The Ghost and the Rose

Chapter 10

For the first time since arriving at Burnley, we were all at breakfast. I hadn't seen Nell in as many days and she still looked terrible. The last time I had seen her, she had been mumbling incoherent nonsense as we made our way to the manor. Black shadows now cupped the bottom of her eyes, which only emphasised the lack of colour in her cheeks. Her red hair was scraped back into a greasy, low ponytail. Nell had always looked immaculate.

No-one knew about my plan to find John, and I wasn't about to tell them. Maybe it was out of fear they would try to stop me or think I'm crazy. I had woken this morning itching to go, it was as though he was drawing me to him somehow.

"You are looking much brighter this morning," said Eleanor as I took a bite of some buttered bread.

"I am feeling much better," I said.

Every so often I found Henry eyeing me strangely. After the fourth or fifth time I caught him looking at me, I asked him if everything was alright.

"Who is the Queen?" he asked.

"Sorry?"

"The Queen," he repeated, gesturing towards the stamped image on my t-shirt. "Who is she?"

Eleanor mustered a laugh I knew wasn't genuine, she exchanged looks with Phoebe who added her own high-pitched giggle. Henry looked more perplexed than ever.

"Of course you know who she is," said Eleanor. "It's Queen Elizabeth."

"Woodville? I dare say the likeness is unremarkable."

Eleanor's laugh became more of a nervous teeter, she glanced at me with greying eyes. "Queen Elizabeth the Second."

"I was not aware there had been a first."

"You don't know about Queen Elizabeth I? I thought everyone had to learn about the Tudors at school."

"The Tudors?" Henry's eyes narrowed in distaste. "Bastard half-brothers of the dead king, they are neither important nor significant." He took a swig of red wine from his goblet.

"How long is this going to go on for?" spat Nell.

"What?" I asked.

Nell stared at me with dark eyes. "The sooner you work all of this out the easier it will be on all of us," she sent the chair flying backwards when she stood and threw her knife down. It landed on the table with a thud. "Excuse me everyone, I don't seem to have much of an appetite at the moment."

Henry raised from his own chair as Nell left the room.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Nell had just confirmed what I already suspected. Everyone knew something I was being kept in the dark about. They knew what had been going on.

"She's not been feeling quite right," Eleanor explained.

"Just stop," I snapped. "Stop it."

"Anne!" Phoebe reproached me; her eyes wide.

"All of you know what's going on. Why won't you tell me? I've felt as though I have been losing my mind."

"Let's just tell her," Phoebe sighed.

"No, it is not time," hissed Eleanor. "You my child, are nowhere near ready to understand the forces at work here."

"The fourteenth is nearly upon us," cried Phoebe. "We are running out of time and she needs our help."

"Need your help with what? Tell me what is going on here! And you," I screamed at Henry. "You're just sitting there taking it all in. I'm sure you know more than what you're letting on. Why don't you say anything? Why don't you help me with whatever it is?"