Crown of Blood | The White Princess

Blood of the Streets

2 months later, November 1498, Lisbet is 24...

"The Queen is calling for you" Lady Margaret repeated yet again as Lisbet tuned her back on her, staring out into the courtyard from her bedroom window.

"I know!" She snapped "as you have told me every morning for the past two months, my lady!"
"Then why do you refuse the call?" Margaret asked "Tis your duty"
"My cousin calling for me is many things but it is most definitely not my duty!"

Sighing with irritation, Lady Margaret then turned to Francis who was watching the interaction between her and his wife with and amused grin.
"And you, Exeter!" She sneered "the King has called for you as he has for your insolent brother in law"

At that Francis laughed and rolled his eyes a little.
"Well, you can tell your son that my answer is the same as my dear Duchess's! Exeter is staying here and shall not be answering any calls from anyone who bears the name Tudor, Stanley, Beaufort or any other of your supporters!"

Margaret looked as if she were about to explode with rage and clutched her rosary so tightly the string holding the beads was in danger of snapping.
"There shall be consequences to this" she hissed and Lisbet turned with a scoff.
"There is nothing you can do to convince me to change my mind" she replied.
"We will see" Margaret returned before stalking from the room, ordering it to be locked behind her "we will see"

"How long do you think it will be until she gives up?" Lister chuckled as she walked over to the bed and sat next to her husband, gently running a hand through his golden hair.
"I do not know" he said, gently pushing her down onto her back "but I do not mind being locked away in these chambers with you, as you well know! In any case, it has allowed us to perfect our art of lovemaking, has it not?"

"It has" she agreed with a smirk, sighing with pleasure as she felt a hand slip under her skirts, travelling to her thighs "but we cannot engage in such pleasurable activities now" Francis raised an eyebrow and she laughed a little, pushing him off her "I have to take Harry and Arthur on their daily walk! Tis the only order I will obey!"

"And a rather good one for our cause" the duke replied, taking to staring up at the canopy of their bed "from what you tell me you grow closer to the boys each day!"
"Hm" Lisbet murmured, turning to snuggle into him "one day we shall live at Middleham" she said quietly "and we shall have dozens of servants, a beautiful nursery to house our youngest children and the gardens shall be full of white roses as they were when we were young"

"I'm sure that we will, my heart...I'm sure that we will"

༒༒༒

"You must promise to behave as usual" Lisbet told the two boys in front of her as she tightly tied their cloaks to shield them from the winter cold.

"Do you not have a cloak?" Harry asked and she paused for a moment before shaking her head a little.
"But I shall be fine!" She said "I am a York, born and raised in the North! The cold matters not to me"