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

I decided wth, I was going to do an epilogue as there would be question marks to what happens to the characters. I want to thank my previous reviewer LadyEleanorBoleyn and so many others, MimiDubois, VelocityGirl1980, CourtsofLove, DudeintheBox, BoleynofAragon21, Pebbles89, who have been of a great inspiration to me and have helped me with this fic and supported me. this is for all of you.

Epilogue

1599, Spain-Madrid

Fernando stared outside the window. The sun was coming up, William was coming to see the accession of a new King. After all the bloodshed it was time for a change. He was proud he lived to see this day, the day of his brother's accession.

"Long live Caesar." He teased him. Ligo showed no visibly smirk, his eyes lightened at the sight of his cousin and uncle, William.

He was visibly old. His hair was started to gray, his blue eyes had lost its shine but he still wore his proud smile. "Gentlemen it is an honor to receive you here today."

"The honor is ours Your Majesty" They responded. William had aged considerably but he did not lose his sense of humor. He let the jest pass, it was good to be on good terms again. Without the wars or the heavy burden on kingship, at least on William who'd been King of England for more than forty years. "And there is not a day that I don't feel older, my time is up gentlemen, I fear the good Lord will take me into his gates very soon." He boasted.

None of them would ever be called by St. Peter, the atrocities they'd done, the crimes they committed, would never leave the public's memory, but his words were very much welcome.

The doors opened and they mounted their horses brought from the stable and rode with their guard behind them, behind the King-to-be, Felipe Diego. The death of Philip II was received with mixed feelings. Some wouldalways remember him as a staunch tyrant, devious and who lusted after the Queen Dowager of England and taken her by force to be his wife and forced her first cousin (in reality her brother) to marry one of his Hapsburg relations which he later arranged for their annulment so his rich niece would marry his first heir, the Prince of Asturias.
Others were so against this view that they defended their King with a passion that had not been seen since the Catholic Kings and his passing was met with great sorrow, he was remembered as the builder-King, the great architect and "Prudent King" among other names he would come to be known by the centuries.

Felipe leaned against his wife's shoulder, separation was out of the question. They had been together for twenty two years now and the thought of every day that he'd been away from her because of his state affairs and during her various confinements. She squeezed his hand and smiled at him. Her smile drove all his doubts away.

A King belonged to God and his people first and foremost, she understood his duties and was not going to stand in the middle of them, like any loyal consort she would step aside and let nature resume its course.

"I will be closer to you than you will ever know"

"I know" he said. And a sort of understanding passed between their eyes. As if he needed to further reassure he repeated: "I know you will always be by my side when I need you the most. I am proud of what we have achieved, of what our children have achieved through you."

She nodded and looked at her left. There was Anthony, old and with gout like his father, to his right was their daughter Leopoldine who had remained in England after the pope declared her a bastard. 'Poor child'. Sometimes she felt awful for leaving her in that dreadful country, but Leopoldine was much a child of the reformation, she discovered when she intended to take her, as her grandmother, the late Bess Tudor. They did not even look at her.

She turned away from them to see the people sitting next to her husband's right. King William and a handful of his men, not surprisingly a Cecil among them who'd taken up his late father's duties, the Earl Marshall of England, Gilbery Talbot, and a few others Ana was unfamiliar with. At forty one the King looked tired and ill, his wife was dying but she did not want to miss out on his cousin's coronation so she begged him to go and send a present of a clock with roses and eagles, symbols of the Tudor and Bathory House to congratulate him.

The gift was presented to them and Felipe smiled at it and hand it over to Fernando who sat in between William and his courtiers, weighing the gift in his bony hands. A handsome rake and lover, yet he never recovered from his torture at the hands of the French King. "The best of England aye?" Fernando joked with his half sibling.

William nodded, his eyes shining with pride as he passed it over to the new King of Spain. "The best of England and Hungary I might add." Said William and then his eyes gazed at hers, they immediately saddened, "My wife sends her apologies she could not come, she has been very ill but she prays that you have fruitful and successful reign."

"I am deeply sorry to hear of her illness. Tell her I will always appreciate what she did to me and she is always in my prayers." Said Ana and surprising everyone she did the sign of the cross and said, "Amen." which everyone else repeated.

Too many wars, too many years passed. England and Spain had not been this united since Annie and Philip. After the fallout of France and the end of the Valois line as the ruling dynasty in France and the Wittelsbach territories being disputed between Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and England, they'd become bitter foes. Felipe Diego promised to be a good yet different monarch from his grandfather, he promised to honor Spanish tradition but not neglect his country's needs for global trade.

William put his goblet down. He refused more wine. With a gentle voice since he was always fond of Ana, he said: "I am sure she will appreciate and you are on her prayers every day as well Your Majesty."

"Call me Ana" She said. He had earned it unlike his uncle. He had been a just King and he and Beth always favored her and took great care of her daughter.

"Ana." He agreed and gave a nod of deep reverence to her. Life had been cruel to their parents and to them, but they would not let their parents' sins undermine their friendship.

William retired to his chambers with the excuse he was feeling too drunk and once there, began to write on his memoirs and took out his last gift from his older sister, Diana, now Queen of France; his great-grandmother's rosary.

"Through you I have restored the good name of the Tudor House, through your granddaughter the Tudor name will live on for centuries and through your great-grandson I have brought peace to my great-great grandfather's Empire." Even if the world would forget her sacrifice, he would not.

And a last homage to the true Queen of Hearts, he knelt on the floor and brought his hand to his forehead and did the sign of the cross and began to pray in Latin "Pater Noster ..."

A/N: I changed the historic date of Philip II death. His death was in 1598 at the age of 72 years old plagued by gout as implied here and now Anthony as Chapuys is plagued with the same disease, this was very common then.
This has been a great ride and experience for me.