Chapter 1: Rising of a Mistress

Years ago…

"The king has desired to reconcile with King Frantois XII to honour his father's relationship with the late King of Franton by marrying off Princess Georgiana to him," Jane heard the voice of her uncle whilst ascending the stairs of Longbourn Castle – their ancestral home.

"Yes," said her father and went on, with an amused voice, "and I believe it has more to do with having the ear of King of Franton as His Majesty requested my presence in Franton too."

Both men laughed at it.

A hitch came to her steps and Jane clutched the letter tightly to her chest. Poor Princess, she thought. She knew the sweet Princess as she had been her lady in waiting for two years. Princess Georgiana trusted her brother, the king, to always have in mind her interest, alas, Georgiana was as much the decider of her life as Jane.

She could not be sure if her father would be pleased with the news she would deliver to him or not. She was happy she could see her dear sister, Elizabeth, but her father had not been so inclined to send her away. He said, on various occasions, "you are needed to be here with your mother." and always would say as an afterthought, "and near to the court."

Her wandering mind was pulled back into the present by the rising voice of her uncle, "I can not agree with you more."

Her walking came to a halt when she noticed she was before the study of her father. She hesitated for one, two, three seconds, composing herself and knocked on the door.

"Enter."

She walked into the room and curtsied before her father and uncle.

"Papa, Uncle." Then she directed her next sentence to her father. "I have an important matter, a letter that needs your attention."

"What is it?" asked Lord Bennet, a frown between his eyebrows, his eyes flickered to the letter in Jane's hands and focused back on her eyes; not used to Jane's visit to his study room.

"Princess Georgiana has requested me, as her lady in waiting, accompany her to Franton."

Lord Gardiner questioned her father if he knew as such.

Her father with a surprised look answered, "I had not been apprised of it."

His brother in law said furiously, "As ambassador of the realm, you have to be the first to know, let us not to mention you are her father."

Jane, for calming both men, said, "the princess requested a couple of days ago and as a royal's order, it has arrived just a moment ago."

Lord Bennet was barely keeping his smiling countenance, said, "and you forgot to mention to the princess that you need to be near your family.'' It was said in such a humorous manner that a young innocent girl such as Jane Bennet could not understand that it was dripping with sarcasm rather than the gentleness that she believed her father had possessed.

"I said, papa, but the poor princess was so distressed, so frightful that I could not say no to her. She shall be sent to another country without any familiar face. The least could I do for her is –"

"And what? What about the king? Should you not help him to feel less the distance between him and his sister."

Jane looked with confusion at her uncle. "I do not understand, uncle –"

"Ah! If Elizabeth were here, she would," her papa murmured under his breath.

Not thinking bad of anyone Jane could not take Lord Bennet's words as a slight to her, therefore she silently agreed with him, as in her opinion, Lizzy was smarter than her and continued her talking, "it is the duty of Queen Consort Anne and I am sure she shall make the King feel better, but it is my duty as a friend to help the princess, in addition, the King has approved of it."

Her uncle approached her and gripped her face, said forcefully, "there is no such a thing as friend. There are three people; family, allies and enemies and nobody is your duty except your family, Jane, others are tools, remember that."

"Of course, sir," she agreed, for she knew if she did not the conversation would be dragged on and on and her father and uncle would be angry and disappointed in her as her view on this matter was very different from theirs, in particular her uncle's.

He let go of her and spun around. "What is your decision, Bennet?"

He sighed deeply. "If the King has approved then we could not do anything except following the king's order."

Jane smiled and anticipated seeing her dear sister.

TBC…

Inspiration books & movies:

"The Other Boleyn girl" by Philippa Gregory

Film by the same name

"Henry VIII and His Court" by By Luise Mühlbach

And "Henry VIII" by A. F. Pollard

"The Tudors" series

The front cover of this book – I made it :) – can be seen on my Tumblr page: le-lys or search for the same title of this story on AO3 and you can find it there ;)

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