'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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22nd April 1562
Three weeks, three long weeks had passed and there wasn't a single sign that Charles would be returning to court any time soon. The boy had disappeared off of the face of the earth, there had been sparse amounts of sightings and they were getting fewer everyday. Tulia had been married to the man for nearly two years and he had managed to go missing twice. The girl was only nineteen and yet she held the weight of two countries and two crowns on her shoulders because of her husbands constant disappearances.
She was currently on her way to visit her boys, the only thing that could take her mind off of where her mentally unstable husband had gotten off to was Harry and John. Harry was growing every day and Tulia wondered if Charles would be even recognise him if he ever saw him again.
His eyes had darkened to a deep ocean like blue, and his hair was dark brown, even darker than his fathers. He was at the age now where he was able to sit up on his own, and had become very vocal. The little boy was constantly humming to himself, he could not yet speak full words but he loved to try. The only problem that Tulia faced was that he could not recognise the name Henri as his own, he would only answer to Harry.
Opening the doors to their room, Tulia was met with an already dressed John who was playing with a toy horse on the windowsill and the nanny trying desperately to get Harry to keep his shoes on his feet.
"Good morning." Tulia smiled as she closed the door behind her. John turned his head and smiled at the woman immediately and Harry's head peered around the nanny and laughed in excitement.
The nanny stepped back from Harry and curtseyed to the Queen.
"The Dauphin will not wear his shoes today." The nanny sighed, expressing her displeasure with slight humour.
"The Dauphin will, I'll take it from here." Tulia sighed, smiling at the nanny and walking over to Harry who had pulled his other shoe off and put it in his mouth. "Harry."
The little boys head shot up at the sound of his name and he grinned at his mother, taking the shoe out of his mouth and smiling. Tulia rolled her eyes and grabbed her son under the arms, lifting him out of his cot. Perching him on her hip she bent down and picked the shoes up she moved over to the bed.
"Let me put your shoes on." She said sternly, giving her son a look of authority. Harry made a noise of discomfort and kicked his legs in annoyance.
"Harry, I wear shoes." A little voice came from behind the pair. Tulia froze as she realised where the voice had come from. John.
Whipping her head around she turned to look at the blonde boy who was looking at the women and the little boy carefully. Tulia's mouth fell open, she couldn't believe her ears, he'd finally spoken.
"John." Tulia gasped, Harry watched as his mothers attention was taken from him and given to the older boy. "You spoke."
John smiled sheepishly, wondering if it was the wrong thing to do. His worries were quashed when Tulia moved forwards and pulled him into bone crushing hug, words couldn't describe how proud she was of him. The little boy had done the bare minimum yet she felt he had achieved something that wasn't even possible.
