ROYAL BLOOD
— 23. King Warwick
Lizbeth entered the Queen's Rooms after being summoned. She found Cecily to be standing there alongside Margaret. They both stood in front of a chessboard, which was covered in chess pieces that had cards attached to them.
"Lizbeth, look!" Cecily exclaimed as she lifted up one of the chess pieces, "This is me, the Queen, with my intended, John Welles."
"The pawns are Lizzie and Maggie," She continued to point to different pieces on the board, a smile on her face, "And this is baby Arthur."
"My son is too young to be betrothed," Lizbeth argued in a defensive tone as she snatched the chess piece that was supposed to stand for Arthur away from Cecily.
"Oh, but the King has said that he will win for him the hand of the Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon," Margaret corrected Lizbeth, taking the chess piece from her grasp before placing it back down on the board, "Best ally to guard against your mother and your aunt."
"We may discuss it but we will not bind him to it," Lizbeth ordered, taking the chess piece that stood for her son off the board alongside Maggie's, "And I will choose Maggie's husband."
"It is decided," Margaret informed Lizbeth, who began to frown.
"Not by me and I am queen, not you," Lizbeth retorted as she smiled almost threateningly at Margaret, "And I shall take the Queen's rooms now whether you want to give them up or not."
"She is to marry Henry's loyal commander Richard Pole," Margaret argued, ignoring Lizbeth's demands of having the queen's rooms, "The family have been notified."
Lizbeth scoffed, a small smile forming on her lips. "Pole is far beneath her. He is unfit to marry a girl of her standing," She explained in a threatening tone, "And you will move out today, do you understand?"
Margaret looked up at Lizbeth, acting as though she wasn't intimidated. In truth, she was. All she saw in Lizbeth's eyes was her mother. Despite them being brown while her mother's were blue, they still had that same cold, threatening look to them. Ones that could have any sane person quaking in fear.
"They say he is a vicious brute who lost his arm and half the fingers on his hand but still fought on!" Cecily explained enthusiastically, his eyes lighting up at the thought.
"The King has blessed the marriage and it is settled. As am I, in rooms the King gave me himself," Margaret boasted and Lizbeth balled her right hand into a tight fist.
It was taking everything within her not to punch the woman in the face at that moment.
Cecily felt uneasy because she saw it as well. She knew the look. It was the same look her sister had given her before striking her just a few months prior.
"Oh, I doubt it," Lizbeth replied, smiling threateningly at the woman, "I dare say you forced it upon him and gave him no choice. I will get those rooms in one way or another. I am Queen. Not you."
"A queen would never act in the way that you are at this moment," Margaret scolded Lizbeth as she continued to smile, "You are pouting like a child."
"Hmm. A child, you say? That is exactly the way you act when it comes to the petty rivalry you have with my mother, one that is now causing a war to start. A war that could have been avoided if it weren't for the jealousy you have toward my mother, a jealousy that led to you being involved in the deaths of six of her children while her last girl is married to her enemy, the king of England," Lizbeth explained in a venomous tone, but continued to smile at her threatening, "Now, that is what a woman acting like a child would do. A jealous little girl. Which is exactly what you are, despite being older than me."
There was a moment of silence between the group as Lizbeth ran her fingers across the board. She suddenly smiled, slowly looking up at Margaret with a daring look on her face. "Jasper Tudor needs a wife. Cecily's mother Kate Woodville is wealthy from her late husband, the Duke of Buckingham. A marriage between her and Jasper Tudor will bring funds to Henry's cause. I shall bring it up with my husband. He will surely say yes. He always does."
Lizbeth turned to Cecily, who looked excited by her aunt being remarried while Margaret looked deeply unhappy.
Lizbeth picked up a chest piece with no name on it and handed it to Cecily, who was quick to add Jasper's name to it.
While Cecily walked off, Lizbeth smiled at Margaret mischievously. She shot her a daring look, just before leaving the room.
Lizbeth walked down the hallway, just before finding herself coming face to face with Henry, who looked to be in a hurry. Despite that, she wasted no time voicing her complaints to him.
"Henry, your mother must be removed from the Queen's rooms at once," She demanded, only to watch Henry stop walking.
He turned to face her, a deeply aggravated look on his face. "Oh, forget the rooms," He groaned, just before continuing to walk away, "They're saying your cousin has escaped from the Tower."
"What?" Lizbeth asked, a large frown forming upon her lips.
_____
"Take me home," Teddy pleaded as he looked up at Maggie, who knelt in front of him. She stared up at him, trying to hold back her tears.
Lizbeth and Henry stood off to the side, watching the scene occur.
Maggie began to softly cry as she stood up slightly, pressing a kiss to the top of her brother's head.
"I don't understand," Lizbeth spoke up as she turned to look at Henry, confused, "What would be the reason for people to say he is free when he is not?"
"It will be your mother stirring up unrest," Henry informed Lizbeth, who frowned in confusion.
"But what unrest?" She asked, a puzzled look on her face, "How does it help them to say that he is free?"
"Your mother is claiming that she has him there in Burgundy. She is using his name to raise an army against me," He explained to Lizbeth, but of course, Maggie could still hear.
"No," Maggie cried out as she shook her head, "Teddy could never..."
"Maybe not. But my enemies don't know that. It is why your Aunt is doing this," Henry explained before turning to Nora with a cold look on his face, "Still believe your mother is nothing for us to worry about?"
"Henry—" She began to say, only to be cut off as he walked out of the room.
"Lizbeth, please," Maggie pleaded as she stood up and walked over to her cousin, "Help him."
Lizbeth simply nodded. She wasted no time following after him and when she finally reached him, they were outside.
"Henry, if mother and Burgundy are behind this, then prove that they are wrong," Lizbeth insisted, "Cecily is to be married soon. Let us have Teddy at the wedding. If we show that he is living with us, a member of our household, then he could not possibly be in Burgundy raising men against you. All those who say he is will be proven liars, including my mother."
"And I suppose after the wedding, you will say that we must keep him from the Tower and with us?" Henry asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
He sighed, beginning to walk away while Lizbeth continued on.
"Well, if it goes well, why not?" Lizbeth quickly responded as she grabbed him by the arm to stop him from walking away, "He is a child, Henry! You have seen yourself how scared he is, how lonely and unloved. Treated poorly just because of the blood that runs through his veins. Can you say you have never felt that?" She asked, knowing it would convince Henry to see her point of view, "You are better than this. I know you are. How can you let yourself be so threatened by a child? Show the world the man you truly are and let him live with us again."
Henry remained silent, but nodded his head.
Lizbeth smiled widely, sighing in utter relief. "Oh, thank you, Henry!" She told him, wasting no time hugging him.
She slowly pulled away, looking him in the eyes. Despite feeling uneasy, she leaned forward, pressing her lips against his.
____
In her rooms, Lizbeth stood off to the side with Maggie and Teddy while her ladies prepared Cecily for her wedding.
"Do I look beautiful?" She asked, a nervous look on her face, and the ladies nodded, "I must look beautiful."
She turned her head and looked directly at Lizbeth. "Lizbeth, are you happy for me?" She asked her sister curiously.
Lizbeth forced a smile on her face and nodded, despite feeling uneasy. Something in her gut just told her the wedding wouldn't go well, that no matter how much she hoped it wouldn't happen, Teddy would end up back in the Tower.
Later on that day, at procession through London for Cecily's wedding, the people of London cheered for Cecily, Lizbeth, and Henry.
"King Warwick, we support you!" A woman suddenly shouted out, much to Lizbeth's concern.
"Warwick! I'm Warwick. King Warwick!" Teddy shouted out, just as he always did when someone called out for him.
Maggie tried her best to keep Teddy quiet, but it was no use. Margaret ended up hearing and made a big scene of it.
At that moment, Lizbeth knew it must have been planned.
"What's the boy saying?" Margaret asked, acting as though she was concerned, "Guards!"
The people of London began to call out for Teddy, causing Lizbeth to exchange a concerned look with Henry.
"Guards, get the boy!" Margaret demanded in a stern tone.
Lizbeth's eyes widened in horror as she watched one of the guards unsheathe his sword, beginning to walk toward Teddy in a threatening manner.
"No!" Lizbeth screamed out and without thinking, she had jumped off her horse.
"Lizbeth, no!" Henry shouted at the girl, an alarmed look on his face.
Maggie's eyes widened in alarm as she held Teddy close to her chest, terrified of what the guard was going to do to her brother.
"Stop, stop! Stop it!" Lizbeth pleaded as she began to push through the guards, trying to help Teddy.
Despite that, before the guard could get to Teddy, John De la Pole jr, his cousin, stepped in front of him and roughly punched the guard in the face. "Get back!" He growled, ready to protect his cousin, the rightful king, "Keep away from him. You will not harm him! York is the true king!"
Lizbeth suddenly froze in place, watching as all of the de la Poles, her aunt's family, stood in front of Teddy and Maggie, protecting them.
"De La Pole!" Henry shouted, warning the man not to say anything else.
"York!" Another man suddenly shouted, much to Henry and Lizbeth's horror.
Lizbeth's cousin fought the guard in front of him, up until he was on the ground, dead.
"Traitor!" John De La Pole suddenly yelled out, looking directly at Lizbeth.
She frowned, a pleading look on her face as she watched small folk began to move toward her threateningly, a riot breaking out in the streets of London.
"Lizbeth! Protect the Queen!" Henry shouted out loudly, only to see that the guards were preoccupied fighting other small folk.
He sighed in frustration, immediately climbing off his horse to help Lizbeth.
"Henry, no!" Margaret cried out as Jasper whisked her away to safety.
Maggie screamed out as well, trying to fend off the guards who were trying to drag her brother away.
One of the lowborn men had grabbed Lizbeth by the arm, only end up having the woman backhand him across the face with her balled-up fist. "How dare you presume to touch me, you insolent fool!" She growled at him angrily.
Someone else had grabbed Lizbeth by the arm, but as she whipped herself around to punch him, she stopped when she saw it was Henry.
Her eyes widened, not expecting it to be him.
"Have you gone completely mad?" He complained in a frustrated tone.
"On most days, I ask myself the same thing," She whispered to him softly, earning an eye roll from her husband.
__
After what happened in the streets of London, Lizbeth returned to the castle with Henry, who was overwhelmed by what had happened.
"One voice. That's all it took. One woman crying out and men that swore fealty turn against me," Henry complained, causing Lizbeth to sigh in defeat.
"John de la Pole," She corrected him in a stern tone, "Just one, not all of your men."
"The other de la Poles have fled. Some of my own guards as well. They did nothing as the smallfolk was on the verge of going after you," He explained as he began to pace around with Lizbeth watching him closely, "Who else is against me? It's a pox that spreads like a plague, whispering into men's ears, 'Rise up! For no one loves the King! Rise up and spread this poison.' This has done me harm. And it was your idea."
Lizbeth found herself feeling offended as Henry turned to face her, She frowned, watching as he pointed an accusing finger at her.
"You cannot think that I wanted this," Lizbeth argued defensively, "In the middle of the streets of London, I climbed off my horse, Henry. I climbed off my horse to stop it, not caring about how it risked my life. All I wanted was my cousin from the Tower and now he is back inside. And if you weren't blind, you would have seen that what happened was staged."
"What are you talking about?" He asked, a frowning forming on his face.
"Your mother clearly initiated it—" She began to say, only to have Henry cut her off.
"Oh, don't start," He groaned in annoyance, growing tired of his mother and Lizbeth's rivalry. He found himself hating it just as much as he hated the one between his mother and Nora.
"This is neither my fault nor Teddy's, it is—" She began to say, only to have someone suddenly cut her off.
"It is Nora, your mother's fault," Margaret suddenly spoke up, causing the group to turn to her.
"What?" Lizbeth frowned, sending the woman a confused look as she watched her walk over to them.
"She must have instructed de la Pole to snatch the boy to hand to her in Burgundy," Margaret explained and just by the look on her face, Lizbeth knew the woman was making it up, "The woman who set off the crowd was paid to do it—"
"By you," Lizbeth growled at Margaret in a venomous tone.
"You must have seen it," Margaret told her son as she looked directly at him and ignored Lizbeth as she always did.
However, Lizbeth knew whenever Margaret did such a thing, it because she was right.
"She did her job and she fled. Nora will strike again. There is only one way to ensure she doesn't..." Margaret trailed off, giving her son a knowing look.
"What?" Lizbeth asked, a concerned look on her face, "What way?"
"Silence her forever, Henry, and Burgundy will lose their power source and their link to all your enemies. Cut off the head and the snake will die," Margaret continued to explain and Lizbeth found herself consumed with rage.
"If anyone is the snake here, it's you," Lizbeth growled and Margaret briefly turned to glance at her before looking back at Henry.
"Send an assassin after her," Margaret insisted in a stern tone, "Make sure her need for vengeance ends for once and for all."
Lizbeth was about to make another comment, only to turn her head to see the look on Henry's face. He was actually considering it.
"Henry?" She called out in a pleading tone and Henry looked down at the ground, avoiding eye contact with her.
"No, Henry, she is my mother," She pleaded as she moved closer to him, "She is our son's grandmother!"
"All of England laughs behind my back. I am a fool to them, that has no love from any man. Do you not think I would kill for that? I would kill for less than that," He asked her in a frustrated tone, "And you and I both know you would as well."
Lizbeth began to glare at Henry, watching as he walked away. She turned, finding herself alone with Margaret, who looked satisfied by the fact that Henry had chosen her side over Lizbeth's.
Lizbeth growled, taking a threatening step toward Margaret. She walked toward her until her face was just inches away from Margaret's. "You're so glad you're his mother or you'd be bleeding out on the floor by now. Everything would be fine if it weren't for you. You caused Katherine's death, I know it. You wanted to provoke my mother and it worked. You know her children are her weakness and once again, you killed another one. Don't you think you've killed enough of us? There was seven. Seven healthy children and you killed us. Four of which never had to opportunity to reach their adult years because of you," She explained, beginning to cry, "Now, you've taken away all that was stopping my mother from completely losing it after my father died. She sacrificed everything to be with him. She changed into a different person to be with him and when she lost him, she lost a part of herself. Her children were the only thing stopping her from going completely mad but now they're all gone and I belong to the enemy. She will be unstoppable now. And when we all end up dead, just know, it will be all your fault."
Lizbeth sighed, taking a step away from Margaret with tears welled in her eyes. "Don't you realize, Lady Margaret? Just as I am like my mother, my mother was a perfect mixture of her mother and father. She is the perfect, charismatic leader like her father that could have people from both sides following her and believing in her. And like her mother, she could make someone believe anything that came out of her mouth, even if it was a lie," She humorlessly laughed, wiping the tears from her eyes, "She was on the verge of being a prisoner to Lord Warwick when mad King Henry became king for a second time, but how did that end? My mother ended up becoming Princess of Wales and heir to the throne. If she's capable of doing such a thing, what else do you think she's capable of? You should be afraid. I know I am."
Lizbeth turned on her heel, beginning to walk away with an uneasy look on her face.
Margaret watched her walk away. She, too, began to feel worried, knowing that Lizbeth had a point.
They should be afraid.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
The dynamic between Henry, Margaret, and Lizbeth is literally the SAME exact thing that it was with Lord Warwick, Edward, and Nora. It's like history repeating itself 😂
In the beginning of their relationship, Nora and Edward would have been so much happier if it weren't for Lord Warwick always messing it up for them and now, Lizbeth and Henry's marriage would be so much more peaceful and happy if it weren't for Margaret.