~Queens and Marriage~

June, 1484, Dover....

She had cried. She had pleaded. She had begged.
She had yelled. She had stormed. She had raged.

But nothing was to be done.
Her eldest daughter was to be taken from her.

"She's only twelve!" Eleanor had screamed when Richard had tried to console her the night Cecily had told them "she's a child! She's my baby!"
"She is the Queen of France now" her Mother in law had replied in her usual calm tone but that had only made Eleanor cry more, heavy tears soaking her cheeks and gown. The Queen of France. None of the power settled on her, none of the riches or influence.

All she knew was that her baby, her little one was to be taken from her and be trapped in marriage so that she could not be returned. Eleanor had thought that Bess would be married off at fifteen at the very least! That way she would be raised with her siblings and her Mother could keep her close and their family would not be fragmented.

But it was not to be, Duchess Anne of Bourbon (the French Regent alongside her husband Duke Peter II) had decided that Bess had to be raised in French court under her rule.

They want to twist her into their creature' Eleanor thought bitterly one night as she cried herself to sleep 'to turn her against me and England!' This may be an alliance meant to create peace but that would not stop them from turning her little white rose into a golden fleur de lis.

She had demanded that the betrothal be broken and that it was all forgotten but that was not to be either, to break this alliance now (especially as the French court already knew about it) would start a war and England could not take another.

And so each and every day Eleanor tried to look for a new way out for her daughter and felt her heart shatter a little more each time she failed.

And then she and Richard told Bess.

She had cried. She had pleaded. She had begged.
She had yelled. She had stormed. She had raged.

But nothing was to be done.
She was to be shipped away from her home.

At first she had burst into tears, wailing and weeping as she ran to her Mother and clung to her skirts, sobbing endlessly into them.

"Don't make me go!" She had cried "don't send me away! I don't want to be a Queen of a foreign land! I want to stay here, with you!" But when her Father had tried to explain to her in the gentlest and kindest way possible that that couldn't be so, her tears of sadness had turned to tears of rage.

And in this rage she had run from the room and subsequently told all of her siblings who listened with wide eyes and open mouths before trying to comfort their weeping sister. They all now feared marriage too and they were angry at their parents for taking Bess away from them.

"She is my sister! They can't take her from me! I won't let them!" Matilda had yelled while Eliza held her tightly in her arms and the little girl had resolved then and there she would not speak to her parents. For almost a month now she had kept that promise and so had Bess.

And so the Royal Family stood on a special dais created for them, at the port, fractured and broken, almost all of them shedding tears, even the boys. Eleanor stood weeping openly, tears streaming down her face while Richard held her hand and struggled to keep back tears himself.

Bess stood ahead of them on the wooden pier covered with a carpet embroidered with fleur de lis, staring stoically at the ship that was to take her away from her home forever. June the eighteenth was a hot day with sun shining down upon England but along the coast where the Plantagenets stood the wind was cold and icy, reflecting their mood perfectly.

The young Princess stood in a gown of gold brocade, decorated with white roses and golden fleur de lis and her red hair was hidden from sight under a tall butterfly hennin she was sure would fall from her head at any second.

She tried her best not to cry as she stared at the ship that loomed ahead with French nobles upon the deck, gazing at her, assessing her. She wouldn't make a good Queen, Bess had always known that, it was Matilda who was made to be the leading lady of a great land, not her! She was made to galavant freely around fields, playing with her brothers in breeches and shirts without a care in the world!

But she knew now her freedom was gone, it was gone forever. She looked down at her gown and felt anger stab at her. She hated the fleur de lis and hated anything about her marriage, her new country, her new 'family'. She would never accept them! She was determined not too and she was sure they would never accept her!

A week after the announcement of her engagement a small portrait of her new husband had arrived for her but she had burnt it within an hour of receiving it, a hatred forming within her for a man (boy) she did not even know!

The only comfort she knew was in the form of the fifteen year old who stood beside her in murrey and blue. Her golden-haired cousin, Cecily, the daughter of her dead Uncle Edward. Since Cecily had arrived at court with her sister in April, Bess had always taken her to be quite aloof as she never played with she and her siblings as Lizzie loved too but the day Cecily had come into Bess' rooms and found the young Princess sobbing by the fireplace in despair that opinion had changed drastically.

Cecily had gathered Bess into her arms, wiping away her tears and comforting her as best she could. There and then she had promised she would go with Bess to France and be her companion for as long as she wished, saying she did not care if the King or Queen tried to deny her for she would not be denied!

And as Bess clung to her, she knew she had found an ally in her crumbling world. Cecily looked down at her now, an encouraging smile on her face as the alliance agreements were read out by a Frenchman at the end of the pier. Before she knew it, the agreements had been spoken and it was time to leave forever.

Two French noblewomen in fine gowns stepped towards her to guide her away from her family but in that moment Bess suddenly turned and ran, surprised gasps of both the English and the French filling her ears as she bounded up the dais steps and into her Mother's arms.

"I love you!" She cried and felt her Mother sob against her shoulder as she lifted her up and held her tight "I love you! I love you! I love you!"
"And I love you, my most darling girl" Eleanor wept, kissing Bess' cheeks and gently wiping away the tears that were sliding down her daughter's cheeks "if there was any way to stop this" she then whispered "I would have done it! Any way at all! Because I love you, Bess, I never ever wanted for you to leave England and I bid you never forget it!"

"Never! Never! Never!" Bess solemnly promised in an equally hushed voice before she felt her Father gently lifting her from her Mother's arms into his and she hugged him tightly.
"Be brave, Bess" he told her with a smile, despite the tears shining in his eyes "for you are braver than any knight I have ever known! You are a Plantagenet, a strong daughter of York! And I will always love you! Always!"

"And I will always love you, Papa!" Bess replied before she was once more lowered to the floor and waved goodbye to her brothers and sisters, Georgie, Johnny, Katheryn and Eliza too. All of them were crying.

"Come along" Cecily's soft voice said as she put an arm around her little cousin's shoulders and guided her back down the dais and towards the ship, waving away the French noblewomen.
"I will care for the Queen" she said sternly and the women walked back towards the ship.

'I will be brave' Bess promised herself as she climbed on board "I will be brave" she told Cecily as the ship sailed out of port and her family faded away.

꧁꧂

"Katheryn is to be married?" Eleanor exclaimed as Richard announced the latest Plantagenet marriage to her over breakfast. He smiled and nodded, leaning back in his chair while he sipped on his wine.

"She is" he confirmed, almost laughing when Eleanor turned to a serving girl and told her to fetch Katheryn "a William Herbert has asked for her hand and I accepted!"
"Does she know?" Eleanor exclaimed, dabbing at the corners of her mouth with a serviette and Richard nodded.

"She came to me before the boy did! They met when all the children first came to court and now they wish to marry!"
"She's fifteen"
"He's but a year older and he's an Earl! It is a brilliant match for her!"

Eleanor raised an eyebrow but made herself smile as Katheryn rushed into the room, curtsying before she took a seat at the table.
"Father, Mother" she said brightly, nodding to each of them before she grinned at Eleanor "has he told you? That I am to be a Countess and marry for love?" Her cheeks were flushed with happiness, a brilliant smile on her face as she clutched at the cushion on her chair, eager for Eleanor's approval.

"He has" Eleanor replied before her smile widened and she reached across the table, taking Katheryn's hand "and if you love this man and he loves you then I am delighted for you both!" Kathryn let out a childish squeal and flew from her seat, kissing Eleanor on the cheek before she rushed from the room, presumably to tell her betrothed they had the Queen's approval!

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Eleanor asked once she had gone "I love Kit and I do not want her to fly into a marriage only to be unhappy in it!"
"I am sure" Richard replied steadily with a reassuring smile, taking her hand "I gave Johnny the Captaincy of Calais for his birthday in March now it is time Kat had something special! Besides, if you had seen them together as I did yesterday when I asked them together you would have seen the love they bear towards one another! They will be happy, I am sure of it"

"Very well" Eleanor returned with a nod before she bit her lip a little, consumed by a sudden thought.
"Leena? What is it?"
"Would it be too much to ask if....if I said I wanted Kate at the wedding?"

Richard's jaw practically dropped to the floor at that, his eyes as wide as saucers as he tried to figure out if he had heard her word's correctly or if she was trying to make some sort of joke.
"Kate?" He practically cried, in complete disbelief which made Eleanor smile "Kate as in Kate Haute?"

"She's Katheryn's Mother isn't she?" She pointed out and all Richard could do was nod "well then, she should be there! I know she can have no formal role but I would like to have her there all the same!"
"Is this some sort of joke I have become too stupid to understand in my old age?"

Eleanor laughed and shook her head.
"I'm completely serious!" She said "I no longer fear her as I used to. I am confident in your love and I know that she cannot replace me" Richard smiled at that, taking her hand again and kissing it gently "I know that you love me just as much as I love you and that you are loyal to me as I am loyal to you. I have no need to fear her. She is not a threat to me and, even if I thought she was, she deserves to see her daughter on her wedding day. I will invite her personally!"

"You don't have to" he told her gently, signalling to the servants for their plates to be cleared away, but she simply shrugged a little.
"No, but I think I should, I will not pretend that Kate and I shall ever be great friends for we will not but I would like for there to be a peace between us. For Kit and Johnny's sake and yours too!"