Festina Lente

Chapter Sixty-Seven: The One That Got Away

29th of December 1534 - Hampton Court Palace

"Are you certain Anne?" Mary asked helping her sister dress, she had come to court at the insistence of her husband who had gone with the army. 

Though Mary would have much preferred staying at their country manor with the children, she hated court life especially the whispers that followed her since she had returned from France. 

Catherine, Henry, and Edward had been admitted into the royal nursery alongside their royal cousins and the daughters of her brother; it was the safest place for them while England settled into the new normal.

 With the King gone and a regency council in affect while Anne was in her confinement, there was a lot hinging on the battles to come. 

"Cromwell already makes moves against the religious houses. There is little I can do while trapped in here," Anne explained quietly, she was no fool and her words would likely be reported to any that paid for an ear in her household. 

Her baby was due in the coming weeks and Anne prayed that she would be delivered safely, she feared that she might be lost in the child bed and what that might mean for her children. 

Alexander was barely three years old and Elizabeth was still a baby, she did not wish to leave them without a mother especially in a world where their father could be lost at war. 

"Father and uncle shall only care about lining their own pockets," Anne continued shaking away her negative thoughts and focusing on the task at hand. 

Her father was relishing in the power that he currently held and Anne did not believe for a moment that he would not use Cromwell's plans to make himself a rich man; as if the Boleyns already did not have everything they could dream of. 

"I can not allow the good that these places do for the common folk be tainted by the actions of the clergy that take advantage of them," Anne stated determined to do what was right. 

Many would seek to control her and assume that she was nothing more than a mere woman that needed her hand held while she governed in her husband's absence. 

They forgot that she had spent her educational years in the household of Margaret of Austria, who had been governor of the Netherlands in her own right for her nephew and was a woman not to be trifled with.

"I am in need of an ally, someone that I can truly trust and I am hopeful that the Earl of Northumberland will be that ally," Anne revealed hopeful that Hal would agree, she could not remember the last time that the two of them had really spoken. 

She still felt the ache of the loss of their betrothed, she had dreamed of what her life would have been like and she was certain that she would have been content as a Countess. 

Perhaps she would have had a love rather like Clarice and George, she would have not had the fears that followed her while she was married to the King and what he would do if she displeased him. 

"Hal would not betray me, not after everything that we were to one another," Anne whispered quietly, she glanced at Mary sure that out of everyone that her own sister would understand her. 

If there was a time that she needed someone, she knew that Hal would have her back no matter what happened and as a member of the privy council held some sway that Anne needed right now. 

"Yes, but you are married to the King, you are the Queen of England," Mary reminded her, she did not wish to see Anne do something that could enrage the King. 

If he was willing to have Katherine declared mad and locked in a nunnery, then there was no telling what he would do to free himself from Anne who did not have a nephew who was the Holy Roman Emperor.