The Queen of all Spain

Chapter 3

One month later...
Spanish Court

Such a long journey, and to see my breathtaking home has been worth it. The carriage door opens and a face I haven't seen since his visit to French Court when I was fourteen is before me. "Phillip, it's been far too long."

"Yes, and I must say Lana you have grown to be beautiful, more so than I ever imagined."

We break the formalities and hug each other tightly, having missed the feeling of family.  "Tell me Phillip, when will the court see their queen?"

"Now."  He guides me inside a castle I can't remember and down a marble hallway with the summer sun reflecting on the stone.  He tells the guards at the door of the throne room to open it just a bit, allowing him through while I wait.

"We have waited a long time to meet the queen of our great Spain, she has restored the peace, and will make our country the greatest in the world, defeating any Englishman who tries to take her crown.  With great pleasure I welcome back her Majesty, Queen Castellana."

The doors open fully and I find myself standing before a room full of Spanish nobility.  They bow before me as I walk to Phillip, taking his outstretched hand gently.

"Long live the Queen!"  They all say and I can't help but feel a sense of pride I have been longing for.

Phillip guides me to the throne my father was seated on before me, everything about it is terrifying yet thrilling.  I manage to sit, the bright red of my gown spills around me as the crown of my fathers is placed on my head.  I am the rightful queen of this land, by blood of course but I was not appointed by the pope, but by God himself.  There will be no formal coronation, because the Queen of all Spain has arrived, and my people have honored me since I was a babe.

England

"That Spanish bitch."  She throws a paper weight across the room, screaming as she reads the letter again.

Queen Castellana broke off her marriage alliance to the French prince and returned to Spain, the people gather around her as if they have known her all their lives.  I heard King Louis still gives the girl his protection, Spain and France will remain allies no matter any marriage, and the young queen has already built dozens more navy ships and recruited hundreds of young men for her army.  The Spaniards are infatuated with her beauty.
Castellana will make Spain the most powerful country in the world.  There is not doubt of that, Queen Mary.

A girl playing queen, Mary thought, it should be easy to kill her but in truth it won't be at all. 

"Mary?" 

She turns to her closest and only friend in the corner.  "And all of this is true?"

"My spy found credible information, and it has not been put in any hands but my own."

"John I don't know what to do, that girl has a claim to my throne.  She didn't even need to marry France, she has more power in her finger than I do in my entire country, she doesn't need to marry at all while I spent a decade trying to align England with power, but no man would marry an ugly queen."

"Mary," he says again as he stands before her.

"Stop it, my father just had to wed Charlotte to Spain, I suppose he thought I would do the same and have heirs for the throne but I couldn't, and I had to watch in horror as I slowly aged more and more and my sister became pregnant with a baby who could overpower me."

"The girl may not want your throne at all."

"But she is a threat to the entirety of my reign over England, the people want her because she is stronger, she has the favor of the church and God, while the only reason I am queen is because my father had no other choice, with me being the eldest of two daughters he wanted to be sons."
I wipe away a tear.
"I am old, John, wrinkling and now infertile, but the last person I want to succeed me is the much too pretty daughter of my much too pretty little sister."