get Thomas married.
"That marriage is not even real, whatever comes out of that bed is only bastards." Duchess Cecily said taking a sip of her wine as Anne spoke up saying sharply,
"Of course it is real! They are married in the eyes of God and that is what counts. It is just I would not want anyone to say such terrible things of me." Frowning when Isabel and Anne began to whisper, I looked to Francis to try and get an answer only he shook his head as if to say he would explain later. With Isabel next to me, I strive to hear what she is saying and nearly drop my goblet of wine when I hear,
"One of the Queen's ladies told George that she has two names written in her locket in blood. She has cursed them both to die." I feel myself grow cold as ice as I tune out everything around me as I look out the window feeling the necklace around my neck turn hot as a burning piece of coal. It is only when Lord Stafford stands that I snap out of my fear and as everyone stands in a toast. I watch as George puts something away into his pocket yet he does not stand and when he does it is to tip over his wine goblet. In fear I watch as Elizabeth goes after him and look towards Richard then Edward fearing the worst. It was not a day later after the feast that I see George carried his dog dead down the hallway.
"George, George!" I called after him trying to get his attention only to hear a crashing sound come from in a room nearby. Stopping just short of the open doorway, I was unable to get away before George with a manic look in his eye dragged me into the room and slammed the door shut.
"You! You are her sister! What has she done to my child?" He demanded and as I shook my head he snapped,
"Tell me of her curse!"
"I have no idea what you are talking about!" I shout at him as he lets go of me to run both has through his hair as Isabel comes over to say,
"We know your sister is a witch, that she sent that storm to kill my child and cursed my next unborn baby. Maybe—maybe you can help us!"
"Isabel!" George laughs throwing his hands into the air but Isabel says,
"Maybe she can George! Maybe she can stop her own sister and save my boy! I have seen her go to prayer with Lady Margaret something I have never seen the Queen do, would a witch do that?" Watching the back and forth between these two desperate, manic people I bite my lip and realize I have to choose between my sister the Queen of England, helping them and saving my own family.
"There is different types of Magick, not just curses." I finally say watching them turn to see me with both their eyes widening and George saying at last with a wicked smile,
"I knew it, I knew it!"
"There are curses yet also blessings, charms and wards. The gift of Sight and the ability to sense danger. To do harm or do good depending on the intent of what you put into the spell. All I have ever, ever done since stepping into this palace and any other is try to help everyone I have met. I have never once meant any harm or pain to anyone. You must believe me in that. I never wanted anyone to die!" I felt tears falling as my soul lay bare on my neck as George stepped forward saying to me,
"But your sister did, she wished death the moment she came here." Instead of answer, I told him with a straight back,
"I can try with all I have to save your child. But you both have to trust me." Turning to Isabel who held her child tightly, she looked to George afraid as can be who looked furious with and yet out of ideas. With one nod, he stormed out of the room leaving me with Isabel and her daughter. After a long moment alone in silence, I walked a bit closer to her saying,
"Tonight is a full moon, I want you to try and find lavender and mix it with mint and honey. Heat all three up and drink it as a tea. It should soothe your stomach and dispel any negative energy you have. If you continue to have stomach pain at any time you can drink the same mixture alright?" She nodded before turning to me saying,
"What about Anne? Will she be safe?"
"My sister is not mad at her but send her and her husband back to Warwick Castle anyway." She nodded before surprising me with a hug. I could hear her soft sobs as I held her tight with her child beginning to cry also. When she pulled back she smiled weakly at me before I moved to leave and give her a moment alone. Soon Isabel and George return to their home in Tewkesbury while Anne, Francis and their son return to Warwick Castle thanks to Isabel's convincing. However what Francis had told Richard about Anne I discovered shocked me. Apparently Anne and Isabel's mother had been declared 'dead' and thus Francis now held her fortune. The reason Anne was so upset at the feast was that the Countess Warwick was saying since the Pope did not agree to their marriage it was not legal. What's more, the woman believed that Francis was trying to steal Anne's money! With all the insanity at the Palace happening, Richard felt it safer for us to return to Middleham where I kept receiving letters for Isabel about her failing health the closer it came to the baby being born. I tried telling her everything that my Mother would do when ill with a child. I even tried several times asking if I could come yet she said George would not allow it. However she did tell me that George had hired a man named Burdett, a sorcerer, to ward off evil spells yet I feared Burdett would do more harm than good. Finally George wrote that Isabel had given birth to their son, a boy they had named Teddy. However that night I dreamt of Isabel lying in her bed pale and cold with Anne holding her tightly, crying for her to wake up. When I woke up that morning I wrote to George that I wanted to see him and Isabel the very moment I could. Sadly, when I got the letter back it read that I needed to not only explain myself, but to say goodbye.
Upon entering their home in Tewkesbury the air felt chilled and I instantly could see the coffin with Isabel lying inside. I felt my lower lip tremble as I stopped by her side and heard George say,
"You said you would help."
"You cannot stop death George. No one can, not even me. No amount of spells or charms of Magick can stop death. We cannot change our Fate, Fate is chosen for us." Then looking up at his red rimmed eyes and pale face as he sits in a chair by the fire, I move towards him and stopping a few paces from him say,
"Isabel was here to teach you how to love George. To give you a family to care for and come home to. Remember that instead of drowning in your hate, your love for Isabel—please." Then I held out a hand to him and smiled when he took it.
