Ashes of the Past

Death Repaid

⚠⚠⚠ TW: PLEASE TAKE CAUTION WITH THIS CHAPTER. IT IS VERY DARK AND GREWSOME, BE ADVISED THAT THERE ARE MENTIONS OF RAPE, PHYSICAL ABUSE, AND MISCARRIAGES. THERE ARE ALSO ACTIONS OF SELF-HARM. FINALLY, THERE IS DEATH, LOTS OF IT WITHIN THIS CHAPTER SUCH AS DECAPITATION AND BURNING. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.⚠⚠⚠

───── ❝ Chapter Fifteen ❞ ─────

Though outwardly composed, a storm raged inside Henry's mind. The woman he had loved, made his queen and schemed against him in the most unforgivable ways. The sting of her betrayal cut him deeper than any dagger. As Henry mulled over the lengthy list of charges against Eleanor and her co-conspirators, he knew justice could no longer be delayed. However, the trials had to be handled masterfully to prevent further deceptions.

The heavy oak door creaked open, admitting a sliver of flickering torchlight from the hall. Henry looked up, his brow furrowed over eyes hollowed by sleepless nights.

"Your Majesty." Thomas Cromwell's gravelly voice preceded him into the dimly lit chamber. Charles Brandon followed a step behind, eyes cutting briefly to the oil lamps burning low.

"What is it?" Henry's words were curt, weighted by the turmoil that had gripped the court and his own heart.

"We've received word that Lord Thomas Howard and Sir Thomas Boleyn have been apprehended at last," Cromwell stated, stepping closer to the round table where Henry sat brooding. "They were found quarreling about another failed plot, it seems."

A mirthless chuckle escaped Henry's lips. "Of course, they were still scheming, even now." He dragged a hand down his face, jaw clenching. "This ends today. Schedule the trials - for Howard, Boleyn...and the Lady Eleanor as well." His voice turned steely.

Charles exchanged a wary glance with Cromwell before nodding slowly. "On the same day, Your Grace?"

"Yes," Henry growled, returning their gaze with conviction burning in his eyes. "I want them to have no opportunity to spin more lies, to twist more deceit between them." His fist thumped down on the aged wood. "They'll hear the damning truth laid bare, and judgment will be passed."

"As you command, Your Majesty," Cromwell murmured with a dip of his head. "I'll have the proclamations issued at once," With a rustle of his robes, he turned and departed the chamber.

Only Charles remained, holding Henry's turbulent stare across the table. A tense silence stretched between them.

"This is the path you want to take?" Charles asked at last, his gruff voice tinged with something like concern. "There's no going back once the ax falls."

For a long moment, Henry said nothing, shadows from the sputtering lamps casting his features in an unstable dance of light and dark. Then, finally...

"They brought this doom upon themselves," he growled low. "And they'll meet it together, so the world knows the extent of their monstrosity."

Charles gave a somber nod. "As you say...my King."

Not even an hour later, Charles went to gather the condemned Eleanor Boleyn from her cell, and something snapped inside her mind. A madness seemed to take hold, turning her screams from ones of anguish to unhinged shrieks of fury.

"Revenge!" she howled, spittle flecking her ashen cheeks. "I'll have my revenge on that bastard Henry and his whore of a queen!"

Her eyes, wild and rolling, found the guards hurrying towards the cell. Eleanor's cries intensified, railing venomously against the "deceitful bitch Adieya" who had supplanted her cousin on the throne. The guards exchanged uneasy looks before one grabbed a coarse length of rope, forcing it between Eleanor's gnashing teeth to muffle her treasonous ranting.