Disclaimer: I own none of the characters mentioned in the story.
And I know it's only in my mind
And although I know that he is blind
Still I say, "There's a way for us."
~On My Own, Les Miserables
"Forgive me, Majesty for worrying, but how were you a couple of weeks ago, when you didn't even bother to ask for me?" Anne Boleyn asked, not really wanting to hear the answer. There was no doubt that the King wasn't his usual self with the Queen. It was as if time turned and they were once again in the early years of Henry VIII's reign. The King and Queen were happy and there is not a worry in the kingdom. Anne stared at her food, she could not eat; everything on the table seemed tasteless. "Is his Majesty forgetting his promise to me?"
Henry smiled, he was once again Anne's passionate lover, but there was a certain degree of gleam that was not in his eyes at that moment. "I will have my marriage annulled, and you will give me sons." He reached across the table, touching Anne's hand. "You must never forget that sweetheart."
Anne smiled back. Once again, she won and the Queen lost. She could just imagine the look on Katherine's face, hopeful when she found out that her husband wanted her company. Henry was now Anne's; no longer Katherine's, Henry's little scheme didn't change anything.
But Henry still won't get his way, just as Anne won't get her way. He can't get an annulment and she can't be his Queen. Anne noticed that Henry won't look at her the way he would look at Katherine – with utter respect, and if she didn't know that he loved her – with such devotion.
Henry waved for a pageboy to come closer. "Tell Queen Katherine that I shall dine with her this evening."
"Is there something that I should know, my love?" Anne asked, once again, Henry was going to Katherine and not to him.
"I want to talk to her about some things, regarding my Great Matter," Henry said.
Anne tried to retaliate. "Why can't you talk about such things sometime in the afternoon? Why do you have to dine with her?"
"Why do you have to fret over such things?" Henry raised his voice.
The pageboy came back quickly, his face graver than usual. "Her Majesty, the Queen, says that she is feeling ill, and refuses his Majesty's offer to dine with her."
Anne's mood lightened at this. If the King won't stay away from the Queen, then it is better that the Queen stay away from the King.
Henry's eyes glared. "Well tell her, that it was not an offer, and that it was a command." He took a bite of his meat. "No, I shall tell her myself." He stood up and stormed out the room.
Anne, surprised by the King's actions, stayed glued to her seat. The King's actions are not to her favor. Slowly, she could feel him slipping away, and if this continues, soon, her family will slip away from all the favors, all the ambition. And the hardest part of it was, it was her heart which will be left into pieces when all this is over.
"Katherine!" Henry stormed into her presence chamber. "They said you didn't want to see me!"
"I am not well my Lord, I do not wish to cause you the same situation," Katherine said, after a slight curtsy.
"Have you seen the physician yet?" Henry asked, half concerned, half dutiful to his wife.
"Not yet," Katherine said. "I will summon the physician if that is what pleases my husband."
"Good, I shall see you tonight then," Henry said, finally noticing Katherine's paler than usual face. "And try getting some color back in your face; you look like you've risen from the dead."
"I will tell you once again, my dear husband, I am ill," Katherine said, calm as ever, even at times when Henry is being insensitive.
"You have a physician, have you not? Go summon him!" Henry ordered, before leaving the room.
Katherine turned to one of her ladies, "You heard what the King said, summon the physician for me."
Later that evening, the King joined the Queen for dinner; it was quiet, except for a musician. Katherine was still looking pale. Henry wouldn't even ask what is making her sick. The physician was of no help, he just concluded that the Queen hasn't been eating well enough, and she hasn't been getting enough sleep. When she eats, she would experience pain in her chest, and she would throw up. At night, she would retire earlier than usual, feeling very tired. And her face is very pale, so are her palms.
"The new French ambassador is arriving, a day from tomorrow," Henry said, breaking the silence he wasn't aware of, as he was enjoying his food. "There will be a joust, and I hope you feel better by then."
"The physician is of no use, I still don't know what is wrong with me," Katherine said quietly. If she dies, Henry would be free to marry Anne Boleyn and Mary would be the loneliest princess in Christendom. "And what do I have to enjoy in a joust when you would no longer be my Sir Loyal Heart?"
She was right, and Henry hadn't thought of that. He always asks for Katherine's favor. So how would it be now that he has Anne? Would he really embarrass his Queen in front of all noblemen? "I would still want to ask your favor. I always win with your ribbon on my lance."
"Do you really mean that? Or are you just saying that out of respect for me? And I doubt that you still respect me for you want to make that Anne Boleyn your Queen and her children your heirs, instead of me and my daughter Mary, your greatest pearl. Or will you have my ribbon on your lance, but her ribbon on your breastplate?" Katherine didn't know what prompted her to say that, she just did.
Henry gave her a fiery look. "You do not speak to me like that," he said with a low voice. "I expect to see you at the joust. You are still my wife, and I will have your ribbon in my lance, as I always have."
"As his Majesty wishes," Katherine replied with a low voice. "I would like to retire now to my bedchamber, I am tired from today's activities."
"How can you be so tired?" Henry asked. He thought of what Katherine would do on a usual day at court. She would go to Mass, she would sew, she would read… What is it that tires her most? "But if you wish to do so, you may. Good night my Queen."
Katherine stood up and gave Henry a curtsy, "Good night, husband."
Katherine was no better the next day. She would still feel chest pains whenever she eats, and she would usually throw up anything she eats. That afternoon, she chose to sit by the fire, telling her ladies that she feels unusually tired. "Summon the physician for me," she told one of the ladies.
Moments later, she retired to her bedchamber. When the physician came, she was half-asleep. "Is that the physician? I have to be well by tomorrow. The King wants me to be at the joust tomorrow and yet I feel tired and I cannot eat."
But it was not just one physician, after him came a couple more physicians, and there were barber surgeons too. They were murmuring and it was clear to Katherine that they did not know what to do. She started to analyze what was wrong with her herself. She was nauseous, but only after eating and feeling pain in her chest, she grew tired easily, and Henry remarked that she was pale. Of course she can't be pregnant, her courses became irregular so it was normal to expect that her courses didn't come this month and the last time Henry came to her was weeks ago, when he became Harry again to Catalina.
"My Queen, we feel it necessary to bleed you, just a little," the physician explained and waited for Katherine's approval.
It was the last thing Katherine wanted to be done to her. It hurts so much and she knows that the sight of blood would make her throw up again. But if she wanted to be there at the joust, she has to be bled.
"Perhaps it's my time to be the Queen of England," Anne said cheerfully to her brother, George. "Katherine is ill and they say they bled her, so it must be really life-threatening."
"She is still the Queen, do not wish her ill," George said sympathetically.
"She's already ill, brother," Anne said with a smile. "And I know, one day, maybe not tomorrow but soon, I will have to replace her and do what she was unable to do – provide the King a living son."
My father, the King of England,
Most gracious King, papa. I have heard that my mother is unwell, and that she has been for a couple of days now. As her daughter I am deeply troubled, and I wish to be there by her side, to care for her as she cared for me when I am ill. Please heed my request.
Your humble daughter
,Mary, Princess of Wales
Henry stared at the letter in front of him, short and straight to the point. He loves Mary but it would not help with his Great Matter if she should come to court. She will be devastated with her parent's annulment and he doesn't want that. It is true that someday she will be a bastard, but until that day comes, he wants his only daughter to be shielded from all the harshness that he himself brings. Henry tossed the letter aside, deciding that he would not reply to the letter, knowing that he cannot bear to tell her himself that he doesn't want her at court.
What they say that you will only feel so little pain is not true. Katherine felt like they were going to cut her whole arm from her, and she opted to look away, not wanting to see any shade of red coming from her arm. She grabbed the sheets as the pain increases, hoping that next morning, she would feel better.
It was the day of the joust, to welcome the French ambassador. It was the purpose but it was not the real intention of the King. He wanted to joust again, he wanted to feel young and he wanted to be merry, for one moment, not thinking about his Great Matter and his heir. Every noblemen were invited, every man wanted to joust. The ladies have their ribbons tied to their wrists, waiting for a man to ask for their favors. Queen Katherine was no better, even worse, her face is paler, her hands white as snow.
The first round of men jousting came, one by one, the men won points and all the while, Katherine kept wondering where Henry was, so that she could tie her ribbon in his lance, and enjoy the rest of the joust cheering, watching Henry win. That is if Henry would be true to his words and not ask Anne's favor, who was sitting a couple of feet away from her.
"His Majesty, King Henry of England."
Henry came around riding his horse; he stopped just in front of the stands, getting his lance, "Katherine, my lady," he said, surprising everyone, including Anne.
Katherine stood up, feeling dizzy for a moment, but kept her composure. She walked toward Henry's lance, which was resting on the rails. She felt dizzy again, this time her vision blackened, but managed to tie the first knot. Just when she was securing her ribbon on Henry's lance, tying the second knot, her vision blackened again, lost her balance, and the whole court panicked when she fell to the floor.
"You are all fools!" Henry knew his physicians were of no use and so he trusted his friend Charles Brandon when he said he knew a good physician – a Moor who converted to Christianity.
"Get him for Katherine," he scowled, pacing back and forth in Katherine's presence chamber.
The Moorish physician was better than any of the physicians of the court combined. Their knowledge is incomparable to anyone. And so Henry whole heartedly believed what he told him that day.
"The Queen was pale, which is a sign that she lacks blood, it was not good for her to have been bled," the Moor said, explaining every detail as possible. Henry didn't understand most of it, for it was the first time he would hear it. "And so it has lead me to my conclusion that Queen Katherine is with child."
It was the only sentence that mattered, for those were the words that would ruin Henry's plan for the kingdom, and his plan for Anne. It was unlikely now that the Pope would grant him what he wants. Not unless Katherine miscarried, and that would prove that she is not capable of producing heirs. He snapped back to reality, realizing that the child could be a strong male heir, and that he didn't have to upset Rome after all. But those were just the odds, what he was sure of is that he has another heir, and he doesn't even know if he should be glad.
Aren't heartburn, fatigue, and pallor more dramatic presumptive signs of pregnancy? Heartburn because of reflux, which sorts of results to hyperemesis gravidarum, fatigue because of… oh well, being pregnant, and pallor because of increase blood volume requirement related to the addition of a new organ, the placenta. And bleeding is just wrong because Katherine needs a lot of blood and then they bleed her?! Come on, result = fainting. Again, reviews are very much appreciated.