Anne Boleyn Again

So You Want to Be a Queen?

Jane Seymour watched the palace guards and maids taking down portraits that Anne commissioned and carving away the entwined initials of the King and his former Queen. The curved letters seemed to laugh at her for they were arranged in a way that made them say "HA HA". Jane was tempted to scratch it out herself.

"Your Majesty, the King wishes to see you. He is in his council chambers." A guard said, bowing deeply at the waist.

"I shall go immediately. Thank you, sir." Jane replied and quickly gathered up her skirts and rose from the bench.

Rather hurriedly, she walked down the hall and through the twisting branches of the court. People bowed left and right, front and back. "The Queen. Her Majesty." A herald announced as she approached the council room. There was a muffled response from the other side of the door and it swung open revealing his Majesty in all his glory and the rest of his advisors huddled around him at a little desk.

"Ah, Janey darling. Come take a look at this. I have asked Hans Holbein to paint a portrait of us." Henry VIII said to his new wife. He patted the seat beside him and Jane quietly sat down. 

"Whadya think of the sketch?" Henry asked. 

Jane mused over the picture before responding, "I think it is lovely, your Majesty. When will it be done?" She knew that for such a picture, it would take long, painstaking hours of sitting unmoving just for the artist to capture a simple sketch of their likeness. 

"Mister Holbein shall be arriving from Germany in about a weeks' time. We shall have our draft done as soon as he is settled in and we have a comfortably arranged room. We wouldn't want us to have bad posture. And certainly not when we get another portrait with our son!" Henry joked, laying a palm on Jane's flat, childless stomach. Jane blushed and turned away, ashamed to not already be with the heir to England's throne.

~That Evening...~

"May I have this dance with you?" A lovely nobleman asked the Queen. At first, she was surprised that a noble would dare ask her such a thing, bit then she remembered that this was a masque and that she was in disguise as Gentleness. 

"Yes..." She looked at the sash strung over one shoulder, "... Intelligence."

The nobleman led her to the floor and twirled her along. Jane had to admit that he was an amazing dancer. She looked over to the man beside her whom she knew was the King. Everyone knew. She could only hope that the woman he danced with wouldn't steal his heart as Anne had done many masquerades ago.

The music ended and it was time for Henry to shout to remove their masks. Seeing that he did just that relieved Jane. With that whore, Anne Boleyn, he had hesitated and continued the music so that he could dance with her longer. Thank God he did no such thing this time.

Jane and all the others pulled away there masks and two people gasped. That was the nobleman who had been dancing with her and the young girl dancing with the King. They had surely guessed, but they were expected to do so to keep the party merry. 

~That Night...~

"My dear plain Jane. My precious milky-white Jane, darling." Henry whispered, words slightly slurred from all the drinking that had been done earlier. His hands caressed her back as he pressed his lips to hers. 

There were no barriers between the love they had for each other. They laughed and loved and lived for each other. At last, Henry rolled to the side and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her hair. "Jane..." He murmured as he fell asleep.

Suddenly, Jane woke up with a start, sweating uncontrollably. With a moan, she staggered out of bed and vomited into a pot in the privy chamber. She gasped heavily, her breath coming in tight gasps. Her hand drifted towards her stomach. Oh my God, she thought.

The doctor approached Henry, a small smile on his face. The King raised a questioning brow to the man. "She is healthy with your child." The doctor said.

"God be praised! I shall have a healthy son! God cannot take him away from me now! I have confessed and have now a child from a clean woman!! I shall have an heir!" His Majesty crowed. 

As the King went around telling the news to all, Jane lay in bed with her ladies surrounding her. They whispered amongst themselves and congratulated the Queen. But, there was much gossip and talk of what would happen to the child. Would it die stillborn? Would it be miscarried? Would it die during infancy? And, of course, the Queen herself. How long until the King disvalued and discarded her? 

Ah, the price of being Queen...