An Endless Supply Of Rubies

The Death of a Queen II

Fanfic: An Endless Supply of Rubies Ch 28, Tudors | FanFiction

A/N: The future King Edward VI was born on 12 October 1537. He became king when he was nine years old, and ruled until his death in 1553. Since he never reached the age of majority, the kingdom was governed by a Regency Council, first led by Edward Seymour, his uncle, and then by John Dudley. Edward was the first Protestant monarch of England, which changed the religion of England further. He was the last male monarch of the Tudor Dynasty. He was briefly succeeded by Lady Jane Grey, the granddaughter of Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor and first cousin once removed of Edward. She was the daughter-in-law of John Dudley. She was the disputed Queen of England, France, and Ireland. She was Queen for nine days before Mary was crowned.

9 October 1537

Eleanor was a beautiful baby. Elizabeth had jumped around excitedly when she learned that Amelia had given birth to a girl. She had rattled off all of the things that she was going to do with Eleanor once she got old enough, like teaching her to stitch or read French, or play with dolls. John had looked up at his mother with a wide grin on his face and told her that Eleanor was tiny.

Amelia had finally given in and hired a nurse to help her with all of the children she had. Clemence was an older widow, with five grown children that were off and living their own lives.

On that cool October morning, Amelia held her daughter and gently rocked her back and forth. There was only silence in the apartment. Charles had gone to attend to the King, and Clemence had taken the younger children out to the gardens to see the leaves changing colors.

Amelia sighed as she looked down at Eleanor. "I'm worried about your father," she whispered. "Two days ago, when we were walking, he suddenly stopped and looked straight down the hallway and asked if I saw a man."

Eleanor only looked up with her bright blue eyes.

"The only problem was that there was no man," Amelia continued, rising from her seat and pacing with Eleanor still in her arms. "He insisted that one was standing there, staring at him, with sunken eyes and a pale face, and a large gash across his neck. But there was no man there."

She paused to hear if there was anyone coming. When she was met with only silence, she continued. "Sometimes at night, he'll cry out in his sleep, as if something pains him. Sometimes he cries out our names. He wakes up with a start, drenched in sweat, and gets up to splash water on his face. I pretend to be asleep the whole time so he doesn't feel guilty for waking me, but he always pulls me close when he gets back to bed."

It felt amazing to finally tell someone what she had been noticing for months, even if it was a baby who couldn't give her any real advice to help her out.

The sound of feet stomping outside the chamber indicated that her children and Elizabeth had returned home. Amelia went to go join them, and was met with two children dancing around the room and one trying his best to crawl after them.

"The Queen has gone into labor, my lady, and asks that you go to her as quickly as possible," Clemence told her quickly. "The Lady Mary is already there."

"Thank you, Clemence," Amelia said. "I'm sorry to leave you with all four, but Charles should return shortly. If you need help, I'll send word to Lady Huntingdon. Everyone is well-behaved when she and her children are around."

With a quick good-bye to her children, Amelia hurried off to the Queen's chambers.

"Breathe deeply, Your Majesty," Amelia said softly, grasping the Queen's hand.

"Lady Mary," Jane said between breaths. "The box."

She looked at the small box that rested on the table near the fire, which Mary quickly grabbed. Inside was a gorgeous crucifix. Amelia released the Queen's hand and allowed her sister to help the Queen wrap her fingers around the gold chain.