The Italian Rose

Fifty-two

It had been two whole months since Thomas Seymour's return to England and he failed to find the woman responsible for giving Jane false hope of giving the King a son, he almost used up all his resources and coin to find her whereabouts but nothing.

It was as if she vanished into thin air.

The location that Margery had told him, the woods on the outskirts of Wiltshire came up empty, though there was evidence that a body had been there but the wild animals and the elements made it hard to tell if the body was indeed the Seymour's missing maid, Mary.

The other witch, one pretending to be a midwife was easy to question with the right amount of coin, Thomas needdd to put his plan into action otherwise his revenge for Jane will be for nought.

Agnes already left Byland House for Greenwich Palace to be introduced to court as the daughter of Sir Charles Belford instead as the illegitimate daughter of King Henry VIII, she would be well guarded now since Agnes would be with her Royal siblings in the nursery, she needed to know the truth.

That it was Queen Isabella and the King's Whore that was responsible for her mother's death, so Agnes needed to hate their children, her half-siblings, to spread discord amongst them and then her mother would finally find peace with God.

With his money running out and his resources drying up, he needed to be smart, mayhaps he can try and speak to Anne Stanhope now that she is the new Lady Seymour since both his parents are dead.
Edward was at court, leaving Anne behind at Wolfhall to learn the ways of managing the household, it would be easy to slip in and out of Wolfhall undetected.

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Life as a Queen is not easy, even though Isabella had given Henry an heir, two spares and a daughter, she still felt second to Anne Boleyn and her children.

With her eldest children now in their respective households, little Arthur Tudor was alone in the Royal Nursery with his half-brother as a companion, Elizabeth had moved back to Hever Castle to prepare for her departure to Milan earlier than planned as Ippolito Medici was now Duke of Milan.

Queen Mary Stuart and her grandmother moved to Ludlow with Anna, since both girls had formed a bond.

Anne had given birth to another daughter, they named Margaret, in honour of Henry's sister. If Henry was disappointed, it did not show and Isabella schooled her emotions perfectly, it was Anne Bassett that questioned her place as Henry's Maîtresse-en-titre as she failed to give him another son.

"Mistress Bassett," Isabella spoke, her voice firm but soft. "How can you question Lady Anne's position as the King's Maîtresse-en-titre when she has given the King three healthy children? Pray tell, how many children have you given birth to?"

Lady Bassett fell silent, embarrassed that she was scolded by the Queen, she sent Anne a deathly glare but the Boleyn woman was more focused on her newly born daughter than the bitter unofficial Mistress of the King.

Henry even reprimanded Lady Bassett in front of the whole court and even threatened to exile her if she tries to embarrass his wife or Maîtresse-en-titre again, because an insult to Anne Boleyn or Isabella De Angelo was an insult to the Crown and as a further punishment for her actions; Henry denied sharing her bed or calling her to attend him.

Many thought that the marriage between Henry and Isabella had gone sour, even though Isabella had given him four, healthy,  legitimate children; three of them, sons-  the Queen had yet to share the King's bed but Henry treated her no different, she was still his wife and Queen.

The King's eye began to wander through the crowd, stopping on a pretty young girl of fifteen, standing amongst the wards of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.

"Who is that?" Isabella asked Anne Boleyn, pointing towards the girl that was trying to blend in with the Howard family, though she threw several glances towards the King and blushed when their eyes met.

"Katherine Howard," Anne replied, glancing towards the Howard family that did nothing to stop Katherine from her flirtatious manner. Mayhaps they still held a grudge against Anne for getting Thomas Howard exiled from court.

Cleary, they should be grateful that he left with his headintact as his ambition would have been his downfall. 

"A distant cousin of mine, she is currently staying with the Dowager Duchess as one of her wards."

"She is a pretty young thing."
"Sadly, she is not as educated as I or the rest of my family. My step-grandmother takes little effort in paying attention to those in her care or her female attendants." Anne replied, annoyed at the education that the Dowager Duchess provided. "Rumours are that her maidenhood was taken by the secretary of the Dowager Duchess, Francis Dereham."

"We both know that it is just rumours unless proven otherwise." Isabella replied, beckoning Katherine forwards.

Henry overheard the conversation between Anne and Isabella, the girl, Katherine was indeed a pretty young thing; the appearance of Thomas Cromwell pulled him out of his thoughts, the look on Cromwell's face seemed grim.

"Your majesty," Cromwell spoke, barely above a whisper. "I need to speak with you, privately."

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"Well, Cromwell?"

"Your majesty," Cromwell replied, bowing his head as a letter was handed over to him. "I have received word from one of my spies that Thomas Seymour has been spotted at Wolfhall."

"Impossible." Henry scoffed, glancing over the contents the letter provided. "The bastard drowned in Milan from unpaid gambling debts, your spies told you that!"

"But his body was not found." Cromwell replied, knowing full well that he may find himself a head short. "The man who was thought to be Thomas Seymour was a decoy."

"Send men to Wolfhall, discreetly, I do not want him to know that I know," Henry ordered, gripping the letter tightly. "I want that bastard found, Cromwell. Do you understand me? Dead or alive!"

"Yes, your majesty."

"And Cromwell," The man glanced back at his King and master. "Isabella must not know, I do not wish to worry her."

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"You cannot stay here for long, Thomas." Anne hissed, pushing the man into his old room. "If my Lord husband finds you here, he may tell the King and we will find ourselves in the Tower or worse."

"My dear sister," Thomas whispered, playing with a lock of hair the fell from beneath her hood. "Do not worry, I paid good coin to smuggle myself here. I just need a good night's sleep and I will be on my way."

"And where would you go? You are an enemy to the Crown, I am risking my neck just by allowing you here."

"And I thank you for that,"

A small smirk danced across his face as he noticed Anne's faint blush and her nibbling on her bottom lip, hard.

It seems that he did not need to manipulate a lowly maid or a nobleman's careless daughter, Anne Stanhope would be the perfect person to use to achieve his goal, she would have access to Agnes Belford due to her being family.

All he needed to do was charm Anne into doing his bidding and soon his revenge for Jane would begin