by Diana Rubino
"Aye, I shall go back. When the King comes back for me."
"But why would the King do such a thing? He has a kingdom to rule. He cannot be taking time off to chase after maidens."
She looked at her youngest sister and regarded the bright blue eyes that shone with starry innocence. She was yet untouched by the driving forces of love, of the tangle of emotions it aroused, including its antithesis, hate. How closely they were related, how they both made a person act in the same way!
"You are right, he has a kingdom to run. But he also has many personal problems. He is trying to divorce the Queen, but the Pope and Catherine's allies are giving him a very difficult time of it. He will come and get me because we share a very special bond. We grew very close since my arrival at court, and he needs me the way I need him. I have no doubt at this moment, he is sulking in his chambers or playing a solitary game of cards with nothing but a pitcher of wine to soothe him."
"Do you love the King, Amethyst?"
"Aye, very much, dear sister. But it is a special love that has only been strengthened by our separation. I miss him now more than ever, but I had to leave in order to give him more time to sort out his problems and contend with his great matter. And when his matter is resolved, he will be back for me, Emerald. I know King Henry, and I have a little piece of his heart right here with me. It will not be long before he comes back to claim it."
"What if he claims it and brings it back to court with him, leaving you here?"
Amethyst laughed, putting her arm around her sister's shoulders. She could feel Emerald shivering under her cloak. "I shall not give it back, for he has a piece of my heart as well, and that he will never give up!" she said as they headed for the winding descent.
Some days later, Amethyst was startled by a commotion in the corridor.
"Amethyst! You were right!" Emerald's voice echoed through the hallways and down the stairs to the great hall where she was breakfasting with Sabine and some guests who'd arrived to share the Christmas festivities. "He's here!"
Emerald burst into the great hall and breathlessly dragged Amethyst out into the courtyard. "Come! Greet him at the gatehouse!" she said, and they broke into a run, Amethyst catching up and leading the way.
"No!" she shouted, halting suddenly.
Emerald nearly knocking her over as she ran into her.
"I mustn't let him think I've been waiting all this while for him! Let me go to my chambers and have a servant bring him to me!"
As anxious as she was to see Henry again and throw her arms around him, to feel his skin against hers and to gaze into those golden eyes, she knew she couldn't behave in that way.
"He's come all this way, he can come another few hundred paces," she declared and, taking her sister by the arm, strode back through the courtyard to her apartments where she chose the most lavish gown from her wardrobe and yanked at her head-dress, replacing it with Henry's favorite ivory combs.
The castle was abuzz with excitement over the royal visit a messenger had come on ahead to announce. Sabine ordered the servants to rustle up a banquet for that evening to rival that of his first stay. The floors were hastily swept and strewn with fresh rushes, linens were washed and the elegant King's bedroom readied for his stay.
Sweeping through the corridor towards the solar where he was resting with his retinue, she was bursting with excitement, hoping she was able to hide it all, just as she had in the very beginning.
He was sitting before the fire, sipping a tankard of ale. A few minstrels were scattered about, his fool was in the corner talking with the grooms, and a light chatter hummed through the air. The room fell into a dead silence as she entered, filling the doorway with her white satin skirts, her long billowing sleeves trimmed in white rabbit fur, gleaming in a milky sea of pearls. The small teardrop pearl he'd given her nestled between her breasts, and he fixed his eyes directly on it.
She could feel her heart thumping with every step she took closer to him.
Finally she stood before him and curtsied deeply. As she rose, he turned to his retinue, and with a wave of his hand, they vanished as if by magic.
"My lord, it is such a pleasure to welcome you back to Warwick Castle."
She wanted so badly to hurl herself into his arms, to tumble with him to the floor, to drink him in, to make up for all these wasted months of yearning. But she stood rigidly waiting for him to speak.
"Why did you leave so abruptly, Amethyst?" His tone was flat, devoid of all emotion.
"I got terribly frustrated and tired of waiting. This divorce was taking forever, and I thought my leaving would prompt you to speed up the process."
"You got tired of waiting! You! And what do you think I have been going through, you selfish woman? Do you have any idea how this matter has tormented me? Look at my eyes, look at my hair...I have been applying the daftest of salves and ointments to my dome every bloody night to prevent any further of this hideous thinning! And you think you are frustrated!"
"But, my lord, I realize how I have missed you! I've made up my mind. I want to marry you. I accept your marriage proposal. I do not want to keep you waiting a moment longer. I do not care if you are not yet divorced. I accept and I shall wait as long as I have to!"
He looked away and the orange citrines in his cap caught the fire's glow. "I have put the preliminary steps of my break with Rome into effect."
"Which means what?" she asked quietly, seating herself by his side at his invitation.
"That I shall be free to marry in a few months' time," he said.
"That's grand, sire! We shall be married by spring!" she said, clasping one of his beloved hands in both of her own and laying her cheek to it.
"We cannot be married at all, Amethyst."
Her heart crashed on top of her stomach. She fought a rising sickness. "Not marry? After all the times we have spoken of it? Why ever not?" she managed to choke out.
His face reddened as he declared, "I must marry Anne."
"Anne? Anne who?" But in her heart, she already began to have a sneaking suspicion she already knew…
"Anne Boleyn, of course. She believes she is with child."
She shook her head, and his gemstones flew from side to side in a dazzling blur. "You bedded Nan Bullen?"
"You left me and–"
"You bedded that schemer and now, what, she says she is with child after so short a time? No, Henry, can't you see, she is lying–"
"I have it on good authority from several sources that–"
"And even if it is true, why must you marry her?"
"I need a son and heir and–"
"After making me wait all this time, you are going to turn round and marry her!"
"You ran away, you silly wench. What was I to do, live like a monk, the way Catherine wants? The only reason I turned to her was because you'd left, without so much as a word!"
"I thought you of all people would understand why I had to leave. The court intrigue was tearing us apart."
"You tore us apart when you left," he said curtly. "What, did you think I had nothing better to do than follow you like a lovesick swain? I am master here, of my kingdom and all my subjects, including you. You will therefore do as I command and accept this."
She looked as though she had been slapped, sitting back in her chair as the tears rolled down her cheeks unheeded.
Henry relented in his anger at the sight of her looking so crushed and defeated and said in a low tone, "I do not love her. She is merely a breeding mare, more than willing to give me an heir."
"But our love–"
"Was apparently not enough for you to have the patience to fight for, nor any willingness to give me an heir yourself."
"I wanted no taint of bastardy for your son when I finally gave him to you," she sobbed raggedly.
"But still, you left. My divorce is finally in sight. You know how badly I need an heir, and yet you couldn't wait another few months. No, you had to come running back to home and hearth, back to the cast
le, expecting me to come back to you, begging on bended knee!
"A king does not beg! I have come to tell you I want you to return to court. I am admitting what you so desperately want me to admit. I want you back there with me. That is why I journeyed here. To bring you back."
"To play second fiddle to the night crow? After you asked me to be your wife and your queen? What kind of fool do you take me for?"
"I thought you loved me!"
"I thought you loved me. If you did you would treat Anne no differently than her sister or any of your other mistresses. Provide for her and the child in some quiet place out of the way and wait for the divorce so that we can be well and truly wed and beget a whole palace of sons together."
"Don't you think I want to?" he raged. "But if the child she bears is a son–"
"If you love me, then it is worth the gamble, is it not?"
"Nay, I cannot do it. I must have an heir. I must marry Anne and try to give legitimacy to the child's birth."
"And if it be a daughter, what then? You will not be able to divorce her and all we have endured to be together in the eyes of the world will be for naught."
"It will be a son. I have not walked through Hell to get a mere girl child now. Anne will give me a son. She promised."
"I find it incredible what you are willing to believe for the sake of a woman you claim you do not even love."
"What I do, I do for England," he snapped.
"Liar! All this is mere words and vain show," she hissed. "You no longer love me! You have not come here to propose to me honorably and ask me to be your wife once you are free, but a mere mistress who will have to serve at court under your new wife as if I have no feelings, no heart and soul that aches with wanting you, Henry. All you desire is to use me and cast me aside. You just want me under your thumb so you can keep me as a spare for when Nan gets too swollen and ugly for you to bed!"
He stiffened, but did not deny the charge. "Amethyst, I am not going to command or to beg. Would I have left court and the future mother of my heir if I did not love you? How dare you refuse me! I shall give you until tomorrow, when my retinue and I leave. If you have not agreed to come back with me, then you have decided it is over between us, not me, and I do not wish you to ever return to court again!"
He dismissed her with the same wave of his arm befitting his servants and she left, not in obedience to him, but because she no longer wanted to see his face. The thought of him bedding that scrawny little hawk sickened her. She certainly hadn't wasted any time! Neither of them had.
Tears blinded her as she returned to her apartments and found Emerald sitting on the bed waiting for her.
"Be gone, Emerald! I wish not to speak with anyone!"
"Did he ask you back just like you said?" she implored, handing Amethyst a lacy cloth with which to wipe her tears.
"Aye, but he has gotten Nan Bullen with child and is going to marry her!"
"Why...what is so bad about that? An heir would be a good thing, would it not?"
She couldn't tell Emerald—until now no one knew about the King's marriage proposal to her, and to tell anyone now would have been unthinkable.
"He does not love her. He loves me!"
"Then go back to court, Amethyst! He can't love Nan Bullen if he came all the way here to take you back."
Amethyst wiped her tears and regarded her sister's reasoning. Staying absent from court would not spite anyone but herself. She had to return, to reclaim his affections, to keep Anne at bay.
"Then do you think he will ask you to marry him instead of her?" Emerald asked, her eyes glowing with excitement.
"Oh, I have never even thought of that, little sister!" she replied, feeling her face turning a bright crimson. "Nay, why would the King want to marry the daughter of the Earl of Warwick, a mere pretender to the crown?"
"According to Topaz, Henry Tudor is the same thing."
"Aye, and according to Topaz, she is the rightful queen," Amethyst said. But alas, she thought to herself, there can only be one queen at a time. And now it appeared that it would not be her at all, as they had both hoped and dreamed. Nay, if she did not play her cards right, she was going to lose the man she loved to the ambitious Anne Boleyn, and God only knew what kind of trouble the selfish minx would stir up once she was queen.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Before her twenty-four hours were up, she gave King Henry his answer. "I shall be returning to court with you, sire," she said evenly, not betraying any of the tumultuous emotions course through her.
"I shall be so glad to have you back, Amethyst," he said, taking her hand, looking deeply into her eyes. "If only you'd waited. I told you how I needed—"
"You need not explain, Sire."
No one dared interrupt the King in mid-sentence, but they were beyond that. She was sure Anne wouldn't dare interrupt him. Ever. "I feel no jealousy toward Anne. I understand that the royal line needs to be continued. But...why her?"
He shrugged one shoulder. "In my desperation, I thought she would make a good wife and queen. I did not look very far."
"Nay, I daresay you didn't. The end of the handle of Catherine's hairbrush is certainly not far."
Henry sighed heavily. "This does not change a thing between us. My feelings for you are as deep as ever. I so much wanted you to be my queen. The first choice was yours, but you ran away like a frightened doe. So please understand that I did what I had to do."
"I fully understand, my lord. I harbor no resentment. Have you told her exactly where you and I stand and that she should bear no ill will towards us because of our relationship continuing?" she asked in an almost casual tone.
"The entire court knows how we feel about each other, Amethyst. It is no secret. With her royal duties as queen consort, and her subsequent pregnancies, and pray the Lord there will be many, she will have no time for petty jealousies or resentments. My goodness, that is a child's game. We are adults.
"Anne seems to be mature beyond her years. Her youth abroad has given her a fiery independence and strong will. She is secure in who she is and becoming queen consort will reinforce that security. She will not see you as a threat. You and I shall continue to see each other just the same. This will work out for all of us. I know it will."
"Well, I shall never run away again."
They stood for a silent moment, just looking into each other's eyes, drinking in what their separation had deprived them of. "If you must marry Anne, will you not just divorce her once she has the baby?"
"Amethyst, please, I am not even completely divorced from Catherine yet. One divorce at a time."
"I missed you so much, Henry."
"And I missed you. I was very lonely and turned to Anne only in desperation. She was so willing—"
She waved aside the details with a moue of distaste. "Never mind her. She will be a thorn in my side until you dispose of her. Why must you marry her at all?"
"Because she is carrying my heir, and he must be legitimate."
"She may have a girl."
"The chances are fifty-fifty, and I must not gamble. The future of the kingdom is at stake."
Amethyst felt tears prick the back of her eyelids. "If she gives you a son, I shall never give you your heir. The child we talked so much of, a product of true love."
He heaved another deep sigh. "We shall see. Lord knows life is so full of uncertainties. So please, let us not talk of these matters any longer. I am finally back with the woman I love, and I want to enjoy the time we have together. I shall do my duty, and you yours to your King, but for the present, let us be as we once were, before all this political turmoil. Everything to each other through the gift of love."
"It sounds perfect. If only it could last forever."
"It can if we let it."
She bit her lip, not wanting to remind him that he had the power to make it so if only he dared. So she squeezed his hand and then went to pack her things.
On the morrow, she bade farewell to her family and se
t off back to London. As she rode along with Henry and he was once more his smiling and charming self, she decided that the game was not over yet.
Anne Boleyn might well have bedded Henry and might even claim she was with his child, but the woman was nothing if not cunning. Amethyst would just have to take a leaf out of Topaz's book and be even more so. She told herself that she was willing to wait as long as she had to this time to at last secure the future Henry had promised them both.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Hampton Court Palace, Christmas, 1532
The familiar rumblings of the Yuletide season were underway, and the entire court was preparing for the festivities. The palace glittered with gold, silver, red, and green hangings in the shapes of stars, angels, and trumpets.