~His Beloved~

Who Done It?

As war broke out in the throne room, guards surrounded King Henry, protecting him from the Spanish intruders. Henry observed the fightig methods of the soldiers. Although they appeared to be pushing towarsd him, somethig about their movements told hom there was more to their plan. Charles blocked yet another sword as it collided with his, shoving the spaniard away, he noticed how little effort the soldier put into defending himself. Focusing on multiple spanish men, Charles saw that none of their troops were fighting at full force. As if they wanted to keep the battle going. Eyes widing he realizing this was simply a distraction to something bigger. Charles voice rang throughout the battleground. "Where's the queen?" Following his best friend's actions, Henry caught on to what was truly happening.

In the tower, Queen Jane and Princess Victoria quivered, staring up at the men hovering above them. Behind the men stood a very distraught Princess Mary covered in blood. By the frightening expression on Mary's face, Jane could see the princess did not expect the bloodbath her cousin sent. In the back of her mind, flashes of Mary running away with Edmund, Lady Giselle and Princess Charlotte played. Breaking from the flashback, Jane recentered her sight on the blood that dripped down Mary's dress. Where were Edmund and Charlotte? Tears threatened to pool from the Queen's eyes as she thought of the worse outcomes, then pictured her little Victoria dying at the hands of the brutal soliders.

One of the soldiers stepped forward, gripping the hilt of his sword, preparing to swing at the young girl first. Mary's brown eyes met the her half cousin's blue ones. The younger child silently plead with the Princess to help. Forcing herself from the grasp of the soldiers, Mary gripped the arm of the held guard, begging, "Leave her be. Please, leave her be." Ignoring the pleas of the heiress, the general coldly shrugged Mary off his arm, glaring down at her. "I already have my orders." Swiftly, Mary was held back by two of the spanish soldiers as the general brought his sword into the air. Victoria cried out as she saw the sword swing for her, but the steel never came into contact with her. Queen Jane shot to her lept to her feet, sheilding her daughter from the impact of the sword. In turn, the blonde queen sacrifaced herself and her unborn child to save her eldest. Mary' focus her vision on the wall, urging herself not to look at the dead queen. However, nothing could stop the piercing screams of Victoria, crying out for her mother. Her loud screams did not last very long as the general brought his sword down was more time. Mary side glanced quick enough to see the dash of rose petals that fell from the flower in Victoria's hair as she hit the floor.

Mary's mind went numb as her eyes laid on the fourth dead body she'd seen all day. All of this bloodshed to ensure her safe ascension  to the english throne. She still heard the sound of Edmund's small body hitting the water in the fountain where he was drowned to his last breath. Princess Mary tried to save him, to no avail. The prince's body was cold by the time she pushed through the soliders blocking her view. Before Mary knew it, Charlotte also laid dead in front of her from eating posionous berries. The general called it a mercy killing for someone  of Charlotte's young age. The innocent toddler ate the fruit after a soldier insisted they were sweets. Mary held her cousin as Charlotte coughed up blood, choked and died. Mary thought nothing could be worse than those two deaths. The young girl nevered imagined an hour later she'd witness Queen Jane and Victoria be cut down by a sword and bleed out.

She did not have enough time to process everything that took place, before the troop of spanish guards guided to a ship and set sail for Spain. Back in the palace, King Henry sat on his knees craddling the dead bodies of his eldest son, Prince Edmund. Charles Brandon intruded  on the intimate moment, flanked by a guard carrying the corpse of Princess Charlotte. "Your majesty...." Henry's furious gaze landed on his best friend, then followed Charles' line of sight to the small bundle in the arms of his solider. "We find her in the queen's apartments..." Refusing to believe his beloved Charlotte was gone, Henry shook his head. Rippling the bad news, Charles gestured for the second guard to step foward. In the man arm, laid a deceased Victoria. Facing the new reality, Henry placed his son down to analyze the lifeless bodies of his daughters. After a few moments and one last kiss, Henry forced himself to let them go. Handing on to his last sense of hope, Henry asked Charles, "Where is Lady Anne? How is my son, the Duke of Somerset?"