Crown of Blood | The White Princess

Dance of the Daisies

"It seems like a lifetime since I have woken up like this in your arms" Lisbet whispered as she shuffled closer again to her husband and placed a soft kiss to his lips.

"Aye" he replied, looking to her and then at the canopy of her bed, slowly pulling up the covers around them as beams of sunlight flooded through the windows "are you ready for what the day holds?" Lisbet shook her head and placed a finger to his lips.

"Not now" she said "let us not speak of leaving things behind...let us focus on each other as we did last night" a mischievous grin crossed her face and the Duchess was suddenly straddling her husband, rolling her hips a little "if you are up to it, my lord?"
"Always" Francis replied with a grin.

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As the city bells struck ten, Lisbet adjusted the last of the straps on her sword belt and then the black iron breastplate she had over her gown of deep blue. She had commissioned it in 1494 in anticipation for the war she had been certain was to come and had arrived; now she had a chance to display the stunning piece of metalwork.

'You look like ma mère' Marian had told her when she had seen her daughter's proposed ensemble for the first time and Lisbet decided that she rather liked the prospect of resembling a York version of Margaret of Anjou, the Queen Militant, as she and her brothers sailed for England.

Now, adjusting the cuffs of her dress that shone with silver thread, she glanced over to the corner of her bedchamber where a suit of black armour was placed, a sable coloured helmet beside it and gold patterns of the symbols of the House of York and some of Lancaster adorning the metal.

All of the Yorks were to wear black armour when the conquest began, would change to normal once the war had been won and they paraded through the streets of London victorious, their crowns upon their heads.

'The black is for papa' Ned had explained when he proposed the idea 'for Mary, for Dickon and for all the others who have shed their blood for our house'

'We shall avenge them' Lisbet thought determinedly as she grabbed her heavy velvet cloak (despite the summer heat) from her bed and clasped it to her shoulders 'we shall avenge them all'

Walking to the door of her chamber, the Duchess laid a hand on the wood and turned around to gaze at her surroundings for the last time ever, a small smile forming on her lips as she remembered all that had happened there, all that had happened during her time at Gravensteen, the place she had come to view as home.

She took a deep, slow breath and then pushed her dark braid over her shoulder, leaving her chamber forever. She headed to the courtyard where she found soldiers and horses rushing back and forth in their haste to make ready for the Yorks departure.