𝑂𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙....
In a world of bloody war and misgivings that lead to treason, there is only one thing Catherine Percy can be sure of and that is danger.
Her life had not always been thus, f...
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~A babe and a Lion~
May 1472, St Martin Le Grand....
The timbered house the Prior at St Martin Le Grand had allowed Anne to live in the past three months was small, yet comfortable. A kitchen lay on the lower floor where the two servants she kept cooked her meals along with a pantry that smelt of rosemary and other spices sent from the stocks of Westminster.
The upper floor contained her bedchamber, a small white-washed room with a golden cross in the single arched window for prayer. Her coffer containing the few gowns and books she owned lay beside it, sunlight shining on the wood. A comfortable bed lay in one corner, covered with soft linen blankets where Anne sat one afternoon when Catherine visited, little Henry perched happily on her lap.
The Duchess brought her son each time she came and when it was sunny he liked to skip around in the little garden next to the house that resembled a meadow. Long grass and wildflowers grew in abundance under the summer sun and Henry learnt to catch grasshoppers, although they often jumped away, making him squeal in excitement!
Now he was holding Anne's soft hands, curling his little fingers around hers as he pressed tiny soft kisses to them. He simply adored Anne (or Nannie as he called her) and she adored him too, much to Catherine's delight! Like he'd been to King Henry, he was the calm to the never ending storm in Anne's life, providing adorable distraction and soothing solace.
His Mother sat on the coffer by the window, her skirts spread neatly around her while she watched the sweet sight opposite.
"He's so lovely, Catherine" Anne murmured, a smile on her lips, a smile the Duchess had seen more and more as the months went by "Was it hard, to give birth to him?" Catherine shrugged, trying to remember the pain, the agony she had been through and finding she couldn't, she only remembered the joy of holding her boy in her arms. Perhaps her mind was preparing her for the birth to come?
It was only a month away....
"It was long" She sighed "And I was only fifteen, your age....I didn't feel like my body was capable and I wanted it to be over but" She looked at her boy, her perfect, sweet little boy with her golden curls and Richard's dark blue eyes "But I have my boy and I would take the pain I suffered twice over if that's what it took to have him"
Anne smiled and nodded, bouncing Henry on her lap to make him giggle.
"I often wondered if I would ever have a child" She said quietly "I knew when I was married to Edward that I would have to produce heirs but....his Mother forbade the consummation of our marriage" And in that moment, she answered the question Catherine had wanted to ask since Anne's return to court, though of course she didn't dare. She had no right.
