The Traitor's Daughter

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Thomas Drake. Edward and Anne Hastings. Jasper Herbert. Francis Gordon.

Elizabeth sat at her writing desk in her room and wrote the five names on a piece of parchment, then set her quill down and examined the names. There were many to blame for her father's downfall, but the names on the paper were the ones she would target first. Then, she would go after people who had created the plot; the king and Sir Richard Morton, along with many others.

Thomas Drake had been a simple servant in the Ledford home, who was now employed by the king as his page. Thomas had planted the evidence in Elizabeth and her father's home, which the king's men found when they searched the Ledford home for evidence of Elias's traitorous actions against the king.

Edward and Anne Hastings had been frequent visitors to Elizabeth and her father's home before the incident. She was sure that her father considered them amongst his closest friends. They were new to court and had wanted to rise to power as a baron and baroness. In order to obtain their titles, they testified against her father during his trial. They had even gone so far as to say that Elizabeth was involved in the scheming against the king and had tried to get her put to death as well. After her father's trial, the newly titled couple retired from court to their new manor in the country. They only made appearances at court when specifically commanded by the king, which was rare.

Jasper Herbert and Francis Gordon were men of the king's privy council, as was her father, who had also testified against him during the trial. They insisted that Elias Ledford had tried to pull them into his scheming, had tried to make them poison the king. They had even gone so far as to say that Elias had molested his daughter, something that was absolutely horrendous and false.

In the end, her father had been charged with predicting and plotting the king's death and trying to usurp the throne. They had dropped the charges of molesting his daughter, but the rumor lived on, and many still whispered about Elias, and claimed he was the devil himself.

Elias had pulled together promising evidence that would clear him and show his innocence, but Sir Richard and the king wanted him out of the way and had him beheaded the morning after the trial. They had even made Elizabeth attend and watch the execution.

Elizabeth knew that she would never be able to clear her father's name, but she didn't care so much about that. She cared more about getting revenge on those who had destroyed her life and her family, those who had murdered her father so they could benefit from his death. She oftentimes wondered what her father would think of her if he were still alive, and she sometimes believed that he would be disappointed in her. He would never want her to get revenge on the people who killed him, but instead, would want her to live out her life in peace. But her father was long dead, as was Elizabeth Ledford. Her father wasn't there to see what she was doing, and nobody could stop Elizabeth Ashbury, a woman who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. After all, her family's enemies had destroyed both her and her father's lives. It was only fair that she returned the favor.

And the reason they wanted him killed? He had been one of the three men who had voted against a law the king had been trying to pass, which would enable the king to arrest and execute any he believed to be practicing a faith other than Catholicism. The two other men who had disagreed had been disposed of, as well. One had been found at the bottom of a stairwell, his neck broken. His death had been passed off as a suicide. The other man had fled the country before anything could happen to him, causing Elizabeth to wonder if he had been given some kind of warning before he could have been disposed of as the two other men had. She had heard rumors that he was still alive, but many at court didn't speak of him anymore. He was as good as dead to the king and his inner circle.