The Heretic Heir, page 38
part #2 of The Elizabeth of England Chronicles Series
The next evening, we were a merry party at Brocket Hall; Bess had brought her William to the house, and Geraldine’s husband, the Lord Admiral Clinton, had also arrived. I called for a feast, for we had also heard that the Duke of Feria, Phillip’s envoy from Spain, was wending his way to Brocket after talking with Cecil in London. I wanted him to see that this prince of the realm was no longer hiding in the shadows behind the throne.
Feria arrived just before the evening’s entertainments were to begin. He seemed surprised that such a merry throng should be around me, perhaps thinking that I should still be removed from all friends and allies, as the Spanish no doubt had hoped. During the meal, there was much talk and laughter. Although Kat was not present, because I wanted none to know she had been secretly brought back to my house, the very idea of her presence so nearby had raised my spirits.
As the banquet of sweets drew to a close, I turned to the Duke. He was a fairly handsome man; dark eyes and hair, his beard fashionable and short and his body clothed in the dark robes that the Spanish seemed well to favour. Diamonds sparkled on his doublet, and pearls on his sleeves; although he looked simply attired compared to some of our English gallants, he was dressed in jewels and cloth that must have cost a goodly fortune.
William Parr and the Lord Admiral removed themselves at my signal, and the Duke and I were left with just the company of my ladies and the musicians who took up a mournful tune as we turned to talk.
“I would that you would speak in your own language, Your Grace,” I said in Spanish. “For my women know only the English tongue, and I would want you to speak freely. It will save time in your visit here, if we speak with honesty to each other.”
Feria smiled. “I would not mind if the whole world knew of what we said to each other. My master and I have no fear, my lady.”
“All the same, Your Grace,” I smiled. “Your master strove to protect me in times when I needed such; it would be of comfort to me, to return such friendship to his emissary now.”
Feria nodded and acquiesced. It was not in the nature of any Ambassador to deny an offer of secrecy when it was presented to them. How was he to be aware that each of my ladies had good knowledge of the Spanish language? He was not conscious that my women and I often conversed in Latin, English, French, Italian or Spanish when we were in our private lodgings; keeping our knowledge of each alive through daily practise with each other. Blanche was even teaching the rest of my ladies some Welsh, although their tongues tripped often over the complexities of that new language.
If this emissary wanted to bargain with me for Spanish advantage once I became queen, I wanted witnesses to his demands now.
My ladies gave no signal that Feria could have seen, but they understood me well enough. Between themselves, they talked quietly, but I could almost see their ears growing, elongating, as they worked to hear our conversation as they minded to their own. It is a skill that many women have, which men do not seem to have ever learned; to be able to clearly hear another conversation as they make one of their own. Whenever I have asked men of it, they have looked at me with confusion, perhaps thinking it a feminine ruse of some kind. But I counsel you now to remember, good gentlemen, that those of the fairer sex have many such covert skills at their disposal, unbeknown to their male counterparts. So, be careful what you say in the company of women, my good lords, for not only do they remember all, but they hear all as well.
“It is fitting that you should begin, Your Highness,” Feria said in his heavy Spanish, “by talking of a debt owed between yourself and my master, Phillip of Spain; for although it will not have been made clear to you, it is through his actions alone that you have been named as heir to the throne. The Council and the Queen were moved by his arguments in your favour, and so in addition to the protection he offered you when you were most in need of it, my master now offers you the throne of England, through his own graciousness and good-will.”
I stared at the Duke for a moment, my anger rising in my chest. What did this man think of me, that I should believe that I owed my right to the throne to the whims and favour of his master? I tried to cool my rage; the Spanish want you to believe this, I thought, so that they have you in their pocket… as they wanted to do so before, by marrying you off to their lackey Philibert.
I clenched my teeth together. It would not do to slap the emissary of Spain, however much I wanted to.
“It is the people… The people of England who have given me my present position, Your Grace,” I replied smoothly. “In recognition of my own heritage, my own royal blood and titles, and in recognition of their love for me. I was made heir to this throne of England by law in the will of my father, the great King Henry VIII, but it was the will of those I mean to rule that has vouchsafed me this throne in truth. Nothing, do I owe to your master in that regard, and nothing to the nobles or royal seat of any house, other than those of England.”
Feria tried to cover his look of surprise. He was skilled at masking his horror but I spoke more plainly to him than he had ever expected. Ambassadors are used to dancing their way through lies and gaining truth through subterfuge, but I wanted his master in Spain to be in no doubt, about who was going to rule this country… and who was not.
The time for interference by foreign powers in the matters of England, was done.
“It is the people of England who place me on the throne to rule over them, Your Grace,” I repeated, just to make sure he had understood me completely. “And no one else.”
I smiled at his serious face. He had been hoping to easily dupe a young maid into obedience to his master; I almost felt sorry for him. He had no idea who he was dealing with; his master should have seen him better prepared than this to face me. I reached out to his hand and touched it lightly.
“Your master once tried to have me married,” I said gently, “to a lord from foreign shores. But I refused to do so, for I know well enough that the Queen, my royal sister, lost the love of her people because she married a foreign power. There will be no such mistakes now. The people of England place an English princess on the throne and they make her the Queen, and their love will decide my actions in the future. I will be ruled by none,” I affirmed, my eyes glinting at him as the musicians took up another tune. “Other than by God, my conscience, and the love of my people.”
Feria swallowed. Things were not going according to his plans. “Will you be governed not by the Council?” he asked.
“Not by the sheep and goats that surround my poor sister now,” I laughed. His face for the first time registered a look of shock. “Yes, my lord,” I nodded. “You heard my words correctly. I call them such for such they are. The sheep are those my poor sister inherited of my father and brother, beasts long since past their best meat, now just fit for mutton; and the goats are those she chose herself. There are some in that Council who still have wit and reason, and they will survive the cull I intend to make when I come into possession of the herd, but I will choose my own flock.” My face darkened. “And my men will be chosen from those who have not wronged me, as so many on the Council of my sister have done.”
“It would not do credit to your name or titles,” Feria frowned, “to show a desire for vengeance or revenge; it is not womanly to show such characteristics, and would much upset the image that most of the world has, of you as a good and kind Catholic princess.”
I smiled ruefully. “And we would not want such an image to be disrupted, Your Grace… I will not seek vengeance on those who have done me wrong, on those who once slandered my name and stood by as I was abused and defamed. I will ask that those members of the Council who did such to me acknowledge their faults in that matter. I will pardon them as I let them go. I will have no use for them, but I will not seek to ruin them, as they once did to me. So you see, Your Grace, I do not carry vengeance in my heart.”
“What men will you then trust, Your Highness?” he asked. “Your Council will be made of new men, none accustomed to the governance of the realm as those who are trained and experienced in their roles… as the men that sit therein now.”
“Experience does not necessarily bestow success or wisdom,” I smiled. “Especially if all one is experienced in is failure and folly. I believe you know already whom I will favour when the time comes, Your Grace. But I will make it easy for you. Look to my audience chamber when you come to take your leave on the morrow. Therein you will see many faces of the new age that approaches.” I smiled at him and pressed my hand over him on the table. “I know well enough that you have made many friends in the present Council, and that you seek to defend them for that friendship. But you, and your master, my dear brother, should sense well enough, that the tide is turning on these shores of England, and a new order comes. Do not find yourself stuck on the sands for having missed the opportunity to assess the power of the waves, Your Grace.”
He went to talk again, but I held up my hand and silenced him. Although he looked outraged, he was silenced at my signal.
“I have had enough talk this night of politics, Your Grace,” I said merrily. “Tell me of your plans to marry my sister’s lady in waiting, Jane Dormer. I have met her and found her to be a woman of much courage and grace. I hope you are aware that you take an English bride with English spirit; I wonder if you are ready for such a challenge?”
I eyed him mischievously. Oh, he was a fun one to poke at, this Spaniard! So painfully aware of the proper way of behaving. I hoped, for her own sake, that Jane would find some way of loosening the drawstrings on his humour.
“I thank you, Your Highness,” he said stiffly. “My Lady Jane is a good woman. I hope that our union will not be long in the waiting.”
“I wish you all possible happiness in marriage, Your Grace.” I lifted my goblet to him. The wine inside mine was far weaker than in his, for I did not like a head clouded and muddled from the excesses of drink.
My ladies picked up their goblets, as did Feria, and all looked at me to make the toast.
“To love,” I cried in English, “between a man and a woman, or a duke and a lady and to the love between two countries,” I fixed Feria with my sparkling eyes. “May greater understanding, lead only to harmony and love between our nations.”
“To love!” my ladies and Feria cried loudly, toasted and then drank.
As my ladies and I rose to go to bed, Feria bowed and took my hand to kiss it. “I understand you, perfectly, Your Highness,” he said.
“Then I am glad, Your Grace, for I mean to be well understood in my own house.” I smiled.
As Feria went to leave the next morning, he came, as instructed to my audience chamber. Therein were the faces of the new age; Robin Dudley, Parry and Lord Clinton, and new supporters of my position; Nicholas Throckmorton, Peter Carew and John Harrington. Men we had amassed, those that had come to me, those that had come through my present servants. Only Cecil was absent, being still in London making our arrangements.
I saw Feria pale slightly as he came to take my leave in the chamber, and I smiled once again to see him so discomforted… as well he might be. He and his master might have hoped that I would reign under Phillip’s influence, or become a puppet of Spain, but they were wrong. They might have hoped that I would retain Mary’s Catholic Council, but they were wrong. They might have hoped they would have a foolish, untutored child to deal with, but they were wrong.
My new Councillors were young, vigorous, bold… And almost every one of them was a secret Protestant, as well Feria knew.
I let him leave early; after all, bad news is so much harder to write than good news… and he had a letter full of bad news to compose to his master in Spain.
I took some satisfaction in thinking on what Phillip’s face might look like when he opened the letter… my enjoyment, I felt, was justified seeing as the Prince of Spain had once plotted to abduct me and force me into marriage with his underling. I only wished I could have been there to see the light drop from his eyes, when he found the heretic heir to the throne of England had spat defiance in his face.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Brocket Hall
Autumn 1558
The day after Feria left our little court, Cecil came riding home.
Although Parry, ever the cautious military man, advised against it, Cecil believed that we should remove from Brocket Hall and take our growing court back to Hatfield House.
“The time has come to establish our base for your ascension,” Cecil reasoned as Parry and I listened. “We have all in place, and each day I expect news of the Queen’s death; we should repair to a palace more in keeping with your new status, my lady.”
“When you say all is in place, good Cecil,” I questioned, “by what means do you refer?”
Cecil looked briefly at the ceiling in my privy chambers. He often wont to do this when he was thinking and placing those thoughts in order to be spoken.
“I have the documents of proclamation for your ascension prepared,” he said. “Fast riders are positioned up and down the route to London, so that we might send message or proclamation to the Council by them, and I have the majority of the Council on our side, expecting that if they proclaim you as Queen on the death of Her Majesty, they may yet have hope to retain their present positions.” He paused. “Moreover, I have a new Councillor’s oath drawn up, so that when the time comes, we can have every man of them swear to protect and assert your titles. We are as prepared as can be, my lady, for your reign to begin in smooth adherence to the will of Henry VIII. “
“There is still a risk that we will need to call on those men and garrisons promised to us to take the throne by force,” argued Parry. “I have them ready to mobilize with spare little warning… And if we need to muster troops to take London, Brocket is a more defensible base than Hatfield in which to defend Her Highness.”
“Let all those instructions stay in place,” nodded Cecil. “It never hurts to remain cautious. However, I believe that the country and the people are behind our cause. We have enough proof of it from our men who send news to us of the murmurings in the countryside and towns. Enough of the Council is willing to support us, and all those men who have gathered to the side of our lady are enough that no one, unless a true fool, should look at our forces gathered and think that they stand a better chance to take the throne.”
I looked at both my men; Parry and Cecil were like two sides of a coin, and both were as cautious and as devoted to my cause and to me as I could ask. In each one of them there was sense spoken, but I felt that Cecil was right; we must place ourselves where we could be easily found when we were called to the throne. To remain in such seclusion at Brocket Hall might look like cowardice, or reluctance.
“We will remove to Hatfield,” I said and held up a hand as Parry started to protest. “All military preparations will remain in place, Parry,” I continued. “We will be but four miles from Brocket should we need to come back to establish a defensive stance. The house will remain as it is. There are more than enough guards that we might take some to Hatfield and leave as many here. In that way, we are prepared for both eventualities. And as Cecil says, we must arrange ourselves at a palace more befitting our station than this house,” I paused. “Do we also have fast riders positioned to send word to those garrisons promised to us, should we have the need?”
They nodded almost in unison, and I frowned. “But yet you only tell me of those ready to ride out in the event of a peaceful succession?” I shook my head at them. “Gentlemen, although I may still look like the girl you knew, I am to be your queen most imminently. As such, although I value your desire to protect me, I must advise you to keep nothing from me. The time of our childhood is gone.” I looked at them. “In all things and in all preparations, I must have the truth from those around me. Nothing else will do, or my reign will certainly fail as has that of my sister.”
“Forgive me, my lady,” Parry apologised. “It was not a thing done on purpose; I did mean to tell you, but in truth there has been so much preparation and action in your cause of late, that there are most likely many things I have not outlined to you. But please believe me, all preparations, for each possible outcome, have been thought on, and plans set in motion to allow for each.”
I nodded. “I understand, Parry. There has indeed been a great deal occurring of late. But you will need to share a little more in your dealings,” I smiled. “I know well enough I can trust you both. Long have we all been together, and if we shared in the horror, the abuse we suffered before, so shall we share in the glory. But remember, gentlemen, I am of a mind most inquisitive, and therefore you do me more service in revealing too much to me than you do in hiding anything from me.”
They bowed.
“Now,” I said. “We should prepare to move to Hatfield at once. Cecil, you are to stay with us here from now on, then? You are not needed at our affairs in London?”
“When the time comes,” Cecil agreed, “I should be at your side, my lady. I have the best riders and messengers in the country at our disposal and I can have a message to London within an hour or two with ease. All other plans are ready, and you have many loyal servants in London working to carry out our orders, from men placed in the Council, to those who will watch the body of your sister. I have men observing the ports in England, France and Spain. If there should be any inclination of attack or invasion, the Lord Admiral will be ready to take your side. I have women placed to mark the movements of the Grey sisters and others watching your cousin of Lennox. There are those placed in towns and the city who will monitor for any sign of rebellion, and those placed to herald and proclaim your coming as a new age of tolerance and plenty up and down the country.”
Feria arrived just before the evening’s entertainments were to begin. He seemed surprised that such a merry throng should be around me, perhaps thinking that I should still be removed from all friends and allies, as the Spanish no doubt had hoped. During the meal, there was much talk and laughter. Although Kat was not present, because I wanted none to know she had been secretly brought back to my house, the very idea of her presence so nearby had raised my spirits.
As the banquet of sweets drew to a close, I turned to the Duke. He was a fairly handsome man; dark eyes and hair, his beard fashionable and short and his body clothed in the dark robes that the Spanish seemed well to favour. Diamonds sparkled on his doublet, and pearls on his sleeves; although he looked simply attired compared to some of our English gallants, he was dressed in jewels and cloth that must have cost a goodly fortune.
William Parr and the Lord Admiral removed themselves at my signal, and the Duke and I were left with just the company of my ladies and the musicians who took up a mournful tune as we turned to talk.
“I would that you would speak in your own language, Your Grace,” I said in Spanish. “For my women know only the English tongue, and I would want you to speak freely. It will save time in your visit here, if we speak with honesty to each other.”
Feria smiled. “I would not mind if the whole world knew of what we said to each other. My master and I have no fear, my lady.”
“All the same, Your Grace,” I smiled. “Your master strove to protect me in times when I needed such; it would be of comfort to me, to return such friendship to his emissary now.”
Feria nodded and acquiesced. It was not in the nature of any Ambassador to deny an offer of secrecy when it was presented to them. How was he to be aware that each of my ladies had good knowledge of the Spanish language? He was not conscious that my women and I often conversed in Latin, English, French, Italian or Spanish when we were in our private lodgings; keeping our knowledge of each alive through daily practise with each other. Blanche was even teaching the rest of my ladies some Welsh, although their tongues tripped often over the complexities of that new language.
If this emissary wanted to bargain with me for Spanish advantage once I became queen, I wanted witnesses to his demands now.
My ladies gave no signal that Feria could have seen, but they understood me well enough. Between themselves, they talked quietly, but I could almost see their ears growing, elongating, as they worked to hear our conversation as they minded to their own. It is a skill that many women have, which men do not seem to have ever learned; to be able to clearly hear another conversation as they make one of their own. Whenever I have asked men of it, they have looked at me with confusion, perhaps thinking it a feminine ruse of some kind. But I counsel you now to remember, good gentlemen, that those of the fairer sex have many such covert skills at their disposal, unbeknown to their male counterparts. So, be careful what you say in the company of women, my good lords, for not only do they remember all, but they hear all as well.
“It is fitting that you should begin, Your Highness,” Feria said in his heavy Spanish, “by talking of a debt owed between yourself and my master, Phillip of Spain; for although it will not have been made clear to you, it is through his actions alone that you have been named as heir to the throne. The Council and the Queen were moved by his arguments in your favour, and so in addition to the protection he offered you when you were most in need of it, my master now offers you the throne of England, through his own graciousness and good-will.”
I stared at the Duke for a moment, my anger rising in my chest. What did this man think of me, that I should believe that I owed my right to the throne to the whims and favour of his master? I tried to cool my rage; the Spanish want you to believe this, I thought, so that they have you in their pocket… as they wanted to do so before, by marrying you off to their lackey Philibert.
I clenched my teeth together. It would not do to slap the emissary of Spain, however much I wanted to.
“It is the people… The people of England who have given me my present position, Your Grace,” I replied smoothly. “In recognition of my own heritage, my own royal blood and titles, and in recognition of their love for me. I was made heir to this throne of England by law in the will of my father, the great King Henry VIII, but it was the will of those I mean to rule that has vouchsafed me this throne in truth. Nothing, do I owe to your master in that regard, and nothing to the nobles or royal seat of any house, other than those of England.”
Feria tried to cover his look of surprise. He was skilled at masking his horror but I spoke more plainly to him than he had ever expected. Ambassadors are used to dancing their way through lies and gaining truth through subterfuge, but I wanted his master in Spain to be in no doubt, about who was going to rule this country… and who was not.
The time for interference by foreign powers in the matters of England, was done.
“It is the people of England who place me on the throne to rule over them, Your Grace,” I repeated, just to make sure he had understood me completely. “And no one else.”
I smiled at his serious face. He had been hoping to easily dupe a young maid into obedience to his master; I almost felt sorry for him. He had no idea who he was dealing with; his master should have seen him better prepared than this to face me. I reached out to his hand and touched it lightly.
“Your master once tried to have me married,” I said gently, “to a lord from foreign shores. But I refused to do so, for I know well enough that the Queen, my royal sister, lost the love of her people because she married a foreign power. There will be no such mistakes now. The people of England place an English princess on the throne and they make her the Queen, and their love will decide my actions in the future. I will be ruled by none,” I affirmed, my eyes glinting at him as the musicians took up another tune. “Other than by God, my conscience, and the love of my people.”
Feria swallowed. Things were not going according to his plans. “Will you be governed not by the Council?” he asked.
“Not by the sheep and goats that surround my poor sister now,” I laughed. His face for the first time registered a look of shock. “Yes, my lord,” I nodded. “You heard my words correctly. I call them such for such they are. The sheep are those my poor sister inherited of my father and brother, beasts long since past their best meat, now just fit for mutton; and the goats are those she chose herself. There are some in that Council who still have wit and reason, and they will survive the cull I intend to make when I come into possession of the herd, but I will choose my own flock.” My face darkened. “And my men will be chosen from those who have not wronged me, as so many on the Council of my sister have done.”
“It would not do credit to your name or titles,” Feria frowned, “to show a desire for vengeance or revenge; it is not womanly to show such characteristics, and would much upset the image that most of the world has, of you as a good and kind Catholic princess.”
I smiled ruefully. “And we would not want such an image to be disrupted, Your Grace… I will not seek vengeance on those who have done me wrong, on those who once slandered my name and stood by as I was abused and defamed. I will ask that those members of the Council who did such to me acknowledge their faults in that matter. I will pardon them as I let them go. I will have no use for them, but I will not seek to ruin them, as they once did to me. So you see, Your Grace, I do not carry vengeance in my heart.”
“What men will you then trust, Your Highness?” he asked. “Your Council will be made of new men, none accustomed to the governance of the realm as those who are trained and experienced in their roles… as the men that sit therein now.”
“Experience does not necessarily bestow success or wisdom,” I smiled. “Especially if all one is experienced in is failure and folly. I believe you know already whom I will favour when the time comes, Your Grace. But I will make it easy for you. Look to my audience chamber when you come to take your leave on the morrow. Therein you will see many faces of the new age that approaches.” I smiled at him and pressed my hand over him on the table. “I know well enough that you have made many friends in the present Council, and that you seek to defend them for that friendship. But you, and your master, my dear brother, should sense well enough, that the tide is turning on these shores of England, and a new order comes. Do not find yourself stuck on the sands for having missed the opportunity to assess the power of the waves, Your Grace.”
He went to talk again, but I held up my hand and silenced him. Although he looked outraged, he was silenced at my signal.
“I have had enough talk this night of politics, Your Grace,” I said merrily. “Tell me of your plans to marry my sister’s lady in waiting, Jane Dormer. I have met her and found her to be a woman of much courage and grace. I hope you are aware that you take an English bride with English spirit; I wonder if you are ready for such a challenge?”
I eyed him mischievously. Oh, he was a fun one to poke at, this Spaniard! So painfully aware of the proper way of behaving. I hoped, for her own sake, that Jane would find some way of loosening the drawstrings on his humour.
“I thank you, Your Highness,” he said stiffly. “My Lady Jane is a good woman. I hope that our union will not be long in the waiting.”
“I wish you all possible happiness in marriage, Your Grace.” I lifted my goblet to him. The wine inside mine was far weaker than in his, for I did not like a head clouded and muddled from the excesses of drink.
My ladies picked up their goblets, as did Feria, and all looked at me to make the toast.
“To love,” I cried in English, “between a man and a woman, or a duke and a lady and to the love between two countries,” I fixed Feria with my sparkling eyes. “May greater understanding, lead only to harmony and love between our nations.”
“To love!” my ladies and Feria cried loudly, toasted and then drank.
As my ladies and I rose to go to bed, Feria bowed and took my hand to kiss it. “I understand you, perfectly, Your Highness,” he said.
“Then I am glad, Your Grace, for I mean to be well understood in my own house.” I smiled.
As Feria went to leave the next morning, he came, as instructed to my audience chamber. Therein were the faces of the new age; Robin Dudley, Parry and Lord Clinton, and new supporters of my position; Nicholas Throckmorton, Peter Carew and John Harrington. Men we had amassed, those that had come to me, those that had come through my present servants. Only Cecil was absent, being still in London making our arrangements.
I saw Feria pale slightly as he came to take my leave in the chamber, and I smiled once again to see him so discomforted… as well he might be. He and his master might have hoped that I would reign under Phillip’s influence, or become a puppet of Spain, but they were wrong. They might have hoped that I would retain Mary’s Catholic Council, but they were wrong. They might have hoped they would have a foolish, untutored child to deal with, but they were wrong.
My new Councillors were young, vigorous, bold… And almost every one of them was a secret Protestant, as well Feria knew.
I let him leave early; after all, bad news is so much harder to write than good news… and he had a letter full of bad news to compose to his master in Spain.
I took some satisfaction in thinking on what Phillip’s face might look like when he opened the letter… my enjoyment, I felt, was justified seeing as the Prince of Spain had once plotted to abduct me and force me into marriage with his underling. I only wished I could have been there to see the light drop from his eyes, when he found the heretic heir to the throne of England had spat defiance in his face.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Brocket Hall
Autumn 1558
The day after Feria left our little court, Cecil came riding home.
Although Parry, ever the cautious military man, advised against it, Cecil believed that we should remove from Brocket Hall and take our growing court back to Hatfield House.
“The time has come to establish our base for your ascension,” Cecil reasoned as Parry and I listened. “We have all in place, and each day I expect news of the Queen’s death; we should repair to a palace more in keeping with your new status, my lady.”
“When you say all is in place, good Cecil,” I questioned, “by what means do you refer?”
Cecil looked briefly at the ceiling in my privy chambers. He often wont to do this when he was thinking and placing those thoughts in order to be spoken.
“I have the documents of proclamation for your ascension prepared,” he said. “Fast riders are positioned up and down the route to London, so that we might send message or proclamation to the Council by them, and I have the majority of the Council on our side, expecting that if they proclaim you as Queen on the death of Her Majesty, they may yet have hope to retain their present positions.” He paused. “Moreover, I have a new Councillor’s oath drawn up, so that when the time comes, we can have every man of them swear to protect and assert your titles. We are as prepared as can be, my lady, for your reign to begin in smooth adherence to the will of Henry VIII. “
“There is still a risk that we will need to call on those men and garrisons promised to us to take the throne by force,” argued Parry. “I have them ready to mobilize with spare little warning… And if we need to muster troops to take London, Brocket is a more defensible base than Hatfield in which to defend Her Highness.”
“Let all those instructions stay in place,” nodded Cecil. “It never hurts to remain cautious. However, I believe that the country and the people are behind our cause. We have enough proof of it from our men who send news to us of the murmurings in the countryside and towns. Enough of the Council is willing to support us, and all those men who have gathered to the side of our lady are enough that no one, unless a true fool, should look at our forces gathered and think that they stand a better chance to take the throne.”
I looked at both my men; Parry and Cecil were like two sides of a coin, and both were as cautious and as devoted to my cause and to me as I could ask. In each one of them there was sense spoken, but I felt that Cecil was right; we must place ourselves where we could be easily found when we were called to the throne. To remain in such seclusion at Brocket Hall might look like cowardice, or reluctance.
“We will remove to Hatfield,” I said and held up a hand as Parry started to protest. “All military preparations will remain in place, Parry,” I continued. “We will be but four miles from Brocket should we need to come back to establish a defensive stance. The house will remain as it is. There are more than enough guards that we might take some to Hatfield and leave as many here. In that way, we are prepared for both eventualities. And as Cecil says, we must arrange ourselves at a palace more befitting our station than this house,” I paused. “Do we also have fast riders positioned to send word to those garrisons promised to us, should we have the need?”
They nodded almost in unison, and I frowned. “But yet you only tell me of those ready to ride out in the event of a peaceful succession?” I shook my head at them. “Gentlemen, although I may still look like the girl you knew, I am to be your queen most imminently. As such, although I value your desire to protect me, I must advise you to keep nothing from me. The time of our childhood is gone.” I looked at them. “In all things and in all preparations, I must have the truth from those around me. Nothing else will do, or my reign will certainly fail as has that of my sister.”
“Forgive me, my lady,” Parry apologised. “It was not a thing done on purpose; I did mean to tell you, but in truth there has been so much preparation and action in your cause of late, that there are most likely many things I have not outlined to you. But please believe me, all preparations, for each possible outcome, have been thought on, and plans set in motion to allow for each.”
I nodded. “I understand, Parry. There has indeed been a great deal occurring of late. But you will need to share a little more in your dealings,” I smiled. “I know well enough I can trust you both. Long have we all been together, and if we shared in the horror, the abuse we suffered before, so shall we share in the glory. But remember, gentlemen, I am of a mind most inquisitive, and therefore you do me more service in revealing too much to me than you do in hiding anything from me.”
They bowed.
“Now,” I said. “We should prepare to move to Hatfield at once. Cecil, you are to stay with us here from now on, then? You are not needed at our affairs in London?”
“When the time comes,” Cecil agreed, “I should be at your side, my lady. I have the best riders and messengers in the country at our disposal and I can have a message to London within an hour or two with ease. All other plans are ready, and you have many loyal servants in London working to carry out our orders, from men placed in the Council, to those who will watch the body of your sister. I have men observing the ports in England, France and Spain. If there should be any inclination of attack or invasion, the Lord Admiral will be ready to take your side. I have women placed to mark the movements of the Grey sisters and others watching your cousin of Lennox. There are those placed in towns and the city who will monitor for any sign of rebellion, and those placed to herald and proclaim your coming as a new age of tolerance and plenty up and down the country.”
