Festina Lente

Chapter Ninety-Four: Catalina of Aragon

It was looking at Beatrice that made up Anne's mind for her as she pondered her decisions, one that she knew would not be popular and a kindness that her former rival would have never offered to her if their roles were reversed. 

"Prepare my horse," Anne ordered taking a deep breath and straightening her shoulders; it would take her a couple of hours to ride to Kimbolton Castle not that the weather would make the trip easy. 

Anne would do this, for her stepdaughter that was not here to say her own goodbyes and would likely only hear of her mother's death in the weeks to come. 

***

"Anne, it is far too dangerous for you to make this trip. You are the Queen of England," Thomas pleaded with his daughter once she had changed into her riding gear and started down towards the royal stables. 

Members of the court bowing to their Queen as she passed with two of her ladies prepared to make this journey with her as well as several guards. 

"I shall make this trip in your stead, if there must be a witness to her death," Thomas insisted, despite his advancing age he would willing make this trip on her behalf. 

He might not be as young as he once was but he was not entirely useless, the cold made his bones ache and he shivered against the cold of the afternoon as they walked out of the hallway and down into the stable yard. 

"That is not why I must do so," Anne stated with a shake of her head, she eyed her horse and knew this journey would not be easy. 

There was no way she would condemn anyone else to her folly, least of all her aging father who would be turning sixty in the next year or so; he would certainly catch a chill if he attempted this ride. 

"I do this because I am a mother, and I am a daughter... I know she would not offer this kindness to me if our roles were reversed but I refuse to be the kind of woman that she is," Anne insisted trying to explain her actions. 

It pained her greatly to know that her children would one day leave England and she would never see them again; they would not be here when she passed from this life into god's hands. 

Death seemed like such a lonely concept to Anne, something that she wished to spare her former rival who despite all her faults did not deserve to die alone. 

"My Lord Cromwell," Anne addressed turning to the chief minister, her dark eyes scrutinising him as she bid him to come closer so that she might give her orders before she departed. 

If she was going to leave then she wanted to entrust that the country was in safe hands until her return, Anne would not risk England especially when they had enemies that would happily still see them fall. 

"I leave our realm in your capable hands until I return, do not disappoint me," Anne told him before turning away and approaching her horse, she mounted him quickly before taking the reigns from the stable boy. 

With one last look at her father and Cromwell, Anne rode out of Richmond knowing that when she returned that she would bring news of the death of Catalina of Aragon.

***

6th of January 1536 - Kimbolton Castle

It took Anne and her entourage longer than expected to reach the castle that Catalina had called home during her illness; her residency here an act of kindness on Anne's part rather than see her suffer in discomfort at a nunnery. 

Sir Richard Wingfield greeted them upon their arrival along with his second wife, Bridget Wiltshire, who had once served as one of Anne's most trusted ladies and a close friend and neighbour to the Queen.