Chapter 26
Queen Anna of Denmark, wife of King James VI of Scotland
THE SPAE-WIFE IS COMING. The woman who will save me, save you and keep us together.
Every morning since my ladies Margaret and Beatrix left Holyrood, I have awoken in a state of fear, expecting to see a bed of bloodied linen when I open my eyes.
Schoner hovers around me like a fly, along with that drunken surgeon.
They poke, prod and measure me but they have no idea what they are doing.
My head aches and I have pain in my hands, and yet they do nothing to treat these problems. At least Barclay the apothecary brings me the foods I crave: dried flounders, smoked boar’s head and sugared treats – the only useful thing any of these men does.
I know the King has threatened Schoner. I can see the fear in his eyes.
We’re all afraid – but none more than me.
If you die, my elskling, the flaggermus and rumour-mongers will be proved right.
I am barren and the King comes from poisoned stock – we will never produce an heir and we will never rule over England, that is what they say behind their hands, and increasingly out in the open.
My husband has tied the birth of his heir to so much – and he’s determined you’ll be a boy, of course.
I am just a vessel now; I must be kept safe and well only as a carrier for the King’s precious cargo.
I won’t believe you can be safe until the spae-wife arrives – she comes from the most powerful line of wise women, straight from my father’s stories. When she is here, all will be well.
And I need her for more than just keeping you safe and well until your birth, my little one. My entreaties to my husband, your father, have come to naught – he won’t listen to reason and still insists you’ll be taken away, raised at Stirling by Mar and his unbearable mother.
I’ve told James the worry and pain of knowing he’ll take my child from me will be the death of us both.
This should strike fear into the heart of the man, but he remains unmoved.
I told him I would leave and return home to Denmark but this only made him laugh.
I have ranted and I have raved, and he ignores me.
So I’ll speak to him no more – I’ll remain silent in his presence if he insists on this barbaric course of action.
My stomach is becoming rounder now – you’re growing, my elskling.
I’m alone so rarely, and so briefly, but these are my favourite moments in each day.
Because of course, I am not alone; you are with me.
I touch the skin on my belly and speak softly to you; waves of love and fear wash over me.
I know I will die if you die, and I will die if he takes you from me.
I miss my ladies. Margaret and Beatrix were sent on this delicate mission because I trust them the most. But I have left myself friendless.
I won’t speak to my husband, and there is nobody I can confide in.
My companions are the ladies who gossip and chatter, and the physician who treats me as a piece of meat.
But she will be here soon, my love, and when she is here, all will be well.