Crown of Blood | The White Princess

The Space Between Our Hearts

"Love will not be constrain'd by mastery.
When mast'ry comes, the God of love anon, Beneath his wings, and, farewell, he is gone.
Love is a thing as any free spirit"

Mary watched with a mixture of admiration and love in her eyes as Lisbet read to her from her copy of The Canterbury Tales under a great oak tree in the gardens of Gravensteen.

This had been the first time in the three weeks since Lisbet's miscarriage that the Duchess had been coaxed by her little sister to venture from her rooms and Mary noted that she had paled considerably in the time she had been inside, though felt happy to see that a little of her usual rosy colour was returning to her cheeks.

Sighing a little and placing a hand to her now flattened belly, Lisbet set her book aside and smiled at her sister, marvelling anew at how quickly their relationship had strengthened again and was now quite as it was before Lisbet had left England.

Mary smiled back and nuzzled gently into Lisbet's neck, just as she used to do and Lisbet felt her heart light up a little, turning to gaze at how her sister had grown, was now blossoming into a woman with small breasts filling out the top of her gown and a new brightness to her eyes that spoke of curiosity.

"How are you, sister?" Mary asked gently.
"Better with you here, sweeting" was the reply she received along with a wan smile "I don't know what I would have done without you by my side...now, sweeting, tell me how you came to England, for I am sure I have not asked before and then will you tell me of the Abbey again?"
"You wish to hear the tales?"
"Aye...your voice calms me sister"

Mary smiled and laced her fingers with her sister's.
"If that is the case, Lisbet, then I shall talk until my voice is gone forever! Now...I remember the night I sailed from England...the sun had just gone down and Cece was reading to me and our Aunt as she has always had a fondness of doing, it was part of our routine, you see?" Lisbet nodded a little and closed her eyes trying to imagine her two sisters and aunt sitting together after dark in Bermondsey "it was then that Aunt Elizabeth drew me aside and told me that she had a ship waiting for me on the Thames, ready to take me to you! To France! I admit, at first, I refused! I couldn't bare the thought of leaving Cece and our Aunt!"

"They were all you knew for ten years" Lisbet interjected quietly and Mary nodded.
"Exactly! But eventually my excitement and curiosity of an escape in the middle of the night and a trip overseas overcame my initial fears and I agreed to go! Once the monks had retired, I bade goodbye to Cece and Aunt Elizabeth and I slipped outside, climbing over the orchard walls and creeping along the streets of London! I was terrified that we would be caught! That I would be put in the Tower as Meg was but I wasn't thank God and it was not long before the ship our Aunt spoke of came into view and she quickly pushed me onboard, kissing my cheek before she ran back to the Abbey" Mary sighed a little "I cried a lot that night, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I was scared and only a little reassured when the ship's captain raised our flag! We reached France by the morning and three days later I was here! So there you have it!"