A Thousand Eyes: A Novel of Elizabeth I

Prologue

Prologue

1555

Satin hair. Pearl lips. That was all I remembered of my mother. Kat said she had eyes like shooting stars, but she didn't like to talk about the woman they called the Great Whore - at least, not in front of others. At night, she would sing me to sleep with tales of the mother I never knew, the woman I first called Mama before I christened Kat with it (of course, I was not really supposed to call her that; she was only my governess, after all). She had the voice of a crooning dove, Kat told me once."Elizabeth, Elizabeth," she always used to say your name. I think before you were even born, she was speaking to you. But she called you Henry then. I asked her if that would have been my name, had I been a boy. But Kat's face turned melancholy. Do not speak of it, dear. You were born a girl, and that is that. I learned early that my gender was another one of those things I was not really supposed to talk about.

Thinking, though. I could think about it, certainly. Especially where I was now - I had all the time in the world, whether I liked it or not. A lonely sigh bubbled against my mouth. Stone walls - that was where Mary wanted me, locked within these merciless walls. She thought that by locking me away, she could change who I was. She could erase my identity, perhaps, hide it. Or perhaps she thought that the revenge she never had on Anne Boleyn could just as satisfactorily be exacted on her daughter. "Mary is a merciful queen, a gentle soul" - Kat had told me that before I came here. Merciful, gentle - sure. To Catholics, to children. Not to me, her own sister.

"Lady Elizabeth," a rough voice boomed as the cell door groaned open. "Your walk."

I paused a minute, slipping my shoes on before I exited the room. The guard had no patience for this.

"Lady! The day is wasting!"

I glared mutinously at him as I stepped on rough heels into the damp hallway. Mary had given me the queen's chambers for my imprisonment, which was a far luckier fate than many in this awful place, but once we entered the hallway all signs of decor were gone. Every corridor was the same in here; no one bothered to add even a tiny bit of color. My escort clomped down the stairs, not waiting for me to follow. I could race away right now, he wouldn't even notice, I considered. I could run to the other side of the hall, towards that window, and fly. But I was no madwoman. I would have to behave like a perfect lady, no disruptions or angry reports to Mary, if I had any chance of appealing to her. I had behaved perfectly before, and she still locked me up in London's most terrifying prison, so now I would have to be even more than perfect. I trotted closely behind the guard, my flitting dream wisping away like a puff of smoke.

Once I took a breath of fragrant air, my heart filled as well as my lungs. Oh, spring, it was everywhere - beneath the umbrella arbors, in the tiny flowers poking out of the soil. Spring could heal all maladies, it seemed for that one blissful second.

The hammers started. It was a constant pounding, an incessant sound that pierced my ears. "What on earth are they doing?"

"They're building a scaffold," the guard grinned wickedly.

My heart dropped into my chest. "A scaffold?"

"Don't tell me you don't know what that is, royal education of yours."

"Sir, I know." What I didn't know was who they were building it for. Twenty years ago they had built a scaffold on this very site - the Tower Green - and my mother lost her life for it. I could only pray that this new scaffold was not for me. "Can we go back inside now?"

"If you want to cut your walk short, sure," he shrugged. "Won't save you from what's coming."

Author's Note: Hello, dear readers! If you've enjoyed Elizabeth so far, don't forget to check out my newest novel, And the Stars Wept: https://goo.gl/7ADIzx

Happy reading!