'Sometimes we have to sacrifice our youths in order to let people live.'
Tulia Byrne has been a Queen for longer than she could remember. Her story begins so carefree and so full of love and yet by the end of it you'll be wondering if you even know...
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(Umm sir, you good?)
29th march 1562
The sun was out today. It shone its warmth upon the entirety of court and uplifted the spirits of anyone who was touched by it. Tulia had taken the opportunity to spend time in the gardens with her son and nephew as soon as she had realised that the weather was warm enough for a picnic.
The three of them were sat on a blanket in the short grass, John was quietly eating his food where as his royal cousin was ripping grass from the ground and trying to shove it in his mouth. Tulia's reflexes proved to be too fast for the boy as she always managed to stop him before the green plant could reach his mouth.
His attempts were so frequent that Tulia plucked him from the edge of the blanket and placed him on her knee, away from any unsuspecting grass. The little boy didn't stop writhing in her grip until she handed him some soft food to chew on.
Tulia noticed that John had been continuously swiping his blonde hair off of his forehead and out of his eyes, she smiled at him softly before she reached over to her bag and pulled out a small straw hat with a white ribbon. Pushing his hair out of his eyes, Tulia placed the hat on his head and trapped his fringe under it so that it would no longer annoy him.
John looked at his aunt with a smile before he turned back to eating his food. The two had become a lot closer in the time that they had spent together and he had begun to trust her a lot more. Tulia knew that he was still young but she was worried that the boy would never speak again, Narcisse had said that he had relentlessly called out for Lola since she had died but Tulia had never heard him utter a word.
A tug on her arm drew her attention to the blonde boy. John looked at her through his big blue eyes and pointed out towards a patch of flowers that were not a stones throw away from where they were sat.
"Don't go too far." Tulia nodded, smiling as the boy pushed himself up onto his feet and rushed towards the flowers where he sat down again and admired the budding plants carefully.
Henri was getting frustrated that he could not join in with Johns games. John was nearly three whereas he had not even reached his first birthday. John could walk and harry could not yet crawl, he longed to be able to run around with his older cousin.
The sound of movement behind her startled Tulia, she whipped her head around quickly, only relaxing when she saw the graceful stomping of Claude making her way over. There was another figure watching them too, the figure of Charles was stood on the battlements, watching his wife and son in the gardens. Tulia squinted her eyes and raised her hand to wave, she saw him flinch back and disappear inside the castle once again. The secret watching made her hair stand on end, it was like a wolf stalking its prey.
Claude had made her way over to them now and had dropped herself down onto the blanket, obscuring John from Tulia's view, the Queen shifted herself slightly so that she always had an eye on her nephew.
