- 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑔𝑛 -
It's the year 1464 and Eleanor Woodville lives at Grafton Manor as one of the younger daughters of Jacquetta and Sir Richard Woodville. At 11 years old, her worries are little and her joys great but her o...
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~The Princes in the Tower~
April 1484, Westminster
The eighth of April. That was when the Tower was to be attacked. A force of men loyal to the Woodville's led by Eleanor and Richard Grey would use the cover of darkness to break into the fortress, hopefully taking the guards by surprise and setting the Princes (along with Thomas Grey) free.
They had to be careful, after the last attack in October, the boys had been moved to rooms deeper within the Tower walls and so it would be difficult to get to them. But if they did, if they succeeded, the boys would be hurried away to the Midlands (to one of Eleanor's Rutland manors) and then later to the North to Helmsley castle.
There they would reside in secret until the time came when they could be safely brought back to court.
In her mind Eleanor went over the plan over and over and over again as she stood before the mirror in an empty bedchamber she had found. She had slipped from her bed a quarter of an hour prior and was glad that Richard was deep in sleep and would not likely wake up in her absence.
'Richard, my love, I am sorry' she thought as she straightened the belt that was tight at her waist and held her breeches in place. She looked at the unfamiliar garments in the mirror and was almost tempted to smile. She had not worn breeches since she had been a little girl and these ones (like the ones she had worn in her girlhood) were rather ill fitting as they were Richard's!
However, her expression darkened somewhat as she looked at the dagger that was secured in the belt, freshly sharpened and, for now, sheathed. God help her had she need to use it though she doubted the night would go without bloodshed. 'Richard Richard Richard'
Guilt stabbed at her heart, guilt that had plagued her since she had agreed to the plan to set the Princes free. It hurt her to know that she was betraying him, was sneaking behind his back and working with his enemies to hide his own nephews.
But she knew it would hurt him more if he ever found out her part to play.
She wanted to tell him, by God she did, she wanted it with every fibre of her being but she knew she could not. If he found out, not only would he fly into a rage only God could match, he would likely go around hunting down and executing every man involved in the plot! And besides, the more people that knew, the more chance the plan had of failing. And they could not afford that.
He had said that one day he would move the boys to the North where they would be safe. But they needed to be rescued now and not a second could be wasted.
Eleanor near jumped out of her skin when she heard a knock on one of the doors of the chambers and quickly pulled up her hood and took to hiding behind a great chest, concealing herself from sight. "Leena? Leena are you there?"
