𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒 || 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑊𝐻𝐼𝑇𝐸 𝑄𝑈𝐸𝐸𝑁

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑋𝑋𝑋𝑉𝐼𝐼

~Sister's Strife~

"It is done, your grace" Jane said softly a week later as she approached the Queen who was standing by a window in her bed chamber, looking gown at the courtyard below through the frosted glass.

"Truly?" Eleanor breathed "my sister is in the Tower?"
"Aye" Jane replied truthfully "Elizabeth is imprisoned in the Tower and her daughters safely at Leeds Castle" Eleanor nodded silently, only looking up when Jane took her hand, their fingers intertwining.

Jane had always been looked down upon by the nobles, for they thought her nothing but a whore, and Eleanor's other ladies (while not cruel to her apart from Margaret) were wary of her. Anais sometimes tried to make cheery conversations but Marie was always cold and Anne was less than obliging; kept her daughter Isabel away and Katheryn too.

Richard disliked her to an unspeakable level and had hardly uttered one word to her during the time she had been apart of the household and his friends largely followed his example.

So, as it was, poor Jane was rather void of friends, the only companion she found was Eleanor. Their friendship had formed quicker than either expected, an intimate bond growing between them in seemingly the blink of an eye! They shared the same humour and wit, took interest in the same things and soon began to confide in one another, sharing secrets never before whispered to another.

Now Eleanor turned to her, squeezing her hand a little as she thought.
"Do you think it's right?" She asked tentatively. "I've been pondering over my decision since the moment I announced it and....well I don't know anymore. I know Elizabeth needs to be stopped and if she did not have my nieces with her I would have clapped her in irons without a second thought but....what of my nieces? Alone and without their Mother in an unknown place?"

"You did what was right, Leena!" Jane assured her "and besides, you know your nieces well! Lady Elizabeth is a plucky little thing and adapts well to almost any situation! Cecily takes a little more time but eventually comes around and the rest are mere children! They hardly know the difference between one royal palace and another!"

Eleanor smiled a little at the descriptions of her nieces for they were all accurate. Lizzie never stayed sulking for long and would most likely be as happy at Leeds Castle as she had been at Westminster just as her sisters would be!

"You notice a lot, Jane, don't you?" She said and then it was Jane's turn to smile as she nodded.
"Not many people talk to me and never have done" she admitted "so I've made it my talent to listen and to remember!" The Queen nodded and turned back to the window, watching as Richard lifted Bess onto her horse and George mounted his (clearly proud that he could do it himself).

"With that done, the ceremony can go ahead" she said quietly and Jane tilted her head.
"Ceremony?"
"Yes....in the chapel the Archbishop of York is to invest my George as Prince of Wales!"
"So the throne truly is secure"