NOT ABOUT ANGELS | THE WHITE QUEEN

Chapter XXXV

Middleham Castle

Charlotte watched from behind a curtain as her father tried to reason with Edward. She stifled a laugh, knowing it wouldn't work.

"Advise me, Warwick?! Not lock me up or take away my throne, but, no, you would 'advise me'?!"

Her father tried to reason with him, but was cut off again. "Edward, the council feels -"

"No, it doesn't! The council feels nothing but what you tell it, and you will turn them against me!"

"Edward, all we ask is that you take back your old advisors and dismiss the Rivers family."

That was something Charlotte could agree to. She did not approve of this rebellion her father and George were mounting, but the Rivers were hardly the ideal advisors for Edward. Five years after their daughter became Queen, it was clear they looked out for themselves and only them. Furthermore, they simply lacked the skills necessary to actually lead the country and make the alliances needed.

Edward snapped again. "Which, you know, I will never do! So, the game is that you make demands on me you know I cannot agree to and use that as your excuse to keep me here while George rules in my place! But, you rule through him."

"Edward! The loyalty that we had to-"

"No! I am "Your Grace" to you, cousin! The Lord's anointed king and ruler of this kingdom!" Edward banged his hands on the desk, much as he had done days earlier.

"And Your Grace needs to understand that this is a betrayal and that the Queen's family..."

"Are loyal to me! Which is more than can be said for you and George. Now, where is the Queen because if you have harmed a single hair upon her head..."

"She would have likely sent the Devil down upon me! But she is barricaded in the Tower," her father said, enunciating clearly.

"Now that, dear cousin, is treason!"

Finally, her father had enough of Edward and walked out to the courtyard. Charlotte walked in with a few servants with some food for Edward.

"Your Grace," Edward looked up and teared up when he saw Charlotte. "I am so sorry for what my father is doing."

"Don't worry," Edward took a sip of his ale but saw a faint bruise on her wrist. "Mon coeur," his hand caught her arm. "How did this happen?"

"I tried to reason with him. To leave it be, but my father didn't like it."

"What else did he say?" Edward asked.

Charlotte glanced around, knowing the servants were gone. "He threatened to take away our children. I am sorry, Edward, but I had to cooperate with him."

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"Charlotte," Isabel whispered that night, as she lay in bed between both her sisters.

"Hmm?"

"How did you feel? When you found out you were pregnant?"

"Scared," she admitted. "I...I almost got rid of Lily, honestly. I didn't want the stain of a bastard and I did not know if I could be a mother. Edward convinced me against it."

"I don't know if I can do this," her sister admitted, choking up. "I can't be queen. That was always meant to be you, not me, not Annie, you."

"Oh, Izzy," she sighed. "Sometimes life takes us where we do not want to go. However, I promise you, we will make this right. Father's little rebellion will be stamped out."

"How do you know?"

"I know," she said simply. "Edward will be king again. No matter how long it takes."
           
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"George, you coward!" Edward screamed and Charlotte hurried alongside Isabel to a window, to try and see what was happening. "Come and face me like a man!" Edward continued on, but George continued riding towards the gate. "Don't hide behind our cousin! George! Does our mother know about this?! I don't think she'd be so happy if she knew you had her precious Charlotte as a prisoner!"

Isabel squeezed her hand, but she acted unbothered.

"Damn you, Edward!" George finally shouted, turning to glare at his brother from afar. "I'll not allow that blonde whore upon the throne, and you've been no king since you first dipped your wick in her!"

"George," Warwick demanded sternly, trying to gain his attention.

"Off to Parliament, Warwick? To try and force the crown on George's head?!" Edward continued to shout, only to watch as they ignored him rode away.

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"Oh God," those are all the words Charlotte can muster up as she sees the chests and trunks strewn all over her sisters' childhood rooms. They can only be filled with Elizabeth's clothes, with the clothes of the Queen.

Anne squeals and rushes over, opening one of them and gasping as she draws forth the coronation furs. "Izzy! Look what they have sent!"

"They took them from Westminster," she breathes out. She had not thought her father would go this far. But he just kept on surprising her. "Only kings and queen can wear that fur."

"And Izzy will be queen," Anne looks back to her older sisters and frowns when she finds them both pale and serious, without even the hint of a smile on their faces. "Aren't you happy? Father has done this all for you."

"There are two kings already, Annie," Isabel says before lowering her voice as she looks at Charlotte. "And, depending on who you ask, there are three queens."

"Who is to say that the third — or fourth — queen will be safer than the other ones?" Charlotte asks, taking the furs away from Anne. "Margaret of Anjou is in exile, while Elizabeth Grey is barricaded in the Tower. Izzy and I are both prisoners here. Father advised two kings already. Who is to say George and Isabel will be safer upon the throne?"

"He will not turn against you, Izzy. You are carrying a royal prince, his grandson," Anne says, certainty in her voice.

"I gave Edward two sons and Father did not even think about legitimizing them to the world. They are Edward's only sons, acknowledged by him, given titles that belonged to his family and that was not enough!" Charlotte scoffs. secretly glad her father does not know she and Edward were married. "If I could, I would have taken you both with me to the North. We would be safer there."

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Edward stopped pacing when he heard the creak of the door opening behind him, immediately sitting down on the desk, a smirk on his face. "No crown, George?  You clearly couldn't command Parliament," he knew that to be a fact. "So, you must let me go, or you must kill me. Because there is no other end to this."

He saw his brother scan the room briefly, before his hand went to his sword as he rushed at him and held him by the collar. Edward locked eyes with George, green on brown, challenging him.

"George... George!" Warwick was shouting from the other side of the desk, but the brothers were in their own world.

"Will you do it, George?" Edward taunted. "Will you kill me?"

George relented and let him go.