July 17, 1536
Queen's Chambers, Greenwich Palace, England
Queen Anne Tudor nee Boleyn POV
I look at my children, even my stepchild and I feed my babies one by one, from Elizabeth to Rosamund. As I look at Rosa, I fear for her as she looks like the weaker and sicklier daughter, and even if she never gets ill, what if someone poisons her to look like she is ill, they won't know unless they brag, or it is traceable.
But if it is something that cannot be traceable, we will not know. My throat starts to close up and I panic.
"Stepmother? Anne?" Queen Mary, the Queen of Poland asks as she came to visit.
"Mary, I worry for Rosa. I can't handle losing any of you." I tell Mary.
"Sweet Anne, we will protect her." two voices say from behind me, one being Henry's, the other, the soothing Catalina of Aragon, who I still see as Queen Catherine.
"Catherine, Henry, I just worry as she is a sickly babe, and they might use that!" I tell them.
I hold Rosie and cannot help but cry as I know there are some who still want me dead and thus, my children dead.
One of my ladies-in-waiting comes to help me as we are friends and I care not for her skin color as I have childhood friends that are from Spain, and we care not that we were born of different races we only care about each other's happiness and each other's family as we knew our families might not accept our friendship, but they did, and I am grateful for that.
Rosetta and Blaise are my good friends and now we can add Maria to our group as she has just arrived, but she has picked my side.
I want them at my side when I am anxious and whenever someone tries to give me food or drink. They have someone test it before I eat or even take a sip of wine.
I know I might not survive assassinations always, but the children will. Maria, Blaise, and Rosetta are to take them to their father or any safe place if Henry is compromised.
Elizabeth is a profound chasm of infinite complexity (or at least how she projects herself). She is a difficult person to get to know. She is a psychological trap door. She socializes from behind a double-sided mirror, always scanning, reading you while you can only see your own reflection. She prefers to be the person asking the questions. She removes your skin with her perceptive scalpel and takes inventory of your pulsing viscera. She probes and pushes. She knows the little things that make you tick. Your pressure points. The subtle ways to procure the answer she's seeking. She is keenly aware of power, its flows, and her position within its matrix.
Despite her ability to be generally popular, there's something very lonely about Elizabeth. She has a ruthless view of the world. Eat or be eaten. Every human interaction is a meeting of opposing powerful forces. A clashing of wants and needs where somebody wins, and somebody loses. Her knowledge of other people's internal structures gives them an edge over the competition. She knows how to play people against each other. She is forthcoming and evasive at the same time, depending on what is situationally beneficial. She is blunt, but not tactlessly so. She is intentional about the information she reveals. She's not a liar, she does not espouse falsehoods, but she is masters of opening windows on certain truths while concealing others behind heavy curtains.
Gabriel will be a compassionate and caring person, even as a child with a lot of selflessness and empathy for the lives around him, especially his loved ones. Gabriel will have a keen sense of honor and justice and hate unnecessary violence and killing and find it disgusting. Gabriel will be also an open-minded person and views all people as equal, regardless of whether they're highborn or lowborn. Gabriel's selflessness will be one of his biggest traits and he will often put his own life on the line to save others, especially those he cares about, no matter what. Along with that, Gabriel will be headstrong, fierce, hot-blooded and will never back down from a fight in any way, no matter how threatening it may appear.
Brandon will be sly, cunning and fierce as he will do anything to protect his family. He will be known as the Ice Prince as he is the opposite of his twin. Where Brandon will abhor fighting in any war, he will enjoy it. Where Gabriel will be selfless, Brandon will be selfish. Where Gabriel will be jovial, Edward will be serious. Where Gabriel will have flings, Brandon will only sleep with his wife.
Brandon's anger will be a quiet and deadly one that you never want to see or be at the brunt of. He will pretend to be nice to you, then stab you in the back as you had him.
Cedric will be warm, generous, and very loving. Cedric will be usually happy and upbeat and will like to make others happy, as well. He will tend to gravitate toward people with positive attitudes and the ones who share your inherent enthusiasm. Cedric will have a huge dose of self-confidence. Usually, he craves power and attention. Cedric will love stardom and will want to be in the spotlight or be in a group of adoring fans. He is a natural leader, so people will often look to him for advice and solutions to problems. Cedric will accept all challenges coming to his way to success. Cedric will be very passionate, romantic, and sensual. At the same time, he will be a smart worker, creative and push himself to enjoy all the luxuries in life. He will be chivalrous and even a bit old-fashioned.
Rickard will be a master of discipline. Wringing his hands, the constant reminders, the exacting structure, the ever-increasing goals, the tidal wave of self-criticism that lasts forever. She will be the ultimate perfectionist. Aurora will be so absorbed in her own internal monologue that it becomes impossible to get her to look away from herself. Aurora will often be called a "workaholic."
She will be incredibly pragmatic. He will be a rule follower with a highly developed moral compass. From a young age it will be impressed upon him that his whole sense of worth and meaning be based on his ability to hunker down and force his way to the finish. This turns him into an achievement junkie. Her drive to succeed will be a reflection of her fear of failure. The most stressful time in Aurora's life will be when she is questioning her own authority. When he is in a position of power, he will be most stable. When he's put in a position where he has to cater to someone else's agenda, he will become a little unhinged.
Anne will be oriented around the physical world. She will tend to be grounded and logical. She loves routine and she's committed to her own comfort. She would like to be in control. She will be patient and steady, and her materialism will be an extension of her pursuit of stability.
Once she gets into a groove, it will be difficult for her to get out of it. Object in motion stays in motion. Object at rest stays at rest. Appreciative of beauty. Attuned to physical pleasure. She will like things to be predictable. She will be perfectly happy eating the same meal over and over or wearing the same outfit for a week straight. She would prefer things to be consistent than chaotically good. She would like to discover what she will have the most fun doing, and then do it to the extreme.
Vincent is passionate, independent, and unafraid to blaze his own trail no matter what others think, Vincent makes a statement wherever he goes. He loves debates, isn't afraid of controversy, and won't back down from a debate. He also hates people who aren't genuine and are all about being authentic—even if authentic isn't pretty.
Because of all of these traits, Vince can seem intimidating and somewhat closed off to those who don't know him well. But what people don't realize is that even though Vince may seem brusque, he also is very in tune with his emotions, and sometimes may find himself caught up in his feelings.
This leads to Vincent's central conflict: His feelings are what drives him and strengthens him, but his mutability can scare him and make him feel vulnerable and out of control. Because of this conflict, Vince puts up an outer shell and may seem prickly.
But once people get beyond the shell, they find a loyal, loving person whose passion knows no bounds. Vince dives into all life has to offer with 110% enthusiasm. Vince will be your most loyal friend, most dedicated employee—and your worst enemy, if he wants to be.
Rosamund is a diligent, hard-working, calm person; this tends to go along with her drive to succeed and her innate ability to analyze things with a cool head. She tends to be very good at seeing through any illusions, emotional, political or otherwise, and will get right down to the bottom line quite quickly. She will avoid things such as jealousy, anger, inefficiency and laziness as she finds these things useless towards her goals.
Rosamund is great to have on your side in an argument. She is both patient and can handle pressure well; what others would lose their cool over, Rosa takes with a calm analytical attitude. She can also argue fiercely and with facts that others would find hard to deny. She tends to be right most of the time and will fight fiercely for what she believes to be right. Luckily for her, Rosa is good at protecting herself and tends not to get hurt too much.
This means too that she is quite shy, guarded and reserved, and she doesn't let people get too close until she is sure they can be trusted. This makes her a great advice giver to more emotional people. In group dynamics and decisions, Rosa is great to have around for decisions as her analytical objectivity and focus on facts tends to be useful.
King Henry VIII POV
King's Study
July 31, 1536
I hold Rosamund as I try to help her get better from the cold she seems to have gotten. Suddenly, the heater tastes the milk to see if it's warm enough and as the taste tester as well, since she is a Royal, keels over, mouth frothing from the mouthful that she drank.
"Guards!" I called, suddenly noticing the glaze in Rosa's eyes. "Summon the healer, now!" I tell them.
Dr. Linacre takes his time getting here only to take his sweet time in diagnosing which poison and giving the antidote to Rosamund and she starts squalling like she usually did before this.
Now I know why Anne was so worried.