by Diana Rubino
"Calm down, my lord." An immense relief washed over her and she tried not to smile. Her prayers had been answered! The King still had no male heir. A burst of happiness exploded in her heart. He was now free to divorce Anne! They were now able to begin their lives together—finally! But she did not dare voice her feelings to the King. He was much too distraught at the moment to even think of such a thing.
"Oh, Amethyst." He sat beside her, and she saw that as always, she the only one who could offer him any comfort. The anger was giving way to simple defeat. He looked crushed.
"What is the baby's name?"
"Oh...Elizabeth, I think. Aye, Elizabeth, after both our mothers."
"Pray God she is healthy?"
"Healthy as a horse."
"With your blazing red hair?"
He looked at her sideways and dared to grin. "How did you know?"
"I am sure you will grow to love the Princess Elizabeth as she will grow to love you. It is not the son you sought, my dear, but you know full well that you are also not with the bride of you heart, do you not."
"No, that is true," he said, nestling against her.
"In which case, we can only wish them well in the future, but think about healthy children of our own one day soon."
"Aye, soon. Soon indeed," Henry said, his lips swooping down upon hers.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Warwick Castle
Thomas More rode through the gatehouse and dismounted. A groom led his horse away as a server greeted him. She led him through the courtyard and up the stone steps to the staterooms, where Topaz waited in the Green Drawing Room.
She rose from the overstuffed chair and placed the specially bred Persian kittens that had been on her lap back down gently on the chair. Her simple pink satin gown with billowing sleeves and trimmed with tiny pearls gave her an aura of gentle meekness. She'd chosen the room graced with the pale green walls as a sedative to the eye. She didn't want to appear to More as the overpowering revolutionary he'd been hearing about. Not at their first meeting.
"Sir Thomas," she greeted him, her sleeve swaying freely as she extended her arm. He took her hand in his and swept off his plumed cap with the other.
"Lady Topaz, 'tis a pleasure indeed to finally make your acquaintance."
She motioned for him to sit in the green satin chair opposite hers. She cuddled the kittens in her lap as she sat and rested her bare feet on the footstool before her. A servant brought bread, cheese, fruit and ale and closed the double doors.
She waved a hand in the direction of the bookshelves flanking her writing desk, where she'd propped up a copy of Utopia inside the glass cabinet doors.
"As you can see, Utopia is in its place of honor, as always."
"Aye, I am glad you enjoyed reading it."
"I enjoy reading it more each time, and so do my sons. The ideas you explore are reminiscent of so many of my beliefs about how the ideal society should be run. I identified with it quite strongly. Our society is so oppressed, so entrenched in the dogmas of Rome, where it is a sin to do most anything that is pleasurable. I so agree with your belief that youngsters should see each other naked before marriage, to avoid the prospect of disenchantment later on. After all, the body is so hidden by our cumbersome robes and doublets and billowing sleeves and petticoats and breeches, we cannot begin to wonder what is underneath it all!"
More snickered, gulped at his ale, and let Topaz speak on, for he was beginning to wonder what was under all her skirts and petticoats.
"To take a step further, I condone premarital lovemaking as well, in order to avoid the prospect of incompatibility in the marriage bed. You may find yourself attracted to someone who lights your fire by day, but fairly bursts your bubble by night! Looks deceive, do they not?"
"To a great degree, they quite do. When a fine gentleman, Sir William Roper, came by to ask for my daughter's hand in marriage, I led him upstairs where she slept, on her back, fortunately. I tore the sheet away, and when she promptly flipped over onto her stomach, Sir William said, 'Now I have seen both sides!' As a result, he and Margaret have been quite happy ever since."
"Ah, but that was not fair, Sir Thomas, and that was not consistent with your writings. She should then have had the chance to take a gander at his credentials, fore and aft!"
"Aye, well, Margaret is but a shy girl. No one rule applies to every one of us," he said with a smile.
"And that is one of the reasons for my summoning you here. Sir Thomas, I have invited you to this rather informal meeting to discuss a matter that is paradoxically very grave indeed. I believe you know of what I am speaking."
"Aye, I believe I do, Lady Topaz, but I have been wrong before."
"But first, tell me what goes on at court. I hear nothing from my sister Amethyst, for she refuses to repeat what she considers 'tittle-tattle.'"
"'Tis only tittle-tattle when it is not true, is that not so?"
"Aye. However, she feels it is beneath her to be the bearer of second-hand news. I wish she would tell me what is going on. The way rumors spread about this kingdom, it needs someone who will repeat truths and not malicious lies."
"You are so right, Lady Topaz."
"Warwickshire could certainly use some news from court. These poor villagers are starved for tidbits about their King and his new queen."
"As starving as the landed gentry for a unified kingdom under a unified church, my lady?"
She laughed. They were going to be equals in this endeavor. Nothing was going to get by Thomas. "Aye, Sir Thomas. We have a right to know; after all, we are all his subjects. What has transpired between the King and the little minx— his fair Queen?"
"They have been estranged for some time now, Lady Topaz. The King has been in a bad way. Oh, he has been suffering greatly. Not even your dear sister, his closest confidante, or his loyal old fool Will Somers, have been much comfort to him."
"What is amiss then?" She leaned forward, her toes curling round the edge of the footstool in anticipation of the sack of goodies that More was about to spill before her. The more she knew about the King's emotional fragility, the more acute her advantage, to surprise him while at his most vulnerable.
"If you wish me to keep this in confidence, I shall, Sir Thomas. I confess I am asking you for my own selfish reasons, which we will discuss at length after you reveal to me what kind of havoc Queen Anne wreaks over our King."
More laughed, took a breath and sat back in the chair, crossing his legs comfortably.
Aye, do be comfortable, Sir Thomas, Topaz thought, for we are going to be good friends.
"Is more ale in order, Sir Thomas?"
"Nay, this is as much as I can handle. You needn't loosen my lips with ale, Lady Topaz. I shall tell you all. And you needn't keep it secret."
"That was not my intention, Sir Thomas!" She managed to keep a straight face.
"Indeed. So...about the King. I am greatly worried about him. Not only because of his disenchantment with me over of what transpired between us, but because of the effect Queen Anne has had upon him...this is nothing new. It has been going on for some time now, since before their marriage."
"So I heard. First she drove him crazy with intrigue over her, then she presented him with a wench. Not a very lucky card she drew that time."
"The poor King is fraught with worry and unease. He believes Anne is a witch!"
"A...what? A witch?" Topaz looked away, elation simmering through her like a bubbling pot of potage. She hadn't expected anything quite this absurd! She'd always known Henry would snap under all the pressure he'd never been equipped to handle. He was not a warrior like his father. His victories over France notwithstanding, he spent more time slaughtering deer in his royal forests and prancing about on tennis courts than he ever did in the council chamber. Now it was happening at last—he'd finally gone scranny. "Whatever makes him think that?"
"Anne herself."
"She told him she was a witch?" she gasped.
He shook his hea
d. "Nay, she does not have to tell him. She shows him. Look at the turn of events since his marriage to her. First it started with her lies. She lied about being with child. She claims Mark Smeaton is no more than her personal musician, but the entire court believes otherwise. The King... He tends to side with the court but dares not admit it. Then the murders—"
"Who has she murdered?" Topaz barely whispered as her heart leapt with lusty glee.
"Her malevolence towards Bishop Fisher caused the King to execute him five months ago. His parboiled head still rots upon a spike on London Bridge. Fisher had been poisoned before that, at his home. Some of his servants had died, but Fisher lived a while longer only to lose his life on the scaffold.
"There were other mysterious deaths. Wolsey, who fell from grace at Anne's doing, died a mysterious death. Warham suddenly died, at the time when Anne decided she wanted him out of the way. Her former lover Percy is now dying of a mysterious wasting disease. The King's sister Mary, who'd refused to attend Anne's coronation, fell mysteriously ill and died. Now the King's son Henry Fitzroy is gravely ill. Then there's the King's leg ulcer."
Amethyst had mentioned something about the King having trouble with his leg, at about the same time he began putting on weight, when his marriage to Anne had started to go truly sour.
At first he had told no one but her, her sister had reported. He'd always managed to escape state affairs and banquets and retire to his chambers so that she or Dr. Butts could change his bandages and place a draining cup against the wound. She'd learned that technique from Topaz, having watched her tend her animals. Now it was helping the King, the blasted despicable King! How ironic!
"And Henry attributes all these mysterious deaths to the workings of Anne, whom he believes is a witch?"
"You must admit, Madam, it is too bizarre to be coincidence."
"So you believe she's a witch then, too? Oh, Sir Thomas, never would I think you would be so credulous, especially since you speak out against fortune telling, astrology, and all those supernatural phenomena in 'Utopia.'"
"Nay, madam, I do not believe that at all. She may be dispensing poisons, aye, that is quite possible. But a witch? No, it cannot be. I am a scientist. An astronomer. I gaze out at the stars and am fascinated at the idea of other heavenly worlds beyond our own, but I do not believe there is anything beyond what we can see. Granted, the stars are in the heavens and we shall never reach them, but with a good telescope, we can certainly see them. Witchery or demons, we see those in our minds. They are not of the same flesh as we. We can never touch them. They are not material as we know it."
"I should not think you would believe something so preposterous. That would never stand up in court, would it, Sir Thomas?" They laughed together, the level-headed realist and the scientifically minded lawyer, united in their common bond in a desire to end the Tudor dynasty and a fond longing to bring about a Utopia.
"The King is not thinking straight. He sees the Queen only during affairs of state, and retires to his chambers immediately. He avoids her constantly. He has been known to say on more than one occasion that he believes he will be Anne's next victim!"
"Hmmm, that is intriguing. As one so close to court, what do you think, Sir Thomas? Will Anne choose Henry to be the next victim of her 'spells' or does she wish to live out the rest of her days as queen consort?"
"It will be interesting to see, Lady Topaz."
Perhaps she should bide her time just a bit longer, she thought. If Anne did plan to weave a spell over the King and cause his demise, it would save her quite a bit of trouble. The chronically ill and neurotic Mary would be much easier to oust from the throne, given her dubious legitimacy. "Let us see," she thought out loud.
"Aye, no need to jump to conclusions." More knew exactly what she was thinking.
"This indeed ties in with the matter I wished to discuss with you, Sir Thomas. I hear you are one of the few of the King's subjects who refused to take the oath to the Act of Succession."
A slice of a smile lightened his face but he remained silent.
"Let me commend you on your strength and ability to uphold the courage of your convictions."
"I was not able to bring myself to sign it simply because I could not compromise my principles. I do not agree with his position as head of the Church and as fond as I am of the King, I believe his tyrannical ways will not serve the best interests of the kingdom."
"Indeed. And we know what will. As official sworn enemies of the King, as you now must admit you are, we must not stop here. You are aware of my background, that Henry the Seventh killed my great-uncle King Richard and later executed my father. My lifelong quest has been to restore the crown to its rightful recipients, the Plantagenets. I trust you are of the same belief, Sir Thomas."
She needn't ask him. There was no question about it. She was speaking with the man who was destined to be her closest ally—who, having defied the King by refusing to sign his name to Elizabeth's right to the crown, was willing to sacrifice his life for his beliefs.
"I always felt that way, Lady Topaz. Several of my family members fought beside Richard at Bosworth, but not so much for Richard as against Henry Tudor."
Very cunningly put, she thought. He was a true lawyer.
"So then you will help me oust Henry and his Tudor bastards from the throne that they never should have seized to begin with?"
"Aye, I shall help you in any way I am able, Lady Topaz. The kingdom deserves to be ruled by its rightful heirs. Henry is a tyrant and as such will not last long anyway."
"Unless the Wicked Witch gets to him first."
"You are with me, Lady Topaz."
She nodded. "As such, we shall wait. Keep a close eye on the Queen. Either way, Henry's days are numbered."
A grin approaching that of lechery broke out on Thomas' sullen face and he held his goblet out to clink hers.
"That is why I asked you to bring the list." Her inquiring glance scanned his person.
"Ah, yes, the list." His blue-gray eyes twinkled as he patted his doublet in a quick search and extracted several sheets of parchment.
She could see the edge of his hair shirt as he leaned over and thought she detected a grimace of pain as he moved. Why some people went to such preposterous extremes in the name of religion, she would never know.
"Here it is, Lady Topaz, directly from the King's personal archives of the Chapter Library at Windsor Castle. A comprehensive list of every nobleman and knight who fought in the Battle of Bosworth, for Henry Tudor. Also, from the personal archives of Eleanor Essex, a granddaughter of King Richard's sister Elizabeth, a list of Richard's peers and proclaimed traitors."
He held it out to her and she eagerly snatched it out of his hand, her eyes hungrily scouring the list, her teeth scraping over her lips.
"Ah, yes, Sir Thomas. Who have we here...traitors, let us see Richard's traitors..." She let out a peal of laughter at the first name on the list. "Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond! Top of the traitor list! So the list is in descending order? I expect my father was at the top of Tudor's list of traitors, or was he not meticulous enough to have recorded such a list?"
"I know not if Henry kept a list of his traitors, Lady Topaz," More replied, not showing so much as a hint of a smile. "Perhaps he kept the list in his head."
"Nay, impossible, there were too many," she said with a dismissive wave. "No one could keep a list of that length in such a pea-sized head."
She returned back to the top of the list, which she found infinitely amusing. "Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, indeed," she snorted. "He never even was Earl of Richmond. His father was attainted and the title reverted to Richard. Just shows what a fraudulent humbug he was, all the way down to his bogus title. All those Tudors are frauds!"
She flipped one page over and began scanning the next. She turned the second page over, her lips moving as her finger trailed the page. "...Sir William Cheney, John Cheney, Sir William Noreys, Richard Beauchamp of Saint Mand, William Knyvett, Sir William Hun
ter, pardoned, Sir George Brown of Bletchworth, executed at Maidstone, Sir John Gilford...Hah!" she exclaimed. "The dear old father-in-law I never met gave his life for the old Tudor goat. No wonder Hal suckles up to Matthew like a piglet at feeding time."
"I expect most of these soldiers are deceased, Lady Topaz. Those of the living are old men now."
She gave an airy wave. "That matters not. They have sons and grandsons. They were brought up hating the Tudors for the frauds that they are. Then there are the sons of those who fought for Taffy Harry. All ragged urchins who grew up never having known their fathers, because they died to put Taffy Harry on the throne. I venture to say there is more than a little resentment on their parts! Not to mention all the enemies this present Henry has collected with his banishment of Queen Catherine and his taking up with the goggle-eyed whore."