❝ Tell me losing everything is what saved you,
Tell me you finally tasted freedom.
Can you even imagine yourself in paradise?
Even the daughter of gods must know loneliness, must sometimes want nothing more than to be trapped in a hell of forevers...
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April 1487
Lily arrived in the throne room to see that they had already received Jasper and Lord Strange. From everyone's faces, it looked as if the trip had done more harm than good. Not that it surprised her — Jasper was a soldier, not a diplomat and Strange didn't know when to shut up.
"How could it have gone so wrong?" Henry asked his uncle and step-brother in a frustrated tone.
"When the horse tripped and they fell—" Jasper began to say, only to have to Lily cut him off.
"Who fell from a horse?" She asked, concerned. She knew her aunt's step-grandchildren were young still, they were Bella's and Rickon's ages if she remembered correctly and Kathryn was also there.
John De La Pole Jr, her cousin, sighed as he turned to look at her. "The young Duke Phillip and your sister, Bella."
A small gasp escaped Lily's parted lips and she was quick to place a hand over her mouth. "Are they alive?"
"Yes," her cousin answered reassuringly. "But apparently Bella was harmed."
"It was an accident," Lord Strange tried to convince the group in an annoyed tone. "Yet, they blamed us. Every single one of them. We couldn't even reason with the Archduke."
"You really expected to reason with a worried father?" Lily challenged. "From what I'm hearing, his son, his heir, fell from his horse. He must have been mad with worry."
"Why did he blame you if it was an accident?" Margaret asked, ignoring Lily's words.
"There was a competition which..." Jasper stuttered.
"It was the children's own fault," Lord Strange butted in before Jasper could finish, much to Jasper's frustration. "They had the need to win at everything," he paused, gesturing toward Jasper. "And yours. If you hadn't been so wrapped up in the Duchess, then it might have been avoided."
"Wrapped up?" Bishop Morton questioned, a confused look on his face.
"He was attentive to her. They looked to even be on the verge of locking lips at one point," Lord Strange explained and while Margaret looked upset by the news, Jasper shot the younger man an annoyed look.
"We should maintain the course that we are on," Bishop Morton quickly butted in, purposely changing the subject, "My Lady The King's Mother is already making matches for the York girls with Tudor nobles."
"So they may not be snatched from us and used to breed York heirs," Margaret informed the group. "I have prospective matches for each of the girls."
"They are girls," Lily said softly. "And you would sell them off like cattle."
"They are girls whose sons could try to claim the throne," Stanley retorted, speaking for the first time in the meeting.
"We do not know what the Duchess and Charlotte will do," John spoke up. "They may do nothing. We should be ready but not think the worst."
