Chapter 2

After another nervous night's sleep and another exhausting day at court, Edward longed for nothing more than to be left alone with a cozy fire, a good book and his plate of hot supper. As the day before, Bess came in to bring him his supper, however, this time there was no bowl of fruit on the tray. He nodded coldly in agreement and waved her away.

Bess felt kind of on edge. After yesterday she really was concerned about her job. Days were always long and arduous as a maid and her employers were in a foul mood most of the time and difficult at best. Being the help was like being a piece of furniture, a handy tool, utterly replaceable. Rubbing her cold palms together, she quietly closed the door behind her and left the earl to himself. He didn't took further notice of her than acknowledging the absence of fruit and why should he. She was used to it by now. Being a maid meant to be invisible, to be only partially a human being. Health, hardship, emotions – those things were not considered and were just out of the question for a servant to be had. Bess herself had been guilty of being careless, thoughtless with servants, back when her name was Elizabeth, in another lifetime. To be honest, she hardly remembered those times. She'd been a ghost for too long.

Edward ate his supper in silence. He relished the quiet after the storm, that's how he thought of the days now that he had to spend at court. All the bustle and blabber and Henry... it exhausted him. It was so tiring sometimes, so petty. The manipulation, the backstabbing, the intrigues, the planning and decision-making, it didn't fulfil him anymore like it used to. He used to relish in all the things, being at court being the most exciting thing in the whole world! Now, he did his job and still did it brilliantly, mind you, but he was glad when business took him elsewhere than court. Also Henry grew more mercurial and irrational as the years went by and it got harder and harder to deal with him. Getting rid of Cromwell didn't make things that much easier, because Henry got more and more out of control.
He ran his hand through his lightbrown hair. Everything seemed to get more complicated as time moved on. Being at court didn't bring him a sense of fulfilment and joy anymore and his marriage to Anne got more irritating each day. At least their sex life had always been great, so that their incompatibilities in their everyday life weren't everything to define their marriage. He had other women of course, random girls here and there but nothing too outrageous like Henry. But lately, Anne seemed even more distant than usual and he started to wonder if there was another man. This would be intolerable, he was not to be made a fool of. He needed to speak with Sir Francis Bryan about this.

His study felt like the only place he could relax and calm down, but now this new servant girl had made that uncomfortable as well. She needed to go. He didn't want a reminder of Lynn, making him examine his life more closely. He didn't want to think about his life while he was in his study, he just wanted to unwind. He was annoyed, annoyed at her for looking like Bess, annoyed at now wanting some fruit, annoyed for making him sleep so very uneasy!

Edward shook his head to clear his thoughts. This situation was so silly, so utterly ridiculous. If he wanted some fruit, he should have some and not think twice about it. Good Lord! This was his house, full stop. Satisfied, he leaned back and took a sip from his cup of wine. The wine was good and strong and Edward exhaled deeply and listened to the crackling of the fire, the only sound which could be heard right now. Finally. A moment's peace.

When Bess came to collect the tray, Edward curtly informed her to add some fruit to his daily supper. Surprised, Bess looked up and smiled at the earl, an action which she immediately regretted for they were neither equals nor familiar. She demurely lowered her eyes and curtsied: "As his Lordship pleases." The Earl of Hertford fixated her. Did she really just have the cheek to smile at him? Bess didn't dare to look at the earl again so she just cleared the tray off his table and as fast as possible headed towards the door and closed it shut behind her. What had gotten into her? She knew, she very well knew that her behaviour in there had been most inappropriate. Look directly at the earl, smile at him, those were rookie mistakes! It was just, she still had this idiotic notion of getting credit for her ideas, being appreciated for the things she did. As a maid, she was always blamed but never praised, yet she still remembered a time when things had been different and that little part of her that still remembered broke free sometimes and led her to do stupid things like that. Bess inwardly groaned.

"Yes, his Lordship bloody pleases!", Edward thought. "Unbelievable cheek for a servant." but before he could think something else, his mind was taken by surprise by a memory of Lynn's smile, her dimply, chipped tooth smile from under a wave of hazel locks. So lost in this sudden memory, he completely forgot why he was angry.

Edit: I'm not talking about Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn here. Just to clear that up ;)
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