Read Threads: The Reincarnation of Anne Boleyn for Free Online

had
diverged over those years. George was very serious and intense
about his future and his prospects. I was more flighty and
carefree, content to attend feasts and masques, and to chatter
among the women at court about the women who were not present in
the room. We each experienced exasperation in the company of the
other, and heard word of each other mainly through George’s wife,
who carried messages back and forth between us.
    Meticulously well-informed, George was
opinionated about the subject of politics and liked to discuss it
at length, whereas I had no opinions except to comment on the
personalities involved, what they wore and whom they had bedded. At
first, I politely extricated myself from his conversations when
they turned to current events. Later, I sought him out and grilled
him endlessly, not only for information concerning that which was
taking place now, but all things that had led up to it, and his
speculations as to where an event might lead. The result was a huge
surprise to both of us: I had a head for it, and a mind sharper
than that with which I had thus far been credited. George viewed me
differently afterwards, and spoke to me with more respect and less
condescension. Over the course of several months, it lessened his
habitual annoyance with me somewhat, but alas, did not erase it
entirely. His wife still formed our strongest link to each
other.
    I spent a good portion of my time in George’s
company after my duties required that I obtain a better grasp of
politics within and outside the court. He assisted me with an
understanding I had previously neglected to develop, and his
coaching spared me some embarrassment. In pursuit of the goal of
educating me for my duties as Henry’s wife, we spent many hours
together before and after I wed, giving neither Henry nor anyone
else cause to believe we were engaging in unnatural acts. Henry
once caught me affectionately kissing George’s cheek, and at the
time had smiled. He had also smiled at the stories I told him about
our sleeping all to a bed as small children.
    From those two things (and from fanciful
suggestions from George’s by-then-unhappy-and-embittered wife,
whose comments Henry had encouraged) Henry concocted his charge of
incest.
    ۞
    I pause here at the thought. I feel outrage
strongly enough to kill. I whirl into a frenzy of anger while words
come to me, calming me, soothing me, attempting to reason with me
as I reel about in pain and affront.
    I move ahead too quickly, I am told. Fury
keeps me picking at a sore I would be wiser to leave alone. There
is much time here to dwell on anger, but it serves no purpose. I
must stay with the task at hand.
    “Calm yourself. Calm yourself . . . ”
    In time I do, and I move forward.
    ۞
    During the years we were growing up, Henry’s
brother Arthur took Katherine of Aragon as his bride. Arthur, a
weak sort, died soon afterward leaving a wife and a throne he had
not lived long enough to claim. His younger brother Henry laid
claim to both. That Henry should ascend the throne was never
questioned. That he should also claim a woman as part of the
inheritance was looked upon by some in askance.
    When Henry was 14, his father made him
publicly declare the arrangement of his marriage to Katherine was
not of his choosing in order to shame the Spanish crown over some
passing political peevishness, but in fact, the marriage was of his choosing. On first sight Henry, at age 10, had wanted
Katherine and would stop at nothing to have her. From his
perspective, the death of his brother was a convenience that
confirmed what he knew to be true: God intended for her to be his
wife.
    Others stated that God did not approve of
marriage to a brother’s spouse, but Henry was adamant and his
father certainly had no objection. Spain and England had both had
gone to some trouble to marry Katherine to the British crown. At
the same time, Spain’s queen, Isabella, was dying and anxious for
her daughter Katherine to be