Chapter 6:

Mary Boleyn has always led an eventful life, when she was young, Mary had always been praised for her beauty. Her fair skin and soft blonde hair had always made her the more noticeable of the Boleyn girls. Everyone knew that compared to Anne, Mary would be the one to marry well. From the moment she could walk, she had received many offers for her betrothal.

That all changed when she and Anne began taking their lessons. Of course, Mary had been expected to learn french, latin and as well as needlework and basic etiquette lessons. Mary was fairly proficient in Needlework and french however it took her longer to grasp latin. When it came for her to join George in more academic lessons, their tutor deemed her to be better off honing her crafts in the more womanly duties and that she was lucky that she was a beautiful girl who would surely have many prospects clamoring for her hand in marriage.

Her parents didn't mind, her lack of understanding of the more academic lessons they were being taught, she was but a girl after all. She didn't have any use for mathematics and history. After all, when she grew up and married, all she would need to do is to bear her husband children and take care of them.

But when Anne had begun her schooling, people soon learned that while Mary was the beauty of the Boleyn girls, Anne was the brain, she learned to speak french before she even entered formal schooling, having snuck into Mary's french lessons to listen into Mary's lessons with her tutor whenever she could, Anne had also taken to speaking latin like it was her first language, within less than a year of her learning the language, she was already able to converse, read and write in it. Anne had even excelled in their academic lessons, she had skipped ahead and joined her brother and Mary in their lessons, even though they were supposed to be too advanced for her, she was able to gain higher marks than even George himself!

Throughout their childhood, their parents had been incredibly proud of all three of them, George with his athleticism and quick mind, Mary for her beauty and grace- qualities that were sought after for a bride to be, but it was Anne whom their parents had high hopes for; She was clever and and sharp, she could understand people and read them well thus, Anne had grown to be incredibly charming and while she had excelled in her studies, she was also proficient in her womanly activities, her needlework was perfect and her dancing, singing and her paintings were flawless. Anne was not considered as beautiful as Mary because she had dark hair and her skin was not as fair as Mary's but her eyes and her smile were always what drew people into her; as they grew into adulthood in Netherlands and in France, Anne's eyes became known as hooks for the soul and lips that were as gifted as an angel, for everything that comes out of her mouth were words of perfection, she always knew what to say and she could capture people's attention with just her laugh.

Mary had no cause to be envious of her younger sister because she had always known that Anne was destined for greatness although she couldn't deny that she was quite glad that when time came for them to be educated abroad, their parents decided to send them to separate countries, even for just a while. In France Mary had found herself, she was happy and confident, she was considered as one of the most beautiful ladies of the Queen and as such, she had captured the King's attention.

It was the first time she had been noticed by a man as powerful as a King, at first her father was wary as he did not want to ruin Mary's prospects. Mary had many prospects from high noble families and he knew that between his two daughters it was Mary who he would be able to marry off well. Anne was clever and quite advanced for their time for a woman and he knew that many men would be intimidated by his youngest child so when her father found out that she had given her maidenhead to the King of France, he was furious!

She supposed that was why her father had immediately sent for Anne to live in France with her, he knew that if Anne was with her she would not be able to make such reckless decisions.

Sending Anne to her aid had been too late though was when Anne had arrived, she was already known to be one of the King's mistress. When Anne arrived, she had taken every measures to control the damage she had done with their family name by ensuring that people would not look down at her for being the King's english mistress. Anne had ensured that the courtiers of the french court would not think of her so low by becoming the Queen's most favoured lady. Everyone knew that the younger Boleyn sister was incredibly clever and soon she had become quite well respected in court, most even say that she is the embodiment of a renaissance woman.

When Mary had become the King of England's mistress, she knew something in her father had changed. She had expected him to be furious with her for becoming another man's mistress and further ruining her prospects but instead, he had encouraged her to keep the King in her bed. She didn't mind though, the English King was incredibly handsome and skilled in bed. Despite her becoming known as the French King's 'English Mare' and 'The Great Prostitute', personally Mary had been proud to have been a mistress of not just one but two kings. This was one thing Anne had not been able to do: capture the attention of two Kings.

Mary was hurt when the King of England had tired of her but she was even more hurt when he had begun to pursue Anne. She knew her father had planned to place Anne in the King's sight. He knew Anne was not what the King had usually preferred for a mistress, but Anne was smart, she was not a standard beauty but she is beautiful still. She knew that Anne would be able to capture the King's attention and keep him longer than she had, even without laying with him. She knew that Anne had worked hard to keep their family name from being disgraced when she had become a mistress, she knew Anne vowed to only give away her maidenhead to her husband once they were married.

What she and the rest of her family didn't realize was how much Anne had enthralled the King. Not only were they being given lands and titles and Mary was married off to a wealthy nobleman named William Carey but to their shock, the King had finally gotten the courage to divorce his wife and when that failed, he had torn England away from the Catholic Church all so that he could marry his sister, Anne.

She had always known that Anne was destined for greatness and so she was not at all surprised when the King had proclaimed her Queen of England when they had finally gotten married.

Her life took a turn when her husband passed away and her two children were taken from her by her husband's relatives to be raised as proper Carey children in the country while she stayed in court. Anne had given birth to a girl and, while she was a beautiful and healthy child, the King was disappointed at her gender.

It was then she had noticed the worry and fear in her sister's eyes begin to form, she had known the stress that her family and the King had put in her shoulders and she had done her best to comfort her whenever she could. That was how she met William Stafford.

He was a mere knight she had met at one of the parties at court, they mingled and laughed and had a wonderful time dancing. It turns out, he had not known who she was and all the time they were together that night, he never treated her with disrespect due to her past. She had found it quite refreshing to be with someone who didn't care of her past and of who her family was and so after their first meeting, they continued to see one another.

He knew Mary was no virgin as Mary had told him of her past and her marriage but he didn't care, he still treated her as if she were one and respected her still. That was how Mary realized what Anne meant when she said that she did not want to share the King: She had fallen deeply in love with William Stafford.

When Mary realized this, she was terrified. NEver in her life had she felt this way about anyone before and for her to feel it for someone who was so far below her station, it would mean that her family will disown her! She would shame her sister and the King! They would both be banished from court!

So one day, Mary had met up with William on their usual spot, at the end of the garden maze, behind the tall oak tree and decided to end it with him. Mary knew that William's father had worked hard to get William the spot he had in court and she knew that if they continued their relationship, he could lose everything. But when she arrived at their spot, she found William sitting at the foot of the tree, practicing how to kneel while practicing his speech.

"Mary, I know I am not worthy of you, but I love you with all my heart. Would you do me the pleasure and grant me the honor of becoming your husband?" he said, not realizing Mary was watching him from behind.

As he stood up and shook his head, "No, no that's not it." he kept muttering to himself.

All this time, Mary stood frozen. Her William was going to propose to her. Never had she heard such perfect and sincere words come out of anyone's mouth and she knew that she wanted more than anything in the world was to be his wife. She didn't care that her family would be angry with her, she didn't care that they could be tried for treason and that William could lose everything.

Suddenly all that mattered was that he loved her and she loved him.

And so, before she knew what was happening, she heard herself say "Yes."

It had been years since she had last heard from Anne. Years since she had heard from any of her relatives. She had alway wondered what she would do if she had ever heard from them again. Mary had missed her family dearly. It had been four years since she was disowned and while William had been able to provide of her all that she could ever want and need and giving her two lovely children, she had desired to be reunited with her family once more.

Now that she had a letter from one of them, from her dearest sister, Anne, she had no clue what to do. Mary had known about the King's decision to divorce Anne of how he had exiled her to Pembroke along with their daughter who, for some glorious reason, was not bastardized like her elder sister, Mary. She supposed it was because Anne had negotiated with the King for a peaceful divorce if Elizabeth were to be kept in the line of succession.

As Mary opened read Anne's letter, she could not help the tears that fell from her eyes. Anne had wanted to reconnect with her and had asked for her to move in with her in Pembroke as she was now Duchess of Pembroke and lived in a rather large castle.

Mary looked around her. Her home was cozy and her children had just been put down for their nap. She had received Anne's letter today of all days. Her husband was officially thirty days dead. When Mary had married William and when she was banished from court, they had both decided to settle in his home in the countryside of Essex. The house was not as large as she was used to but it was comfortable and Mary made it her own.

She found out that William had a talent for numbers- while his family hadn't been extremely wealthy, they were fairly well off to provide their children with proper tutors growing up- and had thus began to work as an accountant and a merchant, selling several goods and managing many of the financial accounts of the merchants in the town. Soon William established his own company and had begun to earn money for them to be able to live comfortably.

As their family grew, William had decided it was time to gain more clients and so had begun working later nights and often staying late in the office he had set in the town square so that his clients could have easier access to him. One night as he was on his way home, he had chanced upon two brawling men in an alley and had tried to stop them when he noticed that a child had been sprawled just near where the two men were. Fearing for the child's safety, he had tried to stop the two men only to realize that one of the men had a knife with him and had been aimed to strike the knife toward the other man only it had hit her husband instead, killing him instantly.

Mary tried to shake away the memory of that night. She had been woken in the middle of the night by her sister in law and her husband who worked with William to inform her of what had happened. She had been devastated and had been shocked. The next thing she knew, she was in bed surrounded by William's family.

It was then that she remembered what happened.

Her William is gone.

She was alone once more.

When Mary and her children finally arrived in Pembroke, after she had settled all their estates and properties in Essex (she had wanted to ensure that her children with William, Edward and Anne had something of their father when they are older), she had informed her husband's family that she would be staying with her sister for a while, thankfully they had understood her need to get away from her home in Essex as it reminded her too much of her life with William.

What Mary had not expected though, was to be ushered into her sister's bed chamber and to find Anne lying on her bed, obviously pregnant and about to give birth any day now.

"Anne?" Mary said, forgetting all formalities that were supposed to be given in her sister's standing.

"Mary, you're finally here!" Anne said, even though she could not get out of bed, her enthusiasm was enough for Mary to approach her and give her a hug. Immediately, Mary's eyes filled with unshed tears as she looked at her sister.

'You're with child." Mary said as she felt her sister's swollen belly in their hug.

Laughing and letting go of her sister, "Indeed I am sister." Anne said as the two sisters greeted each other and tried to catch up with everything that had happened since they last saw each other.

When Mary inquired about her obvious pregnancy, Anne sighed and spoke, "Of course it is the King's child. I have only ever been with him." Mary knew her sister had always been faithful, while she was cunning and manipulative, she had always ever been faithful.

"I think it happened on the last time we were together. I had just returned to my room as my ladies and I had just finished packing Elizabeth's things as she was to return to Hatfield when he entered my chambers and told everyone to get out, he informed me of his desire for a divorce, we argued so much.. The next thing I knew were were both naked and in bed." Anne said as she caressed her womb, "He left immediately after, and then three days later I realized he would have gotten rid of me no matter what and I needed to do all I could for Elizabeth and so I agreed to his divorce and left."

All the while, Mary listened to Anne's story of how she left court immediately after agreeing to the divorce and how she decided to just settle her life here and of her desire to contact her.

"I missed you so much, Mary." Anne said as she held on tightly to her sister's hand, "I am truly sorry for all the wrongs I have done you. Please forgive me sister." Anne said as she looked into her sister's light blue eyes, a stark contrast to her dark blue ones.

"There is nothing to forgive my dear baby sister." Mary said, and it was true. She never held any grudge toward her siblings, she loved them equally and knew that it was her father who had done this to them.

"I want you to meet my children." Mary said as she spoke of Edward and Anne-named after her sister- and soon ushered them into her room to finally meet their aunt, the former Queen of England and the Duchess of Pembroke.

For the first month that Mary had lived with her sister, many things had occurred, for instance during the first week she and her children arrived, Anne and Mary had introduced Elizabeth to her cousins Edward and Anne, thankfully the children had gotten along extremely well and had been together ever since but the biggest surprise that week was when her brother George had shown up at the doorstep of Pembroke Castle asking to see Anne and beg for her forgiveness and reconcile with her in person.

Anne had told Mary that she and their brother, George, had been writing to one another and had expressed his regret at not being there for both of them. She had missed George very much and when he talked to her asking for her forgiveness, she had immediately hugged him and that there was nothing to forgive.

George, she noted had been quite shocked to see that Anne was with child. At first mary was nervous as the last time she saw George, he was growing to become as ambitious as their father and she had feared that he might once again use Anne and her children to his and their father's advantage, luckily, it seemed George was simply just glad that Anne had settled well into her life in the country and had willingly vowed to keep her secret until Anne herself was ready to tell the world.

And just like it were when they were children, it was the three of them against the world once more.

AN: Well here is Mary Boleyn's point of view chapter! I had wanted to write a story for Mary because it seemed unfair that I wrote about George and Anne and had not yet written one for her. As you can probably note, Mary's chapter was focused on what happened in her life and her reconciliation with her siblings.

I know people are anxious to see where this story is heading and how Anne and the King will meet but, with me writing these chapters this way it is, it gets hard to see how I will connect the events! I might try to change my writing style to speed things up but I feel like doing so would just ruin the feel of the story. :)

Apologies for the delay in posting this chapter! I just got out of the hospital as I got sick with Dengue. :( Not sure if anyone knows what Dengue is but its a sickness you get from mosquito bites. :)

I am so annoyed, I just finished writing the second half of Chapter 7 and the first paragraph of Chapter 8 and when I logged back into my google doc, the changes were gone! It might take me a while to update this as I have lost the will to re-write about 4K plus words... :(

Sorry but, I'm going to focus a bit on my other Harry Potter Fanfictions while I get over the loss of my edits. :( Hopefully I get over it quickly so I can re-write the whole thing... Again! :(