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This was no riot. This was a war on the streets of London.
Catherine heard Henry over the clamor of the common axes against royal swords, “For the love of God! Stafford protect my daughter and the Queen!”
Catherine swallowed thickly as Edward drew his sword, the iron shining as it hit the moonlight. Even still her heart fluttered as Henry called Mary his daughter, perhaps the first time he’d openly acknowledged her as such.
“Mary!” She called back “Do not be afraid I am right-” She looked back to see Mary’s horse… The saddle was empty and her child was nowhere in sight. Catherine blinked as the panic numbed her briefly. She’d been there only a second ago? Hadn’t she? Oh God, where was she!
“Mary!” She screamed as fear flooded her veins. “Where is she? Mary!”
“Stay on your horse, my queen, I will find her!” Stafford yelled as he got down from his saddle. “Princess Mary!” He yelled out, and Catherine jumped as his voice startled her. Mary would be frightened too, her sweet child would only be scared by his voice calling for her. Quickly getting off her horse, Catherine looked around trying to find her. Clutching her belly as her womb began to ache with the sensation of yet another child being ripped from her.
She ducked into an alley, crying out as she was pushed into a wall, before recovering and running to the other street not realizing in her panic she’d run back onto the street she was on before. “Mary!” She cried, her voice cracking. Holding her belly as it spasmed in pain, crying out from the intense feeling of ripping and tearing in her womb.
Please God no. Please Mary mother of Jesus, return my child to me. She prayed as she stumbled through the crowd of people slaughtering and being slaughtered.
“Mary!” She cried, her tears finally making their way down her face.
“Mary!” She vaguely heard Henry's voice call through the blood rushing through her ears. Turning she saw him sitting in his saddle surrounded by guards. Through the blood and viscera their eyes caught and Catherine for the first time felt hate seize her heart toward her husband seeing him in his saddle. Their child, his child, was somewhere amongst this chaos. And there he was sitting on his saddle. Safe and protected.
“Mother!” She blinked hearing Mary’s voice behind her. “Mary?” She turned around seeing a little girl being dragged by another woman. “Mary! Give her to me!” She stumbled after the woman stealing her child, ‘Stop! Give.. Give her to me!” She knelt, snatching the child back and turning her by the shoulders. In a flash, Mary’s soft auburn curls turned into stringy mud colored hair, Catherine released the child whose mother picked her up and rushed away from the clearly mad woman. Briefly though Catherine thought she saw a look of pity on the woman’s face as she carried her children off.
“Stafford’s found her!”
Stafford’s found her. Catherine felt the air she was holding in release from her lungs as Henry’s shout broke her out of the trance she was in. And she crawled up a wall to put herself on her feet before stumbling into a near mad sprint.
“Mary!” Catherine cried out as she laid eyes on her small child. Falling to her knees in front of her as she cradled her close. Catherine showered her in a deluge of kisses, cupping her face to look at Mary, “Oh mi preciosa, mi alma, oh perdoname mi cielo. Mamá lo siento.” Catherine brought Mary back to her chest as she started to cry, “Oh Mamá lo siento.”
How she wanted to take Mary back into her womb. To ensure her daughter was as safe as she could be, to ensure they’d never be separated again.
Mary pulled away from her and Catherine looked at her face seeing her gaze was past her. Turning Catherine paled seeing a dead man cut from chin to groin, his organs spilling from him. Looking back at her child, she tried to smile reassuringly, “Do not be frightened for him, God would not have him remember anything that could hurt him.”
Mary’s look frightened her more though. It wasn’t of fear or even confusion.
Her daughter’s small innocent face held a resolute understanding, as if she knew what was happening and was content with the aftermath because that’s just how the world worked.
But Mary nodded silently and laid her head on Catherine’s shoulder, she seemed to lose all strength and collapsed in her mother’s embrace. Holding her close, Catherine mustered the strength to pick her up, and told Stafford and Henry, “Mary will ride with me the rest of the way.” Silently hating how her voice trembled with fear.
“Ven conmigo, mija” She whispered in Mary’s hair as she lifted them both into her saddle. She met eyes with Henry again as he got back on his horse, and that sinful throb of hate seized her heart again. He’d stayed in his saddle until their child was found. Her child. If it were that bastard boy Fitzroy, Henry would’ve been cutting down his own subjects until he were found. Catherine stared daggers into Henry’s back as she rode behind him back to Whitehall. Holding Mary close as she rode, not feeling it was safe to release her until they passed under the gates and she saw Lina running toward her.
“Highness! Are you hurt?” Catherine heard her lady call out as she dismounted her horse, picking Mary up out of it putting her down under her cloak. “No, praise be. And neither is Mary. I… I lost her. I thought I was being punished and that she was being taken from me.” She admitted tears falling down her face. Catherine held Mary close, her small head laying against Catherine’s belly where her womb lay. Catherine took a deep breath and let it out shakily, “You and your children?” She asked, desperate to change the subject.
“We are well, as is Oviedo. “
Catherine swallowed and nodded, willing her tears to stop. “Good, that is good, Lina.”
“But highness, some of the royal soldiers-”
But Catherine didn’t hear her as she saw Henry talking with the royal guard. “Excuse me, Lina.” She cut her lady off sharply, taking Mary’s hand, she all but dragged her child over. Catherine stomped over, her legs still ungainly and shaky from when she had gone into the fray.
“Henry!” she called out though it more came out a shriek as her voice was raspy from her screams earlier. “I am worried about Mary, she-”
Henry cut her off, holding up a letter. “The world has gone mad!” He crumpled the paper and threw it at her feet, “First treason in the city and now my sister has gone mad, shaming me in front of all Christendom!” He stormed off yelling back at her “She now tries to resurrect the dead Scot’s King!”
Catherine stared at him incredulously, had he no care for Mary? Their child had at such a tender age been dragged into a riot and seen a man split open.
Had he no care for all of London’s children who had no doubt seen the same horrible tragedy or been victims of it. Catherine looked down at Mary who had stared up at her, petting her head Catherine reassured her “All will be well, mija. I promise.”
She picked up the paper Henry had crumbled and walked into court. Taking Mary with her to her chambers. The thought of Mary being out of her sight still frightened her. When they reached her rooms, Catherine sat at her desk and picked Mary up to sit on her lap, before she opened up the crumbled paper to read Meg’s letter. Shaking her head, she told Mary, “Your Aunt Meg is unhappy, we must pray for her.”
“Yes, mama.”
Catherine smiled and kissed her head, “Good girl.” Before turning back to the letter to write her reply, urging Meg to make peace with her husband and to try and be a good wife but to first always be a good mother and queen. Handing the letter to Lina, she stood with Mary and told her lady, “I’m going to put Mary to bed, then I’ll be back.”
Catherine walked with Mary down to Mary’s rooms, smiling at her little daughter the entire way. As they walked Catherine said to her, “Mary, I want to talk to you about the people shouting in the streets. And the people that got hurt, I know that must’ve been very afraid but you were so brave, I want you to know that.”
She looked up at her, “I wasn’t afraid, Mama.”
Catherine smiled and knelt down in front of her daughter, taking her tiny waist in her hands. Her daughter was so very tiny, Catherine dreads to think of what could’ve happened had one of those men tried to hurt her, “That’s good, Mary. Your Grandparents must surely be smiling down at you now from heaven at your strength and bravery.”
Mary smiled back at her before frowning, “But Mama, why was there shouting? And the people fighting in the streets? Why was everyone so mad?”
Catherine sighed sadly, “There is no work for them, and when there is no work people go hungry. They are angry because they are scared for their children. Just like I was for you tonight.”
“Why is there no work?”
“Because there is no work to be done, sadly. But we can provide for them. The court makes more food than it can consume. And what does God ask of us?”
Mary thought for a moment, “That when you have you must give your excess to those who have not?”
Catherine smiled proudly at her, "Yes!” she breathed out, “Exactly mija, and we are blessed not only with abundance but with such a pious and moral princess, so it should be our joy to provide to others who are less fortunate.”
Mary nodded, “Yes mama.”
Catherine stood and took her daughter’s hand to begin walking again, “Then it is decided, tomorrow we wil both go out to London and feed our people with the excess of the court. And the people, our people, will get to see what a pious and moral princess we are so blessed to have been gifted with by God. It is time they saw you, their future Queen.”
Mary smiled and nodded, “Yes mama.”
When they reached her rooms, Catherine helped Mary change into her nightgown and brushed her daughter’s hair, relishing in the soft feel of her curls. Once Mary was tucked into her bed, Catherine kissed her forehead and whispered, “Buena Noche, mi cielo.”
“Buena Noche, Mamá.” Mary whispered back.
And Catherine stepped out quietly, lingering at the door for a second to look at her daughter one more time before leaving. As she walked back to her chambers she passed Henry’s and paused hearing voices inside. Coming up to the door, she heard names being listed. Opening the door she stepped inside, seeing Thomas More holding a list, of names she assumed.
“Henry, Mary has been put to bed. I am worried for her. Of what she saw. She says she was not afraid but I am fearful that she may be disturbed by it.” Catherine stopped for a moment seeing that her husband wasn't looking at her, "Henr-"
Henry held his hand up to stop her, letting Thomas continue with the list. “These are the leaders that my men rounded up.”
“An example must be made of them, Your Grace.” Wolsey insisted.
“No!” Catherine cried out, causing all three men to look at her, “Did you not just hear me, Wolsey? Mary, Our Daughter Henry, witnessed this! She is worried for our people! She at such a tender age saw a dead man cut open. But yet she wants to stop the fighting and to take care of our people! She and I want to go out tomorrow, into the city to Westminster and give out food so those who are starving, those who rioted who are starving can be given some reprieve.”
“They are traitors! They have rebelled against their king!” Henry yelled.
“How?” Catherine yelled back, “There were enough of them that they could have overcome your guards and killed you in the street but they did not! They are starving Henry and afraid for their children, the same way we were when Mary went missing tonight! Don’t give them this very convenient reason to scorn you or your council.”
Henry sighed and looked at Thomas More, “They’re to be hanged.”
“Henry!” Catherine pleaded, “Please, if not for me then for Mary. She wouldn’t want this. Our little girl wouldn’t want her father to be the reason another child is made an orphan. Just as she wouldn’t want someone taking you away from her.”
“Careful, my queen, that is dangerously close to treason.” Wolsey snidely remarked.
Catherine glared at him, “By reminding my husband of his daughter’s love for him, that is treason? Then I will no longer remind him of his child’s adoration.” She spat out, turning to leave before stopping at the door, “Henry, I’ll only ask you once more, don’t do this.”
Henry looked up at her and she saw the hate she felt for him reflected right back at her in his eyes. She sighed and left, closing the door she walked silently down the hall. Her heart becoming more and more hardened in its resolve to hate her husband for their daughter’s sake.
Love for her husband had blinded her but the love for her daughter had opened her eyes again. And Catherine vowed on her daughter’s life, she’d never be made blind again.