Her Grace

35.

It had now been a month and a half since Chloe had returned to court and things were better than ever

Anne had learned to keep her mouth shut and just endure and her marriage had managed to heal quite well so far as a result of it

Butt Chloe herself was thriving, everything about court life was doing her good, it was the perfect life for her, everyone treated her amazingly, she was having a brilliant time

Ryan in turn was very happy, their somewhat rocky marriage had finally found calm and peace, they were happy

Ryan was back in Harry's best books, he had become his most trusted advisor over all others, much to the dismay of many, but calmed by Chloe knowing how to please the different lords at court and calm the storms they brought

Her being so greatly lived at court was leading to the same outcome for him, he was now much more popular than ever before, now having much more respect than he previously had

It was during a meeting between them when there was a knock at the door, they stopped talking and Harry told them to come in

To their surprise it was their friend Owen, they were about give him a warm greeting when both of them noticed the look upon his face, they immediately knew something was wrong

"I'm sorry to interrupt but I thought you'd both want to know, William is dead" he told them of the fate their friend had found himself with

"Dead? William's dead?" Ryan repeated in shock, the four of them had been best friends for years and now...he was dead

"What happened? What was the cause? Do they know?" Harry asked hurriedly, concerned about what the answer would be

"Sweating sickness" Owen informed them sadly, knowing what that meant for all of them

"My god, so close to London?" Ryan found his words falling out of his mouth before he even had a chance to think them through

"Good lord, what about him? Has he been buried? Was it enough? What about his widow?" Harry asked the important questions, hardening himself as he spoke, waiting for the answers

Owen gave all the answers Harry sought but Ryan just stood there in silence, trying to take it all in, it all seemed mad, their friend was dead for absolutely no reason at all

"His widow sent this, apparently she'd hidden it away, he'd left it for us three" Owen told them as he placed a medium sized chest of sorts on the table before them

"Hidden it? Why did she have to hide it?" Ryan asked, concern in his voice, wanting to know what the hell had happened at the home of their late friend

"The servants, they started....taking things after William died, whatever they could get their hands on, they took" he told them cautiously, wrought with sadness at the thought of what had happened, it was disgusting, they were all disgusted

"Where is his widow now? I shall have the thieves caught and hanged for their actions! And we must do what we can to help his widow, whatever she needs" Harry told Owen as if he was about to send him off to fetch her but the look on his face told them that wasn't going to be happening

"What is it? What haven't you told us?" Ryan found a lump forming in his throat as he awaited the answer, sensing it wasn't going to be good

"A few days after he passed, she caught ill as well, they're both buried in the same unmarked grave, with all the other victims of the sickness" Owen explained, Ryan couldn't help gasping and Harry sighed as he rested his head in his hand, it was a horrible end for their friend and his wife