Page 44 of Love, Remember Me

"Perhaps under the circumstances the archbishop vill gif you an annulment after the matter of my marriage is settled, and the king has taken himself a young and pretty English rose to vife."

"There are no grounds for annulment, madame," Nyssa said honestly. "The king was most insistent that the marriage be consummated, and demanded proof of such by this morning. The duke took him the proof."

Anne shook her head in wonderment. "Once," she said, "you told me that the king could be ruthless. I vas not certain you vere entirely correct, for Hendrick and I haf come so easily to our secret agreement; but his behavior in this matter is indeed heartless."

"He was very disturbed, madame; he had promised my mother he would keep me safe. Remember, the king is not privy to the duke's scheming. He felt my reputation had been compromised. So he took the only action he believed would restore my good name. He saw to my immediate marriage. He insisted upon the consummation, I realize now, to protect me from an annulment, or divorce later on. Remember that I am a considerable heiress in my own right."

"And the Howards are ambitious." The queen smiled.

"Aye, madame." Nyssa smiled in return.

"Vhen vill you leave the court, my friend?" Anne asked.

"Not until your grace is happily resettled. I have the king's permission to serve you until then in whatever capacity your grace wishes," Nyssa told the queen. "I could not leave you while you need me, dear madame. You have been so kind to me." She took up the queen's hand and kissed it.

Royalty did not cry, but Anne felt the tears welling up in her blue eyes. Since her arrival in England, she had met with great kindness from the common people, and from many here at court, but from young Nyssa Wyndham in particular. She squeezed the girl's hand. "Ya," she said huskily. "You vill stay vith me until everything is settled." She brushed her hand across her eyes. "I had best arise now, Nyssa. Call my ladies to come to me. I shall appoint you to personally oversee my jewelry until such time as I am no longer qveen."

Nyssa backed away from the queen's bed and curtsied to her. Then she went to fetch the queen's ladies-in-waiting to help their mistress get up and get dressed. When the women had hurried past her into the queen's bedchamber, the maids of honor crowded about her, all talking at once, demanding an explanation of her marriage.

"You have heard the official account, I am certain," Nyssa told them. "I can say nothing more, but you will be kind to the Earl of March. I think he may not be the man some would have you believe." The girls nodded, relieved.

"Is he a good lover, Nyssa?" Cat Howard demanded saucily of her.

"He says he is," came the serious reply.

The other girls giggled.

"But what doyouthink?" Cat persisted wickedly. "Did your toes curl up, and did you swoon with delight?"

"I have never had a lover before, Cat. I cannot make comparisons. I can only take the gentleman's word for it," Nyssa told her friend.

"I think he has been in love with you for some time," Elizabeth FitzGerald noted astutely. "He was always staring at you when he thought no one was looking."

"You Irish are incurable romantics, Bessie," Nyssa told her. "Besides, how could you know he was staring at me? Were you staring at him?" she teased her friend.

"Aye," Bessie admitted, blushing. "Handsome men with dangerous reputations are always far more interesting than just ordinary handsome men, and we Irish are known to be reckless where such men are concerned."

"Will you leave us now?" little Kate Carey inquired.

"Nay, I have the king's permission to remain in the queen's service until such time as I am no longer needed. I will oversee the queen's jewelry," Nyssa told them.

"Then the remainder of your stay will be a relatively short one, I suspect," said Kate Carey wryly. "It will be back to the country for you, Nyssa. Why do I think you will not be sorry to go?"

Nyssa smiled at her young friend. "Because I won't. I have loved serving the queen, and making friends with all of you, but like my mother before me, I am a country girl in my heart. Varian's lands are across the river Wye from my own estate of Riverside. I will not be far from my parents, and we will be surrounded by my family."

"Will you learn to love the earl, I wonder?" Bessie mused.

"Whether I love him or not, we are bound together in matrimony," Nyssa replied seriously. "I think I can learn to like him." She smiled at them. "Do not fear for me, my young friends. You should save your pity for others less fortunate than I."

"I want to speak to Nyssa alone," Cat Howard said meaningfully. "Go in to the queen before the other ladies wonder where we are and come spying on us."

Bessie and Kate obeyed her without question.

"What do you want of me?" Nyssa said quietly. "I think I have already done enough for you, Cat Howard, don't you?"

Catherine Howard had the grace to blush at Nyssa's gentle rebuke. Then she said, "You have met Duke Thomas, have you not? Would you defy him? He is a formidable opponent. I have not the strength to oppose him, Nyssa. You know in your heart that he would not have allowed it. He wants another Howard on the throne, and I am that Howard."

"You could have told him no, Cat, but you did not because you like the idea of being queen. Henry Tudor is a dangerous man to wive—Queen Catherine divorced; your own cousin Anne, beheaded; Queen Jane dead of childbed fever; this Queen Anne to be annulled. What will happen when he tires of you, Cat? How will he rid himself of the next wife he takes when he grows bored with her, or another pretty face takes his fancy? You are putting your head in the lion's mouth!"

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