Her Highness, the Traitor - By Susan Higginbotham Page 0,69

but fear the Lord and flee from evil

From the Tower, the day before my death

E. Somerset

On the verge of tears again, I cleared my throat. “Anne, I will do my best to see that you are freed soon. Or at least sent to live with one of your sisters-in-law, or your mother, where you will have people who can ease your grief and offer you comfort. I shall talk to my hus—”

“Your husband!” Anne pushed my arm away and stood. “How dare you mention that devil to me? He was the one who brought my dear husband to this, with all of his plots.”

“He did not! Your husband was plotting against mine, and you know it.”

“Only after your husband poisoned the king’s mind against my husband. My Edward loved the king. He was the apple of his eye. He used that very phrase! But first Thomas Seymour sought to tear them apart, and then your beast of a husband did. They ruined everything.” Anne balled her hands into fists. “He sent you here, didn’t he, you vixen? To taunt me, or was it to spy upon me? Did the two of you hope I would betray some secret? Well, I’ll give you your money’s worth. I want your husband dead for what he did to mine, and I’ll have you dead, too, if they let me out of here. Is that enough for you?”

I backed into a corner. “You don’t mean what you’re saying, Anne. You have undergone a great shock. I know in a day or so you will think better of it.”

“Don’t mean it? By God, I’ll strangle you here, you bitch!”

She grabbed me by the throat, evading her ladies’ efforts to stop her, and shook me while I screamed for the guards and tried to shake her off me. Finally they prized her away. She stared at me in pure hatred as they dragged her back. “I curse you,” she said. “I curse the entire house of the Dudleys. May you suffer what I have suffered today!”

“You had best go, my lady. She’s wild.”

I needed no persuasion. I picked up my skirts and stumbled down the staircase, Anne’s curses and screams ringing in my ears.

***

“She threatened you?” John stared at me.

I’d not wanted to tell John about my encounter with the duchess, but my manner when I returned to Ely Place had been too agitated to escape the notice of my household, someone in which had sent for John. I had been too shaken to formulate a lie when John arrived in my chamber, where I had been put to bed with a warm brick next to my feet. “She is half-mad with grief over her husband, John.”

“And what’s this?” John’s hands found the marks of Anne’s fingers on my neck. “Christ! Did she attack you?”

“She did not know what she was doing.”

“By God, the bitch should hang for this!”

“No!” I sprang out of bed and sank to my knees. “Please don’t harm her,” I begged, looking up at John. “There has been so much death. Please! Promise me.” My voice reached a higher pitch. “Promise.” I turned my head and started sobbing.

John lifted me up and helped me back into bed. “I will not harm her. I promise.”

“Oh, thank you, John.”

“But I’ll be damned if I ever let her see the outside of the Tower. She can rot there.”

I made no argument.

John sat in bed next to me, stroking my hair as I calmed down. “Jane, you should not have gone to the execution. It could have been dangerous for you.”

“I know. I am sorry.”

“He died bravely, I suppose?”

“Yes. Very bravely.”

“One day I will ask you for the details. Not today.”

I nodded as John went on talking. “There were good reasons not to go. One was that I might appear to be gloating. The other one was that the crowd might riot if they saw me. But the real reason is that I am a coward. I could not bear to see him die. He was the first true friend I had as a young man.”

I took John’s hand. “England will be more at peace for this, John. We will move past this. We have to.” I hesitated. “Did you see the king today?”

“Yes. I asked for his forgiveness. He frowned and said, ‘What else could you do, my lord?’” John rose and kissed me on the cheek. “I must go back to Westminster. There’s business to do before Parliament opens tomorrow. You sleep, and stay