~Broken Sanctuary~

"Do I have to?" Eleanor whined as Marie pushed the list of noblewomen across the embroidered coverlet of the bed. She nodded, finding it hard not to laugh at her friend's childlike defiance, grinning as Eleanor folded her arms.

"Yes, you do" She said firmly "you are to leave London on Royal Progress in less than a week and still you have not chosen your ladies in waiting as Queen! You really should have done this before your coronation!"

"But you know I can't stand any of the damned women here!" Eleanor huffed, running her hands over the soft curve of her belly "They will smile and simper to my face and then plot behind my back! Besides I already have you and Anais!" She gestured to the flaxen haired woman sitting on the other side of the bed "and Lady Margaret had become one of my official ladies now! I don't see why I need more! Will you not support me, Anna?"

Anais shrugged a little, sending the Queen half a smile as her fingers played with the coverlet.
"I have to say, Leena, that I agree vith Marie!" Eleanor sighed and sank back into her pillows. "you are the Queen now and a Queen needs a band of Ladies to do her bidding! You don't have to like them all! Ve all know your sister tolerated vomen she resented...."

"I am not my sister" Eleanor cut in, sounding sharper than she had intended "and I will not tolerate women I neither like nor trust simply for the benefit of others!" Anais looked down and she felt a pang of guilt run through her "but I will pick ladies" she said, her voice softer "for you two if not for tradition!"

Anais and Marie smiled at her and offered her the list but Eleanor shook her head, waving it away "I'm perfectly capable of picking ones from my mind, thank you!" She said and bit her lip a little as she thought "Anne!" She declared with a satisfied nod "I shall have Anne Neville! Really I don't know why I didn't think of her before!"

"Of course!" Marie exclaimed and grabbed a fresh piece of parchment to note Anne's name down. "Who else?"

"Anne's daughter Isabel" Eleanor said, thinking of the honey haired girl that had once been her daughter Bess' greatest friend and really still was! "She will not properly serve me till she is older but she will be at court with her Mother and Bess will like to see her too I should think!" She paused again "the same goes for Kit. As my lady she will have a true position at court and I think she would like that! After all, Richard is thinking of making Johnny Captain of Calais! It would be unfair for Kit to be left out!"

"Issy...Kit...." Marie murmured as she wrote, nodding at each name "and who else?"
"Is five not enough?" Eleanor grumbled and Anais grinned.

"You had better make it an even six, my friend!" She suggested and Eleanor sighed, though a thought suddenly came to her mind that made her grin from ear to ear. The three looked towards the chamber doors when they opened and Richard strode in, a happy smile on his face as he walked to the bed and sat down, nodding as Marie and Anais curtsied to him.

"How are you, my darling?" He asked, kissing her cheek "the babe is giving you no trouble, I trust?"
"None at all!" She replied warmly, chuckling while Richard eyed her belly and smoothed a hand across the velvet that covered it "Marie, fetch his grace some wine would you?" 'Heaven knows he's going to need it for this announcement!' She thought to herself as the wine was fetched and Richard took a sip, savouring the sweet taste on his tongue.

"What are you doing?" He asked, looking at the lists.
"I'm being forced to take more Ladies into my service, though I have avoided anyone I dislike so far! I've added Anne, her daughter and Kit to my ranks, does that meet with your approval?"

Richard immediately nodded.
"They will all be loyal to you" he agreed "and Katheryn shall be over the moon!" Eleanor smiled at him.
"I hope so! But I have another Lady I would like to take under my Queenly wings!"
"Oh? And who may that be?"

Eleanor glanced between the three sat on her bed. Marie, quill at the ready, Anais curious as ever and Richard, sipping calmly from his goblet. 'This will be fun' she mused and took a breath before she spoke.

"Jane Shore!" 

Richard choked on his wine.

꧁꧂

September 1483, Sheriff Hutton

Fourteen year old Katheryn pressed a hand to her mouth as she stumbled along the dark corridors of Sheriff Hutton castle. She had never been before and the Royals had only been staying a week, and the twisting corridors and steep staircases were still a mystery to her; more so in her distress.

She had had no time to pick up a shawl and so shivered in her thin nightgown, the front and back of which were stained with the fresh blood that was leaking from between her legs.

Katheryn knew that this was her monthly course, the curse she had heard Eleanor and the other Ladies talk about so often and had always thanked God that she had not started hers. Now she had. At dinner she had excused herself as he stomach had hurt and she had gone to sleep curled up to relive the pain only to wake with her covers wet with blood.

Panicked beyond words and reason she had begun to sob, her mind immediately telling her to flee to the one person she knew she would trust with anything.

Eleanor.

'She will help' Katheryn thought as she climbed the last set of steps 'she will know what to do'  Creeping into the King and Queen's room, she tiptoed over to the bed, watching her Father's chest rising and falling calmly in sleep, Eleanor curled up beside him, head placed sweetly on his chest. 

Sidling over to her, Katheryn shook her as gently as she could, not wanting to wake her Father in the process.
"Eleanor!" She whispered "Eleanor! Eleanor, please wake up!"

Eleanor opened her eyes, surprise crossing over her features as she saw Katheryn and sat up from the warmth of her bed.
"What is it, my darling?" Richard groaned, beginning to wake up too as he felt Eleanor shift beside him.

"Nothing, nothing, love" she replied softly as her gaze settled on the stain of blood on Katheryn's nightgown and her eyes softened with sympathy. Turning to Richard she placed a kiss to the corner of his mouth "go back to sleep I will be back soon" she said and he turned over, pulling up the covers around him.

Quietly slipping from the bed, Eleanor took Katheryn's hand and drew her to one of the adjoining chambers. It was small and held a wooden bathtub in the middle which in the day was filled with hot water to be used at the King and Queen's pleasure but now it was empty.

"Wait here" Eleanor said and slipped back through to her bedroom, tiptoeing over to a coffee to retrieve a pair of short braies (undergarments she wore during her monthly course though she found she rarely had need of them due to her regular childbearing) and cotton pads which she would place inside to catch the blood.

Next she collected a clean nightgown and rushed back through to Katheryn. The young girl smiled at her as she entered and shut the door.
"I have a clean nightgown and a pair of braies that most women use when their monthly course comes around" she said, smiling kindly and passing the garments and the cotton pads to Katheryn before turning to the window and picking up the jug filled with water and pouring it into the basin next to it.

The water was cold but it would suffice and Eleanor nodded before she once again left Katheryn to change.
"Come in" the girl called softly a few minutes later and Eleanor entered with a smile, one that widened as Katheryn practically threw herself into her embrace, wrapping her arms around her neck.

"Let us get try to get your nightgown clean" Eleanor said gently as Katheryn drew away and picked up the soiled nightgown that had been discarded to the ground. Using the rest of the water from the jug she poured it into the tub and cast the nightgown into the water, pick up the block of soap that lay beside the bath and using it to try and clean the garment as best she could.

Katheryn watched Eleanor as she worked, finding herself smiling as she sat back against the tub and she suddenly felt her heart fill with affection and love.

"Thank you for helping me" she murmured and Eleanor looked down at her with a slight grin and a shake of her head, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"It is no trouble" she said "anyone would have done the same, your Mother certainly would have!"

"You are my Mother" Katheryn blurted out, her voice earnest and truthful "the Mother I love" she said, a little softer while Eleanor's eyes filled with tears and she held out her arms, laughing with joy as Katheryn came into them without hesitation "you have been the one who raised Johnny and I" she murmured "you who have loved us, you who have cared for us and treated us as if we were your own! You are my Mother, perhaps not by blood but by everything else you are!" She drew back a little, a sudden shyness overcoming her "may I call you Mother?" She asked "as Johnny calls you Maman?"

"Of course you can!" Eleanor cried as happy tears slid down her face and she beamed "I would be honoured!"

꧁꧂

Eleanor shivered in her ermine lined cloak as a cold breeze swept through York Minster where she and Richard had been receiving petitioners all day. But she did not mind the cold, in fact, her fingers could have been freezing to ice cubes and she would not have cared a jot!

All that mattered to her was that she and Richard were home, in their lands, among their people. People they knew loved them and always would. They had been cheered through every street on their way through the country but the cheers of the South and Midlands (though loving they were) were nothing compared to the deafening roars that had seen them through the North.

It seemed that the entire population had turned out to see them! Calling their names, throwing flowers for them to catch, shouting their loyalty and devotion until their voices were hoarse. It had been a sight never seen on English soil before then.

They loved their King, adored their Queen and even though their sovereigns were at that point dealing with Nobles, the citizens of York were gathered around the Minster as eager as ever to show their affection.

"I hope the children are well" Eleanor murmured as another Northern noble bowed and walked away. Richard chuckled to himself, linking their arms. They had only brought Bess, Matilda and George with them (since they were the eldest of the royal brood) and Katheryn was only there because of her new position as one of the Queen's ladies!

"They will be fine!" He reassured her, patting her hand "they have Lady Margaret to look after them and will all be perfectly healthy when we return from our progress!"

"Lady Margaret!" Eleanor giggled "I will never forget the look that Georgie gave me when I told them that she would be in charge of them all!"
"Well, he's eighteen and a keen hunter" Richard mused "and at twelve Johnny is growing up to be the same! I'd say those two will be escaping the city for the excitement of the hunt"

"Georgie most likely for the embrace of one woman or another!" She added, remembering the countless times the young man had been caught returning from brothels since the age of fifteen!
"Eleanor? Richard?" The two turned as Harry approached them, his nose red in the cold and his lips almost blue!

"Go back to the castle, Harry and warm yourself!" Richard laughed as his friend passed him a letter "we don't want you turning to ice!"
"I'd say it's less the chill of the wind than the chill of Stanley that's freezing him" Eleanor murmured, stealing a glance at Stanley who was guarding the Minster door with Francis and Rob "why you chose to bring him I don't think even God knows!"

"I brought him" Richard replied, tearing open the letter's seal "because he's the Lord High Chamberlain, sweet. I couldn't have left him in London now could I?"

"You could have for me!" She mumbled, grinning at Harry who grinned back, raising his eyebrows.
"And you could have left Jane Shore in London for me!"
"She is my Lady now, Richard!"
"And Stanley is one of my men!"

Eleanor sighed, Richard's dislike of Jane was unswayable as was her dislike of Stanley was.
"I like Jane" she protested "she's my friend"
"She's a harlot" Richard murmured "she was my brother's mistress, then your brother Anthony's are you sure you did not chose her simply to irritate your sister?"

"I am sure and if you ever call Jane a harlot again I swear I will throw you in a river! Now...." she looked up as Richard gasped, his expression clouding with rage as he read the letter in his hands "Richard, what is it?"

"The Woodville's have attacked the Tower" he hissed "Richard Grey and a band of men, trying to get our nephews free....the moment we are in the North and miles away! Sir Robert Brackenbury has written to me."

"But she did not get the boys out?" Eleanor asked, her own anger rising. How dare Elizabeth move against them in such a way? Attacking the Tower of London! "We cannot leave her in peace" she muttered "she will not stop....she will not rest and you know that"

"So what is to be done?" Richard asked and Eleanor jerked her head in the direction of the chamber across from them "with me" he ordered and in an instant Stanley, Harry, Francis and Rob had all jumped to attention, following their monarchs into the chamber and shutting the door.

"It is my belief that we must take my sister, now Lady Elizabeth Grey, from Sanctuary and imprison her in the Tower under the strictest guard" Eleanor said as they gathered around the great oak table in the room and the men immediately exchanged uneasy glances.

"You want me to break sanctuary?" Richard asked "as my brother did after Tewksbury"
"Yes" Eleanor said sternly "but there needn't be violence, we can simply persuade Elizabeth to leave so to the people it seems it was her choice. We will say that if she does not go willingly then we will take her by force to the Tower and our nieces along with her!"

"You wouldn't do that!" Francis cried, astonishment written clearly on his face "most of the girls are children! They all are really! You wouldn't put them in the Tower!"
"Of course not!" Eleanor snapped, making them all jump "but Elizabeth doesn't know that. God knows what she thinks of me now! After taking the throne from her son...."

"Which was our right" Richard said and she nodded.
"Yes which was our right but she doesn't think it is. We already have her sons in the Tower she will believe that we will put her daughters there too!"
"But we won't?"
"No. We will send them to Leeds castle and they will stay there until we command otherwise! It is land I know well and the people there are loyal only to me"

"It is a good plan"
She looked sharply across at Stanly as he spoke, though the others began to nod slowly in agreement.
"Placing Elizabeth in the Tower is the only way to stop her" Eleanor continued, turning to Richard "surely you can see that?" He looked down at her, his eyes deep blue with thought before he sighed and turned to Rob.

"Rob, Francis" he said firmly "I want to send you back to London immediately....see that Elizabeth is imprisoned in the Tower and her daughters sent to Leeds castle" Looking between the King and Queen, Rob hesitated only a moment before he nodded and bowed.

"Stanley, go with them" Eleanor added "I think that this mission shall do you well"

"As you wish, your grace" Stanley said, obliging as ever as he swept into a deep bow and smiled his sly smile at her. She merely nodded as he sauntered from the room and Rob and Francis made to follow though she caught the latter by the sleeve of his doublet.

"Keep an eye on him I don't trust him"
Francis nodded, sending her a smile.
"We both will" he said firmly.