Grace FitzRoy and Cecily Neville were two sides of one deal. On Loveday in the year 1458, when York and Lancaster came together ceremonially to reconcile their two warring factions, the Duke of York and King of England struck a deal. A daughter for...
Ups! Gambar ini tidak mengikuti Pedoman Konten kami. Untuk melanjutkan publikasi, hapuslah gambar ini atau unggah gambar lain.
YORK SUCCESOR
≿————- ❈ ————-≾
October 1460, Pembroke
Just a few weeks after Grace had arrived at Pembroke, a messenger came in the early hours of the morning. Her uncle had accepted him, and the man left soon after. It was a message that carried death. She could still remember the look on Ned's face when he was given the letter. When he found out his grandfather was dead and he was now the Duke of Buckingham.
He left a few days later to take over command of his grandfather's men. At thirteen years old, he would ride into battle. It was an image that Grace could not connect with him. He was tall, but he was still so skinny and young and she did not know how he would be able to lift a sword or don have armor. When he rode from the gates and out of her sight, she could not help but feel afraid.
Months later, that fear did not disappear, though it was dulled by the sense of safety her uncle's estate provided.
It was not long after Ned left Pembroke that new reached the castle of the Duke of York taking London. He had claimed himself the rightful King of England, stronger than her father's. According to him, that made him the true ruler. Grace had raged for hours on end, pacing the length of her room and shouting complaints and profanities and everything else there was to shout. Her father was anointed by God himself! If he were not the true ruler, surely he would have never sat on the throne!
But a voice whispered at the back of her head, that God had perhaps changed his mind. Because the Duke had taken London, and whether Grace liked to admit it or not, her father was not fit to be King anymore. She thought back to the Rout, to the terror that her father had allowed unleashed. She wondered if his state of mind had worsened once more, for it was entirely a possibility.
Many sleepless nights had followed. Hours spent with her eyes trained at the ceiling above her, thinking about the future and the past alike. When she did eventually fall asleep in the early hours of the morning, she was plagued by nightmares of the Rout. Rest was hard to come by due to them, and so she was not surprised when she fell asleep in an armchair, curled up into a ball.
Her uncle woke her, a brow raised questioningly at her. She was supposed to be at her lessons, she realized when she looked from the window and saw that the sun was close to its apex in the sky. A sheepish smile found its way onto her lips, and her Uncle Jasper rolled his eyes with a chuckle.
When she looked up at Jasper properly again, the smile was gone and he looked rather distraught. Grace's brows furrowed, gaze falling down to the crumpled up letter in his hand. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, and he looked utterly worn out. It was no wonder, she thought, with everything that was going on. Still, worry filled her as Jasper sighed heavily.
"The Parliament had voted for your father to remain King," Jasper told her. Instantly, relief flooded her and she let out a laugh. That was all she could have hoped for! Her father remained the King and she would be safe, as would her mother and half brother. She was about to stand and embrace Jasper tightly, when she realized the grim look on his face did not leave.
