The Queen of all Spain

Chapter 2

Eighteen years later
France

"You have become quite a bore in these past years, Lana, being proper and diplomatic."

I continue to stare out the window, hardly listening to Henry's words at all. "I am a queen, Henry, one that must make very important decisions for her country. Spain has been at peace for five years now, should I return soon it will rise to be the most powerful country in the world."

"You will not leave France before we are wed."

I sit my wine glass on the windowsill and turn to the crown prince of France who has been my betrothed since I was a week old. "You will not order me, Henry, a woman of my power does not take orders from you."

"You needn't remind me of your sickly power, I hate to marry the Spanish prude you are but believe me Lana, that tongue of yours will be cut out if you speak to your husband in such a way. Spain will be mine along with France."

Laughing at him for his idiocy I wish I could slap him across his ugly face. "Spain is mine and it always will be, and I do believe I have a change that must be done very urgently. I am not your queen to move about the board and do what you please with, I am the holy appointed monarch of my country, and I will never be yours."

I enter the throne room of the King of France, Louis, a man who has been like a father to me.  He smiles and closes the distance between us, taking my hand in his own.  "Lana my dear, something troubles you."

"Your son is an inconsiderate fool, he thinks Spain is his own and I will not marry him."

"Castellana, this marriage was put in place when you were an infant." He says my full name but still holds a gentle smile.

"You arranged the betrothal when I came into your castle an orphaned queen, I have never countered against it, but I will now. I have been writing to my last remaining family in Spain, Phillip, a dear cousin of mine on my father's side who I appointed regent of Spain as I began restoring the peace from England's try to take my country. He tells me the time to return is now, and I will leave having broken this marriage alliance, but leaving a part of my heart with you."

He still smiles, a knowing look on his face as he lightly squeezes my hand. "You have been a daughter to me, Lana."

"And I will always love you as a father figure in my life, but England still threatens my reign, they say they have a claim to the Spanish throne through my mother's marriage to its king, that is why they killed them and hoped I would still be in her womb if I'm not mistaken."

He nods. "They came to Spain at your birth to kill your parents, had you not been taken they would have killed you as well and seized Spain for themselves, but now it is yours again. Lana, you must be careful, England will always be a threat but when the queen dies, there will be no heirs or claims but your own out of blood."

"What are you talking about?"

He lowers his voice to a whisper. "You are more important than you realize, your mother, the former queen Charlotte of Spain is the sister to the reigning Queen Mary of England.  Mary has no husband, heirs, or family left but you and when she dies you have a blood claim to the English throne as her niece."

"Mary obviously doesn't want me to have her crown."  I try to stay calm, but it never occurred to me I have an aunt.

"No, she sent the assassins after your parents but she failed with you, all these years I have protected you from England, but the time is now, you are right, to go home."

I capture an image of his kind face in my mind to cherish always. "I will miss you terribly," I whisper.

"And I you, Lana, but always know that France is Spain's ally, should Mary come for your crown."

"Thank you."

The servants pack my things, my entire life has been spent in France and to see it all go so quickly is a strange thing.  I'm returning home, to my birthright, and very soon I may claim another.