She cares so much, she calls me love.

Maybe this is it.

There wasn't a person alive who could have rescued Katherine Howard from her fate. She had spent days pondering over her history, but there was nothing she could have done to change her destiny.

Somehow Katherine's short life was doomed since it's beginning: from the family she was born into- social climbers with more kids than they could take care of, to the inexperienced executioner assigned to cut her neck.

Henry Mannox's music lessons- his hand on her thigh, her lute long forgotten on the floor. The Dowager Duchess's household- her step grandmother had taken way too long to protect her from the stern Francis Dereham. Henry Tudor's court- she had never had a chance. "No will but his". She was always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Therefore, far too early Katherine realized her life would not have a happy ending.

She was right.

That was why Katherine was terrified at the idea of getting another chance. Another "bland and uneventful life", in the words of her cousin. Katherine herself would describe her life as painful.

When she reincarnated with the five ex-wives of the man who beheaded her, it was in less than ideal circumstances. There were confrontations at first. A lot of them. Screaming and crying was also not uncommon in their household.

 
"Oh so I'm the whore? You're no better than me, Seymore!! Don't forget you were also a mistress and get the fuck off your high horse!"

"How could you!? My daughter trusted you. She was a child! You were supposed to protect her!"

"I was not 'weak'. I was a good wife! I was the one he truly loved because I played my part well. If you had done that, he wouldn't have thrown you out!"

So one could imagine Katherine's surprise when- for the first time in both of her lives- she felt truly safe and content in the arms of another.

"Are you sure you don't need me to accompany you, love? It will be no trouble." Jane's words awakened Katherine from her daydreams: she looked up and smiled brightly. The blonde's heart warmed at the sight, she loved that she was able to make the girl smile so easily.

Since Jane had researched her son two months ago, she had been so gentle with Katherine, and found herself feeling oddly contented whenever there was a opportunity to pamper the youngest. She could still remember when it all started.

*

She had finished listening to her last audiobook: "Edward VI: The Lost King of England". Her poor baby had died so young. So alone- none of the other queens after her were mothers to the prince. Catherine Parr had tried, but obviously that wasn't the same as a proper mother. How Jane wishes she could be a proper mother now.

Then, as if on cue, she heard soft cries breaking the night's silence. She followed the muffled sobs to the youngest queen's door. The queen who was never in any fights, who was always smiling softly and who rarely spoke, and never in anything other low and pleasant tones. It was as if she was scared of being anything other than pretty and gracious.