Chapter 22
Lina
Not a week after Anne returned from London with a bandaged hand, rumors began to circulate that Cromwell had been stripped of his lands and titles and sentenced to death without a trial. There was also some news about a fire in Westminster, though it didn’t seem to do any major damage.
Lina asked Anne if she knew anything about the fire and got a sharp-toothed grin in reply.
A fortnight later, Anna von Kleve was asked to leave court.
After only six months of marriage, she agreed to Henry’s annulment and his claims that they had never consummated the union.
Lina had to admit she was impressed by the German girl’s prudence—giving up a queenship was not easy, but by kowtowing to Henry’s demands, she not only kept her life but also received estates and gold from her grateful ex-husband.
Perhaps it would have been smarter for Lina to have done the same, once upon a time.
Lina was in the garden when a messenger arrived from court, bringing mixed news.
Lina scanned the contents of the letter from a Sisterhood contact in the royal residence and then tossed the page on the ground, burying it along with the vegetable scraps she was using to build new soil.
She would tell Anne, of course, but the news must be broken gently.
She brushed the dirt from her hands and used the back of her wrist to wipe sweat off her brow.
The garden was beautiful this time of year—with daily harvests of herbs and small, spicy onions Lina had brought over as seed from Spain.
The rosebushes along the side of the convent were in bloom, and even though the days were hot and long and there were always more weeds to pull, Lina cherished the quiet time among her plants.
Anne had been in a mood since her return from London, at turns withdrawn and then furiously angry.
Lina did her best to give the younger woman space, knowing that Anne feared for her cousin, wrapped ever tighter in Henry’s web.
She would not like the news from the London letter.
After Lina washed up, she found Anne in the study, drafting another damning letter about her uncle Norfolk.[*] Lina stood in the doorway for a moment, watching Anne’s pen scratch across the page with sharp, vicious strokes. She took a breath and knocked at the door to announce her arrival.
“A messenger came,” she told Anne.
The other woman looked up, the sheen of a curse fading from her eyes. “And?”
“Henry has put his loyal dog down. Cromwell was executed yesterday morning outside the Tower of London.”
Anne’s expression was more grimace than smile. “A traitor’s death. I hope it hurt.”
“Katherine and Henry were wed yesterday too.”
Anne was still for several seconds before she dashed all her pages and pens and ink onto the ground with a sweep of her arm. “Curse that awful, wretched man!”
Lina took a step back. “Do not say anything you’ll regret,” she warned, looking around to see if the witch’s knife was near.
Anne shot her a look full of poison. “You will know what an actual curse sounds like when you hear one.”
That sounded like a threat, and Lina drew herself up tall. “Get command of yourself. And you should know better than to speak to me that way.”
Anne’s fury held another moment, her face stormy, before she let out an angry sigh. “Forgive me.”
It wasn’t much of an apology, but Lina let it pass. “Just because they are married doesn’t mean we can’t help her. This is not over.”
Anne stared down at the mess she had made. “Don’t you see? All I have ever done is fail,” she railed, her cheeks red. “I failed with Henry. I failed the Sisterhood. And now Kat…” She clenched her fists. “I ruin every single thing I touch.”
Lina shook her head. “That isn’t true. You did important work abroad.
” When Anne started to protest, Lina held up her hand.
“You did, and I won’t be convinced otherwise, because I was there with you.
And what about Cromwell, hm? You and I helped bring him down, and now he’ll never be able to make or break a queen again. ”
“But we’ve failed to do the same for Norfolk. Look at him now, the uncle of the queen and poised to have even more power than he did before.”
That was true. “We have time to deal with Norfolk. Just as we have time to help Kat. If Gisa’s prophecy is coming true, we can save her. That much is clear.”
Anne was silent for a moment. She turned around and looked out the window, bracing her hands on the sill and staring out at the garden and trees and rolling countryside beyond their small corner of the world.
“You know we’ll have to go to court, right?” Anne finally asked, turning back to face Lina. Her gaze was level, assessing. “We can’t protect Kat from here.”
Unbidden, fear clutched at Lina’s chest, and she struggled to swallow.
She never wanted to go back, never wanted to see the people who had orchestrated her downfall.
How Anne had stomached it during her trip to London, she couldn’t imagine.
It was one thing to write letters or even make a midnight visit to the Tower of London, but it was another thing entirely to return to the world that had chewed her up and spat her out.
Every part of Lina’s being shrank back from the simple thought of walking through the palace halls once more.
And yet Lina knew Anne was right. If they were serious about keeping Kat safe from harm and the influence of men like Henry or Norfolk, they would have to be close to her.
“You don’t have to go,” Anne said, her voice suddenly gentle. She must have seen the battle playing out on Lina’s face. “I can do it by myself.”
“No,” Lina croaked. She finally managed to swallow. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing I had sent you back there alone. But how? Even with a disguise, we would be courting catastrophe if anyone thought they’d recognized us.”
Anne nodded. “We’ll need to do more than change our hair color or apply some makeup. We’ll need a glamour.”
“A glamour?” Lina repeated.
“A long-holding spell that changes our appearance. We would be unrecognizable to everyone at the palace. Even”—she paused—“even our daughters.”
Lord, Lina hadn’t even thought of what it would mean to be at court with Mary there. How could she manage to be in the same place as Mary without telling her everything? How could she pretend her daughter was a stranger, when she was the person Lina loved and missed most in the entire world?
And just like that, the fear became panic.
Anne was at her side, guiding her into a chair. “We can do this,” she was saying. “It will take great planning and greater care, but I know we can manage it.”
Lina tried to gulp down some air. This sudden weakness, this terrible fear, was not going to get the best of her.
Was she afraid to return to court? Unequivocally.
But she was a different woman than she had been when Henry exiled her.
She was older, yes, but wiser too, and stronger than she had ever been inside the cocoon of royalty.
She had suffered and survived heartbreaks, had crossed the world in the name of the Sisterhood, and had turned one of her greatest enemies into her closest friend.
If she could do all of that, surely she could return to court.
Lina forced some ice back into her tone. “Tell me more about the glamour.”
Anne sat in the chair beside her. “The spell is complex, but not outside my skills. I’ve done smaller versions in the past, but never made myself over entirely, nor another person. To do it right, I will need access to my old family books. This is not something I want to attempt without study.”
“Where are these books?” Lina asked.
“Hever Castle,” Anne replied. “My home.”
Skip Notes
* The ploy had worked so well with Cromwell, but thus far nothing Anne threw at Norfolk seemed to stick. That is, unfortunately, often the way with men of his influence. Kings and lords can break every law and commit every sin, and they remain utterly unaccountable.