-𝑂𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙-
It's the year 1466 and King Edward IV is on the throne of England. His wife and Queen ,Elizabeth Woodville, has just given birth to her first daughter ,Lizzie, but not all is w...
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Sitting by the fire, a woollen blanket pulled snugly over her shoulders, Marian took another sip of wine as Sir Robert watched her with a knowing concern.
"Are you sure you would not prefer to stay the night, Marian?" He asked gently "I can have some rooms arranged for you right now" "No, Robert" Marian replied, shaking her head "thank you but I am perfectly fine"
"That is a blatant lie" Robert pointed out "It's not! I'm perfectly well and really should be heading back to Westminster" she put the goblet she was holding, down and laid the blanket out neatly on the chair before fetching her cloak "thank you, Sit Robert" she said, taking his hand as he rose to bow to her.
"What will you do?" He asked and she grimaced slightly in response, blinking furiously to push back the tears that flooded her eyes.
"I shall go on" she replied "A-as you know I cannot mourn my mother. The people think of her as evil and if I am seen to be mourning Margaret of Anjou then..." "Then they may turn on you" Robert finished and Marian nodded. "I will not put Richard's throne nor my children's positions at risk...I will simply have to go on. Perhaps in private I will be given some time for sorrow but other than that I must carry on as normal, perhaps even have to partake in the celebrations which are sure to come once the news leaks out that The Bad Queen is dead"
Brackenbury offered the Queen a small smile before bowing and kissing her hand. Marian nodded in acknowledgement and left the room, headed out into the cold air of the night.
The icy wind hit Marian like a slap in the face and in an instant all her sense were on alert as she tried to make out where the horses were waiting for her and at last her eyes focused on a swirl of blue and murrey liveries. The men were all gathered round something, calling frantically to each other and Marian immediately rushed over to them.
When some of the men saw her approaching, they tried to shield her from whatever the others were staring at but Marian pushed through. "Your grace!" One called "tis not safe!"
The Queen gasped when she discovered what they had all been huddled around, one of the men was lying on the grass, shaking and although it was dark the beads of sweat on his reddened forehead were clear for all to see.
"Sweet Jesus, what happened to him?" She cried "He's been off for two or so days, your grace" one of the young soldiers "at first we thought it was just a cold b-but..." "It's a fever!" Another blurted out and Marian turned to where the voice had called out
"Then by God get him inside!" She ordered. The men were quick to obey, lifting him from the ground and carrying him into one of the tower's surrounding buildings, yet another one of them calling out for a physician.
