The Italian Rose

Three:

Seeing how Henry reacted by Isabella's presence, Catherine knew that it was a matter of time before he sought her out to be his mistress, and she needed to protect Isabella's maidenhood by any means necessary- including keeping her away from court if she can.

Isabella was assigned to help Catherine get ready for bed, the girl was gentle with removing the knots from Catherine's hair, but suddenly Catherine took hold of her hand.
"I apologize your majesty if I was too hard," Isabella spoke, falling into a deep curtsey, eyes to the ground.
Catherine took Isabella by the chin, allowing her head to rise. "You did not hurt me, child." Catherine replied, with a small smile. "I require something of you. You may decline if you wish, this task is completely up to you."
Isabella blinked, a little confused. "Anything you require, your majesty, I shall obey to my fullest ability."
Catherine seemed pleased by this, patting Isabella's cheek and allowing her to sit across from her. "I must warn you now, anything spoken in this room shall never reach the King's ears, for it will be considered as treason and you may find yourself in the Tower."
The Queen's tone sent shivers down Isabella's back, making the hair on the back of her neck stand- what could this task be that is making the Queen so paranoid?

Catherine cleared her throat, gaining Isabella's full attention. "As you are well aware, the Boleyn family has great influence over the King and he seeks to replace me as Queen with Lady Anne Boleyn, they have influenced him enough to seek an annulment of our marriage elsewhere against the Pope. I fear that the King may break away from the Faith and God." Catherine whispered, eyes glancing over at the door as if to expect either the King or the Boleyn whore to magically show up. "I intend to put the Boleyn family in their place."

Catherine allowed the words to sink in before continuing, observing Isabella's facial expressions. "To do this, we must first turn the King's attention elsewhere, long enough that he tires of Anne. The King cares not about the disrespect the Boleyns show towards us, he only cares about his future heir that Anne may give him as she is young and healthy."

"My Queen, I am not sure if I am suited for this task, the Boleyn family's loyal followers are everywhere. Lady Anne is too dear to our majesty, the King, for any of us to even dream of capturing his attention." Isabella spoke, lowering his gaze, hoping that her response would not be taken as an insult.
"I know this already," Catherine replied, patting Isabella's hand. "Which is why if you accept this, you will not only have my support but also the support of the Pope and the Holy Emperor of Spain. All that is required is to keep the King's attention long enough for us to do the rest."

Isabella nibbled on her bottom lip, wondering how she could even begin to do this. "We will assist you to the best of our abilities, Isabella," Catherine added, sitting back against the chair. "But this task is completely up to you alone, the Pope and my Nephew are sending some women that are experienced in this sort of work. I have heard rumours of the valuable skills these women have that could aid you in this mission."

Isabella nodded in agreement, Catherine was pleased with this, now all she needed to do was to send a coded letter to the Pope to say that a girl has been found.

_____________

The King spent several visits to Catherine hoping to catch a glimpse of the unknown maiden in the Queen's service, there had been moments where he caught a glimpse of her but within a blink of an eye, she was gone.

From the gossip that his spies placed within those that reside in his court had relayed to him, the unknown maiden was one of the three, unmarried De Angelo daughters.
The King paid these spies to keep their tongues from wagging unless they wish to keep their heads, he knew of the ploy that Norfolk and Boleyn plotted, though they didn't expect the King to play the game as well.

Henry paused in his steps, noticing the unnamed De Angelo girl exit a chamber, he watched with keen eyes as she fixed the Spanish hood over her hair.
Henry noticed that it was golden as the sun, it matched those memorising eyes of hers, and his dreams were haunted by those emerald eyes.

He needed to know who she is.
"Your majesty." Pulled from his thoughts by Anne's voice, Henry turned to face the woman, noticing that she was wearing a dark brown riding habit. "Forgive my intrusion, but I have received word that you wish to take me riding?"

If Anne witnessed his slight attention towards the De Angelo girl, she made no mention of it, Henry held out his hand for Anne to take.
"Forgive me, my sweetheart. I was otherwise occupied by my privy council, but come, we shall make use of what is left of the daylight."

The De Angelo girl was pushed to the back of Henry's mind, Anne's eyes glanced over towards the now empty hallway, wondering what or who could have taken a slight fraction of the King's attention.
She had worked so hard to come this far, true that her family paid for lower rank Lords to sing her praises and even Cromwell placed a good word in about her since Henry began to have second thoughts of seeking an annulment from his marriage to Catherine.

Anne Boleyn was not going to lose the King's favour or attention without a fight.