Jane arrives soon after the New Year, and everyone else in the group happily welcomes her. When she appears, I ensure I am scarce and find myself in the gardens. The flowers aren't in bloom, and the freezing air cuts into me. To keep warm, I walk around the gardens and swing my arms as I do. I warm up a little, but it does not help much. Should I have sent for Jane? Was that the right option? I guess I will find out now.

I do not return to Anne's rooms until the evening, and Jane is working on some embroidery. I look away and sit with my parents. "This isn't going to be easy," Mummy says as she reads her book. "We must remain aware."
"What about Laura? Has anyone seen her yet?"
"With everything going on, I almost forgot about her," Mum says. "But no, I have not seen her. Are you sure you're right?"
I nod. Laura will do anything to cause trouble. "She will try and kill me in 1537 while I'm in the Tower. That could be the best time to try and catch her. However, we cannot kill her. She will appear again in 2007."
"1537 and 2007 is a long time. Are you sure she won't come after you again during that time?"
"No. How can I be? History makes no mention of Laura."

When Anne calls us all into a meeting the following day, she has a basket of apples beside her. She's eating one of them. "I'm craving apples," she says. "I don't know why because I usually hate them."
"I know what this is," Mummy says. "You're pregnant."
"Who's the child?"
"Princess Elizabeth," I say. "She'll be born on the 7th of September."
"Then we must act fast."

We must start our plan at some point after Elizabeth's birth. There is no way we can do anything before. "I must start forming my household," Anne says, distracting me from my thoughts. "We must start with those who are in on the secret. Is Maria still with Catalina?"
"I don't think so," Mummy says. "King Henry ordered her to leave Catalina's service last year."
"Could I employ her?"
Mummy shakes her head. "History says she never returns to Court. We must keep that up until at least 1544."

Few others know about our secret, and they are in King Henry's household. Anne cannot employ them. We start debating who we should inform and keep close to us and who we can't. It's difficult since we only have historical documents to go on for some of them. We also cannot guarantee how they will react when we tell them the secret.

"I think we should tell Thomas Cranmer," Anne says. "He'll become the Archbishop of Canterbury by the end of the month."
"Do you trust him?" I ask. "We already have More and Cromwell on our side. Would having an Archbishop help?"
"The Archbishop of Canterbury is the most important man in England after the royal family!" Anne throws her hands up. "We must have him on our side!"
"All right, but you will be the one to tell him."
"Are you sure?"
"You're the one that wants to tell him, and I am giving you full permission to do so."
"I will inform More and Cromwell about it so they know they can approach him with the plot." Anne stands up, walks over to her table, and gets a piece of parchment out.
"Should we write a letter to them?" Jane asks. "What if someone outside our group finds it?" I see her hazel eyes twinkling, and her mouth is set into a frown. I look away.
"That's a good point." Anne puts it away again. "We will rely on word of mouth."

Jane offers to tell him. As she speaks, I feel my stomach begins tightening. I close my eyes and try to block out the pain. "Emma?" Mum asks. "Are you all right?"
"My stomach hurts, but it will be gone soon."
"Have you ever had stomach cramps before?"
I shake my head. I don't remember ever having them before. I think I would remember them if I had. Mum sighs. "Maybe you're getting one of your pangs of hunger."
"I can already steal souls, so that cannot be the problem."
Mum shakes her head. "I know very little about how human-Qetesh hybrids develop. I will reach out to the hybrids I know and ask what it means." Mum leaves the room, and I wrap my arms around myself. The main thing I know about Qetesh is that they steal souls. I haven't killed anyone in decades! Why am I getting stomach cramps if it's not related to that?

Mum leaves that afternoon, and no one hears from her for some time. Wherever she is, I hope she is safe. While she is gone, Mummy looks after me as best as she can. She heats up a lot of water so I can have a warm bath, and that helps a little. She lets me sleep in her bed so she can comfort me if things get too bad. "Are you all right?" Mummy asks as she massages my stomach.
"I just want answers," I whisper through my tears.
"So do I."

It is several days before Mum returns to Court with her findings. During that time, I find I grow closer to Jane Seymour. She is beautiful and whenever she laughs, I find all I want to do is hug her and never let her go. I know my feelings towards Jane are changing, but how can I approach her?

Mum takes Mummy and me into our room to tell us what she found in private. "I talked to many female human-Qetesh hybrids," she says. "They all told me the same thing. You're getting your sexual hunger."
"What?" My voice has lost all its volume.
"When someone loves someone else—"
"I already had the sex talk, thank you!" I stick my hands over my ears.
"This is different." Mum removes my hands from my ears. "When you get your sexual hunger, you will feel desire for people. You will only need to do it once; then you'll be fine for four hundred years."
"But Jane thinks I don't love her, and now I must admit I do? What am I going to do?"

Mum sighs. "I guess this is going to be harder than I first thought." She looks back at Mummy and me. "Be glad you're not a full Qetesh, or you'll need to have sex far more often than every four hundred years."
I guess that is one way to look at it. "When would I need to do it?"
"The good news is not yet. Your hunger is only developing, so it is nothing to worry about yet. However, you will need to sort it within the next couple of decades, so that will take us to 1553."
"I will make sure to do it before then. If I do it in 1540 or 1541, that will take me to either 1940 or 1941. That gives me plenty of time."

Mum smiles. "All right, but make sure it's by 1553. We don't want anyone getting hurt."