November 17, 1559
England
Not much has been happening in court for the past couple of months. An array of secret contacts were being signed by Francis, Mary, and the Portuguese Queen, which would not only make the engagement of Adelaide official, but start secret trade and military deals between the nations. These treaties were supposed to be secret, but soon it became clear the Philip had not only found out about these deals, but also about the engagement. He had begun doing naval exercises in the Bay of Biscay, a way of flexing his military might. Mary knew Adelaide's engagement would enrage the Hapsburgs and draw them closer to war, but she knew it was necessary.
On this day, however, Mary was not to be worried about international matters, or atleast she tried not to be. She, Francis, and the twins were in England to celebrate one year of her taking the English throne. Of course, this was intended to be a happy day, but all Mary could think of, was her memory of watching Mary Tudor, her predecessor, dying before her eyes. Now knowing, or rather suspecting, that Mary Tudor was poisoned by her own husband, made Queen Mary feel even worse.
Today was not about sadness though, so Mary tried her best to smile and enjoy the festivities. Today would also serve as an excellent opportunity to show off the new royal children, who had not been to England before now. Meanwhile, Elizabeth stood alone in the corner of the ballroom, watching as the English lords congratulated Mary and offered their condolences on the death of Marie De Guise. Elizabeth felt for Mary in the regard, after all Mary is just a teenager, and Elizabeth knows that teenagers still need their mothers.
How far they'd come in a year. Elizabeth would have never thought she would ever attend a ball in Mary's honor, let alone, being glad that Mary was queen. But here they were, together to display unity. She was happy to play that part now, to unite protestant and catholic Englishmen against the threat of Philip. However, this was a lonely position. Mary had sent James back to Scotland, with Marie de Guise dead, Mary knew she had to have the regent back at court to reassert Mary's power. Though she repeatedly rejected James's advances, admittedly, Elizabeth was lonely without him. Elizabeth snapped out of her trance when she heard a family voice say, "Lady Elizabeth? It has been so long."
She turned to see him, after all this time, before her eyes. Robert Dudley. "Robert?" She said as she observed him. Elizabeth did not know what to feel after seeing him. Last time they had seen each other Elizabeth was queen of England, and denying his advances, but now things were different. Most notably, the way she felt when she looked at him. Her heart did not flutter like it used to, not like it does with James.
"Lady Elizabeth, let me speak," he asked her kindly and she nodded, "I thought you were going to be executed, and I needed to secure my place in Mary's court. I have since married, but I do not love her. Not like I love you, my sweet Elizabeth, I want to be with you. Now that you and the Queen are on good terms she can ask the pope for an annulment. Then after all these years we can finally be married."
Elizabeth was in shock, after all these years she was getting what she wanted, or what she thought she wanted. Could she finally marry Robert? Should she marry Robert? In honesty she was speechless, she had been waiting for this for years, but now that she had it, all she could think about was James. However, she knew she could not be with James. Mary would never allow it, meaning she knew Mary would campaign for Robert's marriage to be annulled. Maybe if Elizabeth gave Robert a chance, things could go back to the way they were, maybe she could forget about James. "Yes." She said with a small smile.
Robert grinned widely and took her arm, "Come darling, we must get in line to see the Queen."
Meanwhile Mary and Francis were meeting with the lords and ladies one by one to speak to them and accept their congratulations. Soon a servant handed Mary a letter telling her it was of the upmost importance. Mary opened the letter to read it.
Your Majesty,
Let me first offer your congratulations on behalf of all of Christendom for achieving one year of your glorious reign. You are doing the lord proud by your devotion and service to the true church. As you know, Pope Paul IV has passed, and the enclave of cardinals is meeting to select a new Pope. This enclave is supposed to be isolated from the outside world, but it has come to our attention that a conflict is brewing between Your Majesty, and his Majesty the King of Spain. It is the opinion of the Church that such conflict must be avoided in order to avoid the spread of heresy. Therefore, we propose a meeting between Your Majesty, and the King of Spain to resolve this conflict. There will be a feast in Rome on Christmas, that I hope you can attend, where I will be present to help Your majesty and the king, resolve this issue. Your husband, His Majesty the King of France is also encouraged to attend.
Sincerely,
Giovanni Cardinal Medici, Priest of S. Prisca
After reading the letter herself, Mary handed the letter to her husband. After reading it, Francis stated, "Medici is seen by many as the front runner in the election for Pope. It is very likely that he will be the next Pope. It seems that the Church is worried about the consequences of this war, and are trying to use their future Pope as a way to end it."
Mary nodded as she listened, she knew the Vatican had always favored Spain, however now the game had changed, and between Mary and Francis, the power in Europe was evenly split between the Hapsburgs and the Valois. "Philip is a pious man, he should listen to whatever the Vatican tells him is the right thing to do. The Cardinal is a Medici, a cousin of your mother, do you think that will work in our favor?"
Francis thought for a moment, "I do not think so. He is probably most concerned with his own power, which he owes to Spain. We would need a pretty good plan, either way, having a face to face meeting with Philip could be good, if we get one off of the official record, something more private and secretive."
Mary nodded to her husband, "My thoughts exactly, but we need a plan. Philip cannot be controlled or coerced easily, we need something that scares him, or even someone more manipulative than him." Mary and Francis's discussions was cut off when they saw Elizabeth and Robert Dudley walk up to them. "Lord Dudley and Lady Elizabeth. How wonderful to see you two, together." Mary examined the couple, Robert was holding on to Elizabeth, but Elizabeth did not seem to passionate about him.
"With your majesty's permission and assistance, we would like to annul my current marriage so we can marry one another," Robert said, getting straight to the point. Then, Mary had an idea. She smiled a bit to herself and nodded to the couple.
"I cannot see why that can not be done. In fact, I have just received word from the Vatican that I will be meeting with Cardinal Medici this Christmas, what a perfect time to ask him for such a favor," Mary replied and stood from her throne. She held her hand out for Elizabeth to join her, "Come dear cousin, let us speak privately to discuss such an arrangement, it is, after all, a family matter."
Mary took Elizabeth to a private room and Elizabeth curtsied to Mary, "Thank you for your generosity and assistance you majesty." However, the way she said it, was not enthusiastic in the slightest, but Mary shrugged it off, thinking she was just nervous about the annulment.
"Nonsense, I am happy for you," Mary said and then hugged her cousin. She did want her cousin to be happy, love might soften her up a bit, and admittedly, Mary was also glad that Elizabeth had moved from James. She would never let the two of them to be together, it was to dangerous. "Now, in order to ask for this annulment, I need a favor from you as well."
Elizabeth raised her eyebrow. Finally, her true purpose in Mary's master plan to defeat Philip could be revealed. "We should speak frankly your majesty, what is it that you want me to do?" Elizabeth crossed her arms and looked at her cousin, the queen, and wondered what use she'd have.
"All you need to know is that I need you to come to Rome with me this Christmas, leave Anne in France where she will be safe," Mary replied and took her cousin's hands, "Philip will be there, but I think between the two of us, we may be able to intimidate him out of going to war at all."
"And how would we do that?" Elizabeth questioned her cousin.
"I am the daughter-in-law of Catherine De Medici, if I have learned anything from that, it is that when there is a conflict, sometimes the players can get to predictable. After all, Philip has masterminded and predicted everything since your sister died," Mary explained to Elizabeth," Which is why we need a wild card. The one thing Philip never predicted."
"And that is?" Elizabeth asked once again, hoping Mary would just get to the point.
"Us, our new friendship, Philip was probably thinking I would kill you, he does not know that the two of us are working together. So we go to Rome at Christmas, confront him in secret and let him know that we are a united front against him. We can also use you against the Vatican in order to get them to side with us," Mary told her cousin as she began pacing a bit and contemplated the plan.
"This is your plan? We hold hands and sing a song in front of Philip and the Pope and suddenly they back down? Are you crazy?" Elizabeth exclaimed, she was putting her neck on the line for Mary and this was the best she could come up with? "You are mad queen."
Mary stopped and looked at Elizabeth straight on, "No, I am a desperate queen, with one move left to tip the scales. I have no other moves, no other plays, nothing. I thought engaging Adelaide to the Portuguese King would stop Philip, but it did not. This is my only option left, it may not be a good option, but its all I have. Now, are you with me?"
Elizabeth thought for a moment. She understood Mary's appeal as a queen, she was so convincing, even when she was trying to get Elizabeth to do something stupid. Elizabeth sighed, "Yes I am with you, but you are going to need to come up with something better than just showing up together."
Spain
Princess Elisabeth and Queen Catherine were together in the gardens. Catherine was not heavily pregnant and due within a couple of months, and she should be excited, but she was terrified. This child would be Philip's weapon against Mary, and Catherine had to figure out some sort of way to make sure that did not happen. To add to the stress, Catherine just learned that Philip was going to Rome, alone, for a meeting with the Vatican. A meeting that could be used to remove Carlos from the throne. It seemed all the pieces would be set up for Philip by the end of the year. "You could always publicly renounce your right to the throne? Then your child would not be an heir," Elisabeth suggest to Catherine. The two had been wracking their brains trying to figure out something, they were so isolated from the rest their allies, and they needed to do their part.
Catherine shook her head," It won't matter, Philip would ignore the renunciation, especially if he gets away with removing Carlos." Catherine too her daughter in law's hand, knowing that she was nervous for herself too. After all, Elisabeth was pregnant and her husband was at threat for being declared mentally insane.
Elisabeth smiled as Catherine took her hand, "If only this were some fairytale where we could hide a princess in the woods from the Evil King, then both of our children would be safe," she said teasingly, just to lighten the mood.
Catherine smiled and nodded. Then she began to think, before standing up, "Excuse me, I need to go write a letter, Elisabeth, you may just be a genius you know."
A/N: A slightly boring chapter because it is about to go down next chapter