The Rose, The Falcon, and The Tower

Hudson House

Lady Mary Tudor looked down from the cushioned window seat where she sat into the courtyard of Hudson House. New guards were being sent to their new posts and she knew something big had happened. Something big enough to scare her father and his harlot queen from their luxurious court in Hampton Palace to their fortress at Richmond, a palace her father hadn't stayed in since the death of her elder brother Henry the Duke of Cornwall who had died as a wee babe. Her mother had told her stories of Richmond Palace, her paternal grandfather's favorite residence and her mother nor father had good memories of the palace. The death of the baby prince had been the last straw for them and they vowed to never stay at Richmond again.

The amount of new guards was almost shocking, almost. Mary knew that the people still loved her and her mother and that they would eventually turn their back on the harlot queen and false princess. Mary did love little Elizabeth dearly, but would never forgive her for usurping Mary's rightful place nor would she ever forgive Anne Boleyn for the role she played in the death of her beloved sainted mother. Mary wondered if her Emperor cousin was finally making his move, she tossed the thought out of her mind and sighed making the widow fog slightly with her breath before she turned back to her rooms.

Mary entered her spacious rooms and sat by the fireplace in her favorite chair propping her feet up on the small footstool and picking up her bible that sat waiting on the table next to her chair. Her two maids in waiting, Frances and Millicent Smith whom Mary affectionately called Frannie and Millie sat nearby on a small bench by the window gossiping quietly to give their mistress a sense of privacy. Mary normally ignored when her maids gossiped but this time their conversation grabbed her quickly with the mention of the harlot.

Mary stood looking at them fiercely, demanding they repeat what they just said. Frannie stood, bowing to her mistress before she spoke. "The Queen was found to have been attacked by the Seymour family, my lady." Frannie was nervous as she spoke "They fed the Queen poison that caused her to miscarry twice, Jane Seymour and her father and brothers were found guilty and locked in the Tower."

"That's right!" Millie piped up from her spot of the bench and continued "That is till they found one of the Tower guards murdered in front of Jane Seymour's cell with no sign of the lady anywhere, the Royal family has moved to safe locations till she is caught. That's why there are new guards my lady, to protect you." Mary hummed in response to this news, waving her hand for her maids to resume what they were doing before as she sat back down in her chair to think. If what her maids said was true then it was not God who caused the harlot to lose her children and if that was the cause the harlot would have delivered her father a healthy son possibly more the one, if Anne did give her father the son he had craved for so long it would prove he was right to set her sainted mother aside. If that was true, then Anne Boleyn was the true Queen of England and her mother really was Catherine of Aragon the Dowager Princess of Wales, widow of her Uncle Arthur and that was something Mary just couldn't believe.