Winter's Consort

Chapter Eight

Rumours of uprising spread through the court like a plague, Elizabeth never heard the whole story. It was something Lady Margaret must not have wished her to hear. Henry's enemies were rising up, she had gathered that much. Whom she did not know, only it was in the north and everyone seemed panicked. The threat must have been somewhat great, and certainly Lady Margaret feared something. Only those trusted could leave and return, messengers were vetted in case they brought in the schemes of this enemy into the court.

Elizabeth's brother, Thomas Grey, visited her daily checking she was well and he would storm through her rooms checking for something. She wondered if it was assassins he searched for but when she asked him, he told her with a laugh, "No dear sister, not for you."

She didn't quite understand and even though she asked him, he remained silent on the matter, "Do you remember the time you and Mary..." he would remind her of old childhood memories to dull her thoughts of the rebellion until he had left, and sometimes if he had been in the morning it would be mid-afternoon or early evening when she finally thought back to the rebellion. Though what could she asked the Lady's her husband's mother had certainly sworn to secrecy?

They sat embroidering, Elizabeth baby clothes, though she attempted to hide it from her ladies. Lady Margaret would have most likely told them, however if she hadn't they would surely gossip if they noticed her sewing clothes for her unborn son. A minstrel made the room merry, playing the luting and singing a sweet love song to which Elizabeth knew all the words. She swung as she sew, miming some of the words. Her ladies looked at her strangely, but why should it matter what they thought.

Mary and Elizabeth had used to dance to this, ordering the minstrel in their room to play it so loudly as he could. They would sing it, and once at a family meal they had performed it, Elizabeth playing the lute, Mary dancing and both of them singing alternate verses. Everyone had stood to applause them, even their uncle George. That was long ago, her uncle George had died when she was twelve, eight years ago. Not that she missed him. He was the strangest man. What she little she remembered of that distant uncle was not pleasant and his whole life seemed to centre on taking Elizabeth's parents from the throne and placing himself and his wife in their place.

That may have worked, had her uncle not gone mad when his wife, sister to Queen Anne, had died of childbed fever, though Elizabeth remembered him screaming in her father's chambers that her mother had poisoned Duchess Isabelle.

A strange man, her family seemed to be full of them. Hopefully her sons would not be so odd. They would not be driven to insanity by their wives or drink themselves to death.

Elizabeth made herself cast those rather upsetting thoughts aside, and continued with her embroidery. Her boy would looked handsome wrapped in this royal blue colour.

"Elizabeth, where is she?" Lady Margaret burst into Elizabeth's chambers. She looked around the room panicked.

"Lady Margaret?" Elizabeth said and stood to her feet. Margaret curtsied her and dipped her head.

"You are safe?" She took hold of Elizabeth's arms and ran her hands up and down them. Her eyes went straight to Elizabeth's stomach. "Is he safe?"

"Of course," Elizabeth half laughed as Margaret looked back to her face, "what is the matter?"

"London is rebelling." Lady Margaret said. She looked around the room. "Go, now." The ladies who had been reading and sewing, put down their past times and rushed from the room. Once the door was shut firmly behind the ladies Lady Margaret continued. "You have heard of the uprising, Francis Lovell in the north had left sanctuary and his men are massing at Middleham. Henry was doing well, we were certain we could crush them. But their words have reached London. Elizabeth it is terrible." Lady Margaret paused and looked around once more before whispering, "They are calling for Warwick."