Greenwich Palace (August 1529)
The Legatine court in England did not need to readjourn, for the verdict from Rome, and the Pope himself, had finally arrived: the marriage of King Henry and Queen Katherine was valid, and Henry was to put aside Anne at once.
The King was furious; he was certain that Rome was going to declare in his favour. The King's wrath fell almost entirely upon Cardinal Wolsey, who in the eyes of the King had explicitly failed to obtain the annulment he promised his sovereign.
The verdict, however, did not stop Henry from reaffirming his personal views on his marriage. He refused to give up Anne. In fact, he only lavished more gifts upon her and flaunted her more frequently at his side at court events, whilst the Queen was often excluded.
To distract him from his marriage woes, and to make the most of a beautiful August day, the King had arranged a hunting parting with his closest friends and advisors at Greenwich Palace's vast grounds. The group included only those in the King's highest favour, such as Anne, Bessie, Charles Brandon, George Boleyn and Edward Seymour. The Queen was to be left at the palace with only a select few ladies to attend her.
Bessie was making the final touches to her riding attire in her chambers. She was wearing a navy riding gown, with a simple navy headpiece to match. She had plaited her long curly blonde hair to the side, though some unruly curls still escaped the braid. Trying in vain to pin the curls back in her mirror, she huffed and gave up, leaving her chambers to find the rest of the hunting party.
Making her way to the courtyard, she saw Anne standing by her grey mare and in conversation with George. Anne was wearing a beautiful cream gown that was adorned with black embroidery, and a flamboyant headpiece complete with a white feather to decorate her dark hair.
Bessie saw Anne tip her head back and laugh joyfully at something that George muttered to her. To most observers, Anne displayed confidence and positivity despite the Pope's damning verdict. Bessie knew Anne well enough to know that this was only a façade; Anne was brilliant at masking her true feelings. Bessie had spent the past few evenings in Anne's chambers trying to reassure her friend, who was anxious and shaken by the verdict.
Bessie walked over to a groom, who was holding her bay horse Sampson. Sampson had been a gift from Anne, a year into her courtship with the King, and Bessie adored him. He was lean and fast, but always seemed to know when to take it easy.
"Shall I help you to mount, my Lady?" the groom asked her.
Bessie smiled at him. "Please, I would be grateful."
The groom helped her to mount Sampson side saddle. Bessie personally preferred to ride astride, but the men of the court would certainly frown upon her for breaking court custom.
Shifting on Sampson to make herself more comfortable, and patting his glossy coat, she became aware of a rider drawing rein close to her.
She looked to her right and locked eyes with Edward Seymour.
He inclined his head, and did not speak, but what was left unspoken came across clearly in the depth of his grey eyes, a sort of strange tenderness that made her heart skip.
She inclined her head slightly in return. She had still not spoken to him after their last surprising encounter, for they were both busy with their respective court duties, and only crossed paths in the presence of others.
She opened her mouth to begin to speak to him, but she was cut off by the piercing sound of the hunting horn, which signalled the beginning of the hunt. She gave him a bashful smile and nudged Sampson into a trot.
…
The initial excitement of the King at the prospect of pursuing a large stag had slowly fizzled out. Whilst the initial sighting of the stag sent the whole party into a fast pursuit, the group had since lost sighting and had all slowed their horses down to a trot.
The King, on his large black stallion, raised a hand, to which everyone stopped at his command.
"Let us take a break and have some refreshment," he announced loudly and dismounted.
Bessie felt relieved. She was not the greatest fan of hunting innocent animals for sport, but as one of the King's favourite pastimes, and as one of his invitees, she could not decline his invitation.
She made eye contact with Anne, who signalled for her to join her on a nearby blanket being set up under the shade of an oak tree.
A groom moved to help Bessie dismount, but Sampson suddenly started to whiny and stamp.
"Woah! Easy boy!" she said, trying to keep her voice even to control the horse.
For she had quickly seen what lay behind Sampson's discomfort. A small, muddy brown grass snake was slithering around the bay horse's long legs.
"Help her!" Anne cried, gesturing to the groom.
The groom moved to try and reach the reins but was quickly forced to jump back when Sampson suddenly reared up on his hind legs.
Then, Sampson, despite his usual and even temperament, bolted into the forest, leaving Bessie clinging to his back and mane for dear life.
"Sampson, stop!" she cried, but he would not listen to her pleas as he continued to gallop.
She heard multiple male voices shouting behind her and could make out Anne's distant shouts before she quickly went out of earshot.
She tried in vain to rein in Sampson, but she was more concerned with staying seated in the saddle and avoiding the thick branches of the forest trees. She had to duck multiple times to evade their sinister clutches.
After what felt like a lifetime, Sampson finally started to slow his pace, stopping in a small clearing in the forest. For all Bessie's annoyance at the horse, she thought his choice of place to stop was beautiful.
Summer light filtered through a clearing in the trees above, illuminating the moss and grass on the floor in vivid shades of green. Wildflowers in shades of blush pink and baby blue also littered the ground. A small stream trickled through the clearing, its noise being the only thing Bessie could hear aside from the birds and Sampson's deep breaths.
Bessie carefully dismounted and started to pet Sampson with the reins in her hand, in the hopes he had calmed down from being spooked. She led him over to the stream and let him drink for a moment.
She touched her hair and realised her braid had come down during the ordeal, leaving her long mass of curly hair to fall messily down her back. The headpiece was also missing.
Suddenly, the sound of thundering hooves on the hard ground behind her seemingly came from nowhere in the deep forest.
Once again, Sampson's ears pricked, he whinnied, and reared.
"Easy boy, easy," Bessie said soothingly, but it was no use. The rider came up behind her, and Sampson. Not quite recovered from his ordeal with the snake, tore from her grip and bolted away, again.
"God's Bones!" she fumed, ready to give the rider a piece of her mind, as she watched her horse canter out of sight into the forest.
"Of course it's you!" she exclaimed, thoroughly irritated as Edward Seymour came into the light, and pulled rein beside her.
"A fine way to greet your rescuer," he said, a strange mixture of amusement and concern upon his face.
"You just made him bolt again!"
"Why the hell did you dismount?"
"I just needed a moment to collect myself and he wanted a drink!"
She threw her hands in the air in fury and started to stalk away from him.
"You cannot walk all the way back to the palace," Edward pointed out, riding slowly next to her.
His mere presence was greatly infuriating to her, as she continued to stomp away from him. She stopped and looked up at him. He was quite literally on his high horse.
"Watch me," she said, and continued to walk away from him, in what she hoped was the direction that they had come from.
He continued to ride slowly next to her.
"Look, just come up on my horse with me. We will be here for hours."
"We will find the group soon, and I will share Anne's horse with her."
Bessie's skirt got caught in a low bramble beneath her, and she cursed to herself and tried to yank the skirt away.
"Having trouble?" Edward called to her from his horse with a smirk.
She finally succeeded in tugging the skirt away from the vice-like grip of the bramble and gave him a withering look.
"Why don't you just go back to the palace and leave me in peace?" she asked testily.
His face turned to a more serious expression. "What and leave you here to wander the forest alone? What kind of gentleman would I be?"
"Gentleman?" Bessie scoffed and picked up her pace.
He kicked his horse on a bit faster, and he was right by her side.
"Am I not?" he asked.
"No."
"And why is that? Why do you have such a low opinion of me?"
Bessie did not reply as she moved a large leafy branch away from her face. She heard his horse stop suddenly and heard him dismount.
She picked up the pace.
"Bessie, get on the horse. Now."
"Excuse me?" she said, turning to face him.
"You heard me."
"You have no right to order me around."
His face still held that serious expression, and he was not teasing her anymore. "Now. Or I'll put you on the horse myself."
"You would not dare."
"Oh, I would."
Something in his tone and facial expression made Bessie swallow back her retort. They assessed each other for a moment before Bessie realised she had few other options, unless Sampson made a miraculous reappearance.
She sighed. "Very well."
She tried to ignore his slight smirk at his victory, as he moved to help her mount the horse astride, which proved difficult in her skirts.
As she waited for him to prepare to mount behind her, a smile crossed her face at the thought of taking his horse and leaving him in the forest.
He glanced up at her face and saw her amused expression.
"Were you thinking of riding away without me then?"
"Yes," she replied. "It was a wonderful image."
She felt his bulk settle behind her. She was highly aware of how close their bodies were; her back and bottom were almost flush against his torso and thighs.
Suddenly, she felt one of his hands pull her closer towards him by placing it on her stomach.
She drew in a breath, and once again cursed herself for how her body reacted to the touch of Edward Seymour.
"Sorry, you have to sit closer so I can hold the reins properly," he said behind her, almost in her ear.
"Of course," she said, in a slightly squeaky voice. She could almost feel him smirking behind her.
"I'll try not to go too fast, just hold on to the saddle or the mane."
He kicked the horse into a steady trot, which proved highly uncomfortable on the saddle together.
"Are you alright?" he asked in her ear.
"Yes, just jolting around a bit," she replied.
He did not reply for a moment as she continued bumping around on the saddle.
She heard and felt him take a deep breath, and he transferred the reins into one hand, reaching around her to hold her close to his body so she would not move as much.
"Better?"
"Yes." She paused for a moment. "Thank you," she added.
Her cheeks were so hot from blushing that she was glad he could not properly see her face. Her bottom was closely touching his crouch, and she was well aware of what she could feel.
….
After crossing the meadow, the palace finally came into view. The sun was slowly beginning to set in the distance, lighting up the sky in shades of glorious orange and red.
Riding into the courtyard, Edward released Bessie slightly from his grip, and she tried to shuffle away from him. She prayed that no one would see them enter the courtyard like lovers who had just completed a secret tryst. She knew her father's spies were everywhere.
Edward dismounted and reached to help her dismount too. His hands felt warm on her waist as he lowered her to the ground. He kept his hands there for an extra few seconds, as the pair made eye contact for the first time in a while. They had spoken little during the journey back, but the tension between them was high.
They jolted apart from each other, however, when they heard the King call out to them from the entrance to the palace, with Anne hot on his heels.
"Sir Edward! Bess!"
Edward moved to speak to the King, and she heard him talking about her rescue.
Anne engulfed Bessie in a tight embrace.
"God Bess, I was so worried. We found your horse wandering in the meadow, and we looked everywhere for you," she rambled.
Anne glanced at Edward, who was still in conversation with the King.
"What happened between you both?" she asked, with an eyebrow raised, "When Sampson bolted, he tore straight after you," she added in a lower tone.
"Nothing," Bessie replied, her cheeks blushing again, "He looked after me and rode back with me on his horse."
Anne did not seem convinced, but walked over to the King, and held his arm. "Thank you, Sir Edward, for returning my dear friend safely," she said, in a polite, but still clipped, tone.
"You are most welcome, Mistress Anne."
Bessie walked over to join the trio.
The King looked surveyed Bessie's appearance, "You have been through an ordeal, Bess, I am glad you are well."
She smiled at the King, and sucking up her pride and embarrassment, she confidently met Edward's gaze.
"Thank you for helping me back to the palace, Sir Edward."
A small smile graced his face, but again, much was left unsaid in the grey depth of his eyes. "It was my pleasure, my lady."
A/N- Hello lovely readers! A massive chapter here. What do you all think about Bessie and Edward's relationship so far?
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