The Queen's Rivals Part 7

"Who cares?" Guildford shrugged, selecting another sugared lemon from his comfit box. "It's not the spelling that matters, only the meaning. And everything I say is very meaningful; isn't that so, Mary?" He turned to his sister for confirmation.

"Yes, dear, very insightful and meaningful," she promptly agreed, and our little voyage continued in bored, curious, and angry silence, making the two hours it really took seem like an eternity for all of us.

It was after nightfall when we arrived at the erstwhile convent of Syon that the Duke of Northumberland had converted into a country estate for himself as it was situated conveniently near London, so he need never stray too far from the throne and the puppet king whose strings he pulled. We pa.s.sed through a long, torchlit corridor in which the gray stone walls were covered with ornate gold-fringed tapestries. The house seemed curiously silent, which had the unnerving effect of making our footsteps sound inordinately loud, and strangely deserted for a n.o.bleman's house; there seemed to be no one, not one single servant, about to welcome or attend us. Just as Guildford was complaining that such laxity deserved the horsewhip, a door at the end of the corridor swung open and the Duke of Northumberland emerged, smiling broadly, to welcome Jane as though she were the only one there and the rest of us were invisible. Guildford was so astonished he couldn't even speak.

I watched my sister shy warily away from her father-in-law with fear and mistrust filling her eyes. But he ignored this and led her on, as we tentatively and uncertainly followed, through the door, into a room lit by hundreds of candles with a dais and gilded chair, clearly a makes.h.i.+ft throne, beneath a gold fringed scarlet canopy, at the far end. It was obviously a presence chamber intended for someone great and important to receive visitors or hear pet.i.tions.

As soon as Jane entered there was a great rustling as men and women, high born n.o.bles all in fine array, and men who were clearly members of the King's Council in somber black robes and the heavy golden chains of office they were so proud to wear, broke apart and moved to stand in a double row, facing each other, clearing a path leading up to the throne. As Jane pa.s.sed them, the ladies curtsied low and the men knelt, all of them murmuring soft and reverent words such as "sovereign lady," "Your Grace," "Majesty," "Your Highness," and "our gracious queen."

Jane gasped and leapt back and stumbled against Guildford's chest. From his arms, Fluff gave a loud hiss and, claws bared, slashed an indignant snowy paw at Jane's head, tearing the black veil hanging from her hood. "Now see what you've done!" Guildford petulantly wailed. "You've upset Fluff!" Whereupon he shoved her forward, as his father rushed to reclaim her hand and, walking backward, guided her, like a man pulling on the bridle of the most recalcitrant mule, to the throne even as Jane, meek and pale-faced, shaking with fear, repeating, "No, no, no!" dug in her heels and tried to wrench free, turn, and run away.

But Guildford wouldn't let her; he stayed right behind her and made sure she kept moving forward. "You cannot run away from this honor. It is your destiny, Jane," he said, patting her shoulder. "But don't worry, you have me, and I shall be glad to share it with you. We're young and beautiful and everyone will love us, once we do something about those plain, drab clothes of yours, of course; they're so dreary, no wonder you're so melancholy. And I really think you should have a henna rinse as soon as possible. Picture us standing side by side in the sun, you with your red hair and me with my golden. The people shall wors.h.i.+p and adore us!"

I wanted to go to her, but Mary Sidney grabbed my shoulder and drew me back to join the others and gestured for me to follow her example and curtsy. Farther down the line, I saw Kate, standing between the Earl of Pembroke, in his long black robe and heavy gold chain, and frail, flaxen-haired Berry clad head to toe in the most delicate blue. Kate looked radiant in a beautiful gold-braided garnet satin gown with her hair glowing and free-flowing, dancing down her back like a cascade of crackling flames. Feeling my eyes upon her, she leaned forward and looked down the line, and when she saw me, her face brightened and she fluttered her fingers in a merry little wave before, at Berry's nudging, straightening her back and a.s.suming a properly dignified pose.

"As head of the Council," Northumberland gravely intoned as he pulled the reluctant and tearful Jane along, "I do now declare the death of his most blessed and gracious Majesty, King Edward VI . . ."

Jane gasped loudly and staggered, and for a moment I feared she would faint. I noticed then that she was the only one who seemed surprised by this news; no one else reacted at all. Then our parents, smiling broader than I had ever before seen them, came from where they had been standing nearest the dais, to embrace and kiss Jane's cheeks. Beaming as he embraced her, Father declared that he was so proud of her, that she was the s.h.i.+ning star of the House of Grey, and even though he had been disappointed at her birth that she was not a boy, she had with this newly attained glory atoned for that more than a thousand times over.

Northumberland cleared his throat loudly, and our parents resumed their places, and, oblivious to Jane's astonishment and distress, he continued his speech.

"We have cause to rejoice for the virtuous and praiseworthy life that His Majesty hath led, as also for his very good death. Let us take comfort by praising his prudence and goodness, and for the very great care he hath taken of his kingdom at the close of his life, having prayed G.o.d to defend it from the rule of his evil sisters.

"His Majesty hath weighed well an Act of Parliament wherein it was already resolved that whosoever should acknowledge the Lady Mary or the Lady Elizabeth and receive them as heirs of the Crown should be had for traitors, one of them having formerly been disobedient to His Majesty's father, King Henry VIII, and also to himself concerning the true religion. Wherefore in no manner did His Grace wish that they should be his heirs, he being in every way able to disinherit them."

As Jane shrank back from him in horror, still breathlessly murmuring, "No, No, No!" Northumberland, with a firm, unshakable grip, forced her up the steps of the dais, with a little help from Guildford, who gave a hard push to her rump. Poor Jane would have fallen face-first into the purple velvet cus.h.i.+ons had Northumberland not deftly caught her beneath her arms and spun her around and sat her down properly.

"His Majesty hath named Your Grace as the heir to the Crown of England," he announced, moving to stand beside the throne and gesturing for Guildford to do the same, as he calmly clamped a hand on Jane's shoulder when she attempted to bolt up from her unwanted seat. "Your sisters shall succeed you if you should happen to die without issue . . ."

With these words, Kate suddenly became more important than she had ever been in her life, or ever imagined she would be, except to the man who loved her. Everyone turned to look at her, to appraise her, with calculating and conniving eyes, considering how she could best serve their interests. Until Jane birthed a child, or if she proved barren, or her babies died, Kate would be the heir to the throne. From now on, people would praise, admire, and flatter her more than ever before when it was only for her beauty, and they would look to her for favors and beg her to intercede with Jane or bring their pet.i.tions to her attention. Kate was now a young woman of great importance, after Jane, the highest ranking lady in the land, and I sincerely hoped Berry would be able to help her bear the weight that was about to descend upon her pretty shoulders.

"This declaration hath been approved by all the lords of the Council, most of the peers, and all the judges of the land," Northumberland continued. "There is nothing wanting but Your Grace's grateful"-he paused meaningfully as his eyes bored into Jane's and his fingers dug deeper into the tender flesh of her shoulder-"acceptance of the high estate which G.o.d Almighty, the sovereign and disposer of all crowns and scepters-never to be sufficiently thanked by you for so great a mercy-hath advanced you to. Therefore you should cheerfully"-his fingers bit harder-"take upon you the name, t.i.tle, and estate of Queen of England, receiving at our hands the first fruits of our humble duty, now tendered to you upon our knees"-he paused long enough to kneel-"which shortly will be paid to you by the rest of the kingdom . . ."

With a gesture, he brought the whole room to their knees and every voice swore to be loyal to and defend "even unto death, our sovereign lady, Queen Jane."

With a wrenching cry, Jane levered herself up from the throne, staggered forward, then fell in a dead faint. Northumberland rose swiftly and stood staring down at her with a grimace of distaste, while Guildford, jostling Fluff from one arm to the other, bent to pull her skirt down into a more modest drape "as only the king and her female attendants should ever see the Queen's garters." The highborn lords and ladies made a great show of pretending not to notice. Only Kate and I attempted to break from their ranks and rush to a.s.sist her, but Pembroke and Berry held Kate back, adamantly shaking their heads, while Mary Sidney restrained me.

"Guildford, how well you are looking, you look good enough to eat!" Father exclaimed, breaking the awkward silence as Jane lay, defenseless and unconscious, upon the dais, with her hood knocked askew and her gray skirts trailing down the steps like dirty rainwater.

Guildford simpered and preened and, stepping down from the dais to stand before Father, did a little turn to show off his buff-colored doublet and matching hat, both trimmed with layers of white and gold lace, gilt and silk braid, and l.u.s.trous gold and white pearls. "Isn't it delicious? The color is called marzipan; my tailor says it is London's latest fancy. He says I should never wear anything that doesn't make people want to devour me!"

"More apt words have never been uttered since G.o.d created the earth!" Father agreed. "Mmmm . . . marzipan! A most delicious creation!" His eyes closed and his mouth fell open, and for a moment he seemed lost in a fantasy world before he recovered himself. "I dream of you in marzipan! A gilt marzipan sculpture come to life! How you tempt and tease and torment me!"

Guildford smiled. "I am constantly amazed by how well you understand me!"

There was a groan from the dais as Jane slowly sat up, rubbing the back of her head where it had struck the dais. "No, no," she said groggily, ma.s.saging the small of her back as she maneuvered herself around to sit upon the top step, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth, "the Crown is not my right and pleaseth me not! The Lady Mary is the rightful heir!"

"Nay." Northumberland shook his head as he reached down to jerk Jane to her feet, like a puppet master pulling the strings. "Your Grace does great wrong to yourself and your house!"

"Shut up, Jane, and do as the Duke says! You stupid girl, by the way you're behaving, anyone would think you were being forced into the tooth-drawer's chair instead of being honored with a throne!" our lady-mother exclaimed. "It is your duty to obey the last wish of your cousin, King Edward, entrusting you on his deathbed with safeguarding his kingdom so that the light of the Reformed Faith should not be snuffed out as it surely would if Papist Mary came to the throne! Do you want the Pope's good shepherdess leading us all back to the Catholic fold, bringing the Spanish Inquisition to our sh.o.r.es, and burning those who resist? Is that what you really want? To end the enlightenment and go back to the dark ages, the Catholic creed, selling of indulgences, and Latin litanies? Enough of that, Hal! Here! Wipe that drool off your face!" she snapped angrily, impatiently thrusting her handkerchief at Father, as she moved swiftly past him to take Guildford's arm, and, rather forcefully I noticed, urge him back up onto the dais "to stand beside your lady, until such time as we can have another throne made for you, Your Grace."

"A gold one set with emeralds to accentuate my golden hair and green eyes," Guildford regally dictated as he resumed his place on the dais, pausing to give Jane a shove that sent her flopping back onto the velvet-cus.h.i.+oned throne with her feet flying up in the air, then artfully draped his arm across its jeweled back and adopted an elegant pose.

Jane sat frowning and floundering on the plump purple cus.h.i.+ons, then, wiggling to the edge and dropping to her knees, announced that she would pray to the Lord for guidance.

While all stood around glowering and glaring at her, rolling their eyes, and tapping their toes upon the stone floor in mute impatience, Jane raised her hands to heaven and implored the Lord above to give her a sign and tell her what she should do.

"You stupid girl!" our lady-mother, weary of waiting, lost her temper and shouted. "His silence is a sign! He is telling you that you should obey the will of your parents as the Scriptures say and accept the throne He has seen fit to vouchsafe you!"

For a moment Jane wavered, swaying on her knees, teetering on the verge of another faint, and then she gave in and nodded. Northumberland and Guildford each bent down and clamped a hand around an arm and lifted her back onto the throne, and Jane announced to the a.s.sembled company, "If what hath been given to me is lawfully mine, and it is my duty and right to succeed to the throne, may Thy Divine Majesty aid and grant me such spirit and grace that I may govern this realm to Thy glory and service."

"Well said, well said, G.o.d save Queen Jane!" Father led the company in a round of applause. "Now let us have sweet wine and sugar wafers! My daughter, the Queen, commands it!" He clapped his hands to summon the servants who instantly, as though they had been lurking just outside waiting for this moment, filed in with well laden platters, trays of golden goblets, and flagons of wine to fill them.

After partaking of these refreshments, the a.s.sembly broke up, Northumberland hastily enjoining Jane to get a good night's rest as she would make her formal entry into London on the morrow, via barge instead of the customary procession through the city streets, lest the populace, being partial to King Henry's daughters, show themselves quarrelsome and unruly. "The royal apartments at the Tower are being made ready for you as we speak," he added, "and from there, in a fortnight, you will go to Westminster Abbey for your coronation." Then he called for Mrs. Tylney, whom he had chosen to a.s.sist Mrs. Ellen as Jane's tirewoman, and Lady Throckmorton, whom he had appointed as Jane's chief lady-in-waiting, and asked them to escort "Queen Jane" upstairs and put her to bed.

Before the words had even left Northumberland's mouth, Kate grabbed my hand and determinedly barged ahead of Mary Sidney, who tried to hold us back, and elbowed Mrs. Tylney aside. "As the Queen's sisters we have precedence over all except the King," she sweetly explained, flas.h.i.+ng a bright smile. Then, crooking a finger to summon Mrs. Ellen, who had arrived with Guildford's servants and had been standing awestruck at the back of the room through it all, we graciously allowed Mrs. Tylney and Lady Throckmorton, each holding a branched candelabrum aloft to penetrate the gray gloom of the former nunnery, to lead the way upstairs.

Alone in Jane's bedchamber, we undressed our sister, peeling off her gray gown and stripping her down to her sweat-stained s.h.i.+ft. We guided her to sit upon the bed while I knelt and removed her shoes and stockings, and Kate divested her of her hood and unpinned her hair, dropping the pins into Mrs. Tylney's waiting hand. Through it all, Jane sat wide-eyed and trembling, murmuring over and over, "I should not have accepted it, it is not my right, it is not my right, I should not have accepted it . . ."

After Mrs. Tylney had answered a knock upon the door and conveyed a message from Guildford that he would sleep apart from his wife tonight as he owed it to their subjects to look his best upon the morrow, we dismissed her, along with Lady Throckmorton and Mrs. Ellen, sending her to inform Berry and the Earl of Pembroke that Kate would bide a while with her sisters and they should return to Baynard's Castle and not tarry for her sake.

We tucked our sister into bed and lay one each on either side of her, hugging her s.h.i.+vering body between ours. Though no words were uttered, I knew that in the face of the frightening enormity that Jane faced, like a knight alone against a great and fierce dragon, all had been forgiven. Jane squeezed Kate's hand and willingly laid her head upon her shoulder, and Kate smiled as tears rolled down her face and pillowed her cheek against Jane's hair, and I smiled too, thinking that it was like the sun showing its bright face through the rain and whatever happened we would weather this unexpected storm together-"the brilliant one," "the beautiful one," and "the beastly little one."

6.

The next morning found us all baking beneath the blazing July sun, squinting and shading our eyes against the brightness as spreading wet blossoms of sweat bloomed beneath the arms of our sumptuous new clothes. Slowly, in a grand yet sedate procession, we boarded the big gilded barge that would convey us to the Tower of London, where Jane and Guildford were to await their coronation. Behind us, other n.o.bles swarmed onto their own barges, to form a flotilla that would accompany us. Not a breeze was blowing, and all the colorful gold and silver embroidered and fringed banners hung slack, limp and lifeless, as the trumpets blared seemingly with the sole purpose of deafening us. Oh what a sight we were! Sumptuous and sweaty, beautiful but bedraggled! When I remember us now, I don't know whether to laugh or cry-we were both comical and magnificent.

Our lady-mother walked proudly behind Jane, like a golden galleon in full, majestic sail, hung with a fortune in diamonds and arrayed from head to toe in cloth-of-gold that the sun struck with blinding brilliance. Beside her, Father, in gold-embellished wine-colored velvet, reverently followed Guildford, holding up the hem of his long, ground-sweeping green-satin-lined white velvet cloak embroidered with golden crowns, yellow gillyflowers, and gold and silver lilies and roses.

Our lady-mother had insisted upon being the one to carry Jane's heavy green and white velvet train, profusely embroidered with red and white Tudor roses and golden crowns, while my poor sister tottered along, reeling like a drunkard, balanced precariously upon the four-inch cork platform soles of the chopines we had strapped to her green velvet slippers at Northumberland's insistence, to raise her diminutive form so that the people could see her better. She staggered and stretched out her hands before her like a blind woman trying to feel her way along as she boarded the barge and made her way to the purple velvet-carpeted dais where she was to stand, with Guildford, and their closest attendants, on display for the teeming mult.i.tudes thronging the muddy banks of the Thames. She took her place beside her husband, frowning deeply and tugging at "Cousin Mary's b.l.o.o.d.y necklace." Our lady-mother had herself fastened it around Jane's neck, ignoring her complaints that it was too tight and bit painfully into her neck, just as she ignored Jane's insistence that the green velvet headdress laden with jewels was too heavy and the pins stabbed her scalp like a mult.i.tude of tiny daggers. "One must suffer to be beautiful, Jane," our lady-mother answered, slapping down the little white hands that tried to pluck out the pins she had only just put in.

Beside Jane, Guildford stood smiling and waving with restrained elegance at the crowd. Each golden curl was arranged to gleaming perfection, and his beautiful body was clad in gooseberry green hose that looked as though they had been painted on and a white velvet doublet embroidered with golden gillyflowers. While behind him, beside Father, stood a radiant, smiling Kate, the heir apparent until Jane bore her first child, arm in arm with her husband and father-in-law, beautiful in spring green velvet and cloth-of-silver, the emeralds they had given her blazing green fire on her throat, breast, fingers, and ears, and in her hair, its color a bold, flaming reminder of her Tudor heritage.

I peeked out from behind our lady-mother and smiled and waved at Kate, who nodded back at me and called, "You look beautiful, Mary!"

At first it had seemed very likely that I would be left behind, our lady-mother insisting that I would be mistaken for a fool, a jester, that my very presence would make a mockery of this momentous occasion, but Jane, exerting her will as Queen, announced that I would walk behind our lady-mother, and have the honor of carrying Jane's black velvet bound prayer book-the one she was never without and most often wore hanging from a chain or cord about her waist-upon a white satin pillow. "You shall be the torchbearer of the true religion, the Reformed Faith, Mary!" Jane announced. And when our lady-mother continued her protests, Jane adamantly declared, "I shall not go without both my sisters!" Father set aside his comfit box, brushed away the sugar clinging to his chest, and said there was really no cause for concern since I would be dressed with such opulence no one could possibly mistake me for a fool unless they were one themselves.

So I walked proudly behind my sister, the scarlet-infused sable of my hair plaited with pearls beneath a deep green velvet hood edged with emeralds resting in nests of silver braid. I wore a gown of white satin embroidered with ornate flourishes of silver vines and leaves blooming with dainty flowers made of emeralds and pearls, and over it a loose, silver-braided green velvet surcoat flowing gracefully over my hunched and twisted spine. In my hands, like a sacred relic, I carried my sister's prayer book lying stark black against a white pillow. Originally four long silk ta.s.sels dangled from each corner, but Jane, despite the appalled gasps of those surrounding us, ripped them off one by one, saying, "G.o.d's truth needs no adornment!"

Behind me and Kate followed Northumberland, his wife, and their elegantly arrayed brood of sons and daughters, and the spouses of those already married. Only Amy, to my great dismay, was absent. When I dared pluck Robert Dudley's cloak and timidly asked her whereabouts, he glared down at me from his haughty height and said she was in the country where she belonged and could not embarra.s.s him or anyone who mattered. Then he turned away from me, barely managing to conceal the disgust in his dark eyes, directed both at me and the absent Amy, whose very existence by then was enough to kindle her husband's anger. The Dudleys were trailed by the gentlemen of the Council in their long black velvet robes, white neck ruffs, and gold chains of office, the highborn lords and ladies who had been appointed to serve the royal family, and dozens of servants in the royal Tudor green and white livery and the Dudleys' blue velvet emblazoned with their proud emblem of a bear clutching a ragged staff.

As we set sail, I noticed that the people who thronged the riverbanks were very glum and silent. None of them waved or cheered. There were a couple of lackl.u.s.ter cries of "G.o.d save her!" as though they were praying for Jane's deliverance from a cruel fate, not celebrating her ascension to England's throne. The truth was they didn't know Jane; she was a stranger to them, unlike Princesses Mary and Elizabeth, whom they had watched grow up and come to love. They distrusted Jane; they saw her, and, given the circ.u.mstances, with good reason, as Northumberland's puppet, a tool to set his own son upon the throne.

"They don't seem very happy," Jane worriedly observed.

"Nonsense!" Guildford scoffed. "They are simply awestruck by my beauty-I mean our beauty"-he laid a hand on Jane's arm which she contemptuously jerked away-"and my majestic presence, which, with a little effort I am sure you will, my queen, acquire in time. King Edward was a poor, scrawny lad, a pale, puny weakling," he continued. "And, though accounted a most handsome man in his youth, his sire, Henry VIII, was a hideous, monstrous mountain of bloated, rotting flesh, and bald as an egg beneath his cap too. I've heard it said that three goodly sized men could fit inside one of his doublets. But we"-Guildford smiled-"are young and beautiful! Look!" He waved a hand out to encompa.s.s the mute and scowling ma.s.ses. "Some of them are weeping from the sheer joy of beholding me-I mean us. Thank you, my good people, thank you, your tears are more eloquent testament of your adoration than your words could ever be!" he called out to them and blew them a single kiss.

"You idiot, you addle-pated ninny, they hate us!" Jane snapped. "You can't even see it; you're so besotted with your own beauty! You empty-headed nincomp.o.o.p! I hate you!"

"My dear wife," Guildford said, favoring her with an indulgent smile. "I am not so empty-headed that it has escaped my notice that you have just admitted that you find me beautiful, even though you tried to hide it amidst a volley of insults. There is too much pa.s.sion in your hate for me to be deceived and not see through it to what it really is-you love me and you know it. Everyone does; I'm very lovable! You shouldn't be ashamed, you know, I am your husband, so it is quite all right, even expected, for you to love and adore me like the sun that lights up your dreary little life. Besides, many find me beautiful, and how could so many people possibly be wrong? Now smile and wave at our people, Jane, smile and wave!" he coaxed, lifting her limp hand by the wrist and waggling it in the air. "That's it! You're doing splendidly! Smile! I said smile, not pout and puff out your cheeks like you have a toothache. And no glowering at me as though your eyes were daggers you want to bury deep in my heart, when we all know it's my fleshly dagger you want buried deep inside you instead. But you won't admit it, not even to yourself. You're frightened by your desires and fighting to deny them, but 'tis a losing battle, and your love, and l.u.s.t, for me shall in time be the victor. It's inevitable-I'm irresistible! Now smile and wave! Watch me and try to be as wonderful as I am. Smile and wave! Smile and wave!"

"You're wonderfully dreadful! Pompous, conceited, vain, and I hate you!" Jane retorted, stamping her foot and nearly falling, grimacing as she twisted her ankle in her unaccustomed chopines.

"Wonderfully desirable, you mean, Jane," Guildford calmly corrected as he caught her arm to help steady her. "Look out there, my wife"-he swept a hand over the silent crowds thronging the riverbanks-"there stand our subjects, and every one of them wishes they could make love to me; I can tell by their smoldering eyes and silent, reverential awe. Not everyone who wants me makes so bold as to tell me so; some of them are shy, but I can always tell. When you're as beautiful as I am, you become accustomed to being the unattainable object of desire to so many people; why, I couldn't even begin to count them even if I wanted to try! How they envy you to have me in your bed! That is what each and every one of them is thinking, you've incited the envy of all London, you lucky girl!"

Jane just glowered at Guildford and tried to pull her hand away. But, despite his seemingly delicate beauty, he maintained a masterful grip upon her wrist, forcing her limp hand to flutter up and down, until the barge reached the Tower just as a deafening hundred-gun salute was fired to welcome them.

"I hate you!" Jane hissed when he finally released her wrist. "I'll hate you until I die!"

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much!" Guildford simpered to his brothers, who snickered and nodded.

"I'll hate, detest, deplore, and despise you until you die!" Jane stamped her c.u.mbersome cork-soled feet and screeched like one of the cantankerous, old women who sold fish in the marketplace, heedless of our lady-mother's swiftly delivered pinch and hissed reminder that such undignified behavior did not become a queen.

"Then you'll cry when you realize how much you love and miss me," Guildford serenely surmised to the tune of his brothers' encouraging laughter.

"Hmp!" Jane snorted and, gathering up her full skirts and thrusting her nose disdainfully high in the air, started past him. Her indignant exit however was ruined when her chopines threw her off balance and she began to fall. But Guildford acted quickly; he caught and swept her up into his arms, and, as all those aboard the barge gave a hearty cheer, he carried her ash.o.r.e and through the Tower gates.

After Northumberland stepped forward and most presumptuously accepted the keys to the Tower, which were always given to the new monarch upon their arrival, Sir John Bridges, the Lieutenant of the Tower, smiling back over his shoulder at Jane and Guildford from time to time, thinking them no doubt a pretty and playful pair of young lovers, began leading the way to the White Tower, where the royal apartments were. Kate giggled and s.n.a.t.c.hed a basket of rose petals that had been intended to carpet the ground the new king and queen would walk upon from a startled page boy and rushed after them, flinging handfuls of red and white petals in the air so that they wafted down in a perfumed rain over Guildford and Jane.

"Do stop it, Kate!" Jane snapped over Guildford's shoulder. "You're wasting perfectly good rose petals that could be made into cough syrup!"

"To give to the poor no doubt, pardon me, my bride, the Protestant poor," Guildford jibed. "Not the Papists for we loathe them and do not want to ease their coughs and sore throats, better that they should die and burn in h.e.l.l. Is that not an apt a.s.sessment of your way of thinking, my love?"

"It's no laughing matter! It is our Christian duty to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and give drink to the thirsty! But unless they mend their ways and turn their back upon the Roman Church, they deserve to be d.a.m.ned and burn for all eternity!" Jane retorted heatedly, shaking her head hard to dislodge the shower of petals that had just landed there courtesy of Kate.

"You put covering nakedness before quenching thirst," Guildford observed. "How interesting! I'm rather surprised you didn't put it before appeasing hunger as well. After all, we don't want people falling on their food like naked savages, do we? No, far better that they should be clothed first before they even think of food and drink. Is that not so, my queen? You see, I am endeavoring to understand how you think. I do everything else so well, I should hate to think that I would fail to be a good husband."

"It is not a jest!" Jane cried, looking as though she was about to burst into tears.

Guildford heaved an exaggeratedly languid sigh. "Life is a joke, Jane. Better to laugh through it than to cry! Don't you think I know that everyone laughs at me? But what they don't know is that I laugh first!"

Just for a moment, as I waddled along, struggling to keep up and not let Jane's black velvet prayer book slide off the slick white satin cus.h.i.+on, I thought I saw the ghost of sadness in Guildford's eyes, but it flitted past so tantalizingly swift, I was never really sure, though in my heart I always felt certain that I had in that moment caught a glimpse of Guildford Dudley's soul. But whatever it was, he shrugged it off and laughed and Kate gave a joyous whoop and flung another handful of rose petals over their heads.

Once in the royal apartments, Guildford tossed Jane onto the bed and called for wine. "I'm rather parched," he added as Jane floundered amidst her full skirts and c.u.mbersome train and kicked her feet in the clunky cork chopines and screamed for Kate and me to "get these things off!" We hastened to unbuckle the leather straps only to have Jane seize them from our hands and fling them across the room. She was aiming for Guildford but hit the big silver mirror he was standing in front of instead. Guildford calmly stepped aside, utterly unfazed, sipping his wine as the mirror shattered. "You shouldn't have done that; that's seven years bad luck," he remarked. "Now your eyes shall have to be the mirror I see myself in."

With a scream, Jane flung herself back on the bed, arms and legs wide, and began kicking her feet and pummeling the bed with her fists just like a child in the throes of a tantrum. Then, all of a sudden, she heaved herself up, her face flushed crimson and chalky pale all at the same time and covered with a pearly sheen of sweat. Nearly falling, tripping over her skirts as she went, she began tearing at her clothes, ripping laces and fastenings, desperate to get them off, slapping Kate's hands away and knocking me down when we tried to a.s.sist her. "I'm burning up!" she screamed. "These sweltering velvets are a foretaste of the flames of h.e.l.l, lit by the bonfire of our vanity! G.o.d save me! I can feel the flames already, burning inside me, devouring me!"

Without even trying to unfasten the clasp, she tore Cousin Mary's necklace from her throat, cutting the back and side of her neck, and letting the broken links of gold and deep red rubies fall like tears of blood onto the floor. Kate tried to go to her and press a cloth over the cuts, but Jane snarled like a mad dog and shoved her away. Once she had stripped herself down to her s.h.i.+ft and torn off her garters and stockings, Jane raced across the room to the washstand where the heavy white porcelain pitcher and basin sat, lifted the pitcher high, and poured the water down over her upraised face, sighing with ecstatic relief as it drenched the front of her s.h.i.+ft and dripped down onto her bare toes to puddle on the floor.

A l.u.s.ty gleam came into Guildford's eye as he saw how the water had plastered the thin white lawn s.h.i.+ft to her form and turned it nigh transparent. He thrust his wine cup into Kate's hand and said in a regal tone, "Be gone! The King would be alone with his Queen!"

Kate giggled and grabbed my hand and as we pulled the door closed behind us we couldn't resist peeping around and catching a last glimpse of Guildford struggling to lift our kicking, squirming sister into his arms, and carry her, fighting and protesting all the while, back to the bed.

"Kiss me the way you did in the meadow at Chelsea, Jane!" he urged as Jane s.n.a.t.c.hed up a pillow and bashed him over the head, rumpling his beautifully arranged curls and sending white feathers wafting down over them like snow.

"Oh ho!" Guildford chuckled as he lunged to pin her down again. "I thought I'd married a dove, but I see I am saddled with a scorpion instead! But, nay, she shall not sting me; I shall saddle and tame her instead!"

As Jane continued to struggle and thrash beneath him, Guildford went on as though they were a loving couple having a delightful breakfast table conversation.

"Father thinks it's high time we produced an heir, and I agree." He nodded, darting swiftly across the great, gold, damask-covered bed when Jane managed to break free and grabbing her ankles and pulling her back to him. "A beautiful golden-haired boy," he continued as he nonchalantly flipped my sister over, flat on her back, just like a pancake, then clambered atop her, wrestling to get hold of her wrists. "Or girl. If it's a boy we shall name him Prince Gillyflower, and if it's a girl . . . Princess Gillyflower! It has a certain charm, don't you think? I think we should name all our children after flowers, so they will surround us like a beautiful bouquet. Wouldn't that make a fine portrait! The two of us sitting most regally clad upon our thrones with our children cl.u.s.tered about us dressed in clothes embroidered and adorned with the flower they are named for! Of course, all our children will be blond like me; how could they even contemplate being anything else?"

"You're a fool, a vain, contemptible, empty-headed fool, and I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" Jane screamed and kept screaming until Guildford leaned down and stopped her with a kiss, and we hastily shut the door and slumped against it, hugging each other and giggling.

"No, Jane, you hate yourself because you desire me and feel betrayed by your own flesh and l.u.s.t," were the last words we heard Guildford say, m.u.f.fled by the thick, ornately carved wood, and then it was all moans, groans, and cries of delight, and Jane's "I hate you! "s were uttered with a breathless fervor that exposed them for the lie they were.

"She loves him." Kate smiled as she sat back against the door and hugged her knees. "She really loves him!"

The next few days pa.s.sed in a constant flurry. Our lady-mother decreed that Jane must now dress to suit her royal station and called in a whole army of dressmakers, seamstresses, and embroidery women, and Kate and I were there to attend our sister as she thrashed and pouted her way through the fittings that followed.

I tried to placate her by choosing fabrics and designs of a more subtle opulence, but only the dark, stark, and plain would satisfy Jane, and these our lady-mother slapped away with the most emphatic disdain. Vainly I offered up silks and damasks in aquatic hues of blues and greens and jewel vibrant sapphire and emerald satins and velvets, but Jane thrust them away.

"People expect elegance and glamour from their queen," I endeavored to explain as I helped lace a glum-faced Jane into a high-collared midnight blue satin with a yoke, kirtle, and under-sleeves of the same blue st.i.tched with s.h.i.+mmering jet flowers. "They will be so disappointed if you appear before them in plain black or gray. The people take pride in their queen's jewels and gowns, at seeing her look her best."

But Jane simply replied that they should look to their souls instead "and endeavor to purge and wean themselves of their pride and vanity." When I tried to coax her into a misty gray velvet with a low square bodice bordered with moonstones and pearls, Jane s.n.a.t.c.hed the scissors from the nearest seamstress and snipped the jewels away, insisting that they be replaced with a border of plain black silk braid and that the neckline be filled in with a simple white lawn partlet devoid of embroidery.

But we persevered, bringing her gowns, kirtles, and sleeves in shades of cinnamon, mulberry, walnut, crimson, purple, ruddy embers, moss green, and a beautiful tawny rose brocade trimmed with pearls and rabbit fur.

In the end, Jane threw up her hands and cried, "Do as you will! I want neither the Crown nor the regal wardrobe that goes with it, but no one cares what I want! So do as you will; you will anyway, no matter what I say!" With that she stood stoic and still and flung her arms wide, as though she were bracing herself to be nailed to a cross, and shut her eyes, and let the seamstresses swarm around her.

While in the room across from Jane's, Guildford submitted to the tailors' ministrations with a kingly grace. I found that he welcomed my opinions when I, pa.s.sing the open door, timidly said that gold embroidery would suit that cinnamon velvet far better than crimson. "You have an eye for fas.h.i.+on, little gargoyle," Guildford complimented me. "Henceforth I want you here for all my fittings. Get her a comfortable chair. One that will ease her back, not a stool, you oaf!" he barked at his poor valet. Thus I pa.s.sed many pleasant hours comfortably ensconced amongst the beautiful fabrics and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs I loved so, while my brother-in-law, handsome as a sun G.o.d, stood unabashedly naked before me and let the tailors drape him with swathes of s.h.i.+mmering, jewel-colored satins, silks, brocades, and velvets, and even sat beside me, with our heads together, as we examined the various buckles, b.u.t.tons, and brooches the jewelers brought.

Guildford was particularly excited about his coronation clothes, but simply could not set his mind on a single color, much to the despair of the tailors, who tore at their hair as they had already started, then stopped, six coronation suits already. "I shall be perfect in purple!" he would enthuse, then later that same afternoon declare, "I shall be ravis.h.i.+ng in red!" or the next morning upon awaking decide, "I shall be glorious in green!" Then, while taking a turn in the Tower gardens, he would turn to me, nibbling uncertainly at his lower lip, and inquire, "Or should it be blue? I am always becoming in blue, and Mother says I am most piquant in pink. Just think how striking I would be in silver with my hair blazing like gold in the sun!"

But I just smiled and said, "If ever an occasion called for gold, this is the one." And Guildford nodded and smiled and finally made up his mind.

"What better occasion than one's coronation to deck oneself entirely in gold? I was made for gold!" he cried. Then he went on to fill the tailors' hearts with joy when he told them to go ahead and finish the other suits that languished in various states of completion-"for one can never have too many clothes, and I intend to be the best dressed king England has ever seen; if she is not careful I shall even outs.h.i.+ne my own queen.

"I shall dazzle them," he went on. "When they see me, my subjects shall think they've died and gone to heaven and an angel stands before them! And upon the steps of Westminster Abbey, when Jane and I emerge, hand in hand, crowned, with robes of ermine flowing from our shoulders, I shall sing!"

"No!" Suddenly Guildford's brothers-Ambrose, John, and Robert-who had spent the day sitting at a nearby table playing cards, bolted up, sending chairs cras.h.i.+ng and cards flying, as they shoved past the tailors. Their mother, who often observed the fittings, sitting on the window seat smiling over her embroidery and nodding approvingly at every word Guildford uttered, gently made her way to Guildford's side and laid her hand lovingly upon his shoulder.

"Darling," the d.u.c.h.ess said gently, "you don't really want to waste your voice on the common rabble-dirty, uncouth people who are incapable of appreciating the gift G.o.d has given you-do you?"

"It seems almost sacrilegious to me," John ventured.

"Yes"-Ambrose nodded vigorously-"and in your ermine robes-think how hot and heavy they shall be-you are apt to overtax yourself!"

"Yes," Robert added emphatically, "and what if you were to faint from the heat, excitement, and strain of it all? The people might think that their new king is a weakling. And you know the Spaniards and the French are always watching; their amba.s.sadors shall be right there watching your every move and recording every word you speak so the story would soon spread abroad. And if they think you are weak, it could mean war!"

"You are right." Guildford nodded sagely. "How fortunate I am to have the benefit of my family's loving wisdom to guide me. Very well, I shall wait until the banquet, when I have been divested of my ermine robes, had my brow ma.s.saged with rosewater, and eased my throat with cooling wine, and then I shall sing for our n.o.ble and refined guests, who are certain to appreciate the precious gift I shall give them." Then, before his loving family could object further, he clapped his hands and called for the tailors to resume his fitting.

"My son is the most beautiful boy in the world," the d.u.c.h.ess of Northumberland said softly, admiringly, as she watched Guildford being draped in gold.