LOVE AND WAR
— 57. Willful

       "So Arthur sends his willful sister to us," Margaret spoke up in an annoyed tone as she turned to look at her husband.

   "It seems as though he's trying to prove a point to her," Stanley replied, causing Margaret to give him a weird look.

"And what point is that?" She asked, raising a brow at him.

"That I do not know, but we mustn't refuse this offer. If Arthur and Thomas die in battle, even if House York wins, Lizbeth is the key to England and keeping a hold of the Yorks in England. This upcoming battle will decide all of our futures, but either way, Princess Lizbeth is the key to it all. If your son wins, she will be his wife," He explained, which Margaret wasn't happy about.

"It should be Princess Grace marrying my son," She complained and it wasn't because she was upset that the girl died in general, but because it meant Lizbeth would be marrying Henry.

"Yes, but because of your mistakes, the poisoned tea killed Grace instead of Lizbeth," Stanley pointed out, earning an annoyed look from Margaret.

"Tragically," She muttered under her breath and rolled her eyes.

"You will not bully her, Margaret," He scolded his wife in a stern tone.

"I do not bully. I will merely help her to move closer to our Lord as her mother has clearly failed to do so as of late," She explained, but they both know she was lying.

"Good. Because that girl is just like her mother. If you bully her, she will surely bully you back and you don't want her as an enemy. Not at a time like this," Stanley snapped at Margaret, just before leaving the room.

____

At Bedford Castle, Nora stood in the gardens made in honor of her daughter Grace. She smiled sadly, admiring the dozen white and red roses that had grown in the past year.

"Lizbeth has arrived at Lady Stanley's home," Lizzie spoke up, causing Nora to turn her head to look at the girl who happened to technically be her stepdaughter.

"She won't remain there for long, I'm sure of it. Margaret will soon find herself unable to deal with Lizbeth's willfulness," Nora assured the girl, grabbing Lizzie's hand in comfort since she knew that she was worried.

"If Henry Tudor wins and Lizbeth marries him, her sons will die, Nora," Lizzie complained in a worried tone as she slowly released herself from the woman's grasp, "Because my mother and I cursed the line of whoever killed my four brothers."

"Henry will not win," Nora argued in a stern tone, "He can't. Richard is right. This boy knows nothing of warfare. The first sight of bloodshed, he'll run with his tail between his legs."

"I pray that you are right," Lizzie whispered softly and Nora slowly turned to her, a sympathetic look on her face.

"Do you love him?" Nora found herself asking without thinking of the consequences, "I eon't judge you. I promise."

Lizzie looked down at the ground in shame and nodded. "I know I shouldn't, but I do. I do love him. More than I thought possible."

"Unluckily for me, I can relate, Lizzie," Nora confessed, an ashamed look on her face, "As each day passes, I find myself consumed with even more guilt than I carried the day before. I feel as though I am dishonoring Edward and my love for him as I lay with his brother. I am filled with shame as I think about what I've done with Richard."

"Then, why do you do it?" Lizzie asked, a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

"It fills the hole left in my heart after losing the man I love. Not all the way, but it partially makes me feel better and that's good enough for me," Nora explained to Lizzie, which was something she told no one else.

"Do you love Richard more than you loved my father?" Lizzie questioned and Nora let out a large scoff.

"God, no!" Nora exclaimed, shaking her head as she smiled slightly, "I was with Edward for twenty-two years. He was the love of my life and I will always love him more than anyone else. He is a part of me. He always will be. I care for Richard, a lot actually, but what I feel for him will never come close to what I felt for Edward. He is my one, true love and I will never love anyone the way I loved him. He is the father of my children."

"Do you love Richard, though?" Lizzie uneasily asked and Nora took a moment to think about it before nodding.

"I suppose I do, but surely, your uncle Richard loves me a lot more than I love him," Nora informed Lizzie, "I love him, I do. But definitely not as much as he loves me. I know I should feel guilty for that, but I know Richard already knows that is the case and he understands."

"He is your way of healing after my father's death," Lizzie realized and Nora sighed as she nodded her head.

"He is," She confirmed as she turned to look at Lizzie, "In that way, we are not the same. You truly love my son in a way you shouldn't. Perhaps I wouldn't be so angry about that if he weren't king, but he is."

"He loves me, too," Lizzie pointed out and Nora nodded.

"I know," Nora responded in a calm tone, "But for your sake, Lizzie, if my son loses this battle and tragically dies, you must tell them that you are a virgin."

Lizzie opened her mouth to speak, but then cut herself off. She found herself thinking about something else.

"Why isn't Cecily and I with our mother?" She suddenly asked and Nora felt uneasy. Elizabeth told her not to tell.

"Your mother and your three younger sisters are hidden away in an Abbey for their protection. Grafton was no longer safe for them. Elizabeth and I agreed to that. She didn't think it was wise to keep you and your sister there with her. You are of age to marry and I promised to keep you both safe and find you both husbands suitable for highborn ladies like yourself. I promised to care for you as your guardian and to protect you as if you were my own." She explained and Lizzie didn't seem so shocked by the news.

She wondered, though, where was her brother Thomas with the family's hidden 'jewel'?

The jewel her mother was lucky enough to get her hands on and the one that would have Nora dropping to her knees in thanks.

Where was he?

Where was her half-brother?

Where was George?

_____

Soon after arriving at Lady Stanley's home,  Lizbeth was forced to kneel alongside the woman in the chapel to pray.

Lizbeth sighed as she opened her eyes from praying. She turned to look at Margaret, who still had her hands folded and her eyes closed.

Lizbeth couldn't bear it any longer. She needed to be with her brothers, not with the religious madwoman who tried to kill her and instead killed Grace. Not to mention, she was surely the one behind George, Edmund, Edward, and Richard's deaths.

"I won't intrude on you for very long, Lady Margaret, but the King--" She began to say, only to have Margaret cut her off.

"We do not speak in God's house. And you will pray five times a day that my son forgives you for your sin," Margaret interrupted Lizbeth in a cold tone, which caused the younger girl to give her a weird look.

"What sin?" Lizbeth asked, an amused look on her face, "I've done nothing."

"You are the daughter of Nora of Lancaster. You are filled with sins," Margaret retorted and Lizbeth began to glare at her, "You will pray that God will make you worthy of his hand."

  "I am worthy of his hand. I am the woman he loves. That hasn't changed, even if I don't return those feelings after what he's done to wrong my family," Lizbeth explained, which didn't settle well with Margaret.

"He does not love you, you fool," Margaret scoffed, despite reading all the letters exchanged between Henry and Lizbeth, "My son could never love the daughter of the King's Whore."

"Are you so sure about that, Lady Margaret? I dare say he loves me more than he even loves you," Lizbeth smirked, beginning to glare at Margaret, "And don't you ever speak of my mother that way again, do you understand? You and I both know why you're against her. You're jealous of her. Her son is King of England and yours is not. Jasper Tudor loved her and not you. The whole of England loves her and hates you."

Lizbeth laughed, a smirk forming on her lips, "Perhaps you'll even be jealous of me too," she commented, just before leaving the room.

______

After arriving in England, Henry Tudor walked with his army at Jasper's side. He felt confused, seeing as though the men he thought would join them once he arrived in England did not.

"I thought in Wales they'd flock to join the Tudor standard," Henry complained to his uncle, feeling a bit uneasy about the whole ordeal, "Where are the men?"

"They've joined Arthur Plantagenet's side in favor of Nora," Jasper informed Henry, who sighed in defeat, "They worship her. As they always have."

Henry sighed in defeat, a part of him feeling as though it would be impossible for his side to win.

_____

At the York battle camp, Arthur stood in a large tent with some of his men, which included Thomas, Richard, and a few of his other most trusted advisors. They were discussing battle plans when Brackenbury entered with the news they had been waiting for.

"Brackenbury?" Arthur questioned, raising a brow at the man as he waited for him to tell him the news.

"The Tudor army has landed and what a motley band of convicts," Brackenbury informed Arthur, an amused smile on his face as he patted Richard and Thomas on the back, each man in the room smiling as well.

"How many of these mongrels are there?" Thomas asked Brackenbury with a questioning look on his face.

"Less than half our numbers. And Wales is not declaring for him. They've decided to follow their Prince of Wales," Brackenbury explained, smiling at Thomas, who looked satisfied with the revelation.

"Yet we do not have Lord Stanley," Richard spoke up as he sighed in frustration.

"Send a man to take my sister from Lady Stanley's care. Command her husband to me with his army now," Arthur ordered in a stern tone, "Him and his brother. I won't let them do what they surely plan to do."

_____

At Margaret's home, Lizbeth was forced to spend yet another hour in the chapel praying. She spent that time thinking up a plan to get the hell out of there before Margaret Beaufort's madness rubbed off on her.

Her mother wasn't lying when she said Margaret Beaufort was a religious madwoman who decided that all of her wants and needs were God's.

Hearing a horse's neigh, Lizbeth lifted her head and opened her eyes. She slowly walked over to the only window in the room to see that some royal guards had arrived.

Despite Margaret telling her not to leave the chapel for another hour, Lizbeth left the room anyway and traveled through the country home alone to find the woman.

She entered the woman's chambers to find Margaret sitting at her desk. "I saw the Royal Guards outside," She spoke up, causing Margaret to turn to look at her with an annoyed expression on her face, "Is there word from my brother, the king?"

Margaret scoffed, an amused look on her face when she saw how confident Lizbeth seemed to be regarding her brother remaining king after the battle was over. "He will not win, you know. God is on my son's side, not your brother's."

Lizbeth rolled her eyes at Margaret and turned her back to her. "I should be fighting alongside my brother," She whispered to herself, but Margaret still heard her and it ended up gaining the elder woman's attention, "The three children of York."

"You, fighting in battle?" Margaret asked Lizbeth as she laughed in amusement, "You are a woman! You cannot fight. That is a man's job."

"I have the courage of any man, Lady Margaret," Lizbeth confidently answered as she turned to face the woman once more, "I could fight better than all the convicts your son has in his army because he couldn't get anyone else to fight for him," She paused, smiling slightly, "I am my father's daughter, after all."

"Your mother and your father have indulged you too much if they allow you to think you, a little girl, could fight in battle. You are monstrous in the eyes of God for being arrogant enough to believe you could do a man's job," Margaret explained in a vicious tone, which made Lizbeth snap.

Lizbeth moved toward Margaret as she growled. "You are the only monster here, for murdering my poor brothers and my innocent little sister so your bastard son could become king, you conniving little bitch!"

Lizbeth had gotten so close to Margaret that the latter had been able to grab ahold of the girl's chin.

Despite the tight grip Margaret had on her face, Lizbeth continued to glare at her hatefully. "You know nothing! " Margaret sneered at Lizbeth as she roughly pushed her back, "If anyone here is a bastard, it's you. You're the daughter of a pretender king and his little whore. My son will never marry you."

Lizbeth clutched the side of her face for a moment before turning to look at Margaret. She had a look on her face that told Margaret she wasn't fazed by her words.

"Aye, the daughter of a king that ruled better than your son ever could. The daughter of a woman you could only wish to be as great and powerful as. Your son will marry me," Lizbeth explained, moving toward Margaret with a sadistic smirk on her face.

"If he wins," She whispered to the Beaufort woman before letting out a small laugh, "You and I both know marrying me is the only way he'd have the support of England for his ass on the throne after killing my dear brothers! But perhaps he won't," She explained in a taunting tone as she shrugged her shoulders, "Perhaps he'll lose and I can't say I won't be relieved to know he'll get what he deserved after he thought it would be okay to stand against my family."

Lizbeth took a deep breath, smirking at Margaret in satisfaction when she saw how speechless the woman seemed to be.

"I assume those men are here for me, Lady Margaret, so it seems this is goodbye. For now. I shall see you soon and either it will be because you are now the King's Mother or because you are being tried for standing against my brother, the King," Lizbeth explained as she moved closer to Margaret.

She stopped when she was standing in front of her, a taunting look on her face. "I promise you, either way, I will make you suffer until the day you die after what you tried to do to me and what you did do to my four little brothers and my sister. Mark my words," She paused, politely curtsying to Margaret with an oddly kind smile on her face, "Good day to you, Lady Margaret."

With that, Lizbeth turned on her heel and left the room, leaving Margaret stunned speechless.

At that moment, Margaret realized that her husband was right.

Lizbeth did, in fact, bully back and Margaret understood that the girl would always be a problem. And now, if her son won, she'd have Lizbeth to deal with for the rest of her life since she'd be his queen. A queen that hated them all and wanted them dead.

It seemed Henry Tudor was like Edward in the way that they found themselves captivated by women who didn't understand their place as a mere woman in the world. A woman who was like no other and wasn't afraid to stand up to powerful men even in times when they themselves were deemed powerless.

Women who had the courage of a warrior and the heart of a king.

In that way, Lizbeth and her mother were the same and that was what made men like Henry Tudor and King Edward fall for them.

And in the end, they were the person in power while their husbands were mere figureheads.

_____

At his war camp, Arthur stood with his back facing the entrance when Thomas entered with a guard, dragging Lord Strange, who happened to be Lord's Stanley's son, with them.

They pushed him to the ground and Lord Strange was quick to push himself into a kneel as Arthur turned to face him.

He slowly raised his head to look him in the eye, feeling uneasy about the whole ordeal.

"Lord Stanley writes that he is ill, so he cannot meet for battle," Arthur spoke up as he lifted the letter he held, "That is a bit of a coincidence, is it not?"

"Upon my honor, Your Grace--" Lord Strange began to say, only to have Arthur cut him off.

"I do not care about your honor, Lord Strange. It is your father's that happens to be the issue here," Arthur explained in a venomous tone as he glared down at the man, "Tell me the truth. Has he gone to Henry Tudor?"

"I--" He began to say as he stood up, "No! My father is true to you, Your Grace--"

Before Lord Strange could finish, Arthur had roughly grabbed him by the shoulders before he pushed down on the table. He grabbed him by the throat and as Lord Strange struggled, numerous war markers fell to the ground, papers along with them.

Thomas went to step forward to stop his brother as the latter unsheathed his dagger, but Richard grabbed him by the arm to stop him.

Arthur raised his blade before pressing the blade to Lord Strange's neck. "You will write to your treacherous father and you will tell him that if does not meet us on the road with his and his brother's full army tomorrow, I shall have your head cut off and delivered to his home to show him what happens to men who dare defy me. Do you understand?"

Lord Strange glanced down at the blade pressed against his throat fearfully before he lifted his head to look Arthur in the eyes.

"I-I understand," He stammered and finally, Arthur released the man from his grip.

Arthur pulled away from Lord Strange and took a step back. He turned to face Thomas and Richard, who stared at him closely. "What?" He asked in a growl, causing both men to immediately look away from him.

_____

Soon enough, Lizbeth arrived at the war camp and headed straight for the tent she knew Arthur was located in. She wanted to see him before the battle. She wanted to see him and Thomas. She needed to apologize to them both, especially Arthur, for the way she acted in the past.

She was a nightmare.

If they were to lose, she didn't want their last memories together to be them all at odds with each other.

"Lizbeth," A voice called out, causing Lizbeth to turn her head to see Arthur standing before her, "Lizbeth...What--"

"I couldn't return to Mother before telling you that I'm sorry for all that has happened in the past, Arthur," She confessed, beginning to walk toward him with tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I've done. I'm sorry for being so difficult. And I'm sorry for being a bad sister."

"You're not a bad sister," Arthur sighed in defeat as he walked toward closer to her as well, "I'm the bad sibling. I've let all this new-found power get to my head. I'm realizing that now and I fear it's too late to change things."

"It's not too late," Another familiar voice spoke up, causing the duo to turn their heads to see Thomas walking toward them as well, "We will get through this battle and we will defeat House Lancaster once and for all. We are the three children of York. We have more royal blood running through our veins than any man or woman alive. We are the children of King Edward the fourth, we will not quake in fear because of a stupid boy who thinks himself to be the rightful king of England when he's descended from a servant."

Lizbeth smiled at her younger brother, placing a hand on his shoulder as she stood beside him and their brother. "You are right. We are Yorks. We do not quake in fear, especially to him."

Arthur couldn't help but smile slightly, the three of them finding themselves each other all at once.

_______

That night, Richard walked into his tent, only to have his eyes widen in surprise at the sight of Nora standing before him.

"Nora," He whispered softly, gradually beginning to smile at the sight of her standing before him.

He had feared the thought of never getting to see her again yet here she was.

"I know I shouldn't be here because my healing days are well past over, but I couldn't help myself," Nora confessed as she walked closer to him, "I had to see you before the battle. I had to see my children as well. I hope you're not angry."

"I am not. Truly," He assured Nora, grabbing her hands and holding it with his, "I am actually relieved to see you. We didn't get to say goodbye to each other before I rode off with the King and Prince Thomas."

"I used to always kiss Edward before he rode off to battle. We always thought it to be good luck. He used to say the love he had for me was what sustained him in battle," Nora confessed, despite feeling as though it was the wrong time to be talking about Edward, "I came here to tell you once and for all that I do. I do love you. I never said the words to you before and I believe I should," She paused, cupping Richard's face in her hands as she smiled up at him, "I love you, Richard."

Richard smiled down at Nora, wasting no time leaning forward. He pressed his lips against hers, wrapping his arms around her to pull her closer.

Nora pulled away, leaning her forehead against his. "I cannot bear the thought of losing anyone else," She whispered softly and Richard shook his head.

"You won't," He assured her in a calm tone, "You will not lose me on the battlefield. Nor will you lose your boys. You will not lose any of us. Especially in this battle. Tudor is a novice, his affinity has stayed at home, his mongrel army will be routed. I'll make sure of it."

"He is Jasper's boy, Richard, and Jasper was my father's, in a way. What Henry has learned from Jasper is what he learned from my father," She reminded him, tears beginning to form in her eyes, "And my father was the only man alive capable of truly defeating Edward, who was known for being unbeaten in warfare. Do you understand? My father had to be stabbed in the back by Lord Warwick in order to finally be stopped. If Henry has truly learned any of what Jasper did from my father, we are doomed."

"Hey," Richard whispered, cupping Nora's face in his hands as he wiped the tears from her cheeks, "Do not think like that. We will win. I know it. Thomas and Arthur are their father's sons. They've proved that time and time again. They will win. And I shall them achieve this victory."

"The third son of York is dead," She whispered in a soft tone, referring to George with tears in her eyes.

"Does it truly have to be a son?" Richard found himself asking, a soft smile on his face as he referred to Lizbeth, "She might not be allowed to fight in the battle, but her presence is still near. They are the three children of York and their presence will make sure us Yorks win. We are, after all, God's Anointed."

Nora smiled, forcing herself not to feel uneasy any longer.

"We will be fine. We will win, Nora," Richard continued on and Nora nodded.

Richard smiled, leaning forward to kiss Nora on the lips. The kiss deepened and Richard began to remove Nora's dress until she was in only a shift. Nora undressed Richard as well until he was left in only his pants.

Moving toward the bed without breaking the kiss, Richard slipped the shift off Nora's body, which left her bare as he kissed her shoulder.

He picked her up, gently placing her down at the bed before he began to untie his own pants. He climbed onto the bed, Nora's arms finding their way around his neck.

She moaned as he thrust into her and it felt like hours before they finally stopped.

Richard had rolled onto his side next to her and Nora wasted no time resting her head on his face, a soft smile on her face as they both gradually fell asleep.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I lied. There's two chapters left after THIS one.