BLOODLINES | THE SPANISH PRINCESS

47

"Have you been here before, Lady Mother?" He asked his mother curiously, noticing how his mother smiled sadly in admiration as she glanced around.

"No," She confessed, shaking her head, "Your great-grandmother, Nora of Lancaster...She met King Henry, your grandfather, here for the first time. Many years ago. It was long before he ever became king. At that point in time, there wasn't even talk of him being King. People were so busy trying to put Nora on the throne that they didn't even bat an eye in his direction. She told me the story herself. She had been pregnant with her son Thomas at the time."

Edward smiled, nodding his head in understanding. He always loved it when she told him stories of the past, especially when it involved his great-grandmother.

"We should eat. It was a long journey," Marie decided and Edward nodded in response.

_____

That afternoon, Marie sat at the large dining room table with all her children, little Charlie sitting in her lap. The dining room was silent, but it wasn't a comfortable sort of silence. It was awkward.

Marie sighed as she glanced around, noticing how all her children couldn't bring themselves to look her in the eye. None but Edward and Nora. Edward looked sympathetic while Nora seemed to be glaring at her mother.

"Is there something you would like to say, Nora?" Marie suddenly asked and Nora scoffed as she turned to glance at her mother.

"Yes, there is," Nora confidently responded as she roughly placed her eating utensil down and turned to her mother, "How could you? How could you betray Father by being with the King? The whole of England thinks you to be a whore now and all of us bastards."

"Long ago, before I was married to your father, I loved the king. I grew up with him," Marie replied, trying to contain the hurt she felt at her daughter's words, "Times have changed since then. I married your father and I fell in love with him. I was already pregnant with Edward when I married your father. I just hadn't known it. When Edward was born, I think a part of your father knew but he never said anything. He didn't question it and raised Edward as his own. I suppose that was one of the first things that occurred in my marriage to your father that led to me falling in love with him. Although I was in love with your father, King Henry refused to accept that. He wanted me, despite us being married to other people. He continued to pursue me even though I refused his advances on many occasions. You were born and you were your father's. The day your aunt Kathy was set to marry King Louis of France, I traveled along with them. King Henry got me so drunk he managed to get me into bed even though I didn't want it. I told your father but there was nothing he could do about it. Henry was his king and one of his closest friends. From there, Henry's advances continued, but I never wanted it to happen. I loved your father, not King Henry. But there was nothing I could do. Henry was King and I was but a Duchess of Buckingham who not too long ago was Henry's father's hostage."

"So you're saying you never intended for my brothers and Margaret to be the king's?" Nora asked and Marie nodded, causing the girl to scoff, "Why don't I believe you?"

"Then that's your problem," Edward snapped at Nora coldly, much to the girl's shock, "I believe Mother. And you should be ashamed of yourself for not believing the same. She is our
mother, Nora!"

"Mother is the king's whore!" Nora shouted at Edward angrily, not caring that her younger siblings were witnessing the whole scene occur, "We are ruined and it is all because she couldn't keep her legs closed when the king gave her the slightest bit of attention. Just like all the others that came before her."

Nora froze at her words. She gasped softly and placed a hand over her mouth, clearly regretting all that she had said. She turned to see Edward glaring at her hatefully while Marie looked betrayed. "Mother, I didn't mean--"