The Other Henry VIII

That Evening...

20 August 1511
The next day, Sophia was getting dressed for the ball when Louisa came into their room. Sophia turned around stiffly, as the maid was doing her hair (ringlets with the front two piled on her head studded with jewels and four ringlets hanging down). After Mary, the maid, had put in the last jewel, Sophia turned to her and smiled. "Thank you, Mary, you may go."
"But my lady, your jewellery—"
"—can wait. I would like to speak with my sister." Mary nodded, and hurried out. Sophia turned to Louisa. "Yes?"she asked. Louisa shut the door and folded her arms. She actually looked very pretty, her dark hair straight with pearls hanging around her forehead and front parts of hair; her dress white and gold as though they were already  married; the unusually elegant way she held herself and the politeness in which she spoke to Sophia."I would like to settle our differences, dear sister. I am the eldest,"here she touched her chest with a cream gloved hand, "and therefore I am more eligible to marry the King. You are entitled to try, but you will break your heart in doing so. This is why I am asking you to withdraw. Tell them you didn't mean to put yourself forward. Anything!"
Sophia faced Louisa and stood up angrily.
"And why should I?" Louisa opened her mouth but Sophia interrupted, "why should I? I am allowed to try, aren't I? You have no right to tell me to withdraw, and I will not!"
Louisa scowled and tried to retort, but Sophia carried on.
"And one more thing, Louisa. Just because you're the eldest, it does not mean  you have a larger right to marry him than I! You have no right!"And with that, Sophia sat down silently and turned to face her dressing table. Louisa took a few steps closer and leaned in so her face was right in front of Sophia's.
"You are not the boss of me, Sophia. No-one is the boss of me. I don't care how hopeful you are of winning the king's affection, you will never win! He loves me, not you! Why can't you just give up? I am the eldest!" Her face was nearly crimson, and Sophia felt an anger boiling up inside her, aching to tell her sister just what she thought about her.
Then she noticed the servant boy.
He was standing outside the door, gawping at them. Sophia stared. So did the boy. "What are you looking at?"asked Louisa, turning. At the sight of the servant boy, her eyes popped. "How long have you been standing there?"she demanded, taking a step towards him. Sophia took Louisa's arm. "Louisa!"she whispered.
"Errrm, the king said to get whichever one of you were ready,"he stammered. Louisa smiled.
"I would be pleased to keep the King company, take me to him." The boy nodded timidly and led her away. "Mary?"called Sophia, ringing a bell, "you can come back."
Mary stepped in, and went over to Sophia. "My lady, w-w-what did she say about you?" Sophia waved her away. She did not intend to give her sister away. However cruel Louisa was, she deserved a chance. Didn't she?
"It does not matter. Please continue with my jewellery. The King is waiting for me."

A little later...

It had tall, towering walls laden with portraits, lamps like demon's eyes, and fine red silk for the windows. The floor was red as well, a fine carpet with golden trimmings, littered with many different colours of shoes of fine ladies and gentlemen. They danced merrily between the servants, laughing joyously, and the room was a blur of red, blue, green, yellow and purple. One face in the room that was not happy was one at the far end of the room, standing on a platform next to the king's empty throne. That was Louisa's. She stood out from the crowd with her white dress, and Sophia sensed her sadness, as if she had got into trouble. Being kind-hearted, Sophia began to make her way over to her sister through the dancers, wanted to comfort Louisa, but somebody took her hand.
"Please,"said a voice, "you must think about yourself tonight." Sophia whipped round and gasped. The King was clutching her hand, bowing courteously. "Will you dance, my lady?" Sophia had no time to reply before he pulled her arm and she
span closer to him, ending up in position for the next dance.
"Why—"began Sophia but as they started to dance, she felt herself lost in the music as they danced away. The world swirled around her, all she could see was the King as everything else melted away: the people, the windows, the entire room disappeared.
"You look happy,"he said to her, his voice echoing in her head. Sophia smiled dreamily. "I am."
Suddenly, they stopped dancing and everything snapped back into focus instantly.
"Come with me. No-one will notice."
Sophia shook her head and rubbed her eyes."Will they—what? I—" She saw King Henry, she saw people dancing around them and she saw her sister dancing happily with another man. "Yes, I will come."
Henry took her hand and led her carefully to the open ballroom door. He then checked for anyone watching, and slipped away quickly like a snake. Sophia's heart was beating rapidly as he took her down endless empty corridors and passages, turning left, right and right again until they stopped by a window seat. Outside was dark and the clock opposite read eleven thirty. "This is where I come to escape from things. To relax. Will you share it with me?" Sophia smiled despite her nervousness and sat down next to him.
"I took the throne from my father from a very young age,"he began, gazing into the distance, "and the last thing he told me was to marry before twenty-one and to have two sons to take my crown after I died. An heir and a spare, he called it. And I, stupid as I was, thought that would be easy. But now I have discovered how painstakingly hard it is to find the right wife. So many have put themselves forwards, but they don't have that special something about them that I need, that little flame that sparks my attentions.
And only now do I think how hard it must be to have two strong sons, if I have no wife to bear them. And what if I have daughters? The family line would fracture as that daughter married and my father's name wiped from the history books. You understand?" Sophia did understand, and she desperately wanted to comfort him, but being the King, it might not be suitable. He sighed. "I am in a terrible crisis. And there are those rebels in Calais in France that I need to attend to as well. I just can't cope, days after days alone to deal with my troubles."
"But you are not alone! You have Wolsey, the servants, your whole court..."said Sophia, sensing his despair. Henry stared at her. "You think that all these men and women around me mean anything to me? Substitutes for family? If you do, you are no better then your sister. And I had such high hopes for you, Sophia!" And he jumped off the seat and strode away into the shadows. As soon as his footsteps faded, Sophia crumpled to the floor and burst into sobs.