I've spent the last couple of days editing, rewriting and writing missing sections of my NaNoWriMo novel so that I could get my free published copy of it (thank you Lulu!), so I thought I would now publish it properly here in case anyone's interested in reading it.

Reading it through at a little more distance, I'm surprised at how much of it I like ( Read more... )

'So, who shall tell the first story?'

Edward told an heroic tale, just suited to the wild imagination of the aspiring knights seated on the fur rug.  Then Bella followed with an outrageous story which made everybody laugh so much they wished they had not eaten so many cakes.  Finally, as everyone's eyes were starting to close and Baby John had ( Read more... )

Chapter 21

Hampton Court Palace played host to the royal family Christmas celebrations.  Jane and Guilford surrounded themselves by their family.  Edward and Mary arrived from the London a full week before Christmas Day, the King being determined to enjoy his holiday.  With them came John, serious and quiet, heir to the throne and at eight years old ( Read more... )

Bella hated it when there were secrets.  She knew there was some terrible, great secret that was being kept from her now.  Ned was talking with Mother and Father and she had been shooed out of the room just as if she were a little child, not a girl - almost a woman - of fourteen years.  Why, when she brushed out her hair and persuaded her maid to ( Read more... )

Chapter 20

‘I don’t trust her.’

Jane regarded her husband earnestly.  ‘Why not?’

He shrugged and turned to look out of the window.  Below on the lawns, he could see quite clearly that the King was seated on a bench beside Mary Carey, while several of his court played at boules.  They were at the centre of the group and several other ladies were ( Read more... )

Jane smiled at her quiet daughter with true pleasure.

‘I think he will make you very happy, my dear.’

Kat blushed.  ‘He already does, Mother.’

‘The King thinks very highly of him.’

‘Ned told me he would give Jamie some honour.  Suitable to my position.  Land.  Wealth.’

Jane waited.

‘It is too much, Mother.  We don’t need all that.’

Jane leaned ( Read more... )

On the third night of Christmas, the king had given orders for a tournament to be held.  All the men of the court dressed in their armour and carried fluttering favours from the ladies.  Bella squealed excitedly whenever anyone took a hit.  Jane and Kat gripped Guilford’s sleeves and pretended not to be afraid, especially when Ned took his turn.

He ( Read more... )

Chapter 19

It was Christmas at the palace and it had begun to snow.  Bella begged to be allowed to go out and play, just as if she were still a little girl and not a young woman.  Guilford’s gaze shifted from his daughter to rest on his wife, who seemed hardly older.  She still had hardly a line marring her pale skin and her freckles still formed ( Read more... )

Jane watched as Thomas Cartwright lifted high the crown which his predecessor had once laid on her head and set it on the bent head of her son.  Dear Thomas Cranmer had been taken to glory some two years before and Jane still felt the loss of his calm, wise counsel keenly.  Cartwright was a good man, with a true reformer’s heart but he lacked a ( Read more... )

Chapter 18

Jane knelt, as she always did, in the front pew of the royal chapel, eyes tightly shut and hands grasped so that her knuckles showed white.  Guilford beside her had finished his own prayers and was watching for the signs he recognised from long familiarity that showed Jane was ready to leave.  Behind them sat the young prince and ( Read more... )