A/N: Hi, GreenField here! This is a songfic for George Boleyn and my OC, Elizabeth Hollington, to Lorde's cover of 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World'. It's way better than the original, in my opinion, as it really captures the sinister aspects behind the words and genuinely gives me the shivers – you should all listen to it! Please review! Gets slightly M-rated near the end.
Welcome to your life
There's no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find you
"You know, I thought I'd like court a lot more than I do"
George grinned, amused by the statement, "Really? You loved it at first, I seem to remember"
"Yes, but – "Elizabeth sat up in bed, her hair unravelling from its loose braid, "Things were different back then"
"Easier, perhaps"
"Definitely. I'm scared, nowadays"
George snorted, "Scared? What of?!"
"The Seymours"
"The Seymours? What do they have to do with anything?"
"Everything! Have you noticed them lately? Jane with her little simpering smiles at the King, and those brothers of hers – they watch you, they watch you like they're just waiting for something bad to happen to you. It frightens me"
"They're not prophets, Bess, they've got no idea what's going to happen in my future – nor theirs, I don't doubt"
"I'm serious, don't laugh at me! There's something sinister about them, and they spend a lot of time with Cromwell these days…"
George's face registered its first hint of worry, "Ah. Yes. It was unwise of Anne to fight with Cromwell"
"She had little choice, George, you know that. It was not just mere stupidity"
"I suppose so. But you have nothing to worry about with the Seymours. We Howards are in full bloom at the moment, and although they might like to think so, there is very little chance of them stopping us"
"Is there, though? Anne…"
"You've no need to worry about Anne. She carries the King's son, and whatever difficulties they may have been having will be completely erased when he finally holds a boy in his arms"
Elizabeth wanted to believe him, desperately; but she also knew what she had seen in the eyes of the Seymours; the wolves of Wolf Hall.
"It could go wrong again, George. If this baby ends like the last…"
"No" George said firmly, "No, she has to succeed this time"
"If she doesn't, the Seymours will know, George. They're spying on us, I'm sure of it, and Cromwell….the way he looks at me sometimes, it makes me think he knows. About us"
"No-one knows about us" George responded, squeezing her close against him; but she, who knew him so well, could detect the edge of anxiety in his voice, "No-one we haven't chosen, anyway"
"I just…I don't feel safe here anymore, George. I feel like we're being watched, and everyone is just waiting for us to slip up. Waiting for us to fall"
Acting on your best behaviour
Turn your back on Mother Nature
Everybody wants to rule the world
The day Anne went into labour, everyone knew what was going to happen. Elizabeth was called by Aurora, who had been sleeping in Anne's chamber that night while Elizabeth spent the night with George. She forced George to remain behind, just for a few moments, so as to avoid suspicion, and ran to Anne's chambers in her chemise, hair loose and dishevelled. George could wait no longer than a minute or two, and had soon caught her up.
"Is there any way that she could have miscalculated? That the babe may not really be early at all, but on time?"
"No" Elizabeth panted as she ran, "No, Anne spends every waking moment looking for signs that she might be with child. As soon as she suspected, she went to the physician and it was confirmed. She cannot be wrong. He is far too early"
"Then there is no…no chance?"
"No. None" Elizabeth spoke so bluntly that George was shocked to hear it; she had always been so expressive and full of emotion, and to hear her speak so coldly about such a matter…quite frankly, it terrified him.
"Elizabeth?"
"Don't" she gasped as they reached the chamber door and she flung her body against it to force it open, "Don't speak of it, else I shall weep – and that won't do any good to anyone"
George closed his eyes briefly to contain his emotion, and allowed Elizabeth to pull him into the room. They had missed it, but only by a few moments, it seemed; Anne lay back on the pillows, white as the sheets that covered her, shining with sweat and panting. Aurora was carefully mopping her brow, her face wet with tears; she met Elizabeth's eyes as they entered, and answered the unspoken question with a shake of her head. Elizabeth gave a choked gasp as her eyes fell on the midwife, who was wrapping the bloody foetus in some sheets, her face inscrutable. George ran to his sister.
"George, oh, my dearest brother" Anne was breathing quickly, panicking, frightened, "It was a boy, it was boy, and I lost him – my little Prince! Henry, he'll – "
"We'll take care of the King" Elizabeth put in quickly, moving swiftly to Anne's side, "I'll call a page to inform him in just a moment. If none of you tell him, then he shan't associate you with this…this tragedy" tears welled up in her eyes, but she knew she had to hide them for the sake of Anne. There was no question of doing anything else.
"This is it" Anne whispered, beginning to sob, "This is it. I have been truly abandoned now, by God and by Mother Nature"
"But not by us" Aurora said firmly, and George put his arms around his sister to ease the pain of her wracking sobs. When his eyes connected with Elizabeth's, she saw the agony there, and moved swiftly to the door to find a page. The door was already partway open, however, and upon opening it she was met with a sight that chilled her to her very core.
"Cromwell! I mean, Master Secretary – what is your business here?" her heart thrummed against her ribs, but she did not dare to show her fright. How could she?
"I am here to see what goes on with the Queen, so that I may inform his Majesty" he looked almost amused when he answered her, and this more than anything sent chills up her spine, "The boy is dead?"
Elizabeth swallowed audibly, "Yes"
"That is all I needed to know. Good evening" he hesitated and turned back, smiling in a way that terrified her more than anything, "Oh, and, Lady Elizabeth?"
"Yes, Master Secretary?"
"You may want to be a little quieter when you are abed. Anyone walking by might suspect that something untoward was going on behind closed doors"
Elizabeth froze for a moment; long enough for him to see the terror in her eyes and the gape of her mouth. When she rushed back through the chamber door and collapsed against it, gasping, George caught sight of her and came straight over.
"What is it? Is it about the babe?"
"No. It's about Cromwell. I was right. He's been spying on Anne – and us. He knows about us"
George's face paled, "No. No. But – why? Why would he need to know?"
"So he can win. You know what this place is like, George – everybody wants to rule the world of the court. And we're the ones who are going to end up losing"
It's my own design
It's my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help me make the most
Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world
They knew, from that day onward, that it was only a matter of time before they lost everything. The whey-faced Seymour girl was moving in on the King, and succeeding; Cromwell was eyeing Elizabeth in a way that made her tremble like a reed in the breeze; and Anne knew that her time was running out.
So did Elizabeth and George.
They met more often, uncaring of the possibility of Phillip or Jane discovering them. They danced together every evening at court, spinning and twirling like they had not care in the world. They devised excuses to increase the frequency of their trips to Hever, spending increasing time hugging their daughters and playing with them. It was their nights together, however, that became the most frequent.
"If we're going to fall and become the laughing stock of the court, I'm going to enjoy the life we have here while I can; and that includes you" George had said firmly, and he fulfilled that oath at every opportunity. One day, he pulled her into a corridor while the court danced, sick of the smug eyes of the Seymours and the salacious glares of Cromwell.
"If Anne gets sent to a convent – which she doubtlessly will – we won't be important anymore, us Boleyns. No-one will care about us. I'll be doing my wife a favour if I get a divorce"
"What are you saying?" Elizabeth gasped as he kissed her neck, grasping at her breasts through the snarled laces of her corset. George slipped his hand up her skirt and Elizabeth cried out as his fingers slipped inside her, caressing her in the way that only he could.
"I'm saying" he murmured, enjoying the way her face glowed with the pleasure he was bringing her, the sound of her small cries as her pleasure built, "That if I divorce my wife, and you let your husband catch us in the act…"
Elizabeth buried her face in his doublet at the moment of her release, crying out his name, and looked up at him with a heaving chest and bright eyes.
"We could get married" she panted, fingers threading through his hair, leaning against him to catch her breath. George tipped her face up to meet his.
"Yes. Exactly"
"You think everything will work out that well for us?"
"Of course it will. By God, Elizabeth, haven't we suffered enough? It's our turn to be happy, is it not?"
"Yes" Elizabeth sighed, leaning against him, "Yes, please God, let it be our time to be happy"
George kissed her forehead and grinned, "Shall we slip away? Jane is with that Frenchman she has a fancy for, and won't be back for some time"
Elizabeth grinned, "Only if you do that to me again"
"Oh, I can do better than that. Come on"
There's a room where the light won't find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do I'll be right behind you
Of course, their optimism was short-lived. The Boleyns were no longer the rulers of the court; instead, their two brightest stars were locked within the Tower walls, lost to all, lost forever. And Elizabeth knew that it was not her happiness that was coming now; it was the end of her world. She would never be happy again, and for a moment she was almost angry with George for making her believe that she would be, however momentary that belief had been.
The night before his execution, Charles smuggled her into George's room. She had had to dress simply, and was therefore not nearly as fine as she would have liked to have been for George's last night on earth, but he did not seem to care. They spoke and made love and wept all through the night, never letting go of one another even for a moment. And with their last screams of release came the light of the sun, the light that signified George's time had finally, finally run out.
And the time for the Seymours to rule the world had begun.
So glad we've almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world