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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~God save the King, God save the Queen~
6th of July 1483, the Tower of London....
Catherine smoothed the wet curls through her fingers as her ladies poured fresh water into her bath, sighing as it trickled down her skin and onto the surface covered with rose petals and lavender. The air smelt pleasantly of herbs and summer light flooded through the chamber windows, bathing the furniture and her skin in gold.
Already she could hear the bells of London ringing out, relentlessly chiming to tell all of the eventful day, telling them to flock to the Abbey to see their new King and Queen crowned. She'd thought it would be overshadowed by the decree of Parliament, Titulus Regalus they called it, naming her nephews and nieces illegitimate, and triggering the executions of Anthony Woodville and Richard Grey at Pontefract.
The guilt would never leave her heart for those deaths, especially Anthony's, but she felt a glow in her heart that day all the same, a happy one and couldn't refrain from a smile. It was if, just for a few hours at least, God had seen fit to cast away her cares.
No matter how much she'd cried for her kin the night before.
She pictured her sons, dressed in the cloth of gold doublets, her daughters in the golden dresses they'd squealed at the sight of. They would wear their hair down with coronets crowning their heads and Catherine chuckled to herself, letting her arms be lifted so oils could be rubbed into her skin.
Margery drew back her hair and gently squeezed the water from it, beginning to run an ivory comb through the golden tresses while Meg fetched a towel and Nell helped her Queen to rise. With the soft cloth wrapped around her, Catherine stepped forth from the warm water and walked to the window, looking down into the courtyard where a path of red velvet was laid. The beginning of the road to Westminster Abbey that she and Richard would ride along.
White rose petals were scattered over the courtyard, like a blanket of sweet smelling snow surrounding the nobles that waited, the jewels they wore shining like stars.
"You shall prove the greatest Queen of England" Margery said from behind her, patting her hair dry with a second towel and Catherine smiled. Was her friend right? Would she do well? How would she feel when the Queen's crown touched her head, the precious gold worn by Elizabeth and Marguerite before her.
"Thank you" She murmured "Dearest Margery, for always being so loyal to me; always standing by me" "And I will continue to do so now come, let us dress you"
Catherine nodded and made her way to the foot of the bed where Nell waited with a shift of pure white silk in her hands that she gentled over the Queen's head. She let her towel fall so her shift could follow, soft against her skin and flowing to her ankles. She took a breath, sitting down and lifting her feet so Meg could slide on silk shoes embroidered with beautiful silver thread.
