Cate Blanchett One Shots

Elizabeth: The Golden Age - An Alternate History

Bess's POV

Dear God, 

I stand before You today in Your omnipotent presence to ask that You grant me strength, for I have sinned. I have to thank You for looking beyond my faults and for loving me unconditionally, as what I'm about to tell You I have not told a mortal soul. 

Yesterday is gone and with it any regrets, mistakes, or failures I may have experienced. It's a good day to be glad and give thanks, and I do. However, I need Your guidance as to how to carve my path forward by which I shall run toward You, and give me the wisdom to face every storm in my way and most of all, myself. 

I don't doubt for a minute that You already know all that transpires in my life, my Lord, but I do believe that I need to be completely transparent with You and tell my story in my own words, because You desire my honesty. It all began when I was going about her Majesty's daily evening bath. 

"Is it true, that I've never known the pleasure of being liked for myself?" were the first probing words that came out of her Lady's mouth last night after soaking herself in her steaming, luxurious hot bath. They were Raleigh's from earlier in the day, which were obviously still fresh on her mind as I rested my head on her shoulders. 

"I hope you believe I like you for yourself, my Lady," I purred sweetly.

"What use is it, when all the men in my life are terribly dull," she sighed.

"Even Raleigh? You seemed quite taken by him compared to the other monarchs who secured their bounty through...ethical means."

"He's charming, I suppose. He dedicated a colony to me."

"Virginia. After the Virgin Queen."

"But what I cannot get out of my head, is the way he looks at...you."

I blushed, "I'm sure that he's just using me to get closer to you. I have the Queen's ear, after all."

"You have access to more than my ear, you know."

"How do you mean, my Lady?"

"Elizabeth Throckmorton," she suddenly turned serious in a jestful way, "you've been bathing me for years. Don't tell me you've never snuck a peek." 

I was terribly alarmed that Her Lady brought this up, as I assumed that she was scolding me for intruding on her privacy. So I immediately denied it. "No, my Lady, not the way you phrase it - I haven't the gumption for the impropriety you suggest. I'm only doing my job." 

God, if you're listening - I confess, I wasn't being completely honest in that moment. The truth was, I'd snuck more than a few peeks, and I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw, even though I tried to repress the images from my mind and to never dwell on them more than was appropriate, as You were carefully reading my every thought. However, I'd been doing a terrible job of repressing them recently - they were popping up with an alarming ferocity that startled me in my most private moments lying in bed at night. Her curvaceous neck, tight back, full hips, slim legs, and pure fair skin. 

The turning point was the dance. When she handed me over to Raleigh after placing a lingering kiss behind my ear, a kiss that probably signaled harmless flirtatiousness to an outsider, but definitely felt provocative and jealous against my skin. Then she made Raleigh dance with me. Twirl me around. Lift me by placing his hand between my legs. 

Somehow the experience ushered my mind down alleys of thought it never frequented before, and exposed to me mental sights that I was privy to but never dared to dwell on.