'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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27th may 1562
Her hair was once again black, her clothes were too. A part of Tulia had died in France, she kept trying to tell her self that this was normal. It's what Kings do. But her heart would give her only one reason as to why her husband had fallen into the arms of another, it kept telling her that she was not good enough. How had a Queen lost the heart of a King, to a commoner like Nicole.
It seemed unfathomable yet it was true. Tulia Byrne, Queen of Ireland, had lost the affection of her husband. How was she going to be able to hold the affection of her country, let alone two, when she could not even hold something as simple as a man. The situation was killing her.
They had arrived in Cork, Ireland, earlier that day, not their intended destination but it was still home. They could not get any closer to her home by means of sea. Elizabeth's war ships patrol the seas border, watching and waiting for the Queen to show herself. Tulia could make no mistakes, she would not give Elizabeth the satisfaction of her death.
Her guards were busy loading the carriages and getting the horses ready for their two day journey to Kilkenny, Tulia was not pleased about the constant stops that they would have to make but it was a necessary burden. John and Harry were too young to be constantly travelling, they could not yet ride and the uncomfortable rocking movements of the carriage allowed them to have little to no sleep.
Tulia was stood by the waters edge as her horse was readied, she liked to help as much as possible but there was nothing she could do without getting in the way, she was in no mood to help them anyway. She wanted to kick herself for caring so much about a man that did not share her affections and yet she could not keep her mind off of him, she wondered if he had even spared her a thought in the week she had been gone.
He had. The people of French court had noticed a change in their King since the sudden departure of his wife, he was quieter, more reserved. His demeaner had not returned back to the dark and cold one that he had before, but it had certainly become less warm. He always seemed to be looking at the door, hoping she would walk back in. But she would not.
As she looked out to the waters she watched it struggle, she almost smiled when she realised the pattern of the waters actions resembled her own. The water crawled up the rocks quickly, aiming for her mink lined boots, yet every time it got close it was dragged away by a force. She saw herself as the water, moving closer to her goal every day yet she was always pulled back by one thing or another, at this moment Charles was the force.
"Lovely day, isn't it." A voice came from behind her, Tulia turned her head quickly and observed a common man making his way over to the Queen. "You're Queen Tulia, aren't you?" His accent was strong and southern.
"I am." Tulia nodded, forcing a convincing smile onto her face. "Who are you?"
"Sean." He offered, holding his hand out for the Queen only to drop it as soon as he remembered who she was, at this point he bowed. Tulia nodded at him as a hello, the man seemed to be in his late twenties and had brown, almost black hair with dark blue eyes. "Never thought I'd ever find myself speaking with a Queen."
