The next morning...
Lisbet woke to someone hammering on the door, also jerking her mother from sleep as well.
"What's going on?" Marin asked as she tried to wake up, rubbing her eyes and stifling a yawn with her hand.
"I don't know!" Lisbet cried, immediate panic rising in her as she scooped up Anne from where she lay between her two kinswomen, being careful not to jostle the sleeping babe too much in her haste.
Grabbing her dagger from where it lay on a side table, Marian motioned for her daughter to stay behind her and moved towards the door, throwing it open only to find a terrified Magda on the other side. A second later bells began to ring out and desolation descended on the Queen's heart.
"The Tudors are here" she whispered and Lisbet let out a cry.
"No!" She shouted, clutching a now awakened and wailing Anne to her chest "No! They cannot be here? Who are they here for?! Mama, the could not have caught you so soon?!"
"I don't know why they are here!" Magda muttered, making her friend's face turn a deathly shade of white "Marian, you must go"
"Yes!" Marian said "we must go and we must go now if we have hope of escape!"
Lisbet put Anne in her cradle and rushed to the window that overlooked the courtyard, trying not to let the tears that filled her eyes fall as she saw the band of Tudors that had approached, ride into the courtyard of Middleham...Lizzie leading them.
"Mama! You have to go, I will not allow you to die" she yelled.
"And I will not leave you" Marian returned fiercely "I will not flee, not again, not without you!"
"You must!" Magda yelled and the other two turned to her with stricken faces "I've seen how many there are...only one of us can escape...and it must be you, Marian"
"Magda is right, mama" Lisbet said "I cannot go for I will not leave Anne and if I have a babe with me I won't get five miles...Annie is waiting for you back in Burgundy...she cannot lose her mother and nor can I so you must be the one to escape and you must go now before it is too late! They will be looking for us already!"
Marian shook her head and walked over to her daughter, wrapping her arms around her as she pulled her into fierce hug.
"Know the choice to go is not mine, ma chérie" she whispered tearfully "and know that I love you...we will meet again...I promise"
"And I believe you, mama...I believe you with all my heart!" Lisbet retuned "but you must go! And you must go now!"
"I know a way to get you out, your grace" Magda said from the door "but we have not a second to lose. We must go!"
Marian nodded and stepped back from her daughter, giving her one last nod and gently kissing baby Anne before she turned and fled the room without a backwards glance, Magda close behind"
Once the door was firmly shut, Lisbet at once bounded into action. She must appear brave to her cousin, must not shed any tears, must not show her grief, she must show absolute confidence in herself and in the coming confrontation between her and Lizzie.
Going to her coffers, she set Anne down in her cradle before drawing out a heavy blue velvet kirtle and a silk murrey over gown. She quickly changed out of her nightgown and into her day garments, trying the best she could with the intricate laces that made her huff with frustration. Next she turned to her daughter and gently removed her swaddling bands, gently pulling a satin gown that Magda had made, over her head while the little child squirmed, kicking her little arms and legs helplessly.
Once she was dressed, Anne was gently picked up and placed on the bed while Lisbet went to her dressing table and arranged her hair into an intricate braid, weaving golden thread through it as her mother used to do when she was Queen.
Setting the rest of the thread down once she had finished, Lisbet looked at herself in the mirror and pushed back her shoulders, taking up her crucifix she fastened the clasp around her neck and kissed the bejewelled cross, praying for strength against her cousin. Turning back to the bed, she swiftly picked her daughter up and left the bedchamber, nodding to servants that she passed by, worry etched on their face.
As she neared the stairs that led to the great hall, Lisbet saw Mary rushing towards her and moved to the side to hear what the older woman had to say.
"Your grace" Mary gasped as she stopped "your mother...Queen Marian...she's gotten away safely"
Sighing with relief, Lisbet crossed herself with a free hand before she clutched Mary's hand in thanks.
"And Magda?" She asked but before she could receive a reply, she heard her name called from behind. John "good god, Johnny! Elizabeth must not find you!"
Looking from the small boy to her own daughter, she passed the little babe to Mary before scooping John up into her arms and rushing back to her room. She needed to hide him. Somehow, somewhere. And very very quickly. John was a bastard but that would do little to denounce him as a threat in Tudor's eyes if he was found...she would not allow for another York to be locked away or killed.
Throwing open a coffer, Lisbet tossed aside the gowns inside and placed John in the chest, pressing a finger to his lips when he began to protest.
"It's only a game, my dear" she soothed, forcing herself to smile at him "but you must stay quiet and you must stay in here until I come to fetch you later, do you understand"
John tilted his head at first in confusion, wondering why his Aunt seemed so tense but at last he nodded and clutched the sun pendant around his neck, closing his eyes as Lisbet closed the lid of the coffer and quickly sped from the room, back to the hallways where Mary was waiting.
She instantly took Anne back into her arms again and nodded to her old nursemaid before she turned on her heel and walked away from the great hall that was by now filled with the shouts of Tudor men.
Opening a small door, the duchess slipped through and ran up the spiral staircase that she knew would lead to the solar at the highest point of castle, giving her a sense of security yet she knew she had none.
Anne gave a little cry as her mother sat down and found a nervous kiss pressed to her soft cheek.
"Now now, little love" Lisbet murmured, though she was trying to stop her trembling as she listened for the sound of footsteps heading towards the main solar door.
Soon enough, her fears came a reality and Lisbet forced herself to sit up to her full height, appearing every inch the York Princess she was. 'I am the daughter of King Richard and Queen Marian' she reminded herself 'a Tudor woman cannot faze me'
Without even a single knock, Lizzie opened the door and strode into the room, her crown on her head and dressed in a green and gold gown trimmed with ermine and rings on her fingers that held jewels that shone in the rays of the sun.
"Cousin" she greeted stiffly as she shut the door behind her and Lisbet remained seated, nodding in acknowledgement.
"Elizabeth" she returned, rocking Anne too and fro gently as a way of keeping herself calm "I admit I am rather confused as to your coming here. I thought I would not see you again for many years"
"You mean you hoped you would" Lizzie replied, stepping forward "but I make no secret of why I am here. I am here to take your daughter to her new home..."
"What?!" Lisbet cried and stood up, holding her daughter a little tighter to her "what on earth do you mean? My daughter is staying with me as we agreed! You promised"
Lizzie laughed a little and rolled her eyes, moving closer once again.
"The terms of our agreement changed as they did when your husband and your traitor brother were executed"
At that Lisbet's face darkened and it took all the strength she had not to either cry or slap her cousin with all her might.
"You murdered my husband and my brother" she hissed "you said you would spare them..."
"For a time!" Lizzie cut in harshly "I said I would spare them for a time and I did! Until my husband the King decided otherwise and they were executed. It was nothing less than they deserved!"
"Deserved?!" The duchess all but screamed "my brother was the rightful King of England and my husband was about to be a father! He was innocent..."
"Yet another reason why to daughter must be taken from you!" Lizzie proclaimed triumphantly and folded her arms over her chest "if you are allowed to keep this child then you will fill her innocent mind with evil Yorkist ideas! My son requires a loyal Tudor for a wife! Not a rebel! Really, Anne's parents have already been declared traitors, would you really wish her to be in a court, a household where she is despised?"
"Don't you dare speak about my daughter in that way nor my husband or me!" Lisbet shouted "my daughter will stay with me, her mother"
"Oh she will not!" Her cousin replied "she will be taken from you by the end of the day, you will never see her again...she is to be placed with the Boleyn family. They are loyal Tudors and shall raise her well"
"So I am to be erased? My only child is to be taken from me? Placed with strangers and Tudor loyalists at that and I will never see her again?! I will not allow it! It will not happen"
Lizzie shook her head.
"The Lady Elizabeth Boleyn is to be Anne's mother" she said "She has a daughter, Mary and your niece Cecily has been with her for 5 months now! So I am sure that Anne will be happy! But you are right, she will never know you, she will never be told of you. She will only be told what she needs to know about herself so that she can know her royal heritage. The only thing she shall know about you is your name and that you were a traitor as was her father"
"I will find her!" Lisbet cried as Anne began to wail "you will never keep my child from me!"
"You won't be able to!" Lizzie shot back "you will be dead!"
At once both the duchess and little Anne fell as silent as a grave.
"What...what do you mean..."
"You know what I mean" her cousin replied coldly "once Anne is taken from here, so shall you be. But you will be taken to the Tower and executed upon arrival just as your husband and brother were"
Lisbet gulped and looked down at her daughter before her legs gave way a little and she fell down onto her dear once more.
"I am to be murdered" she whispered and if she had looked up she would have seen her elder cousin's unfeeling facade crack, revealing sympathy and regret for what she was doing. "I am to have my child ripped away from me before being sent to my death...oh my little love...do not forget me...I beg of you..."
"I...if you comply now...then I will let you...I will let you travel with Anne to the tower...before she goes to her new home" Lizzie muttered and her act truly fell when Lisbet looked up at her with tears in her eyes.
"Really?" She whispered "y-you would do that?" But suddenly she stood up and her defiance and anger returned "no. You wouldn't do that would you, dear cousin? For all I know I would expect you to make my Anne to watch as the executioner lopped off my head if you were not the one swinging the axe yourself"
"I swear to you..." Lizzie began but Lisbet quickly cut her off.
"Do not swear to me" she hissed "I've had enough of your betrayals, Elizabeth...but this last time I shall have to take your word for it...if I leave now...Anne can travel with me...she will not be ripped from my arms as soon as I step into the courtyard"
"She will not" Lizzie said and held out a hand to place on her cousin's arm despite that fact that Lisbet instinctively jerked away "Anne will stay with you until we get to the tower...so come along now..."
Stepping out into the courtyard while the servants gathered on the steps and sank into the lowest bows and curtsies as they could muster.
Lisbet nodded to all of them though there were tears in her eyes as she huddled Anne closer to her velvet cloak and kissed her little forehead. Ahead of her was a carriage, the door open and Lizzie waiting by the side of it, a sympathetic smile on her face.
"Lisbet! Lisbet wait!" Magda cried, tears streaming down her face as she ran down the steps and wrapped her arms around her friend, sobbing against her shoulder "you cannot leave... oh God I wish I could kill every single Tudor on earth for doing this to you"
"Do not fret" Lisbet whispered, struggling to contain her own tears "they have not found John yet...he is safe in my room and that is what matters...do not worry about me now..." Slowly she drew away "thank you for being there for me" she said before turning away and walking towards the carriage.
Halting before she stepped in, Lisbet looked back one last time, taking in every inch of her home, the walls, the steps, the people who now stood weeping for her and her babe.
"Come along" Lizzie said softly and extended her hand for her cousin to take "its time to go"
"To my death" Lisbet replied and stepped into the carriage, ignoring Lizzie's hand as she settled back against the cushions and finally allowed tears to flow freely down her cheeks.