A/N: My loves! Thank you, thank you, thank you! The love this story has gotten is incredible. I'll never be able to thank you enough. I'll respond to those who asked questions or made requests, but you're all very, very, very important to me!

Giovanna Leblanc: Thank you for your input! I'll definitely try to add more dialogue then. Right now there are a lot of thoughts that need to get out of the way, but I hope to add more dialogue once the action starts.

QueenAnneTudor: Yes, I'm going for a more aware Jane, having her alive allows me to play more with her involvement in everything. You certainly have a point regarding Edward and Anne ;)

Renata: I'm trying to subtly show the differences between Anne and Jane, I'm glad you noticed that! I think Jane would've been taught how to do all those "women's duties" like sewing and embroidering, whereas Anne also had an academic education. And yes, you'll be seeing quite a bit of Henry and his selfishness.

Keisha: I hear you! ;)

Now that that's out of the way it's time for the second chapter! I hope this one is to your liking, please keep letting me know what you think, I love hearing from you!

Solitude of Love

"Tell him yes. Even if you are dying of fear, even if you are sorry later, because whatever you do, you will be sorry the rest of your life if you say no." Gabriel Garcí a Márquez

Chapter 2

Charles, Jane and Anne had been in court long enough to know how to mask their reactions at Henry's question, but neither of them were as collected as they seemed. Charles struggled to keep himself from rolling his eyes, he had known Henry since they were children and he knew that Henry wanted everything to himself, and like a kid, if he watched someone else playing with his discarded toy, he wanted it again. Besides, he had seen how he had looked at Anne while greeting Elizabeth, add that to his 'You and Anne seem very close' and you got the winning formula, Henry was jealous and wanted Anne to himself.

For Jane it wasn't that clear, at first she thought that Henry was just being polite, but then looking at the way he smiled at Anne she realized that there was more to it, a tiny part of her got excited, maybe he was trying to make her jealous! But then reality sunk in, she knew it was likely that he was doing it to threaten her, to show her that he still could have any woman he wanted, and she wasn't safe even from his previous wife. She knew she needed to get pregnant again, soon, she had understood his comments on the way to Hatfield about the many rooms the household had, and to be honest, she had always been a little scared of her husband. It didn't cross her mind the thought that maybe Henry was really awed by Anne again and that proving a point to her, his wife and Queen, was nowhere in his mind. She knew that he no longer loved Anne, he wouldn't have divorced her if he still did, right?

Anne was surprised, but she had always prepared herself for this sort of situation, she knew Henry wasn't going to treat her badly, they had ended things on relatively good terms. Of course, at first he was hesitant to grant her the divorce, but once he convinced himself that she had asked just because he wanted to end their marriage and she wanted to please him, and therefore that he had been the one to leave her, he seemed more than happy to sign the papers. So she smiled and said "Of course Your Majesty, the gardens are more beautiful this time of the month" She conveniently ignored the alarm that went off in her head at the look in Henry's eyes, she stood up and linked her arm through his.

When they were a few steps away from Jane and Charles, Henry turned to her and said "I've been hearing only good stuff about your involvement with the people of Pembroke"

Anne smiled, she felt proud of what she had accomplished in her time away from court. She had won a little battle over Cromwell, after the divorce she was granted control of the religious houses in the territory, and she was allowed to do with them whatever she wanted. Truth to herself, she had made schools out of them, it wasn't a secret to anyone that she was one of the richest women in the Kingdom, having married and then divorced Henry had meant her financially wellbeing, and she was determined to put some of the money for good use. Of course, she still spent on fashion and on toys and dresses for Elizabeth, but she had much left, and she felt good providing an education to the less fortunate.

"Thank you, since we turned the monasteries into schools a lot of people have been benefitting from a good education, we're teaching them how to read and write and we've been introducing them to the new ways of the church, they seem to embrace it, especially now that some of them can read the bible themselves and talk to their families about it. They're really good people, once a month we give fabrics to the women and they sew clothes for the rest of the workers, especially for the poorer ones. I hope that's fine with Your Majesty" She knew that if the King didn't approve of what she was doing she would have to stop. But he sounded proud when he talked about her good job, and she knew that he benefited from her work too, so she only asked if it was okay to maintain the formality of it all.

Henry was impressed, he had heard that the people of Pembroke were happy with Anne, but he did not expect all of this from her. Well, really, he did, he expected this and more, she had always been smart and resourceful, she also really believed in the reform, he knew she didn't do it just so that he could divorce Katherine, she had this fire inside of her when it came to religious matters, he loved that about her "Anne, call me Henry. I think it's exceptional what you're doing, I'm glad to hear that the people are truthfully accepting the way things are now. We did this for them too"

Neither of them could help but feel nostalgic for the days of their courtship, when they spent hours talking about the reform, discussing books, talking about what they wanted to do. Then it seemed like they were on the brink of ruling the world, they had felt so full of hope, they would get married and England would change for the better. Talking about this now felt wrong. Yes, Henry was head of the Church of England, but they were no longer married, the rest of the monasteries had been destroyed a few months ago. The only trace of success in the countryside was in Pembroke and in those places where people didn't have enough education to understand what was really happening, Cromwell had even told him a few days ago about some sort of rebellion in the North, it seemed that everything had been for nothing.

Forcing herself not to think about the past Anne replied "Thank you, I'm glad too"

Henry was brought out of his own thoughts about the past by her answer, he decided not to keep talking about the subject, so he moved to a topic that was intriguing him more, looking at her to catch her reaction he said "I couldn't help but notice that Edward seems very close to you"

Anne's smile at the mention of his son's name was genuine, she turned to him and said "He is the sweetest child, you should be proud of him. I visit Elizabeth often and once I met him I was charmed, ever since, every time I come here I play with the both of them and tell them stories. I knew you and Jane weren't going to be able to come as often as I can, and you know Lady Bryan really isn't all that fun" At this, they both laughed, many times Henry had acted bewildered or frightened behind the governess' back once she left with Elizabeth to her lessons, Anne had never laughed as hard as when he did that. Lady Bryan was the best woman to take care of their daughter and her education, but she was boring, and she could be scary if she wanted to.

After their laughing ceased, they looked at each other and smiled, maybe they could still have good memories of their time together. Henry was really grateful to Anne for the way she behaved with his son and he let her know "Jane and I appreciate it, you're right about Lady Bryan, but I think Edward has softened her"

Anne smiled and said "He has that quality to him, you can't help but love him. Elizabeth absolutely adores him"

Henry kept looking at her as she talked about their daughter and bluntly said "I'm restarting negotiations for her betrothal to one of Francis' sons" In reality, he hadn't even thought about it, but seeing Anne talking about his son and Elizabeth, his Princess, he knew that it was time to do something. It was perfect, a French alliance benefitted him and Anne had always wanted Elizabeth to marry a French prince. He wanted to please her, he hadn't really thought about her during these years, he had resented her for a very long time, he had loved her too much, and their last year was one he didn't want to remember. But now, he was married to his sweet Jane, he had his son, Mary had taken the oath, Elizabeth was happy, and it was time to bring Anne back into his life. He was going to talk to Cromwell as soon as they returned.

Anne's surprise showed on her face. When they were married, Francis seemed reluctant to accept the validity of their union, and of Elizabeth's legitimacy, so negotiations for a betrothal never came to fruition. But now it made sense, they had been divorced for a few years, Elizabeth was second in line to the throne and Catherine was dead. Anne smiled and told him "Thank you very much"

She didn't have to say more, they both knew what it meant to her that he was willing to do that, especially after all they went through. They kept walking in silence, thinking of how far they had come, from being madly in love to each other, to being divorced for years and talking as if nothing had happened, yet knowing that it all had been real.

Anne had grown these last years, being in the countryside you really had time to think and reflect on other's actions and on your own, she knew she had behaved badly many times, she had grown paranoid and jealous, love had done that to her. She had learned not to give her all, she had learned to be happy with herself, she was no longer the girl who had an answer for everything, well, she still had an answer for everything, but she thought things through, she tried to act wisely. In short, she had learned to protect herself. But when she thought about her relationship with Henry right know, she couldn't help but think of Charles too, she had been seeing traces of Henry in Charles, but now she realized that there were also traces of Charles in Henry, a long life friendship did that to people. Their attitude resembled that of the other in certain aspects, Charles was as passionate and as fearless as her former husband, but he wasn't as power hungry, nor as fickle as Henry. And she craved that sort of stability, she didn't know if it was the calm of the countryside, but she felt happy when she was with Charles, he made her laugh, she felt content with him, comfortable. They had their fights, they were both passionate people, but their relationship wasn't plagued with the danger that engulfed her relationship with Henry. With Charles she felt safe, but she also felt alive, she felt a fire igniting inside of her whenever she was with him, it scared her, but she couldn't stay away from it.

Being here with Henry felt strange, things between them felt fine, maybe that's what happened when you divorced someone, you became civil to each other, you didn't have to fight for stupid things, you didn't owe anything to the other. She didn't expect to feel like this when she saw him again, when she imagined this day, she thought that she would yell at him, that they would fight about their broken marriage, about Jane, but nothing of the sort happened, she let herself walk with him and she felt he was a stranger to her, yet she knew that they didn't need to say it to know that they both felt the same. It was a strange sense of familiarity, but somehow it worked for them.

They had walked around two of the fountains and were on their way back to the castle, they had walked for about 30 minutes and Henry wanted to talk to his children's tutors before their lessons were over. When they reached the castle, Madge and Nan were waiting for their mistress, they had moved with Anne to Pembroke to serve her, and they were as happy as her, Nan was just glad to be away from the dangers of court, and Madge enjoyed walking through the markets and meeting people, life was perfect for them. When they saw the King approaching, they both curtsied until Henry spoke "Mistress Shelton, Mistress Saville, please rise, how pleasant to see you around here. Tell me, where did my Queen go?"

They both smiled at him out of respect, they remembered very well all the things he had done, and their loyalty resided only with their Mistress, but he was still the King. Nan was the one to answer him "Your Majesty, I believe the Queen went to lie down"

Anne could see Henry getting angry at Jane not waiting for him, like he thought a dutiful wife ought to, so she spoke up and said "I'm sure the trip was tiring for her, it's good that she's resting" Although she was speaking to Nan, from the corner of her eye she saw him start to calm down. Henry realized that Anne was probably right, they had been gone for quite some time and Jane got easily tired. He looked at her and said "It was a pleasure walking with you. I'm going to watch the kids with their tutors, I'll see you after they're done with their lessons"

Anne's answer was a simply "Of course, it was a pleasure for me as well"

As Henry left, he heard Anne say to Madge "Please fetch Charles for me" Charles, not Brandon, not Suffolk, Charles. He had meant to ask her about him, but he knew she was ether going to take the route Charles had taken and say they were friends, or she was going to tell him to stay out of her life, he didn't really know how this Anne would react. That's why he preferred to keep quiet and observe how she behaved around him. Maybe he should've done the same with Charles, now he had made the mistake of warning him that he knew about them, the element of surprise was lost, but he couldn't contain himself at the moment, he would just have to wait and see what happened.

A/N: My loves! You guessed it, I'm having the Pilgrimage of Grace happen a few years after it historically did, you'll see more of that later. Also, I know the story is moving slow right now, but I have to get all these feelings and thoughts out of the way so we can move on to more exciting things, and don't be fooled, many things happening now are going to have an impact on later chapters. Next chapter is all about Anne and Charles (Finally!) See you then, I hope to update soon, I want to get to the goodies!