LOVE AND WAR
— 8. Love 

   Nearly a month had passed and Edward had won every battle he had fought in. The Lancastrians fled from their positions, allowing the Yorkist army to return home. That included Edward and Nora, who were able to return to London.

Upon returning to the royal castle, Nora climbed off her horse and headed toward the small fountain. She extended her hands out, allowing the flowing water to spill onto her hands. She lifted her hands, rubbing them along the back of her neck and her chest to cool herself down after the long ride in the sun.

Edward smiled mischievously, walking over to join her. Standing next to her, Edward playfully bumped her with his shoulder. She was forced to move to the side, Edward taking her place in front of the fountain. "Pardon me, my lady," He taunted her, causing Nora to turn to him with a look of mock disbelief.

"Edward," Nora scolded him with a smile on her face, causing Edward to smile as well.

"What?" Edward asked without a care in the world as he splashed her, "It was a long trip. I must freshen up."

Nora scoffed, flinching as Edward splashed her with the cold water. She ended up splashing him back. In retaliation, Edward splashed her once more, only to have the vast amount of water soak the majority of the front of her dress.

Edward gasped, thinking she'd be angry, but instead, she splashed him just as much. They both laughed, continuing to splash each other with water as if they were children until they were both practically drenched in water.

"And here I thought we had a bit of connection. Now, you've attacked me with water," Edward playfully complained, earning an eye roll from Nora.

"You started it," Nora retorted with a smile on her face.

"I did, and now I've finally realized there's a playful side to you as well," Edward admitted, a soft smile on her face, "One that's not afraid of getting a bit dirty."

"I am a nurse. I think that was quite obvious by now, Edward," Nora reminded Edward, who laughed in response.

He took a step toward her, about to speak up when another person beat him to it. "Nora!" A woman practically shouted, causing both to whip themselves around to face Nora's mother, "Where have you been?"

"I-I-" Nora began to say, shaking her head slightly before she finally overcame her uneasiness, "I went off to war to tend to the wounded."

"I forbade it," Katherine stated, ignoring the glare Edward was giving her as she spoke viciously to her daughter, "Do you have an empty head? Are you unable to comprehend that what I tell you to do is final?"

Nora remained silent, looking down at the ground in shame. Edward watched closely as Katherine walked over to Nora, roughly grabbing her by the arm.

"Mother, stop it!" Nora exclaimed loudly, wincing at her mother's tight, "You're making a scene."

Katherine glanced around, but only saw Edward staring at them. She scoffed, leaning closer to her daughter's ear. "You think I care what that bastard thinks?" She whispered in a low, threatening tone, "If I learn that you bedded him, Nora, I swear to you—"

"I did," Nora responded in a confident tone as she stared up at her mother, "Many times, actually, and it felt good. Really good. Is that what you want to hear?"

Katherine turned to Edward, who had the smallest of smiles on his face when he heard Nora's words. He immediately knew what she was talking about.

Before Edward could react, however, Katherine had dragged her daughter into the castle, the York king unable to help the woman he grew to love.

Katherine had practically dragged Nora by the arm all the way up to her chambers. Once she arrived, she forced Nora to turn to face her. "Why!" Katherine roared at her daughter, a furious look on her face, "Why would you do something like this? How could you allow yourself to become the king's whore?"

"I love him," Nora snapped at her mother in a confident tone, "And he loves me. I know it."

Hearing Nora's confession, Katherine began to laugh, clearly viewing her daughter to be naive. "Love you?" She asked, continuing to laugh in her daughter's face, "He is using you for your claim to the throne. He wants to ruin you so that Edward of Lancaster cannot have you. He thinks if you're not a maid, you are unfit to marry the enemy. But it's not true. You will marry the prince, whether or not you're a maid, I will make sure of it."

"I shall not marry Edward of Lancaster. I refuse. Father said—" Nora began to argue, only to have her mother cut her off.

"Your father is dead," Nora interrupted her daughter furiously, "He may have wanted you to marry a man of your choice, but I do not. I control who you marry and you shall marry Edward of Lancaster whether you like it or not."

Nora opened her mouth to argue again, only to end up being roughly pushed backward by her mother.

  Nora gasped, unable to stop herself before her head collided with the frame of her bed.

She cried out, a gash forming on her forehead as she fell straight to the ground after hitting the bed frame.

She weakly sat up, clutching her bleeding head. She stared up at her mother hatefully, a furious look on her face.

Katherine stared down at her daughter emotionlessly, clearly not caring that Nora had been injured. "You should have been born a boy," She muttered under her breath as she glared at Nora hatefully.

With that, Katherine turned on her heel and left her daughter's chambers, slamming the door on the way out.

Nora continued to sit on the ground in silence, knowing that what her mother said was the truth. Everything would have been so much better for her mother and father if she had been born a boy.

She would have been the rightful heir to the throne more than she already was. Everyone would have rallied to her side. With both York and Lancaster blood running through her veins, both sides would have chosen her, their rightful 'king', instead of choosing Richard of York or King Henry of Lancaster.

She could have made peace. Her mother would have loved her. She wouldn't have to be married off. And she would have joined her father in battle if it came down to it.

And if her father would have still died, she would have been able to die alongside him instead of being trapped with her hateful mother. She wouldn't be used as a pawn.

Life would have been so much better.

She supposed all girls felt that way, but for her, it felt different. She could have truly changed England for the better without any opposers if she were a boy with the blood she flowing through her veins.

Nora snapped herself out of her depressing thoughts. She forced herself to get up off the ground, wincing as she felt aching pain her in her, besides what she already felt from the wound on her forehead.

She walked over to some of the materials she  had left in her chambers before leaving for war. She picked up a needle and some silk strands, wasting no time beginning to stitch up her forehead.

She cried out as she did so. She bit her tongue so hard that she feared that she'd bite the damn thing off.

Once it was done, she wiped the blood spilling down her face with a scrap piece of cloth. She looked at her in the small mirror she had in her room, finding that the wound was visible no matter what way she styled her hair.

She sighed in defeat, knowing for a fact she wouldn't be able to hide it from Edward, who would surely ask her about it. He'd know it was caused by her mother, seeing as though he witnessed how Katherine dragged her off, but how would he react? He was already looking for a reason to execute her.

Nora sighed in defeat, turning away from the mirror. She walked over to her bed, not even bothering to get changed before climbing into bed. It was daytime, but she didn't care. She had been traveling all night on horseback with the Yorkist army. She was exhausted.

FLASHBACK
JANUARY 5, 1455

   At the Westminister Palace, Nora sat with her governess, repeatedly stabbing her knife into the wood table instead of using it to cut the meat on her dinner plate.

    Margaret Beaufort sat next to her, a girl that was only younger than Nora by the year. Nora's governess had been assigned to take care of Margaret due to the king's other half brothers from his mother's side having gained wardship over Margaret until she came of age to marry Edmund Tudor.

She was twelve years old while Nora herself was thirteen. It was just months before the War of the Roses broke out.

"Enough of that, young lady," Nora's governess warned the girl, having grown fed up with the constant banging on the table, "Eat your food."

"I'm practicing," Nora answered, a mischievous look on her face.

"For what exactly?" Margaret asked, beginning to laugh in amusement.

"The prince," She suddenly revealed, causing her governess and Margaret to turn to her in disbelief, "Mother thinks I am to marry him. She's gone mad! I'd rather be executed for murdering the prince than actually marry him."

"The prince is only two years old, Nora," Margaret whispered to Nora, an uneasy look on her face, "You'd kill a child?"

Nora opened her mouth to speak up, only to get cut off as Thomas entered. "Don't even think of finishing that sentence, Nora," He spoke up, causing Nora's eyes to light up as she turned to face him.

"Father!" She exclaimed happily as she jumped out of her seat.

Thomas knelt down due to his tall stature. He smiled brightly, extending his arms outwards. Nora giggled happily, wasting no time running into her father's arms.

Thomas sighed in relief, hugging his daughter tightly since it had been a few weeks since he had last seen her. "I missed you," He admitted before turning to look at his daughter's governess, "I hope she behaved."

"Not in the slightest! Lady Nora would rather act like a beast than the proper lady she's expected to be," She explained, earning an eye roll from Nora, "The moment she heard of Queen Margaret and Lady Katherine's idea of marrying her to Edward of Lancaster when he comes of age."

Thomas sighed in defeat, standing up from his kneeling position. He extended his hand out to his daughter, a calm expression on his face. "Come. We must speak alone."

Nora nodded, wasting no time walking out of the room with her father.

"I don't want to marry Edward of Lancaster, Father," Nora confessed, a saddened look on her face as she stared up at her, "He is controlled by his mother and I refuse to be controlled by neither him nor Margaret of Anjou."

"I know, love, I know," Thomas responded, wrapping his arm around his daughter, who was on the verge of crying, "I know you don't want to marry him and in all honesty, I don't want you to marry him either."

"Really?" Nora asked, her eyes lighting up as she stared up at her father.

"One day, my daughter, you shall be Duchess of Bedford. You will become one of the most powerful women in England, aside from the queen. You shall have power in your own right," Thomas explained, pressing a kiss to the top of his daughter's head, "And before I die, when you're old enough, I'll make you a match with someone who's worthy of someone like you. Someone whose brave, gentle, and strong. Someone who won't marry you for your power. A man who will treat you like an equal and not as lesser than him. You shall have sons and daughters with this man. Sons who shall be lords, knights, and princes. Daughters who will be wives of powerful dukes and princes. Daughters who shall be queen one day."

"What if I don't want that?" Nora asked, a puzzled look on his face, "What I just want to marry for love, a man of my choice."

"As much as I wish that for you, my love, it cannot happen," Thomas admitted, a disappointed look on his face.

Months had passed after that day and soon enough, Margaret left the castle, pregnant with Edmund Tudor's son. Her father had been sent off to be a general and de facto leader of King Henry's army against Richard of York. It left her completely alone.

Walking in the throne room with her governess, Nora looked uneasy as she stared at the throne intently.

"In due time, your future husband, the Prince of Wales, will sit there," She explained to Nora, who looked uneasy, "And you will sit by his side as his queen. And one day, before too long, you will present your son to the people of London. All the lords of England will come here just to see the little prince."

"What if I have a girl?" Nora suddenly asked, a concerned look on her face, "Mother and Father have been married for nearly twenty years and all they've had was me, a girl. What if I only have girls?"

"It's highly unlikely," Her governess pointed out in an assuring tone.

"But what if it does happen?" Nora questioned uneasily, "Why do I even have to marry Edward? I am nearly ten years older than him. He should marry someone better fit for him, someone his own age."

"Then who would you marry?" The elder woman asked, an amused look on her face.

"I don't know...Edward of York?" She replied with the first name that came to mind, despite it making her sound mad.

"A war has just started between the Yorks and Lancasters, and your first idea of marriage is a son of House York?" Her governess asked, letting out a large scoff, "A marriage like that would never happen, Nora. You will marry Edward of Lancaster whether you like it or not. You are first cousins, but the pope has already agreed to it. You will strengthen the Lancastrian's claim with the marriage. Nothing shall stop it from happening."

Nora began to glare at the woman, just before storming off in a fit of rage. She felt as though she'd rather die than married that spoiled brat.

   That night, Nora woke up, feeling someone stroking her arm in her sleep. She smiled, believing to be Edward. In the battle camp, Edward had always snuck into her tent in the dead of night just to see her before battle.

    However, when she opened her eyes, she immediately let out a loud scream when she found it to be an unknown man.