The Rose, The Falcon, and The Tower

Richmond

Henry hadn't set foot in Richmond palace seen the death of his young son Prince Henry, Duke of Cornwall. There still seemed to be a dark cloud over the entire palace and Henry prayed that dark cloud would not harm Anne nor the children she carried. He had been notified by a groom that a messenger sent by his friend Charles Brandon had arrived shortly before he and Anne had, and had information about Lady Jane for him. "Where is the messenger now?" Henry asked the groom. "He is awaiting you in the study sire." The groom spoke as he followed his king. Henry pushed back the heavy doors to the study and saw a slim disheveled young man standing in the middle of the room. "I was informed you had information for me regarding the traitoress Mistress Seymour." The messenger bowed low before speaking. "Yes Sire, we have the hair pin used to kill the guard as well as the visitor list for Mistress Seymours cell." The messenger opened his satchel bag and pulled out a carefully wrapped package that he handed to his king. "Thank you. You may go back to your master now boy." Henry spoke as he sat at his temporary desk and watched the boy leave.

Henry looked at the package wrapped carefully in several layers of poor quality fabric tied with brown yarn, it must have been sent in a hurry. Henry unwrapped it to reveal the hair pin, and gasped when he saw it. The pin was gold and had a large pearl that attached to several smaller pearls and diamonds that dangled at the end of it. Henry couldn't believe his eyes. The pin was a gift from him to Jane before he discovered her treachery, and had originally been a gift for Anne during her last pregnancy before her miscarriage. Henry carefully picked up the pin, staring at it and realizing that some of the innocent guard's blood still stuck to the metal pin. Henry set the pin down on the desk and pulled out the visitors list that had laid underneath the pin.

Most of the names where either family or friends of the Seymour family, but one name stood out to him. What on earth was Mary Talbot-Percy, the Countess of Northumberland doing visiting Jane? By the looks of the list she had visited Jane at least four times in the two weeks Jane was in the tower. Henry immediately became suspicious but was skeptic at the same time. Mary Talbot-Percy was married to Hal Percy, who was a devoted supporter of his and of Anne's. The man had once been a flame of Anne's back in her youth, and he was still very dedicated to her which endeared him to Henry. However, Henry knew that the marriage of the Count and Countess was strained and that neither of them stayed with the other unless it was official court business. What on earth could Hal's wife be up to, and what was her motivation? Henry decided he needed to keep an eye on the Countess and her court.