𝑂𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙....
In a world of bloody war and misgivings that lead to treason, there is only one thing Catherine Percy can be sure of and that is danger.
Her life had not always been thus, f...
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~There's no Place like Home~
July 1472....
"And so, I ask you to raise your goblets and toast my wife and Duchess, a woman who is the maker of my great happiness in this life and whom I shall be with for eternity in the next. She is the Mother of my children, the second of which we are here to celebrate, the Lady Joan of Gloucester, Princess of York! To her grace, the Duchess!"
Richard looked around the filled great hall of Fotheringhay, warmed by the amber flames stoked by servants in the great hearth and the words of congratulations that sprang from his guest's lips. A rustle of skirts and a scraping of wooden benches against polished stone followed his proclamation and a hundred silver goblets were raised into the air by bejewelled fingers.
"Her grace, the Duchess of Gloucester!" They all chorused and Catherine smiled, nodding gratefully.
Dressed in a gown of deep blue velvet with her golden hair loose beneath a pearl circlet, she sat, radiant, by her husband's side. Her eyes were full of love for him when he sat down beside her once more and she placed a hand on the sleeve of his doublet, squeezing.
"Such beautiful words from such tender lips" She murmured "Thank you"
"You deserve each one" He replied, bestowing on her a chaste kiss before brushing one to their daughter's forehead who lay happily in Catherine's arms. While her older brother was long tucked in bed, little Joan's presence was required for it was she the nobility had gathered to celebrate!
In her little bundle of swaddling blankets, she stared at her Mother and Father with big eyes of bright blue "I know those eyes" Richard said when he held her "For they belong to you" "Just as I know Henry's" Catherine would reply, a soft smile on her face.
Now they both gazed at their daughter who seemed undisturbed by the noise of the merry feast around her and wondered how she would fare when she was passed about. Catherine for one was hesitant to relinquish her to unfamiliar arms but she knew it was the custom and no harm would come to Joan while her Father was near.
"Lady Eleanor Percy, Dowager Countess of Northumberland"
Catherine's eyes went wide as a page announced her Mother and Lady Eleanor swept through the great hall doors, dressed in yellow and red silk. Her golden hair was bound beneath a hennin but there was no mistaking her familiar face and her daughter gasped. Richard merely chuckled. She looked at him.
"You invited my Mother?" She asked, tone filled with glee, and he nodded, rising from his chair. "I did, ma belle" He answered, wandering merrily down the steps of the dais "I knew it would please you!" And please her it did! She sat up straighter in her seat, eyes glistening with childish excitement that Cecily laughed at.
