𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒 || 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑊𝐻𝐼𝑇𝐸 𝑄𝑈𝐸𝐸𝑁

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑋𝐶𝐼𝐼𝐼

~My Darling Boy~

21st of February, 1474....

"What will you call him?" Elizabeth asked gently as she mopped her sister's brow and smiled at the little boy that was wrapped in blankets; nestled safely in his Mother's arms.

"Anthony" Eleanor replied, beaming at her newborn son who stared up at her with large blue eyes "my own little Anthony" she heard Elizabeth take a sharp breath at the name of their dead brother "It wasn't...." she began but Elizabeth held up a hand.

"I know it wasn't you" she said firmly before taking to braiding her sister's hair, arranging the red curls into one neat plait "you would not hurt our own brother, Eleanor, I know that. Anthony is a good name, a fine name!"

Eleanor smiled her thanks before she looked at her little boy again and the room around her. The last place she had expected to give birth was her old bed at Grafton Manor where she had slept since the age of five, but her labour had not proved difficult lasting only three hours before her son had decided to greet the world.

"What do you think, little one?" She asked "do you like your name?"
"I expect he will" Elizabeth said, settling back onto the covers at the opposite side of the bed. "though do you know how your husband will react?"
"It was not him who killed Anthony either! So don't go down that route, Elizabeth"

"I wasn't going too!" She protested "but I don't trust him, not as far as I could throw him!"
"You don't trust anyone" Eleanor pointed out and Elizabeth shrugged a little, looking to the stairs as Lizzie appeared, a smile on her rosy face.
"Life is easier that way" she sighed.
"Not when it pushes away those you love and gets innocents killed"

"The guards said Uncle Richard has been sent for!" Lizzie remarked brightly, shutting the window above her Aunt's bed that had been opened during the birth "he is to arrive tomorrow!"

"He is to come here?" Her Mother exclaimed and Lizzie resisted a laugh "to Grafton?"
"Where did you expect him to be?" She asked. "his beloved wife has given birth, to a son I might add, and you think he would stay in London? We both know that Uncle Richard would go around the world, into hell and back for Eleanor if need be!"

"I'm not sure that's true!" Eleanor laughed, looking to the side when she felt her sister gently brush a stray curl away from her face.
"It is" she whispered "it really is" the Queen was surprised to see no ounce of malice or resentment in her sister's eyes, only sadness.

She had found it strange, that day, how Elizabeth had gone from hating her to being civil. Kind even. It was a strange dynamic that their sudden civility had created and weather it was genuine or not was a question neither could answer. Perhaps the memories of their all home had melted away the ice of hatred that had come between them? Not forever, just for a little while.

But, despite all, Eleanor had to admit she did like being able to sit with Elizabeth without being in the middle of an argument, especially after she had given birth. What she needed was peace and she was glad Elizabeth had appeared to give it to her.