The Spanish Duchess

Chapter Three

Ashes to Ashes

Catherine stands, staring out the window, the sun is shining today and sky is cloudless. She watches couriers stroll leisurely through the gardens. Like herself, they all wear mourning garb. Their prince is dead and we all must grieve for him, she thinks. She remembers when her own brother had died. Catherine loved Juan with all of her heart, she was not yet twelve when he passed and he was newly married.

Oh Juan, I need you now.

Now Catherine feels much the same way she did when her beloved older brother passed. A heavy weight filling her empty heart. This month of April marked the anniversary of his wedding too, and the pain that Catherine believed that she felt increased tenfold, she sinks onto the stone sheet below the window, leaning her head against the cool glass.
How did my life come to this? She asks herself.

"Princess Catherine", she almost jumps when her name is called out to her, she looks up as a guard wearing the Tudor coat of arms across his chest approaches her, as he bows respectfully to her Catherine studies his face, there is sorrow and pain in his eyes, and Catherine knows that this man feels her pain, that he too has faced loss all too recently. He clears his throat before he speaks, "the king will see you now princess", he says. She nods and rises to her feet, wringing her hands. "Thank you, will you take me to him?", she ask him. The man nods and bows to her again and Catherine hears the clink of his armour when he moves, "of course I will princess", he says. She offers him a weak smile.
"Thank you."

Catherine walks beside the guard, his steps are quick and as small as she is, Catherine almost has to run to keep pace with him.
They pass by many a courtier as they walk through the halls. Catherine sees them watching her, whispering behind their hands. She'd long stopped caring what they were saying. The courtiers of her parents court were no different, rife with ambitious snakes, plotting and conniving their way into the good graces of the king and queen. Here is the same and she ignores them,  looking straight ahead and ignoring the many lords and ladies who bow and curtsy as she passes them. Their faces almost become blurred in her attempts to shut them out.

It is not long before they arrive outside the council chambers. The doors are closed and Catherine smiles briefly at the guard, giving him her silent thanks. She reaches out her hand to his forearm, squeezing gently. He returns her smile. "What is your name sir?", she asks him, he bows his head to her. "Daniel, princess", he tells her, "sergeant Daniel Moffet". She nods to him.
"Thank you sergeant Moffet". "Princess", sergeant Moffet bows to her again and leaves, marching down the corridor.
Catherine turns to the door, reaches out a pale hand and knocks. She waits. For a moment, there is silence. Then, "enter".

She opens the door herself, the hinges creaking against its own weight. She stepped inside. For a moment the king's council chambers looked as though they were empty. If Catherine hadn't heard an answer to her knock she would have thought that it was. The king sat in front of the fireplace with his back to the door. She moved closer to until she stood in front of him and sank into a curtsy.

"Ah, there you are girl", Catherine met the eyes of Margaret Beaufort. She let out a short gasp, "my lady the king's mother?". The elder woman smirks, tilting her head, "the king wished to see me", Catherine says, folding her hands in front of her. Margaret shakes her head, looking more and more smug by the second. "He did, he will be along in a moment. But fist girl, you will tell me the the truth now", she says.
"And what truth is that Lady Margaret?" Catherine asks. She already knows what the old woman is going to say, but she would rather hear her say it out loud al the same.
"The truth that you lay with the prince of Wales, that you are a lying harlot!"
Catherine shakes he head, standing up straighter, "I am no harlot", she tells her gently and Margaret scoffed, "do not lie to me girl."
Catherine sighed, moving to sit down in the seat opposite Margaret. "I did not invite you to sit down girl!", Margaret snapped, Catherine raises a brow at her, sitting down anyway, ignoring the scornful look the woman is giving her. "With the greatest respect my lady", Catherine speaks evenly, "I hold the title of princess, my mother and father are both a king and a queen . Even as widow here, I am still a princess, you on the other hand, hold the title of countess, so I still outrank you", she says, casually arranging her skirts if she were discussing the weather and not directly snubbing the mother of the king of England.