The King's Favourite

Dwindling Hope

"Who are you?" she demanded

"Jane Seymour" the woman replied with a curtsy "I was a lady to Queen Katherine and now I am your chambermaid."

Anne raised an eyebrow "What are you doing in here?"

Jane swiftly picked up a chamber pot from the floor and smiled "I am emptying the pots"

"I sleep with the King so there is no need for this pot to be emptied." Anne sassed, using her power to the greatest advantage.

Jane flushed bright red and returned the chamber pot to the floor. She was awful at lying and was afraid of Anne. As Jane bent down to push the pot under the bed, a silver chain and locket dangled out from her dress bodice.

"What's that?" Anne snapped, pointing at the delicate silver.

Jane looked down at her exposed locket and pushed it back into her dress, pulling her sleeves up higher to hide the chain. "Nothing" she lied with the same ability as her last lie.

"Did you steal it?" Anne jumped to conclusions

"No" replied Jane quickly.

"Then you should have no problem showing it to me." Anne grinned slyly.

Jane put her hand over the top of her dress protectively and timidly opposed "It's private."

Anne was unimpressed "I am your queen and I demand you to show me your locket." Anne raised her voice.

Timid Jane didn't need to be told twice and drew the locket out of her breast and placed it into the demanding queen's hand, she kept the chain around her neck for security.

Anne opened the locket and gasped "You have a picture of my husband in this." she exclaimed with disgust.

"It was a gift." Jane protested quietly, she was no match for Anne's powerful and sharp tongue.

Anne looked closer at the locket and read the tiny engraved words 'If only dear Jane' that were hand crafted on the outside of the locket. It looked expensive and was a very emotive gift for just one of her husband's flirtations with a servant.

She looked up at Jane with a face of utter disgust and kept her eyes firmly fixed on Jane's as she tightened her grip on the locket, closing it in her slender hand. Jane started to sweat under the intense stare she was being given by Anne, this only made Anne stare with even more hate into Jane's dusty blue eyes. As she stared, Anne gave a sudden pull on the locket and it broke from around Jane's neck, cutting her as Anne laughed at the locket that now sat in the palm of her hand.

Anne broke the stare and turned the locket with bloodied chain around in her hand with a dark and low cackle of laughter. Jane put her hand to her neck and felt the narrow cut that was now dripping blood onto her white kerchief of her dress that sat around her collar.

"You will say nothing of this." Anne lectured with a stern superiority

Jane bowed her head and cried silently as she curtseyed to the Queen before leaving the room. Anne sped by her as she left and almost knocked her to the ground as she maneuvered her gold cloak and dangled the silver locket in front of poor Jane as she passed her.

As soon as Anne was out of Jane's sight, she lifted her skirts and began to run towards the throne room, she wasn't running in excitement to give news to the King, she was running with anger and determination to uncover a secret. She ran with difficulty with her pregnancy but was still as agile as normal. When she reached the throne room, she stated her worries:

"You lie with another?" she yelled at her husband "Do I not please you?"

Henry turned from his work to face his sweating wife and replied "You do please me Anne. Who are you referring to as the woman I supposedly lie with? We agreed I wouldn't get a mistress."

Anne didn't care that the whole court was watching the personal conversation unravel "You lie with a Seymour wench. That timid little Jane who snoops around my chambers."

Henry gave a great rumble of laughter and his advisers joined in "Jane is a friend, nothing more." He insisted "I haven't lain with her and I won't if you can give me a son." The king gestured to Anne's belly with a stern nod, making her sweat a little more, but in fear. What if she couldn't carry the baby.

Anne turned to leave the room but spun around to ask a final question to her husband "But if I couldn't have a child, and you got a mistress; would it be the Seymour girl?"

"It would be a woman of my choosing." Henry glared at Anne, warning her not to cross the line again.

Anne ignored the hint and yelled "The Seymour woman of your choosing".She was becoming hysterical about it and it was angering the King. No matter what her condition might be, Henry didn't want the court to think his wife was hysterical although he sometimes thought that.

Henry stood from his throne and stormed towards Anne, he tried to reach out to her but she stepped away from him. He was out of patience so threw himself at the situation. Henry stood behind Anne and pulled her flailing arms to her sides by wrapping his around her middle. Anne grasped his hands and protested "You're squashing me."

Henry ignored her and continued to press her arms to her body to calm her.

Anne breathed heavily, her husbands arms were pressing heavily on her bump and lungs and she was struggling to breathe. Henry mistook her gasps of air for her calming herself down and released his wife. Anne fell to the floor.

She landed on her front and tried to unlace her bodice more as she struggled for air. Eventually she caught her breath and ran from the room after being made a spectacle of.

Anne left the room, crying once again as she ran down the hallway with her skirts lifted. She ran to her chambers and threw herself down onto her bed with great force, startling the seven maids that were in there.

"Why do I face this?" She yelled through her tears at her bedside statue of the virgin Mary "I am a queen, I shouldn't be tested." She looked around the room and saw the maids standing awkwardly, trying not to look her in the eye "Get out!" she yelled "Have you no respect for a woman in torment."

The maids sank into a deep curtsy and began to walk towards the door, slowly and respectfully with their heads bowed in respect for the queen. Anne stood up and yelled "Get out!" before pushing a maid carrying an almost empty jug of water out of the room. Anne began to push all of the maids as they struggled to leave through the narrow doorway "And go away!" yelled Anne as she slammed the door.

She was exhausted from her sudden burst of anger and decided she would lie down for a while. She sat down on her bed and pulled off her lopsided headdress, letting her dark, messy hair engulf her shoulders, it had slipped when she had yelled at the maids. Then she stood up to put her headdress away and hit her head off of the overhead bars of her poster bed. She collapsed to the ground, falling onto her front again as she hit the floor with a mighty thud. She wasn't unconscious though so she simply stood up again and climbed into her bed, her breasts and belly aching from the fall. She fell asleep almost instantly and slept through the rest of the day and into the night.

She woke at midnight with a searing pain around her waist and hips. She felt dizzy and was so confused as to what had happened that didn't know how to call for help. The pain increased and she screeched out in pain. She tried to sit up and clutched her abdomen as the pain worsened still. Her hand felt wet and she pulled back her covers to reveal a large pool of blood and her red stained nightdress. "No, no no no." she muttered, clutching her belly. She was forced to remove her grip when it caused her pain to become greater still.

Anne climbed out of bed and stood over her chamber pot, clinging onto a bedpost for support through her awful pain, she screamed in pain as she bled and prayed that since no-one had heard her: no-one would ever find out that she lost another baby.

When she thought the bleeding had stopped, she walked to her wardrobe and pulled out another clean nightdress, she changed into it and threw her bloodied on onto the fire. She threw the contents of her chamber pot and her linen onto to fire as well before crawling back into bed and crying herself back to sleep, she must pretend she was still pregnant and must act as if nothing has changed.