January 1st, 1540

Rochester, England

Sophia wrapped herself in her cloak as she and Anne watched the bull baiting in the court yard. Educating Anne had went better than expected and her sister-in-law was already showing the signs of being sophisticated, which Sophia was confident King Henry would appreciate. Normally, Anne would have come to England alone, but she cried, something Sophia hated, until Sophia agreed to accompany her to England. With Amalia betrothed to the Prince of Wales, she simply cited diplomatic reasons as her excuse, but she had a problem. She knew she was with child again, so she didn't want to risk traveling back to Germany and possibly losing a son and heir. This meant that Sophia would be forced to ask the King of England for lodgings until she gave birth to her child.

Sophia was interrupted from her musings when a cloaked man arrived with a gift. Knowing Anne was shy, Sophia gave an assuring smile to her sister before turned to the man, leaving Anne near the window.

The man bowed. "I present a gift for the new queen."

Sophia nodded. "We accept your gift, sir"

Without warning, the man lunged forward, pulling Sophia into a passionate kiss. She could hear Anne gasp in shock, and Sophia pushed the man away, cursing in German. The man glared at her, quite put off by her reaction.

"Madam, I would have you know that you speak to your future husband." He muttered.

Sophia nodded sweetly. "Ah, yes. It is too bad that I am already married."

He removed the cloak, revealing himself as King Henry. "Already married? You are not the Lady Anne?"

Anne finally regained her composure. "I am, Your Majesty."

Sophia nodded. "I would assume the hair confused, Your Majesty."

Henry turned to observe Sophia again. "You could not be the Duchess of Guelders."

"Yet, here I am."

Henry remained silent before his eyes rested on Anne and he smiled widely. "My Lady,"

Anne nodded sweetly. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty."

Henry remained a moment more. "I see that we will have a fruitful marriage, my dear Anne."

He proceeded to leave the room and Sophia appeared bemused. "Well that did not go as he planned it, now did it?"

Anne giggled. "I do not believe it did."

August 13th, 1545

Bletchingly Palace

It had been four years since the annulment, four years since Sophia had died, and Anne still felt the pain of it all. Her marriage to Henry had began well, and they had a son, William, by September of 1540. He had been a sweet child and both Anne and Henry doted on him when he had been born, but he had been small and sickly. Still, he was created the Duke of York at the age of six months and Henry loved him just a fiercely as he loved Prince Edward. Sadly, by April of 1540, William had died of a fever and her husband began to turn away from her more and more. Then, near the end of May she received the most heartbreaking letter she had ever gotten from her brother, Sophia had died after a fall from her horse. What made matters worse is that she had been pregnant and the post mortum revealed that the child had been their long awaited son. He also implored her to raise his four daughters: Isabella, Amalia, and the twins Sophia and Anna in her household. That same day, Henry arrived to demand an annulment from so that he could marry the young and vital Catherine Howard. She agreed, simply to avoid Catherine of Aragon's fate and was given the title Kings Beloved Sister and a generous settlement. She also agreed to raise Sophia's daughters to feel closer to her sister and to fill the void William had left. Henry had done her the favor of appointing Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell, as the governess for the girls and several tutors for the girls. They were to receive an education equal to that of the prince and Lady Elizabeth, who often visited her home.

"Lady aunt, I finished my stitches!" Isabella's young voice broke her thoughts.

The small girl with red hair handed her stitches to Anne to be inspected. "Very good, Isabella. Much better than yesterday, I am sure Lady Cromwell is pleased."

She nodded eagerly. "Yes, she is. She tells me that I am better than her daughters were at my age."

Anne smiled. "I am sure you are. You are seven years old and already stitching better than many adult women do, my sweet."

Isabella gave a grin, three of her teeth missing on the sides. "Thank you."

"What of your French, Isabella? I hear you are not paying attention to your tutor." Anne found it hard to be stern with any of her nieces, they each held a bit of Sophia in them.

Isabella looked ashamed and lowered her head. "Je ai essayé de faire attention , mais il fait l'apprentissage de la langue douloureusement ennuyeux. Il est si difficile de faire attention à elle . Je préfère de beaucoup mes leçons de latin et espagnol à la leçon de français . Je me excuse , ma dame ." [I have been trying to pay attention but he makes learning the language painfully boring. It is so hard to pay attention to it. I much prefer my Latin and Spanish lessons to the French lesson. I apologize, my lady.]

Anne nodded. "You are speaking better, I see. Where is Amalia?"

"Amalia is still doing her stitches with Lady Cromwell." Isabella replied.

Anne nodded. "And in French?"

Isabella furrowed her brow. "What is that you ask?"

"Say the answer again in French."

Isabella closed her eyes for a moment before responding. "Amalia est encore en train de faire ses points avec Madame Cromwell."

"What about Spanish?"

Isabella sighed. "Amalia sigue haciendo sus puntadas con Dama Cromwell."

"And the Latin?"

"Est tamen ea facere cum domina Amalia suturis Cromwell."

"Greek?"

"Amalía exakoloutheí na kánei rámmata ti̱s me ti̱n Lady Cromwell."

"Last, but not least, the German."

German was special to Anne because she had taught the girls that language herself, although Isabella had come to her as a three year old, already speaking short sentences.

"Amalia ist immer noch dabei ihre Stiche mit Lady Cromwell."

Anne nodded. "You must make sure you master all of your studies. I hear you are doing well, but you cannot be lazy, my sweet."

Isabella frowned. "Am I going to have to say everything in all five languages?"

Anne saw an opportunity to motive her young niece to study. "Perhaps, if you fail to pay attention to your tutors."

"I will study very hard then!" Isabella promptly ran off to her rooms, leaving Anne alone.

Anne marveled at how much the girl had grown since she had arrived in England four years ago. She knew that if Sophia could see her girls she would be so proud of them, they would have married well when the time would have came if she had lived. Isabella would have been the Holy Roman Empress, Amalia would have been Queen of England and Sophia had wanted to make Sophia the younger Duchess of Bavaria, and Anna would have perhaps became Duchess of Orleans. In England, the girls were largely ignored and Isabella's betrothal had been ignored as Prince Philip was now married to Maria Manuela of Portugal. Henry hadn't made any move to break the betrothal between Prince Edward and Amalia but there was a strong possibility, especially after the war with Scotland for the hand of their infant queen. No official move to break the betrothal had been made, but she knew Henry better than to think he would continue to support the betrothal. Their life would always be one of uncertainty and she now had the task of guiding them through it all.