"Let the anonymous and the guest reviewers of our lives revel in their cleverness of their spite. Their time will come. Meanwhile enjoy making fun of others, one ugly action makes you forget about the ugly actions done against you." ~Ironically Anonymous Scorned Duchess.

"My Queen we have received deployments from the forces overseas."

"How much?"

"Thirteen, maybe less."

"That is too little. The country will be overrun by more of these critics. Ever since they criticizes my daughter's first story, she has been going downhill since then."

"She did offer a very outrageous story if I may add."

"You may not."

"-and very colorful one. The King may be many things but a rapist he is not." The Admiral of Navy said, ignoring the Queen's last command.

"Are you questioning my authority Sir Conroy?"

"No Madame, on the contrary I question your daughter's."

"My daughter is going to be the future Queen of this country. You would do well to see her as such."

"I shall but as an Englishman and having lived through so many wars, I have acquired a certain pallet for lies, one that distinguishes good ones from bad ones. And your daughter I am sorry to say is not a very good liar though she does have imagination. I will give her that."

"Do you think she will ruin everything my husband and I have created?

"No but her husband shall."

"My daughter Juana may be mad but she is not a fool. She will never give Philip complete power over her kingdom, my kingdom still if God grants me more breath."

"Her Majesty is ailing, it will not be long before your daughter's husband steals the crown from her head. He has been coveting since he married your daughter."

"Who cares what he thinks of me, what matters is what Juana thinks. If public opinion can be swayed -"

"My lady Queen I am afraid public opinion is not the main concern. Your daughter can be a mad woman for all the people care, but if she gives complete control to her husband then it won't just be your kingdom who will be affected but your husband's as well."

"My husband has agreed with everything I said."

"He does but agreeing to leave your daughter as sole Queen is something he will find very difficult to accept. Even if she were not mad, supposing the rumors and from what we all saw when she was here, are true; it won't matter. He has coveted your kingdom ever since he married you." That is the sole reason why he married you-he was about to say.

"Fernando is loyal to me. He rules Aragon. I rule Castile. It has always been so since our marriage."

"An arrangement he was reluctant to agree."

"What are you implying you Englishman?!" Isabel asked. Her voice high with contempt. She didn't like the Englishmen. They kept her daughter a prisoner and deprived her of all her goods. She had to bribe the papacy so the new pope would issue a new bull that would make the king agree to a second marriage between her daughter and his remaining heir, that pudgy boy Harry Tudor.

Her daughter spoke of what a great king he would be. 'It's as if he is born to it lady mother.' But he wasn't. Isabel thought. His brother was and it was unfortunate he died.

There were times when Isabel thought that God played a cruel joke on them making Catalina the youngest and Juana the oldest.

She took down her golden crown and set it on the table and looked at the Englishman, her light blue eyes bearing deep into his chocolate brown.

"Majesty, my country has been on and off from kings and queens for the past century. Our King enjoys an uncontested rule but it won't be for long before another pretender arises and with your son in law housing one of the greatest threats to the Tudor dynasty ... I propose you offer an exchange. The Duke of Suffolk and his brothers, the last white roses for your daughter."

"Catalina is the Princess Dowager of Wales, the future Queen of England! I will not ruin her ambitions" my ambitions, she was about to say, "just so the king can sleep well at night."

"Majesty, it is imperative we make allies of the English King. You have seen what he is capable. He forced your dearest daughter to sell her plate, who knows what else he will force her to sell?"

"The King is not that kind of man. He loved his wife."

"Aye he did but he is a widower now and a year since her death. Men become desperate when they don't enjoy women's company, more if they have a beautiful daughter living with them that they cannot touch."

"You have a dirty mind Englishman."

"I speak the truth." Conroy said with a simple smile.

The king of England was a great man in comparison to other kings but the queen of Castile didn't know that.

"Your daughter has done a terrific job enchanting the new prince of Wales. He loves her, he is besotted with her. He would die for her if she were to tell him to jump off from the highest tower in London but he is just a boy and the king is a very greedy man. He will never part with your daughter's dowry and your husband knows that very well but his councilors will try to convince you that this is not true."

Then he added: "Castile is the center of the Iberian Peninsula and with Granada now part of your dominions, the world will look to you for alliances." Who cares if a girl gets her hopes crushed? He was saying. It's better to make allies of your eldest daughter and her ambitious husband.

"I ... shall have to think on it. Leave me." Isabel said.

Conroy left, a smile on his lips.

Catalina reclined on the cushioned chair. She slept better than most these days. Harry was listening attentively to her voice as she recited his last poem.

He seemed so insignificant compared to his father who still had the warrior's build with square shoulders and a tough expression. Her poor lady mother had been alarmed when he suggested a new match between herself and him. Of course her lady mother said no right away, but her father told her to keep quiet and wait and see how serious the king was in this offer.

Catalina or Katherine as she called herself now, would have said no too if she had any choice in the matter. But she didn't and as any dutiful daughter she had to do what her parents told her.

That was the main difference between herself and her sisters. Isabella did nothing but weep when her parents wanted to marry her (twice), and Maria when they told her she would marry her dead sister's husband. But even more foolish was her eldest surviving sister Juana.

She had the future of Spain in her hands. Her sons would be kings and Emperors while Katherine's would only be king and Dukes. She had the whole world at her feet, yet still she cried and threw temper tantrums like she was some tavern wench.

Life is so easy when you stop worrying about little things -Catalina always said. She turned the page and read another one of her betrothed's bad poems.

The Spanish Ambassador came into their rooms and requested a private audience with her. She gave permission to Henry and her Duena to leave.

"What is it ambassador? Did something happen?"

The ambassador nodded grimly.

"What is it?" She asked softly but there was a hint of frustration in her voice.

De Puebla knew the Princess was not fond of him. But she set her hatred for him aside for the sake of her future.

"Well?"

"Your Highness, the Queen your mother passed away last week at Medina del Campo ..."

Mother! No. I must be strong.

"How did she die?"

"She was very old Your Highness you must remember that." De Puebla said, quieting his conscience.

"But she is my mother. She can't be dead ... she was always so strong."

"Who will take control of Castile now?" She knew the answer but she had to hear it for herself. She could not fathom it if her worst fears came true, but they always did.

Her heart dropped when the ambassador answered "Juana, Your Majesty."

"And Philip?" She closed and opened her eyes in less than a second, blinking away her tears. "Is he King Consort now or has my sister finally gone mad and gave him matrimonial rights?!" It would not surprise her if she did.

They all say she is crazy. Maybe they were right. God did Castile wrong not making her the eldest now the Devil would wear her mother's crown.

She was the dutiful daughter, she was the one who should get rewarded not her sister! But she quieted these thoughts as soon as she thought back to her dead mother. Her poor mother who had done nothing more than serve the Lord and teach her daughters everything to prepare them for their future roles.

"Fortunately no. She has landed in Spain and will hold a session with the Cortes, she might be holding one now as we speak. I am terribly sorry Your Highness but maybe this is not the right moment" he did a wave with his hand as if to show how saddened he was by her recent loss but she was not fooled.

"This is the right moment. I want to know everything. The future is Spain is at stake, that is my business as well as yours." More so mine.

"Your sister's husband will be given the consortium but he is not to talk any part-" He was interrupted by the princess' low laughter.

"Your sister does mean to rule as your mother did. She will include her husband in the Cortes but he will not take part in any important decisions."

"And you believe that?" She asked with arched eyebrows. "My sister does not know independence, she has never known it. She will give everything to that fool and when that fool has finished wrecking my country then my father will forsake me for the sake of saving my mother's kingdom and me ... I will be nothing but an old maid by the time this is over."

"My Princess do not lose hope, you are your father's favorite daughter. He will provide for you and God will too."

"I have more faith in God then I do for my father." She said. "Perhaps you are right though. I don't trust that husband of hers. My lady mother has always been wise in choosing her daughters' husbands but Philip Habsburg is far too proud. He will un-build everything she and my father build."

"The Burgundian Prince is one of the finest men in Christendom, your own betrothed admires him."

"He won't once he sees what he really is like." She said and smiled thinly at the shocked expression in the ambassador's face. "Please ambassador, we know you are not here for just a formal visit. If you wanted to tell me my mother passed away, you could have sent your secretary."

It seemed as he had underestimated her. He would not make the same mistake twice. The Princess was an obstinate young woman but she was also smart. Too smart for his liking but she was in parents' -now her father's- service and his first duty was to her.

"When are they coming?"

"His Grace is coming next week."

"He can't way to rub it in the faces of these Englishmen and I suppose you are going to tell me that I am to behave myself around him."

"Yes but your father also implores you to convince him not to make war on Aragon and work with him to rule Castile. Together they can rule the country jointly."

"And my sister? What of my sister? She is the Queen of Castile, Ambassador. She deserves a say in my father's new order."

"Your sister is not your mother and you said it yourself in the past that. She doesn't have what it takes to rule Castile. Philip and your father are the future, her offspring will inherit the joint crowns of Aragon and Castile, keeping Spain unified and the Holy Roman Empire."

"What shall I do then?" Katherine asked, not happy to hear these outcome of events. "I am my father's to command."

The Spanish Ambassador smiled and handed her, her father's letters.

"Your Majesty was very kind to have you here."

"He is. His Majesty is very kind and loving and I am very grateful to him." She said knowing full well that Philip was a weasel and would tell His Majesty about her bad behavior if given the chance.

"Huh. I never heard anyone speak so kindly of Henry VII, then again he did infuriate my step-grandmother taking away her dearly beloved brother's kingdom. A nasty offence, don't you think?"

"The King won his crown on the battlefield. God granted him his victory. If He was displeased with results why would H made him king?"

"God works in mysterious ways. He has shown His displeasures through other ways."

He no doubt means his eldest son's death.

"My sister and I have not seen each other in years," Started Katherine, changing the subject. "I wish to write to her but the King and my lord father keep me very busy. Would you tell her on my behalf that her sister misses her? She is about to have another child am I correct?"

"She is on her first trimester. I will tell her next time I see her."

The music had changed and Katherine suggested they danced but Philip openly refused, choosing instead Katherine Gordon, her late Majesty's lady in waiting and best friend.

Katherine felt humiliated but she did not let it show. She drew a smile and continued to stare ahead as if nothing happened.

As Philip finished dancing, he climbed the stairs that led to the high table until he stopped, touched his stomach and started coughing violently.

"Your Grace?" Katherine Gordon asked concern, putting her hand on his shoulder. Philip pushed her away and dropped to the floor.

"Water! Someone bring him water!"

"No!" He said and clutched his throat.

The king tried to help him get up, but Philip refused. "Treason, treason, treason." Were his last words before he expired. His eyes staring lifelessly at his host.

Everyone looked at the king. They shouted Philip's name in the streets and revolts sprung around Yorkshire and the midlands, where he had never been popular, demanding he be brought to justice.

Harry, his son, who had been shocked by the whole ordeal confided in his tutor Sir Thomas More that he didn't trust his father anymore.

In these dark years the king's mother took over the government and did the best that she could to curry back favor to her son but it was to no avail. Three months after the Duke's death, the Infanta's father had also died while he had been entertaining two English ambassadors. Everyone blamed her son.

Vengeance! Vengeance! They cried in the streets of Spain.

Margaret Beaufort prayed to God that her son would last five more years until Harry was old enough to rule.

She had feared this since the day Bouchier had placed the crown on her son's head. Fisher said she cried tears of joy but they weren't of joy, they were of fear. Her son would be just one of many kings who would face rebellions and assassinations threats and would have to be just as cruel as his predecessors -and even then there was no guarantee that he would last.

Those were the tears that she cried when he emerged from Westminster Abbey, clothed in the royal colors of purple and the Tudor colors of green and white. Not many knew how dangerous it was to be king. They all desired the crow but they didn't know how dangerous it was. That throne wasn't a blessing. It was a curse. All of her family had died fighting for their king, the last Lancastrian monarch -Henry VI.

She did not want to be like that unfortunate Queen who had to see all her loved ones dead. Margaret of Anjou. The Red Queen as many called her because of the commoners who supported her cause, using red roses instead of Edward IV's chosen symbol, the white rose.

She had sacrificed her youth and her happiness for her son and husband and in the end she lost them too.

Margaret had sacrificed more than that when she was forced to marry Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond. Her cousin, his half-brother, needed heirs. Lancastrian heirs. And Margaret was one of the richest heiresses and her mother had recently married and with no other way to help her she gave her daughter away to a man she hardly knew. A man who was a man and not a boy her age like she expected him to be.

The wedding night still haunted her. She could never have children again because of it. When she had children the physicians and midwives told her that she had bled so severely that it was impossible for her to have another child. Even if she could become pregnant, it could cost her, her life.

Margaret dropped her head and looked down at her feet remembering when she went barefooted to a church nearby asking the virgin Mary for protection. Please Holy Mother, protect my baby, give me strength to these coming years and please do not burden me with another husband.

She wanted to dedicate herself to helping others and raising her child all by herself, but a girl of only thirteen, that was impossible. Her mother and brother in law, Jasper Tudor, arranged another marriage to her and she cried so hard going into her mother's arms begging her not to do this.

Her mother, Margaret Beauchamp, a powerful woman in her own right, told her she wished nothing more than to take Margaret and her son home but it was the fate of all women to marry.
Looking back, Margaret was wrong to curse her mother for giving her away. She was right, it was women's fate to marry. Otherwise what would become of them? The church taught them piety and virtue but the reality was much grimmer. Widows were frowned upon and coveted for their wealth. No woman had control of her own destiny, those who tried were shunned or killed.

Henry Stafford turned out to be a good husband. He was not like Edmund. He had no hurry to have children. When he realized that she could have no more, he accepted it and instead they build a new tradition where they celebrated their wedding anniversary each year and went to visit Henry where he was staying with the Herberts.

Stanley was different. He was an ambitious man and she was no different when she married him. She wanted his protection. He was close to the King and if she could curry favor with Edward then he would agree to bring Henry back, and she was rich so if Henry married the king's daughter, she and Thomas would be greatly rewarded. But the two didn't count on two things. Richard taking the throne and the princes' disappearance.

She had seen so many people turn on each other and die for the sake of that blasted crown. She was not going to see her family pushed through the mud because of these rumors.

Her Henry was many things, but a murderer was not one of them!

What a cowardly thing to say! Hiding behind their anonymity! That was how these things started. Some cowards with fake names like High Tower, Guest and Force for Truth.

Nothing but Cowards! How about facing her, showing their real faces and speaking their real names and not being so damn self righteous about it!

When she was a little girl she loved to read and translate every verse to Latin and French but one day when she was writing a story based on her favorite person in the bible, Queen Esther, she got a note. A classy review from one of these crows who called her story the worst thing that ever happened to the history of literature and a rape to human's eyes. I really wanted to give this story a shot. I really did but reading this story hurts me more than it hurts you. You should really get one of those saints to help you because you suck at this. I suggest that you quit. I am not trying to be rude
What a strange story so Esther is Esther come back to life and what is the deal with King Arthur? I don't understand this story who is who? You sly she-dog go kill yourself, you write badly. Even if someone were to write a story of your life you would have another guest reviewer reviewing it and marking it as poorly. Just stop pretending you're this great writer. You're laughable. Just because your daddy hanged himself does not mean you should be pitied.

Cassandra, her cat peed on that note and tore it to shreds but it didn't make her feel better. She could never write after that. Her whole life she dreamed about serving gods and others through her writings but now, every time she wrote she remembered those words, her step-family's words and what those anonymous reviews had said and it was so difficult getting them out of her head that she would stare blankly at the parchment and cry afterwards because she knew what she wanted to say but couldn't word it perfectly.

It was funny how everyone looked high on her because of her intelligence but if truth be told she never felt that intelligent.

She sighed and returned her eyes to the window. Harry's bride to be would arrive any minute. Princess Eleanor Habsburg of Spain and Austria. She was reputed to be a beauty and she became twelve last year. She was coming at a bad time of year when crops withered and there was snow everywhere.

And there was the issue of her aunt. Katherine of Aragon had been devastated when she found out about her father's death. She blamed her son. Margaret knew she did. Everyone did, and the Princess had more reason to suspect since the king had never been a friend of her parents'. But the girl ought to have common sense to know her son was no killer and much less a cowardly one. If he wanted someone dead, he would fight him, in the courts or the arena, it didn't matter where.

Killing someone with poison was something only men without honor did and her son was the most honorable person she knew.

She reacted even worse when she found out that her sister, her beloved sister whom she had always spoken so highly about, tore the original copy of the papal bull their parents stored in their palace of Los Viveros in Madrid and forced the pope to issue a new one where her daughter would marry the future king.

Margaret opposed it, everyone did but with the accusations against her son going on, there was no way to refuse her. If he did, then everyone would say he did it because of a guilty conscience or that the Spanish Queen had been right all along.

Margaret had more reason to suspect of the Spanish Queen.

From scorned and ridiculed she was transferred the status of victim and reluctant heroine. They all cried with her and swallowed her tears when she knelt to her father's grave and asked the Lord to forgive her for all the cruel words she said to him in their lifetime. Worse was the control she had over the common people who threatened to stage a revolt if the nobles locked her up. (Some tried and they were killed, dismembered and their limbs exhibited on every tower for their relatives to see. Those that followed were quickly subdued by Juana who exposed the nobility's dirtiest secrets.)

She was ruthless, she would give her that. But brutality did not guarantee safety. Margaret had learned that with the red queen, the Lancastrian Queen, Margaret of Anjou.

God, she prayed mentally. Let the Princess Dowager of Wales show her decorum -as she always has- to her niece and accept the inevitable. And let this new Princess of Wales be nothing like her mother.

Margaret was brought from her thoughts with the sound of horse hooves.

She comes ...