The White Duchess - The White Queen

Westminster Palace, London, England, Spring 1458

Court has never been so dangerous.

Lita and I can only sneak a few minutes together to talk. Her husband would be irate if he knew that she was talking to the wife of the man who led the charge into the town of Saint Albans that killed his father. I know he would never hurt Lita, Henry Beaufort is too kind of a man and loves his wife dearly, but I do not wish to put strain on their marriage on my account. 

She can't tell me much, and what she can is unhelpful. Her husband is spiteful and vengeful. The brilliant young man who made me laugh and assuaged my home sickness when we traveled up the Italian peninsula when I was a 12-year-old girl is no longer there. Instead a man who is bitter and resentful remains and although he has the same man to Lita I know that I have lost the connection with the Henry Beaufort I once knew.

In the meanwhile Edward and Warwick insist that neither myself nor Warwick's wife can leave our apartments without one of them accompanying us. They think it is too dangerous that men that resent their fathers and themselves will take it upon themselves to deliver what they perceive as justice. I want to tell Edward that it is crazy to think that a noble man of any station waiting to harm an innocent woman and her children simply because of a blood feud that they have with their husband, but I find when I think that over my head but that is no longer true. If Henry Beaufort got his hands on me, no matter what brotherly affection he once held for me, I am not sure that he would let me go. I am not sure that he wants me alive.

The realization that the people that I once thought of my greatest friends are now becoming my greatest enemies scares me to my core. I am relieved when Margaret Beaufort arrives at court with her husband Jasper, he was now firmly fixed in New York as he thinks it is the best thing for his brother and his young nephew. We walk in the gardens and sometimes she comes over in the evenings and together we spill our deepest worries.

"Edward believes they are trying to kill us," I tell her, my face gaunt with worry as I have refused to eat anything put in front of me. "He truly believes that Queen Margaret would go that far."

Margaret looks shocked she asks me, "Does he truly think she is capable of such a thing?"

I shrug. "I would put nothing past her now."

And it is that thought that scares everybody in the York fraction. We do not know how far the queen will go with her anger. Now with her husband planning a great peace and her plans for vengeance hastily pushed to the side, she finds herself in a place without a lot of power and we all fear that she will take drastic measures as she grows more and more desperate. The danger is enough that by the end of January Edward has basically sequestered our family in a few apartments and the Duke of York is the only company that comes in and out with the occasional Margaret Beaufort or Edward's younger brother Edmund. 

Edmund is growing into a young man himself. At 14, almost 15 years old he and Edward look more like twins even though they are three years apart. He is a known flirter, exactly like my husband in that sense, but he has a great love for his two young nieces whom he comes to visit almost every evening. Little Lizzie will pull on his hair and Mary will smile about him while she is swaddled in blankets. I, on the other hand, learn to enjoy his company as he is one of the only people I see throughout the day and because he has a bright young man who is very loyal to his family. He is interesting to talk to and Edward and I tell him to stop over whenever he can do so. 

And so this routine that we have continues on for quite a while until finally in early March Edward and Edmund come to my apartments with Warwick, Salisbury, and York. The king has decided on a peace treaty and they explain it to me while my eyes go wide in shock. By the end of it I can barely form a full sentence as I ask, "Wait, what has he demanded we do?"