From what Anne could see, Thomas seemed to have obeyed his brother's orders and remained far away from the married woman he seemed to be infatuated with. He stayed at court and returned to his normal, useless self, which Anne was actually relieved by. It was hard to imagine a world where Thomas acted arrogant around the clock. She would certainly have had to kill him.

1542 seemed to come and go as quickly as Anne seemed to become pregnant again. Whenever her and Edward fought it seemed to be the consequence of resolving it, and she was ten times more aggravated than the last time. She had found out she was with child the day before Christmas Eve, and she was in a foul mood for all of the celebrations.

"Don't you want your gifts?" Edward asked very carefully. Anne wasn't even showing a bit yet and her temper was already like an active volcano.

"No." She replied sourly. "Why would I want them? In a few months I won't be able to wear half the things you got me and then a few months after that I'll be on bed rest, so I won't be able to do anything! There's no point! Every time I think I escape this I'm back where I started."

Edward took a deep breath in and out. "Being with child is a good thing, Anne. You have given me two sons and two daughters!"

She furrowed her brow. "You've got to be kidding me. I would have liked to stop after the second son." She crossed her arms and looked away, out into the crowd of people dancing in the hall. "You can leave me for a bit. Come back once you realize this is nothing but a burden!"

Edward sighed and stood up, shaking his head as he walked away, probably in the direction of the King, who sat alone on his throne, surprisingly enough. They still hadn't found someone worthy of his very high standards, and the search was beginning to wear Edward down.

Anne turned her head slowly back to watch Edward leave. She hadn't truly wanted him to leave, but it was necessary. She wouldn't have him sitting here trying to convince her that a child was a gift, it would just annoy her even more. She looked around for Thomas, or some other company, but her friends were few and without Edward beside her, she found herself very alone, which was, until a man came up to her, sweeping into a bow. He wore robes of red for the occasion, but when he swung back up, Anne realized he wore black too: over his eye.

"I didn't know we had pirates at court." She said flatly.

The man's reaction was not offended. He let out a bellowing laugh. "I am no pirate, my lady, although I do say we share many common goals."

Anne tilted her head slightly, raising an eyebrow. "Humor me. Such as what?"

The man smirked to himself. "Searching for booty was the one that came to mind."

"So you're one of those men?" She observed more than asked. "Fun."

"I see you're not one of those women? What kind of woman are you?" He asked, as he lowered himself smoothly into Edward's seat. "Humor me."

Anne scowled at his reuse of her words. "I am a married woman, sir."

"Married schmarried." He said, shaking his head. "Do you really think that matters to me?"

"I suppose not, since you seem to have no morals whatsoever." Anne said, shrugging. She looked away from the man for a moment, but then looked back. "Who are you?"

The man smiled at her, pleased that she turned back to ask him that. It could only mean she was somewhat amused by his personality. "Sir Francis Bryan, my lady. But wait; do not tell me who you are. I know well that you are the wife of Lord Hertford over there." He threw a quick glance over to Edward who was in conversation with the King and paid little attention to anything else. "Are you two happy together?"

Anne had followed Francis's gaze to Edward, and she saw him, deep in conversation and quite distracted, she bit the inside of her lip uncomfortably. Though it seemed that Edward and Anne had sorted out Edward's workaholic problem, she still had her doubts, ones that she could not help having, and ones she would never talk about with Edward. He would think she was worrying too much. "Of course we are happy." She snapped at him. "It's not your place to ask questions like that, Sir Francis."

He shrugged carelessly. "If you say so, my lady, but if you'd like my opinion, from afar, it looks as if you may be quite unhappy on the inside. It seems that there are words that have gone unspoken between the two of you, and problems you need to sort out."

Anne scowled again. "That's enough about my husband out of you, or else I'll have him over here and he will not be pleased by your words."

Francis chuckled, leaning back in his seat. He touched one of the strings of his eye patch and grinned. "Have him over here then, but do not think that will stop me from seeing you again."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"You interest me, a lot. I would love to pick your brain sometime, among other things I would like to do to you." Francis replied smoothly, eyeing Anne with interest. He stood up from his seat suddenly and bowed to her once more. "I have things to do for His Majesty, but when you do come to realize that you're in an unhappy marriage, I'll be around. Lady Hertford." Francis nodded his head and turned on his heel, disappearing into the crowd.

Edward, of course, noticed the man many minutes too late. He returned to the table and looked around, having only seen him leave. "Who was that?" he asked.

"No one." Anne said, shaking her head, though she was not sure rather she was shaking it at the idea of the idiotic Sir Francis who had just spoken to her, or at the fact it had taken so long for Edward to notice there had been a man speaking to her. "He was no one."

Edward raised an eyebrow but decided not to question his wife, as he trusted her and had no reason to bother her about a man who had probably only spoken to her for a few moments, about nothing of importance.

1543 came at last and Anne was relieved when all the celebrations for Christmas and the New Year finally came to an end. Edward was not as relieved, as the end of the celebrating meant he had to return on his hunt to find the King a new wife. He moaned and groaned about it for a day before he left the palace for a few weeks, leaving Anne with no company except Thomas, who seemed miserable up until the end of April, when his mood did a complete three-sixty.

"What are you smiling about?" Anne asked as Thomas came into their family's joint privy chamber.

"Oh, nothing." He said, still beaming.

Anne stood up from her seat and looked at him fiercely. "Why won't you just tell me? I'm not Edward. I won't poke fun."

Thomas looked at her with his eyebrows raised. "Really, you won't? That's hard to believe as you and Edward are pretty much exactly the same."

"No we are not." Anne snapped back rather quickly. Thomas even looked surprised by her reaction.

"Okay, okay." He said, holding his hands up to calm her. "I'll tell you then, but I'll let you know now, you can't do anything to stop me from doing what I'm about to do."

"Fine." Anne said. She was thirsty for the information, and could care less about Thomas's actions after he told her, as long as he told her. "Tell me."

"Baron Latymer is dead." He said, trying to repress the smile Anne knew he wished to bear. "Katherine wrote to me."

Anne looked at him for a moment and laughed. "And what will you do now that this Katherine is a free woman?"

"I'll marry her of course, but first I need to spend more time with her and make sure she's interested. She'll need to mourn for her husband first too, but after, I'll ask for her hand." Thomas explained.

Anne sighed, but since she had promised she wouldn't poke fun, she kept to her word. "Very well Thomas." She said. "Are you going to tell Edward when he returns?"

"Maybe." He said, shrugging. "I haven't decided yet."

"He's your brother, and he's the head of the family. He needs to know." Anne said, somewhat warningly. If he won't tell him, he must know I will. "You should tell him. He'll like to hear it from you more than I."

Thomas sighed and nodded. "When he returns then, I'll tell him."

"Good." Anne replied, taking her seat once more. "You know, I'd love to meet her. Will she come to court now that her husbands passed?"

Thomas looked at Anne carefully. He wasn't sure if introducing Katherine to her was a good idea at all. They were very different in many ways. "I've no idea, Anne. She has only written to me to tell me of her husband's passing. We didn't speak of anything else."

"I think you should tell her to come to court." Anne said, smirking. "It'd be nice to have a female friend around, and you do think we would be friends, don't you?"

Thomas gulped. "Of course, Anne." He said, nervously. "I'm sure you two would get a long fabulously."