❝ Tell me losing everything is what saved you,
Tell me you finally tasted freedom.
Can you even imagine yourself in paradise?
Even the daughter of gods must know loneliness, must sometimes want nothing more than to be trapped in a hell of forevers...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Bella sat upon her horse near Lily's and Margaret's, ready for the hunt. She looked down, sighing when she saw that William had been forced to carry everyone's arrows.
"Why does Henry wear his crown?" Maggie asked as she walked with her husband Sir Richard. "It is a hunt, not a state occasion."
"Perhaps he thinks he's riding into battle," Lord Stanley remarked as he rode past the duo. "Did King Edmund not wear his crown at Bosworth?"
"Carry my weapons," Henry ordered and William turned to look at him with an annoyed expression. However, he still did what he was told.
He locked eyes with Henry, but the moment the latter rode away, William picked up the man's weapons.
Later on, the people attending the royal hunt rode through the woods, the hounds running ahead of them to find targets.
Soon enough, they came to a stop once Henry did so. Henry looked around, Lily's horse coming to a stop next to his.
On foot, William stopped as well, carrying the dozens of arrows and Henry's bows. He also carried the stick that would be used to look through the bushes.
"This copse is where we'll take our sport," Henry announced to the court in a calm tone before looking down at William. "Give me my long-bow."
William didn't obey at first. Instead, he looked up at Henry, wearing a kind expression.
"You do not have to do this, Henry. I am not your enemy. I never have been," he told Henry, who ignored him as he held out his hand. While he would love to kill the man at the moment because he was responsible for Edmund's death, he wasn't so foolish as to believe he could do so and flee.
William sighed, handing the Tudor man his bow.
"Use that stick," Henry insisted, gesturing toward the stick William held in his left hand. "And beat the bushes."
William nodded and turned his head, watching as his cousin Maggie rode up to Bella, whose eyes were fixed on him.
He turned away, walking toward the bushes. He began to beat them, giving room for Henry and Margaret to shoot their prey.
An arrow glided through the air and fell by William's feet, but he didn't flinch, knowing that was what Henry wanted. Tudor didn't intend to hit any animal, but his bad aim meant that he hadn't hit William either.
"They say that you came here of your own free will," Maggie spoke to Bella in a hushed tone, trying to hide her uneasiness. "You should leave here if you can. Henry would be rid of him. He is looking for a reason to execute him, and if he does not find one, I'm sure he'll make one up."
Not realizing that Lily's eyes were on them, Bella leaned toward Maggie, beginning to speak to her in a whisper. "I know you know he's William. And if you want your brother back, you should back his claim."
