'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 June 1562
It had been nearly two weeks since the celebration of Tulia's arrival in Ireland with her son, the people were happy to see their Queen and it was a welcome relief to have full control over her own country, in France she usually sat back as Charles made the decisions, the French weren't all that keen on letting a woman rule over them with barely any experience.
Tulia had experience in Ireland and had successfully ruled on her own for a while now but the French did not see her as someone who knew how to rule their nation, and so put all of their trust in a boy King who leant against his mother and his whore for support. The real power in France lay in the hands of woman and they couldn't accept that and so they hid behind the face and title of their King.
The Queen and her sons were currently sat in the royal gardens with Finnan and his children, the boys and girls were getting on very well. It was nice to see John being so protective of Harry, making sure the girls were not too rough with him, it was so sweet to watch him look after his cousin.
Finnan was currently reading the letter that the Lady Gwendolyn had handed to her on the night of her arrival festivities. His eyes were swimming with an unknown emotion as he read the written words. Tulia could tell that he was shocked to even be hearing from the Lord of Pembroke, she sat picking the sleeves of her lilac dress, watching her friend carefully.
"Well," Finnan finally spoke, folding the letter up and giving it back to his Queen. "That's definitely his hand writing. Lord Herbert never could write a neat letter." His voice was humorous but his face showed conflicting emotions.
"Should I trust him?" Tulia asked him, handing John a cup of water as he came over asking for a drink. "He claims he's loyal to me and yet he has never attempted to contact me, he didn't even attend fathers funeral."
"Lord Herbert was extremely loyal to your father, he was the first to come to his aid in the red war, without him, your father and I would have never gotten to see your aunt again." Finnan explained, the red war was the reason he had lost his first wife and he was not usually willing to talk about it.
"My father may have been able to trust him, but can I?" Tulia reiterated, trying to decipher whether it would be a mistake to take Gwendolyn as her lady-in-waiting.
"I would say yes," Finnan nodded, sure of his response. "But be wary of her, make sure she has proven her loyalty to you before you trust her."
"He stated that Gwendolyn had been involved in a fair few scandals, I've gotten one of my guards to investigate but he seems to be avoiding me at the moment." Tulia sighed, picking grass from the floor.
"Your man, is he trusted?" Finnan asked, watching in amusement as his youngest daughter pulled a daisy from the ground and placed it on Harry's head. The baby shook it off and leant forwards to pick it up.
