Arthur

Bonus Chapter!

Catalina d’Aragona; April of 1503.

 

Only for those who stay back, the days are all the same.

Thousands of dreams to bury, tears to hide and hopes to regrow. I battle against myself every passing minute ever since the man I loved left this world one year ago. I was commanded to a whole year of mourning, but little do they know my mourning shall last forever.

I made a promise to him, a promise that even I do not know how to keep. How could I deny him anything? His last wish was to take care of me, and I promised him I would. Even if I had to say we were never real husband and wife; even if I had to remarry to his young brother.

“England needs you,” he said to me, agonizing with fever, a shadow of the man I used to know and love. “Someone needs to guide Henry. Live our dreams, my love. Build our universities, our hospitals and our war ships. Have many beautiful children and meet me in Heaven once you are ready.”

The only man I will ever love is gone, and I am bound to a promise to him. I am bound to God, for I know He has a higher calling. I always knew it. My fate is to be Queen of England, and I shan’t accept any other plan. I will not go back home; I shall stay in England, and become Queen. They will call me Catherine, Catherine of England.

But, oh God, what a tortuous way ahead!

I have no protector; my husband is dead. My parents and the King of England are battling for my never paid dowry. My mother-in-law is dead, and most of my friends are gone. However, I live for a promise, and I shall keep it. The pain of not having Arthur by my side will always be an open wound inside me, but I shall find comfort in making him proud of me. This is not farewell. Until we meet, I have things to accomplish to conquer a place for our names in History. No one shall forget Arthur of Wales and Catherine of England.

A woman can never win in this world. I am determined to be the first.