1527
Mistress Anne,898Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5CPXKlyr5
In turning over in my mind the contents of your last letters, I have put myself into great agony not knowing how to interpret them, whether to my disadvantage - as you show in some places - or to my advantage, as I understand them in some others, beseeching you earnestly to let me know expressly your whole mind as to the love between us.
It is absolutely necessary for me to obtain this answer, having been for above a whole year stricken with the dart of love, and not yet sure whether I shall fail finding a place in your heart and affection. That last point has prevented me for some time calling you my mistress; because, if you only love me with an ordinary love, that name is not suitable for you, because it denotes a singular love.898Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡui0gSScxaA
But if you please to do the office of a true loyal mistress and friend, and to give up yourself body and heart to me, who will be, and have been, your most loyal servant, (if your rigour does not forbid me) I promise you that not only the name shall be given you, but also that I will take you for my only mistress, casting off all others besides you out of my thoughts and affections, and serve you only.898Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBCmvQ9iDu
I beseech you to give an entire answer to this my rude letter, that I may know on what and how far I may depend. And if it does not please you to answer me in writing, appoint some place where I may have it by word of mouth, and I will go thither with all my heart. No more, for fear of tiring you. Written by the hand of him who would willingly remain yours,898Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNA06VrxuT
H. R.
1527
She held the king's letter close to her chest, a smile on her face. A messenger had arrived late the night before, riding up to the doors of Hever Castle proudly on a white steed to deliver her the letter. He waited a while to see if he should return with a letter for the king written by her, but she refused and sent him on his way.
Henry had drawn a H and A intertwined at the bottom of the page, their initials encircled by a heart. She smiled wryly when she saw it; he was like a lovesick child.
She hadn't intended for it to go so far; she was still refusing his bed, but she had only expected him to give her lands and wealth to bribe her into his chambers. She hardly expected a declaration of his love for her.
The whole thing had gone too far, and for sure there was no turning back now. The king was besotted with her. It had gone far past mere lust; he loved her with all his heart and soul. It was too late for her to retire from court and find a baron or a duke to marry. There was no way Henry would allow her to marry at all.
There was nothing more she could do now but see just how far she could take it. She could not go back, only forwards.
1541
Anne was in his chambers. He knew it was her from the smell of her - that delicate perfume he had always loved so - and her very presence created a warmth within him, even after so long a period of separation.
He lifted his head from the pillow to see her sitting serenely on the window seat, a book open in her lap. He recognised it immediately. It was the book she had introduced him to, the one about the ultimate power of kings. It still amazed him that her womanly mind had the ability to grasp such concepts. She had always amazed him.
Her neck was bare, and he found that he could not stand to see it so bereft of jewels. Yet she wore it well. Simplicity looked good on her. Her skin was as pale as fresh milk, and he longed to reach out and brush his fingers against her jawline. He knew it would be as soft as always. He remembered the last time he held her face in his hands, languishing in the memory of the breath leaving her lips in a soft sigh...
"Anne?" He asked at last. Her head lifted to look him in the eye and titled to the side in confusion. She studied him hard for a moment, before rising to her feet, allowing the book in her lap to fall the floor with a thud.
"Henry?" She asked. He rose from under the covers, putting his bare feet on the cold wooden panels of the floor. He noticed absently that all of his rugs were missing.
She reached out one of her slender hands, reaching for him. He lifted his own arm, finding it slimmer than he remembered it, and reached for her, too.898Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEZm1zO8yx
His fingers were inches from her, but before he could reach forward and take her hand in his grasp, she was gone.898Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCpzH40bFbO
Nothing was left but the shaft of light streaming through the window and the small pieces of dust floating in the illumination.
He woke in a sweat. It was still dark and he fumbled for the matches beside his bed to light a candle. His fingers could not grip the match for shaking, and eventually another rose out of the darkness at the foot of his bed and gently took the match from him. For the briefest of moments Henry thought it was Anne.
Thomas Culpepper lit the candle and set it down gently on the gilded beside table.
"Your Grace?" He asked. Henry breathed deeply, waving him away. Culpepper moved back to the small bed at the foot of the king's grand one.
"Just a dream, Culpepper. Just..." He said with a pause. "Just a dream."
Culpepper watched with concern as the king worked to steady his breathing.
"I'll send for some wine, your grace." He said, but Henry shook his head, falling back onto his pillows and lying still, his gaze fixed upon the ceiling.
"No." He said firmly. "Fetch my wife, instead."
Culpepper cleared his throat and nodded. "Right away, your grace."
He left the room silently, walking the route he had memorised. He tread silently down the darkened hallways, taking care not to wake the inhabitants sleeping in the rooms leading off. It took him only a few moments before he was at the door of the queen's chambers.
He knocked gently, and before long the door opened. A hand emerged and grabbed him by the doublet, pulling him into the room.
Catherine giggled once he was inside, letting her grip loosen. He raised an eyebrow, straightening out the fabric she had creased.
"I wasn't expecting you tonight." She whispered, taking his arms and wrapping them about her waist.
"I'm not..." He began, clearing his throat again. "The king sent me. It is he who wants you, not I." He said gently, brushing his hand against her cheek.898Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4T1mLF6Yw
Her face fell as she disentangled herself from her lover's arms.
"The king?" She asked disappointedly. Culpepper nodded. Sighing heavily she picked up a robe and hastily wrapped it around her shoulders.
"Come on then, let me get this over with." She said grimly. Culpepper smiled sympathetically and she slapped him playfully on the arm. "You'll pay for this." She said with a laugh. He laughed with her, gently kissing her soft lips.
"Gladly." He answered.
Culpepper left the king's chambers once he had delivered Katherine to the king, closing the door softly.898Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXkBgL8Akz
Unbeknownst to the king, Culpepper was imagining himself in the place of her husband, imagining not Henry's hands running over her smooth, supple skin but his own. Not picturing Henry's lips kissing her neck, but his own. Treason tasted good on his tongue, and he closed his eyes and remembered the latest passionate night he himself had shared with the Queen just two days before.
Yet unbeknownst to both Culpepper and Catherine Howard, the king was not thinking of the pretty young blonde sharing his bed. He was imagining a woman entirely different, a dark haired beauty that had captivated him throughout his youth. The king was sharing his bed with his wife, thinking only of Anne Boleyn.
[A/N: The letter this chapter opens with is a real letter written to Anne Boleyn by Henry VIII. Henry wrote all his letters to Anne in his own hand (significant when he had a scribe to do it for him and hated signing things) and finished them off with little drawings of their intertwined initials, sometimes in a heart. This one, and others, can be found online at: 898Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLyrp72T2f
http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/resources/anne-boleyn-words/henry-viiis-love-letters-to-anne-boleyn/ ]
