Chapter 37 #2
“And then?” Parr asked. “Any number of women could accomplish those things, given enough time.”
Lina and Anne exchanged a look. This was where they both agreed and diverged.
“Then Henry dies,” Anne said simply. “We don’t want you or the Sisterhood to be suspected, so for now, leave that to us. It must be done in such a way that it looks natural. Or,” she added after a beat, “like an assassination.”
Lina had been a proponent of the former, and Anne the latter.
Anne had grand plans for whom they could frame for the murder—the Duke of Norfolk being the most tempting—and she argued that Henry had done nothing to deserve a dignified, quiet death.
Lina didn’t disagree, but she couldn’t embrace the concept of needless violence when she knew one of Parr’s potions would do the trick with far less mess.
Parr looked back and forth between them, and Lina got the feeling she knew exactly what everyone else in the room was thinking. “Well, we have time to work out those details. The Sisterhood has agreed to all of this?”
By the Sisterhood Lina knew she meant Marguerite.
After all, it was no small thing to kill a king, and the leader of their movement deserved to be asked for her stamp of approval.
[*3] Lina and Anne had indeed dispatched a letter to Marguerite, not so much asking for permission as informing her of what they intended in a cipher known only to Anne and Marguerite from their days in Paris.
“We believe Marguerite will see the necessity of our plan,” Anne said smoothly.
Parr nodded. “In other words, no, she hasn’t agreed to it. But for what it’s worth, I think you’re right. It’s long past time someone did something about the king. I’ve married for less important purposes before, and it would be entertaining to get a crown out of it this time.”
That earned a chuckle from Anne. “It sounds like you didn’t love your husbands much.”
Parr contemplated the question, her expression dispassionate.
“I’ve read books and heard stories about love, but I’ve never felt it.
I didn’t wish for my husbands to touch me or whisper sweet nothings or make grand declarations.
In truth, I feel much more myself when I am alone with my mortar and pestle or walking in the forest in search of herbs. ”
Lina wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
She hadn’t loved Henry—nor he her, of that she was certain.
But God, how she had wanted to be loved.
How she had wanted to be touched and held by a man who thought she was the sun and moon and stars.
Maybe that could have been with Arthur, or maybe she could have found someone who would have filled the void of loneliness.
And though the time for such dreams had passed, Lina still found herself wishing that for just one hour of one day of her life, someone had loved her the way she wished.
“Did you kill them both?” Anne blurted out. Lina gave her a look of admonishment, but the witch merely shrugged.
Parr gave Anne a guilty smile. “Technically, yes. My first husband was always in poor health, and he eventually asked me to quicken his end. The Lord Latimer, on the other hand, had become too much of a burden. He was riding us into debt, his reputation tarnished, and I took matters into my own hands. I wasn’t fond of him, but I did like his children, and I thought they ought to inherit a bit of money and what was left of a good name before their father ruined it all. ”
“That’s very…noble,” Lina managed to say, her throat going dry at the thought.
She shouldn’t have been surprised—Parr was a poisoner, and what else would one expect?
It was the reason Lina had contacted her in the first place; a murderer masquerading as a widow made for the perfect accomplice to regicide.
The three women stayed up late into the night, plotting a course for Parr’s swift rise to royalty.
Lina had no doubt it could be done with the connections they would make, with the power of Anne’s magick, and with the sharp, inimitable mind of Catherine Parr.
If all played out as she expected, it would only be a matter of weeks before Parr had Henry’s attention, mere months before a wedding.
And then two of her greatest wishes—to see Mary restored to her rightful place and see Henry pay for all he had done—would be granted.
She just hoped they wouldn’t lose their own souls along the way.
Skip Notes
*1 Parr’s first husband, Sir Edward Burgh, died suddenly in his twenties after only a few years of marriage.
Her second husband, John Neville, Baron of Latimer, was twice her age.
Latimer was a Catholic, and his disagreements with the king—which some would call rebel actions—led to Parr and her stepchildren being held hostage and eventually all but banished from court.
Latimer died just weeks after Kat’s supposed execution, leaving Parr a wealthy widow.
*2 Every kingdom the world over had crowned babies and raised them as puppets. England would have survived, but Edward might not have.
*3 Hard as it is to believe, my friends were again acting without said stamp of approval.