Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, Stargate SG-1, Reign, or anything else I reference.
Chapter Thirty-Two: English Schemes
(London, England)
"How are you doing today, Lady Pierce?" Queen Elizabeth asked as she crossed paths with Lord William's cousin.
Behind her was her oriental handmaiden Pearl and her daughter Anna.
"I am feeling rather well." Katherine said as she smiled at her.
From what she had learned from Margaery she had been traveling to avoid a rather persistent suitor. He had presented himself as a kind man but turned out to be a monster. When she had run home to warn her family to cancel the marriage, he followed her and burned down her family's estate with her parent's inside of it. Nothing could be proven though and so she had fled Bulgaria and tried her best to stay on the move. Recently the lord that had been chasing her had met a rather unpleasant end and so Katherine was staying with Lord William while she prepared to return home and put her family's affairs in order.
"Would you like to come and have tea with us?" Sansa Stark asked.
"I wish that I could, but I have an acquaintance that I have to meet with." Katherine said.
"We would not wish to impose on you." Mya Baratheon said.
"I would not mind doing that another time." Katherine said.
"We shall have to schedule some time together." Queen Elizabeth said.
"I can't believe how brave she is." Sansa said. "She lost her family at such a young age. I could not imagine what it would be like to be on her own running from an obsessive suitor."
"She has been through much." Queen Elizabeth said.
Everyone was trying to force her into a marriage but from what she has seen when the nobility got married it ended in infidelity, violence, and or murder.
Was it such a wonder that she wanted to put it off for as long as she could?
"So, what are the latest rumors going around court?" Mya asked Margaery as they sat at their table in the garden.
"I heard that Lancel Lannister is going to be marrying Amerei Frey." Margaery said.
"Really?" Sansa asked shocked.
"The Freys have been under-lords to your mother's family for generations, correct?" Margaery said.
"That is correct." Sansa said.
"Well seems that time has not managed to squash Lord Frey's ambition." Queen Elizabeth said.
The current lord of the family Walder Frey was an old man that had been around since Queen Elizabeth's grandfather had been king.
"That girl is going to eat him alive." Mya said. "Amerei Frey is a girl that enjoyed everything that life had to offer and had such a lust for it that she doubted Lancel could keep satisfied."
"You are being cruel." Queen Elizabeth said with a smile.
"She is like a female version of my father." Mya said.
"I am surprised that Lord Tywin let that happen." Queen Elizabeth said.
It was no secret that Tywin Lannister had disliked the Freys since his sister's marriage to Emmon Frey.
"There is something else." Margaery said.
"What is it?" Queen Elizabeth asked.
"You are not going to like it." Margaery said.
"What is it?" Queen Elizabeth asked wondering why Margaery was acting so reluctant to tell her.
"There is talk of a curse." Margaery said.
"A curse?" Sansa asked.
"It is a curse that was placed on the royal family after King Henry had those villagers hanged during the Northern Catholic Rebellion." Margaery said.
The peasant had risen up because they had feared the men King Henry was surrounding himself with. They had underestimated his wrath and the lengths he would go to crush them.
Thousands had died to the king's order.
"What is this curse?" Queen Elizabeth asked.
"The curse was that his children would produce no sons and it would end with a daughter." Margaery said.
"That is nonsense." Queen Elizabeth said thinking of her brothers Henry Fitzroy and King Edward.
"Both of your siblings died without children, and all know of your reluctance to marry. It worries them." Margaery said.
"How has this nonsense even started?" Queen Elizabeth asked.
This "curse" was not something that she needed spreading around her kingdom. It would make her life even harder. Superstitious peasants might even join Mary or Rome if they feared that she was going to fall and end the Tudor line.
"We need to find out who is starting these rumors." Queen Elizabeth said.
Rumors and lies had brought down her mother and she refused to let it happen to her.
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"How is your mission going?" Fared asked.
"Good." Katherine replied as she looked at her overseer.
Her duty was to oversee the English court and make sure that nothing happened outside of King Daniel's plans. For some reason he wanted the Queen of England alive even though he was allied with the royal family of the kingdom that she was invading. It would be so easy for them to kill her.
"Have you seen the weapons that Rome has sent?" Fared asked.
"They have arrived, and Prince Louis is showing them off in front of the men in the castle." Katherine replied.
"How many do you think that they are going to be moving?" Fared asked.
"They were planning to attack in the summer with three thousand men but that has changed." Katherine said.
The attack in Gresit had angered Rome and they wanted to respond to King Daniel's actions. Four priests had been killed in the attack; a reverend had been maimed, and ten sisters had been traumatized at the destruction. They did not want a repeat of such an action in Rome. It was said that whenever King Daniel's name was mentioned it caused the Pope to shudder in fright.
"Anything else?" Fared asked.
"There is talk of heading to the Orient and hiring assassins to kill King Henry." Katherine said.
"Do you have any idea who they are thinking of approaching?" Fared asked.
"They are thinking of approaching the Wu Clan." Katherine said.
"What do you know of the Wu Clan?" Fared asked.
"They are a tribe of humans that for hundreds of years have been breeding and training to bring their skills to the peak of human potential." Katherine said.
She had gotten the information about the Kure clan from Pearl. Stories of the Kure Clan were told to children to scare them to behave.
"I will inform the king of this information." Fared said.
"Is there anything else that you require of us?" Katherine asked.
"King Daniel wants one of you to compel Robert Dudley to convince Queen Elizabeth to have a picnic outside of the castle." Fared said.
"Why?" Anna asked.
"He has his reasons and that is all you need to know." Fared said.
"If he needs our help, shouldn't we know what he is thinking.?" Pearl asked.
"He is our king. You do not need to understand his reasoning just follow his will. He is the man chosen by the goddess Nirrtti." Fared said as his eyes took on a hard look.
"We understand." Katherine said wishing to move on.
Fared had a distrust of vampires and thought they were no better than savages. The only reason he accepted this position was because he was ordered to.
"Contact me again at the regular time." Fared said before his image vanished.
"Well, that went well." Anna said in annoyed tone.
"Why did you do that?" Katherine asked as looked at the youngest vampire in the room.
"I just want to know why we are doing all of this." Anna said.
They were each tasked with different missions. Katherine was to become close with Queen Elizabeth and her ladies in waiting, her mother was to become the target of Henry Stuart (Lord Darnley) affection, and she was tasked with compelling people in taverns and bars to spread the story of a curse on King Henry's line. If he was trying to have Elizabeth's countrymen rise up against her it would be one thing but instead, he wanted them to protect her and make sure no harm came to her. If it did, they were to heal her and then compel her to forget what had happened.
"He wants something from her but doesn't trust us enough to get it." Katherine said.
"I just hope that this does not end badly for us." Anna said "
"Why don't you find something nice guard to eat. It will calm you down." Pearl said to her daughter.
"Very well." Anna said as she left the room.
"Your daughter sure is energetic." Katherine said.
"When are you going to talk to your daughter?" Pearl asked.
That topic was something that Katherine wanted to avoid at all costs. King Daniel had revealed to her in their second meeting that her daughter Nadia had become a vampire and had been searching the world for her while she was on the run from Klaus.
"I have no idea what to say." Katherine said.
She had survived this long by being clever and running really fast. Nadia would want her to be honest and emotionally available. She had not been either of those in a very long time and she was not ready to begin to try.
"Start with a simple hello." Pearl said. "You both have eternity to get to know each other."