Disclaimer: Really? If I did then I would be Goddess Supreme now wouldn't I?

Thanks to my reviewers and those who put this story on alert or favorited it. I appreciate it.

Nothing is mine except my OCS, Annie, the Royal Twins on each country, Ligo, Roxy (hope you liked the new addition to the Tudor-Chapuys family :)), and the others.

Forgive me for the grammar errors in the last chapter. I have corrected those, as one illustrious reviewer put it, I did. It was not my intention to create confusion, problem solved now.

Thanks a lot to VelocityGirl1980 to beta this chapter and helping me make the corrections! Thank you girl.

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter #45: Never Changing Tide

"All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
I like watchin' the puddles gather rain
And all I can do is just pour some tea for two and speak my point of view But it's not sane,
It's not sane
I just want some one to say to me
I'll always be there when you wake Ya know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today
So stay with me and I'll have it made
And I don't understand why I sleep all day
And I start to complain that there's no rain
And all I can do is read a book to stay awake
And it rips my life away,
but it's a great escape escape...escape...escape...
All I can say is that my life is pretty plain ya don't like my point of view ya think I'm insane Its not sane...it's not sane."

~"No Rain" by Blind Melon

1566, July 4th

Jane cried as another blow came her way. "Why mama?" She'd thought, the words escaped from her lips almost instantly, and she found herself held by her mother and then she threw her at the floor. She brought her knees to her chest and hugged herself and hid her head in them.

She could feel her mother's hard breathing. She hates tears. Why should she cry? She squandered her opportunity and all for foolish behavior. Now Tony would not want her, if they were in doubt before, now they were certain.

"Up" The Duchess of Suffolk ordered Jane. Jane did not move, she was afraid to face her mother. Don't cry, she ordered herself. Control yourself, you know who you are.

Yes. She answered herself. I am Jane Grey, descendant of Royalty, of the high nobility. She is nothing, nothing Jane. Her mind rebuffed, chiding her for her fear of her parents. Nothing Jane you hear that?

Yes. Those are the bells, they are ringing high for you. You are descendant of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, you have Yorkist and Lancaster blood through them both. Who is she but only half royalty? You have your father who descends from a water Goddess and from the old Greys married to Elizabeth Woodville before she became Queen of England.

Yes. Once again, she told herself. Yes.

You can do this Jane. Yes, I can.

A thunder was heard outside, her mother turned her head to the window slightly distracted. Jane took the opportunity to come from her hiding spot and raising herself, helped by her father, she wiped her dried up tears with her scarlet fur sleeves.

"Mother" She responded bringing her lady mother's attention to her daughter.

Frances smirked, the gall of this girl. How dare she look her in the eye wit that pathetic grin off hers after what she lost?

"Lower your eyes, that's it. Now tell me what did you do to loose his interests in you?"

Jane looked up, she had to. Her mother had to know that it wasn't her fault. "I did nothing!" She said yanking her arm from her father's strong and protective grip.

Henry Grey knew his wife, he was no fool. If she wanted she could muster an army all on her own and march to Winchester castle where their boy King resided and take the crown from his pretty face and put it on herself or on Jane. With Anthony Andrew Chapuys as her husband, it would have been pretty easy.

One could argue that the validity of the Lady Elizabeth's marriage was worth more than the Lady Mary's, despite what that papist Duchess claimed. But alas! His daughter was not pretty enough to catch that boy's eyes.

Frances should have known better than to trust in Mary or Bess Tudor, both were witches hungry for power, one was daughter of a Spanish bitch who did not wield her position, even when the pope overruled his predecessor's predecessor's dispensation of her marriage to the late King Henry VIII. The other whose mother was said to be a witch yet the pope had been all too eager to bless their union -that is before the Holy Roman Emperor had said something in the matter.
Either way, Frances should have known better. These were women whose ambitions equaled that of Frances and they knew no boundaries.

"Oh really then why did the Viscount Rochford look so disgusted when you pushed yourself between him and the lady he was about to bed?"

"Katherine!" Frances scolded her middle daughter.

"Why mama? It is true. If Jane had kept her mouth shut, you know none of this would have happened. Jane was stupid as she always is, that mouth of hers will get us all in trouble"

"And do nothing so he would deflower a good honest English woman? Is that your idea of keeping your mouth shut? Have you no sense of common decency?"

"And have you no common sense?"

"Enough" Roared Frances and then turned to Jane "There are things you say and do that puts this family to shame. It was not your place to chide him nor to lecture him Jane, he is the grandson of a King"

"And I am the granddaughter of one, we are not so different he and I lady mother"

"Thanks to you, you may well be. You behaved like a common."

"You can't blame our poor Jane for speaking her mind. It is your fault Frances" Henry offered in his daugther's defense. "After all you have encouraged our daughters to read and be educated. I warned you of the consequences of that"

Frances' vengeful gaze turned to her husband. She gave off a smirk "It appears as if I married a jelly" Before Henry Grey could reply, his wife spoke up with venom in her voice "I educated our daughter as befit their stations. They were born for greatness, and I wanted their education if not their gender and lack of good looks in our Jane's case" she explained, Jane lowered her gaze in shame "to make up for it. Now you are telling me I was wrong. Was I wrong too for wanting this family to have what it deserves? Some respect?"

Henry could not answer to that. The whole room was silent.

Frances let the silence linger and cackling with wild laughter she broke it to say: "It is not sane the world we live in, but I would not change it for a colony or an insignificant country like Spain, Portugal, France where the laws are clear what should happen to traitors and heretics"

"The King is a Reformist, my grand Aunt Bess has made sure"

"Yes, yes, yes she had" Frances said slowly giving away a wider smirk "What when the boy grows, do you not know who is his Lord Protector Jane or have you from your lessons learned nothing?"

"Mother stop this!" Katherine said, who was scared as servants had began gathering around the door. Anyone could be a spies these days. She'd been briefly at court to know. Jane was the first one to notice things, but Katherine was always the first one to understand and therefore explain it to them.

"Shush now Kitty Kat, don't be as naive as your sister Jane, I didn't sire a jelly for a daughter, be at least the pride in this family your sisters and father can't"

Henry said nothing, he was used to Frances' insults. And he wasn't afflicted by them, he'd broke her skin more times than she broke his with all the girls he squirted into her belly.

"Then what do you pretend to do Madame? The Lord Protector is old-"

"Hush Jane let father speak" Katherine said to Jane in a tone imitating their mother's.

"But it is treason" Said Jane back, however her sister responded with another shush and that was the end of the argument.

"Bess and Eustace's daughter is going to be six next week, did you know that? And we are not even invited"

Henry's face turned a different color. "What? But we were promised!"

Jane could almost picture the fumes coming from his ears. She turned her head to her parents. Her father was fuming.

How dare they not be invited? He must be thinking, Jane thought. Good riddance. She did not want to go to Court and have to face Anthony again. He might offer a crude joke or mock her for spoiling his fun with the servant he was about to bed.

"We were sir ... by the Duchess of Sicily not her common husband" Frances reminded him, holding a strong urge to smack the back of her husband's head. "Eustace Chapuys, that man" she barked in laughter "she played this one really good. He wants out of the game, he thinks us too low when the former Queen Dowager and the Queen of Spain, his true, baseborn daughter, is nothing but a bastard"

"Watch that tongue Madame!" He said gruffly "One day it will be your death"

"You mean all our deaths, that is what you are really afraid of aren't you? Afraid of a common Duke, eh?"

"Afraid? Yes. He is the one who rules over this land, and his wife ... she rules him"

Frances laughed even more. "You are a fool" And then more silently, she said "And I even more for giving up our ambitions and marry our daughter to Northumbeland's jelly son, not even a first son"

Henry shrugged. What could he say? The dice had been cast and Chapuys and Bess Tudor had played this very well from the start. They had to dance at the same tune as everyone else lest they wanted to collapse into nothing as the Plantagenets, the preceding dynasty, did.

"When I found myself to the ground, when I was told I was no good, when they laughed at me I made myself a promise. When I looked and saw my career opportunities were ruined I made myself another promise, now this year comes the time of reckoning (insane laughter)"

~Anonymous

July 8th

Spain, Valladolid

"Give it back!" Ligo screeched throwing rocks at his siblings. His siblings laughed and in return stepped on his toad and tossed its dead body at him.

"Squeark!" They mocked. Fernando, the youngest of his twin brothers, grabbed a pebble and threw it at his older brother.

"I will tell the King!"

"Tell him. It will save us the trouble of telling father to send you away" Carlos Jr. the older of the twins rebuked.

"No, no ..." Said Ligo, stepping away from his toady they killed and used as a hitting stone at him.

"No, no. no" Sang Carlos Jr. and his twin, Fernando Enrique in mocking.

"Stop it! You have no right treating me like this when I am King"

Carlos interrupted "You won't be King, our lord father will be King before you and he will put me above the line of succession and so will my twin, we will be put above you Ligo, you will be below the shit and the servants!"

The two twins roared in laughter while Ligo said infuriatingly "I will not let this disrespect continue, you would not be laughing so much"

"You think yourself lucky because you are the King's favorite above his eldest son by that English whore who bears my name-"

"Her Majesty is not a whore" Ligo immediately sprang to his surrogate mother's defense "And neither are her children, my true brothers bastards!"

"We are your brothers" Fernando Enrique said, more hurt than angry. He tried getting along with his brother but it was all that English bastard bitch's fault for alienating his brother from their family, his mother said so.

"By blood but they are my brothers by spirit and love"

"Spirit and love" Laughed Carlos "You are truly a romantic and naive, Fernando here bears the names of two great Kings while that bastard Prince Fernando bears only one name and his mother is nothing but a bastard and an ambitious woman who seeks to use you so you can turn all of us against the rightful heir of Spain, our father" Carlos explained.

Ligo shook his head adamant, refusing to believe his younger brother's words.

"No matter what we will always be your family, our blood runs through your veins, blood is blood Ligo"

"No it is not Fenrique"

"Do not call me that!" Roared Fernando Enrique. He hated that name with every fiber of his being. He was Fernando, he was deserving of his name for who his parents were, but most importantly who his mother was. She descended from true Royalty like his father Spanish, Portuguese, and English and German through his grandparents' side. Her sister, the former Queen Dowager of England, presently the Queen of Spain, was only half royal through their mother. Her father was a common whose mother descended from the forgotten low nobility of Savoy. There was hardly any debate there who was better and more fit to be wear the crown of Queen of Spain.

It was his turn to laugh "But you are, everyone calls you so, when we are at court, the few times you are allowed thanks to the no good behavior of our lord father and mother, you are always referred to as Fenrique because anyone in their right minds knows that a son of the mad Prince of Asturias can never be heir to the Spanish crown"

"Neither can you" Said Carlos Jr. in his twin's defense. "You are only Don Felipe Diego after all, you owe your position to our father much as you hate to admit it"

Ligo shook his head "No brothers. I owe my position to my grandfather and my lady step grandmother and aunt. They are the ones who raised me, carried me at night, sang me songs, and looked after me when no one else did. The only reason my parents requested my return during the whole summer is because they fear that one day it may come (and it will) when the King names me Prince of Asturias and forces our lord father to give up his title. Therefore I will become King, not he and certainly not you."

"He can't do that." Fenrique screamed in outrage, forgetting he was called Fenrique again.

"Someone should poison his drink and poison yours!" Carlos Jr. much like his father when he suffered from his fits of rage said in support of his brother and grabbed one of the nearby rocks near the sand graves of the rabbits his father had buried after he'd done torturing them -when he was a child; and threw it at his brother. Ligo ducked, thanking God for his younger brother's poor eyesight

You are stronger than they are, they just want to make you mad, you know how to hide your feeling, you know who you are, show them.

"Before this year is over you are going to rue the day you lay a hand on me"

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a promise. I will tell the King and he will not be pleased when he knows that you tried to hit me" Ligo said putting on his best smirk however his efforts were trumped by his mother who came from behind saying in a stronger voice than he: "Tell your grandfather Ligo, I am sure he will be glad to know how you broke the fourth commandment"

"Lady Mother, Your Highness" They bowed before their mother. Ligo's voice gave no warmth. He'd been under his grandfather and his Aunt's tutelage for so long -he did not recognize another authority.

"My sons, what was all that commotion about? Are you not aware you are Princes, quarrels are for the slaves and the rif-raff, the commons. You are not common"

"Yes mother" They said, Catalina noted however that Ligo kept his mouth shut.

"Ligo be glad that me and your father requested your presence. If not you would still be trapped in your grandfather's dreary castle"

"From what I recall Madame it was my grandfather due to the Prince of Asturia's tears and shrieking that bid him to send me here, rest assured as a mere formality, I do not wish to be here anymore than you wish to see me"

Catalina pressed her fists. She wanted to smack Ligo and leave a scar on his pretty face. Out of her children, he was the only one who remained rebellious. Carlos believed that a little time in the country, away from court, with them would set him straight. Clearly it did not.

She could not wait to send him back to his prude grandfather and her bastard sister.

Ligo watched as his mother tight lips formed into a feigned smile, even she could not hide her anger.

She made a gesture to the door. Ligo went inside, he was followed by his sisters who'd been watching the whole ordeal in silence. One of them spoke.

It was Catalina. "Why do you insist on disobeying her? You know what the servants say of you? The imprudent one. hey laugh at you Ligo, they laugh and not to mention the holy trinity of evil, Fernando, Carlos Jr. and our little sister Maria. Do you want to be laughed at?" Ligo said nothing, he continued walking "Well do you?"

Only when he reached his chambers he addressed her "Our brothers are mad as our father, their health hide for their lack of spirit, and Maria is naught but a spoiled, naive child who holds no thought of her own"

"Do you have to be so nasty to Maria?" She asked back "If you were but nice to her she wold be nitce to you"

"And I would become her play puppet as Fernando and Carlos are hers" He shot back.

Catalina said nothing more. She longed to see her brother return to court. She had missd him, she would enver tell him so but she admired him immensely for his ability to hold his ground and look up at his father without remorse and without shaking with fear.

But the heir to the Spanish throne saw her as nothing as another of their father's broods. "You are our brother you should not behave so! One day you might need us!" She yelled, but it was too late. The door had been closed down in her face, he locked himself in his rooms again.

All I can do is read a book. It was his great escape.

Catalina sighed and returned to her chambers, at once her mother was scolding for what she considered -siding with her brother.

"I did not side with him" She defended herself at once, like her she had her fiery temper.

Tudor. Catalina seethed, of everyone it was her oldest daughter who possessed the qualities that made her Tudor and Bavarian ancestors so great.

"Catalina Hapsburg do not contradict me. Your father contradicts me all the time, I don't need his copy living with me" She said in strong disdain.

Catalina Jr. bit her tongue and let the older Catalina ramble.

"Your father goes on and on how you and Maria are his perfect little girls" She groaned "I do not need to hear him praise you more than you should."

"Then don't" She blurted out, she regretted it immediately.

"What did you say?" Catalina the older advanced to her daughter with a menacing look.

"Nothing lady mother" She said, her gaze down.

"Look at me!"

Catalina the younger did as she was told. She faced her mother, unmoved, casting down her fear with a mask of neutrality but her mother could see right through her.

She cupped her daughter's cheeks. It hurt, she wanted to cry out, but she would not give her lady mother the satisfaction.

She hates me but one day she'll thank me. "You look so ugly dear with that look, didn't the Queen tell you that is most unbecoming of a Princess?"

"Except I am not a Princess mother" She struggled to speak as her mother squeezed her cheeks harder, one of her cheeks began to bleed.

"Not so defiant now" Her mother said once Catalina the younger let a whimper. She let her go and wiped the blood from her cheeks with her handkerchief and then kissed the wound "Don't fight me again dear, you are my daughter and I love you but you will obey me. Your father loves you but you know he doesn't stand for insolence amongst his servants, and blood or not, you are his servant as am I."

That did it. She could not sleep as her mother's words brought only the worst images. You know he doesn't stand for insolence ... blood or not you are his servant as am I.

Would her father really ... hurt her -his Cata?

On cue she sat up from her bed startled by the screams from the underground torture chambers where her father punished his servants for their insolence.

She should have gotten used to them by now. But her mind was reeling with her mother's words.

Can he, can he hurt me? Will he? She thought, if my mother tells?

He wouldn't. He loved her. Her father may be many things but he was a loving father to his daughters. He loved all of them.

He would punish his wife first for saying bad things about them. It would be their word against hers. It was no secret her parents married only out of pure interest, it was an arranged match unlike his grandfather and his wife who'd met on England, when he intended to marry her mother instead. He'd fallen in love with the English Queen Dowager. Some said it was through witchcraft -those who were against her.

Her grandfather had broken the arrangement thinking her mother would not make a good Queen of Spain and married the Queen Dowager of England instead. Her mother, not to be slighted, agreed with the King's second proposal which was to marry his deformed son. She agreed, it was a chance for her to give Spain a heir even if the heir be mad or deformed like her husband -just to slight her sister -which many still held she was a bastard and unfit to be Queen. But those were so little compared to the large crowd who hated her parents. Thankfully her brother and the rest of her siblings, including herself had been born right.

And what the Queen to show for her good health?Two pregnancies and only four children. Cata smirked. Two of which were boys and the other two were girls, and only two of them were healthy. The other two, everyone doubted they would even reach adulthood!

And yet, despite everything the King loved his wife and looked up to her and she had convinced him to take on her father's heir, education. "The heir to my dominions" The King had boasted, alienating her brother from his true family. Her father was nothing but a thorn on the King of Spain's spine. She wished people could see past his deformities and see her father for the man he was, kind, sweet and loving to all his children.

Yes he killed, yes he mistreated his servants. But so what? Didn't all nobles do that? Didn't the Inquisition burn people, common and noble folk? And didn't the people often rejoice in this act seeing the victim's suffering? What made her father so different, his acts so appalling?

All he wanted was approval from His Majesty and son, and so far he'd gotten none.

Her mother on the other hand, she was a highly ambitious harpy who wanted nothing more than steal the crown from Queen Ana (the Spanish version of her name, everyone had to speak to it). But she respected her namesake and there was another reason for Cata to hold her tongue to her mother. Deep down she pitied the woman. Who spent half her life seeking the approval of the others as well.

October 3rd

England, Hertfordshire: Hatfield Manor

Bess left on short notice from Richmond Palace. She was sad to live William but she explained to the boy King she had to leave for her daughter needed her council. The King gave her his blessing. Only six years old but he already knew what to say and do, he'd given her a farewell as befit a true Princess of England. Bess had been touched but this was no moment for tears. Her daughter needed her.

She heard the reports from Kat Ashley and her tutors that she had been acting unruly and wild and refused to attend any of her lessons, and dismissed the seamstresses and tossed all of her good dresses aside in favor of peasant clothing.

"Your Grace" They greeted her as she passed them, they were all lined up as she expected them when she entered her state in Hertfordshire. When her gaze landed on Kat Ashley, her daughter's governess, she asked why had she not been told sooner? This could have been sold faster when she and Eustace had been home last year for the holidays. She did not need to be dragged from court on something like this.

"But My Lady" The Governess said with some hint of amusement, being Bess all these years, she had learned to laugh at life as it came, but the situation with the former Princess' daughter had grown worse. And only now Kat Ashley regretted not telling her friend sooner so she would be spared the troubles of dealing with her wrath. "Lady Roxanna was just a child, how could we have known it would have escalated to this degree? At first there was nothing to worry about. She was playing with swords but attending her lessons and wearing her dresses and she has always been on time and very responsible with her readings, we ignored this little gay behavior of hers until ..."

"Until what?" Asked Bess "Go on"

"Until she began dumping all of the clothes you and His Grace sent her for Christmas and her birthday last month, remember when you brought the King over to celebrate it here at Hatfield?"

"Yes, yes, yes I know. That is old history, go on with your tale" Bess said waving her hand dismissively at Kat.

"Well she said that dresses and necklaces made her look a ninny and if she wanted to be a warrior someday she had to learn to wear armor so naturally you can imagine there we all are trying to calm her down and convince her not to get rid of her dresses but she did anyways and she have Mistress Bell, the seamstress a headache when she commanded her to make her an armor. 'But only blacksmiths make armors'. Mistress Bell said. The little lady replied: 'Fine so bring me an armorer or I will tell my father, he is Lord Protector and the King is my nephew and my best friend, I can have you locked up in the tower you know'. So naturally ..."

"Mistress Bell was no longer seen or heard from right?"

"I am truly sorry Your Grace, I know how much you liked her work"

"Tis not your fault. Where is my daughter I want to see her"

"Right this way Your Grace" Kat said leading her to Lady Roxanna's chamber. She would be angry at Kat for telling on her, but it was for her own good she would explain. This would just be another phase and when it was over they would all forget it ever happened and hopefully Mistress Bell would be back in their service.

"Mama" Roxanna said a little frightened giving a shameful smile. She did not miss anything. She knew her mother was not here just to say hello and see how she was? "How is my nephew, His Majesty? Will I get to see him soon mama?" She said, very nervously going to hug her mother but she stopped putting her hand on her shoulder.

She got straight to the point "Why did you threaten to send Mistress Bell to the tower? You know we don't do that. Me and your father never taught you to be like that"

"I am sorry" But it didn't sound genuine, even Roxanna could tell it was a lie and she didn't mean it.

"Anyone can be killed because I am Aunt to the King is that it for you?"

"No mama I simply wanted to make a point with her that I was not going to let her fit me into one of her stupid dresses! Why should I be made to wear dresses anyway?" Roxy said. She didn't like the tone her mother was speaking with. She should not speak to her that way, she looked up to her mother defiantly. Bess was struck with the same look her mother had looked at her when she grounded Bess. Before anyone might speak, Bess made her position quite clear to them all. She did not want her daughter to be out of control anymore. Annie and Edward had done their eldest a great disservice sending her away to be raised with almost no adult supervision in a castle filled with servants and tutors who had no choice but do her bidding. She was going to let no such thing happen to her child. Annie with the help of Philip and Diana's Dueña had set things right and -not did away, for that was impossible a girl of their brood, but- taught her to hide her emotions and curb that strong temperament of hers.

Roxy was out of control during the entire time that Bess had left her here at Hatfield to attend her grand-nephew and her duties as Lady Governor in Court. Although Anthony was one of the deputies assigned to his household, she knew her son very well. He was wild like all the men in her family, except George, and could not be controlled therefore she could not trust him with keeping order in the young King's household. So it was up to her and Eustace, as a result they rarely saw Roxanna, for court was no place for a child, she could tell by her personal experience.

"Roxanna Chapuys you are Tudor first and foremost and I will not stand for this type of behavior" She said sharply.
Her daughter immediately ceased screaming.

Her temper flared up at her mother. "Kat" she started "lets me do what I want. She lets me play with my brothers' old toys"

"Those are for boys, you are a girl, they are not fit for your sweetheart"

"I hate playing with dolls and riding ponies, I should be riding horses like Tony and George do or you want me to be unhappy?" She could not understand her mother's line of reasoning, before she came she could do whatever she wanted. Kat let her play with whatever toys she liked, nobody said anything to her. She was treated fairly and she always obeyed her elders, whatever her mother thought about her she was clearly wrong for Roxy would never raise her voice against any one of them. Even if she did not share her elders' opinions she respected them for being men of learning and she highly respected her mother's old friend, Kat, for the woman had been with her more time than her own mother.

"I do not care if you like it or not, we are women dear"

"Then I do not want to be a woman-"

"But you are and I will not hear anymore of this rebellious talk" Elizabeth said, with practically no choice she came to a difficult conclusion "Tomorrow you will join me and your father at court"

"I want to stay here" She said in strong opposition with her mother's same tone of voice, that Bess hated to hear in her daughter.

"And your father wanted to wear the crown of St. Peter" Bess mocked "but rarely do we get what we want. Now come with me Roxy, the seamstress is waiting in your room to take your measurements for your next dresses, courtesy of your father"

"But I have enough dresses"

Bess could not argue with her daughter, when she said something you were bound to like it or else. And believe me, Bess would tell those among her inner circle, including her husband; that is something you do not want to find out.

October 4th,

Spain, Town of Sevilla: Alcázar Palace

"Enough, enough My Lord" Annie shivered at the touch of his tongue on hers, though she fought hard to hide it, not because she did disliked it but her discomfort in her leg, it was making it impossible for her to enjoy the pleasures of his sensual naked body against hers. Her thoughts of discomfort disappeared however when his seed filled her womb.

With luck she would be with child again. But Philip was not so hopeful, he did not want her to be with child. They had prayed for children and they had boys in the Hapsburg cradle, and he had her. He secretly prayed that his seed would rot while it was in her womb and result in nothing. He could not stand going through what he went through when he thought he'd lost her ... again.

He squeezed deeper into her sheath, his hands holding unto her back, hers were on his back scratching him drawing out blood. He could hear her moaning his name, suddenly changed, urging him to penetrate her, to become one with him.

She felt him sink again in her and with a swift single movement, he pulled out of her before his member released the last of its seed.

There was a long period of silence between them, during which Philip caressed the globes of her breasts and gave them warm kisses and then moved his lips way up to her throat suckling on her tender flesh. Then finally when she exploded, feeling awkward that she had when he was no longer in her, she said "When are we going to have Ligo with us again? Surely you cannot leave him with my sister, you know what she will say about me, lies only lies"

He hated speaking about his, but Annie willed herself on top of him and put his hands on her buttocks and moved them to the opposite, working his fingers inside her sheath. She struggled in her next speech, it was more than she intended and she didn't think her body would respond and thought she would be in control of the situation, but it was clear that she was a terrible negotiator when she was in this position.

"I want Ligo back with us, you can command your son back to court or to bring Ligo. We must have him here Philip"

Philip felt her hands exploring his chest and reaching up to his hair when he pulled his fingers deeper. "P-please..."

How could he deny her this request? It was not the action that made him succumb but the way her face lit and the sounds of ecstasy that came from her mouth that were like music to his hears, when she was in this state.

"P-please ..." She asked again. This time Philip's defenses were weak against his siren's chants. He ended up saying "Yes"

October 5th

England, Richmond

Roxy had gone reluctantly to court, there was no first impression of the place. In her mind it was no different than any other palace, only bigger and with more luxury but nothing more.

"Papa" However she said, when she spotted her father, running into his arms.

Eustace had to struggle to maintain his balance with his two bad legs when he let go of his canes and opened his arms to receive his youngest daughter.

"You have to be careful with your father Roxy, he is getting older" He said speaking in third person just like he would to a child.

"You are not old, in fact I think you seem younger" She said jumping in their embrace, her red curls bouncing with her, covering half of her face.

Bess felt somewhat embarrassed that she would cause a scene here of all places. This is exactly the other reason why she was so afraid to bring Roxy to court, she didn't know how to behave herself in front of her peers. She reminded her of herself when she was that age, but Bess had learned to behave by the time she was twelve. But that was because she had been a Princess at the time and her mother had told her the importance of her behavior and what it would reflect on her parents and the Kingdom she would one day inherit ... She shook these memories aside, she had to. Her mother was still a delicate subject and somehow she could picture her mother and Roxy in the same thought so she returned to the present and marched straight of to her daughter, avoiding he stares of the other courtiers and said; "Roxy dear that is enough" She tore her daughter from Eustace.

Roxy looked up at her mother in the same defiance she had earlier when they were at Hatfield.

"Roxy" Her tone dropped a dangerously low this time and Roxy knew she better obey.

Eustace was helped to his canes by his faithful servants and accompanied his wife to their chambers. He winked at Roxy for her earlier demonstration. The child was troublesome yes, but so what? One day she would marry and she would rule over her Lord's castle and learn the ways of her gender, as everyone else. Bess only had to be patient. "She is a child" He said once night fell and they were alone in the bedchamber. Roxy they'd checked was soundly asleep in the room next to theirs. "Let her be a child"

"I have no problem with that, but she knows she has responsibilities and I remember you setting up rules in our household when Annie, George, and Tony where there and did something you didn't like" She reminded him.

"Yes love but that was different, we were much younger and I was full of life then, I am getting old Bess" He said now turning serious, "I am not-"

"Don't say it" Bess said, she didn't want to hear it but her husband continued nonetheless.

"We have to face it, sooner or later I could die and you will be all that is left to keep this family together."

Bess smirked, it was ironic that he said this when they had an older son who could very well take care of them, her and Roxy, if not for his dalliances.

"Aye" Eustace acknowledged "Anthony would be a perfect candidate, he has the attitude and he is a great dissimulator, given the chance he would have made a great governor and I would have appointed him as my secretary and recommended him to His Majesty to appoint him Lord Protector and Regent when I move on, but he is not married yet and I am getting tired of his scandals"

"We all are" Bess agreed, her lips suddenly twitched remembering the latest one involving a Scottish Earl's daughter. That had nearly cost them the peace with Scotland. George wrote to them that he had ridden his wife many times to try and convince her not, apparently George was better in the arts of persuasion with a woman than Anthony. But that was because George was a Boleyn and Chapuys more than a Tudor, she regretted to admit.

Seeing the look in her husband's eyes she asked "You have someone in mind?"

Eustace shrugged, not really. But he'd been thinking about it for quite some time, and since the King of Spain wanted to make his authority clear over all his territories in Italy and the Netherlands, what better way than exerting pressure on Eustace that with the condition that he could pass on his title of Duke of Sicily to his son, by marrying one of his own?

He told this to his wife and before she could speak her mind, he held a hand up explaining the benefits of such union. "Anthony is a grown man, you said so yourself many times, he has been a good Ambassador in Spain and has made really good friendships with other Ambassadors in the Imperial Court. What better way to cement our alliance with Spain further by marrying our son to one of the Hapsburg. Thinking about the prestige Bess"

"I think about it and I like it not." She answered, yet she had to know who was the price Tony had to pay to inherit his father's dukedom "Who is the little chit or what is her name?"

Eustace raised an eyebrow. "Jealous are we that we will have another Mary Stewart in our hands?"

"Of course I am not, but I do not want any more competition or angry, egocentric women to up with. One was enough remember" Reminded Bess "Who is she then?"

"Ana Von Hapsburg, she is daughter of Maximilian II, the Holy Roman Emperor and because of her mother, niece of Philip II of Spain. It is safe to say that it is the best we could have done for our son"

"You mean you could have done for your son" She said dryly.

"What do you mean to imply Bess?"

"Just what we already know that since Annie became Queen of Spain you have tried to make this country friends with everyone, mainly the Hapsburg. you know Eustace sometimes I wonder if you ever stopped being Charles V servant"

"I am your husband Bess" He said quietly "I merely try to do what is best for my children"

"They are my children too" She said in a deadly voice, she turned her back on him and blew the light from the candle. It was completely dark now, but Eustace could almost envision her cold gaze as she thought the worst of this alliance. "You surprise me Eustace" She said moving away when she felt her husband's hands on her buttocks trying to rouse her. They had not been together in that way for months now because of his condition, she did not want to hurt him for she feared she would with the way she was feeling now.

"Madame if you could only tell me what is wrong with you? I want England to be a great country just like you and me always dreamed of"

Bess turned to him, even when it was dark her brown eyes shined with malice. She spit venom at him. "Curses you do not want to see England great, you want to see it as another colony, a servant of France or Spain o any other Catholic Country."

"That is not true, I only want ..." he stopped in mid-sentence. Taking a deep breath he calmed himself and started again "We want the same thing. I only want to see this country great"

After a while Elizabeth spoke to the dead of silence. "I believe you" Eustace sighed in relief, however Bess added "But this is not the way to raise this country. After my brother's wars Annie did the best she could and to some extent she did, but it was not her marriage with Philip or the sons she gave him. It was her victories overseas, her defense of the Northern frontier and securing, through force, an alliance with Scotland and George's marriage with our cousin. Do what you must for now Eustace but know this" she said in a clearer voice "when William reaches the age of majority he will not follow your line of thinking. He is a very smart child and he appreciates your council, but the final decision will one day rest with him and he does not see eye to eye with you on your policies. Unlike you my love he is a true English King and if needs be, he can break with Catholic Europe or the rest of the world and England will still survive because he knows where true greatness lies and how it is achieved"

A/N: R/R