Scarlett's Secret

Chapter 12 - Lips of Vinegar

Hefty, hasty steps entered unannounced. "Ah Tyson, I had a feeling I would find you here. I sent you to fetch Sir Thomas, but I guess you met a lady who made you forget the matter!" he shouted.

"My liege, our son is sleeping," I whispered, turning to Tyson; his shoulders drooped in his once stable stance.

"He has a long life ahead of him in which he can adjust himself accordingly." He responded harshly.

"He is only new. It is not in the stars or even your hands that holds his destiny, but in him." I protested.

"Silence woman!" the King shouted. "Tyson you are relieved from your duty. Go before I have my men rid of you from the monarchy."

"He did nothing wrong." I rebutted. "He was assisting me with our darling."

"That is Maria's duty! Must I also rid of her as she fails her obligations, leaving you no other choice but to seek them elsewhere, especially to a man?" My brows relax in defeat.

"Tyson is my only friend, your grace," I whispered.

"Friend? Why would a whore need a friend?"

"How dare you!" I attempted to slap Henry, but he caught me mid-swing. "We are mortals breathing the same air, I first believed. But you, how could you be human when your tongue is controlled by the demons of your mind." I spat in refute.

His grasp loosened. He walked towards my dressing table and drank a vast mouthful of wine that Maria had prepared for Tyson and me to celebrate. "Hell must be empty, all the devils are here."

"Then leave me," I quarrelled. "One less in the room."

"You sour woman." The King swore. The child's wailing broke the deafening silence.

"You woke Edward." I hurried towards the crib; Maria met me there and wrapped the child in my arms. "It's fine Maria, I have him."

"You named the child?" Henry alleged.

I paused. "Yes. After your dearest friend Edward Seymour." I walked towards the window, staring out as I kissed my child's reaching hands.

"But Henry is the family name."

"I'm sorry, I thought I was your whore." I protested. "Since when has a whore ever joined the royal family?" I probed.

"Since she birthed our country's saviour," Henry spoke, his heightening rage grew.

I looked towards Tyson, seeking support. "I will never marry you and our son is a bastard. A bastard can never be an heir. So send me free, I am but another nameless mistress of the King."

He paused. "You know you mean more to me than that."

"Do I? Did you not just belittle me and refer to me as such an unfitting label?" I shouted, covering Edward's ears.

"Stop twisting my words." He pursed his lips and brought his fingertips to the bridge of his nose.

I gently handed the child to Maria and straightened my attire whilst clearing my throat. "YOU JUST CALLED ME YOUR DAMN WHORE DON'T YOU DENY IT! SEEMS YOU DID A POOR JOB AS EDWARD ISN'T EVEN YOUR SON." I tiffed unwillingly. As the realisation of my words seeped into reality, I covered my lips, wishing I could force them back into the doomed silence.

The King turned to Tyson then shared his stern glance back in my direction. "No, it can't be. YOU FILTHY WHORE!" he raged, his hand coming into contact with my tear stained cheek, throwing me to the rigid floor. My cheek ignited with heat, stinging with pain as the swelling began.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER." Tyson leapt towards Henry, his fierce punch displacing Henry's jaw, then another to the side of his crooked nose.

"GUARDS!" The King shouted. Three hefty, beastly men fumed inside, polished silver touching every inch of their broad body. They crudely seized Tyson by the scuff of his collar, bringing him to his feet. "Take him to the cell. Tomorrow he will be shorter by the head." He snickered whilst throwing a fierce under punch below Tyson's ribs; he moaned in agony.

"NO!" I cried, reaching for Henry's negligee. "Please don't do this. I'll do anything you wish, anything just please spare him."

Henry shook my grasp of his fleece coat. "I want nothing more to do with you. You should be so grateful I am spearing you with your life." He spat down at me. "As for her," he spoke to the prevalent guard, "tomorrow send her away with that child. Banish her from the kingdom, from my sight. Burn the sheets in which she slept, rid her scent and her gowns, rid her from my memories."

"TYSON!" I screamed out to him, Maria holding me down, cradling my tired, aching body on the unyielding, taciturn floor.

I love you. He mouthed before he was forced out of the room, taken from my sight and shaking limbs. All that filled the emptiness within the silence of the wind, were my perpetual weeps and Edward's resounding wailing for his father.