The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God [M - Hannelorian x DuchessLivilla]

[Hannelorian]

Arabella and Alexandra, the two sisters were alone once more. In most ways now, they were as close as they had been when they were girls, the same girls from that portrait of them. Arabella seeing her sister in this moment simply moved to embrace her tightly, as tightly as she could. "Oh my dear girl." Even a year ago this would have been hard to believe, that they could be this compassionate and kind and this united. "I am sorry, I am so, so sorry." Arabella's hand moved to stroke along Alex's back, attempting to be as comforting as she possibly could. To be the older sister she had never been in recent years.

"At first... I was skeptical... and then she read me like a book." Arabella looked down at her sister, still holding her as closely as she could. "I suspect you believed from the outset. No matter what she told you. I know how deeply you must be cut." Arabella would have dreaded any news about her own children, anything negative. She supposed it was all still possible that there were bad things in store for her own offspring, but that was a thought for another day. This was about Alexandra now.

"No matter the cost, you will always love your children, as will Arthur. I can promise you that. But right now, you mustn't pay it too much mind. Not until you are safely away from Windsor." The only thing Arabella wanted for her sister and the children was for them to be safe, she had no way of knowing when the other shoe would drop with Christian. "I won't ask further of you. Just know that whatever happens, I will do everything in my power to support you and Arthur. In whatever way I can." Arabella was truly taken with her family, she loved them. Even if she couldn't be there in the immediate moment.

"Arrogant and proud." Arabella began to laugh, though hers was incredibly sincere, a stark contrast to that of her sister. "My god, I never thought about it." A wide smile was spread across Arabella's face. "You have more of me in you than you could ever imagine. Arrogant and proud." The Queen in this moment couldn't have been more pleased. The two were indeed more similar than they thought or would be willing to admit. "Of course you're arrogant and proud, you have every right to be." She was confident in that much.

Then it was time for Arabella's prediction, her prophecy, her fate. "Alex, how are you so good?" The Queen shook her head, still smiling. "You've always been better at reader me than I could read you." That was the only confirmation that Arabella would offer. "All that I can say is that it means there is life beyond this for all of us. We will come out the other side. There is hope, light." Arabella squeezed her sister again. "Let's get back... before we are missed."

[DuchessLivilla]

Alexandra lent forward and rested her head on Bella's shoulder, as she had often wished to do before they had found common ground as sisters and women. "It...it was the first time you had looked truly happy since you married. You weren't hiding it. It was your old smile, the one you'd give when Richard came back from town or some such and you'd run to greet him. The smile lit up your whole face. When you came back from her, that was how you looked. You cannot fake that. I saw the Duke die, it could not be about him...So it had to be about the King and you victory over him."

She smiled against Bella's shoulder then pull back and pinched her own cheeks along the bone, aiming to give herself some colour -though as she said, Christian wouldn't notice- but she did not want to ruin Arthur's happy Christmas by him worrying for her. He would anyway, she knew, but she could at least make an attempt.

"No, I know, however hard it must be for him and myself, I cannot tell him all till we are away from here. You know as well as I do that the walls can have ears. Mercy might hear, and bless her, she would have to tell you, and...as you have a secret you cannot tell me till all is over...I must keep this one as well," she sighed. "Politics gives us both Italian characters it seems with our secrets and intrigues. I hope we are both equal to it."

She laughed again softly, more genuinely this time and less distressed, "Again I wonder what papa would make of us both. I suppose he would tell you to just obey your lord and husband the King in all things...And being a King's man, he would tell me to do the same and if Arthur differed in that, to side with the King over him. Though maybe I am being cruel to him. If he knew how you were treated...I do not think, and you might know better, but I do not think he ever struck mama...Maybe he would be against the King in your treatment. I like to hope so..."

A loud bang sounded from across the hall, suggesting the King had taken his shot. Another followed it before silence.

Alex sighed and returned her sister's embrace, "Yes, we had better before the King manages to shoot every historical statue in the castle. Thank God there is a hunt arranged for Christmas day tomorrow, he can shoot to his heart's content, as long as he does not hit Arthur!" She jested. She was, for now anyway, sure he had no intentions of harming his son...yet.

The two ladies returned to the drawing room to find the King grinning happily, holding his gun and laying forth to Arthur about the wonderous weapon that it was. The room now smelt faintly of powder, a smell that always made Alex smile; she associated it with Arthur when he came back from the fort and his men.

She returned to him on the sofa and kissed his cheek, squeezing his hand to tell him all was well.

"Darling," the King set his new toy town and pulled Bella to the window to show her his word. The gargoyle now lay in a pile of rubble on the torchlit path below the walls. "Your enemy is no more, my love. He took two shots, the blighter, but he is vanquished! Am I not your hero?" He teased, happily. As before, he may as well have been six years old, eager for his mama's attention and praise.

[Hannelorian]

Alexandra was terribly sweet in almost all things. Arabella could only smile softly at the words her sister spoke, particularly in regards to their father. "You are not being cruel to him." The smile faded from her face as quickly as it came, and for a moment there was a bit of perfect clarity. "You are right, he would tell me to endure. Even if he knew the extent of what I was enduring." That was God's honest truth. Their father did not believe in ending a marriage, especially if one was married to the King. It was a King's decision to keep or dispose of a spouse, not the spouses. "Though if it makes you feel better, I do believe his heart would break for me. He would be sad, perhaps even angry. He would quietly and privately offer me comfort in any small way he could."

Arabella could feel herself beginning to well up with tears once more. "I don't want to cry... but suffice it to say... Father would have me do my duty, as he would have you. We may be girls, but he raised us to be the right kind of girls. The kind a nation can be proud of." Wiping underneath her eyes, she steeled herself again, changing to a lighter topic as the women departed following the gun shots.

"I don't think you understand just how much I loathed that Gargoyle and lived in genuine fear it would kill someone." Arabella finally brought herself to laugh. "It was terribly ugly, and perhaps now it is in a better place." Another bit of laughter from the Queen as they returned only for her to be immediately whisked away by her husband. The Queen looked out the window and much to her relief the bloody statue was gone. Arabella laughed contentedly and threw her arms around Christian, drawing him in closely. She looked at him with beaming eyes and a broad smile before leaning upward to kiss him rather passionately, perhaps more than was appropriate for mixed company, but still, the woman wanted to make a point. And if Alex and and Arthur did so boldly, why shouldn't she?

"My hero." Arabella repeated in affirmation. The way she looked at him, you would think she was truly in love. Something she was glad that Anthony was not around to see. "It's a shame it took so long for me to see it. You had been my hero all along." Her arms were wrapped around him, holding him closely to her. "Thank you for keeping me safe my darling. I'd be lost without you." Her words were sweet, she had no eyes for anyone else, just Christian.

Arthur watching the scene smiled brightly as his wife pressed her delicate lips tenderly to his cheek, he rested a hand on Alex's leg and squeezed it gently. His head leaning over to rest on her shoulder. Arthur was growing tired, though he was determined to remain engaged for the rest of this. Truly he wanted nothing more than to be alone with his wife and their children. "Everything alright with Bella?" Arthur asked rather curiously, though he rightly assumed the whole thing was a charade, merely a convenient excuse to give the two women a moment of privacy to discuss more sensitive matters. Likely whatever had gone on with that old woman, the fortune teller.

"It shouldn't be much longer." Arthur commented, perhaps hoping that by saying it, it would somehow will it into existence. Yes, that was it. Arthur nodded with his head toward Arabella and the King. "I wish it could always be like this." Arthur shook his head and cast the thought aside. "The gift for Bella was magnificent. And those baptism gowns are wonderful. The twins would be so pleased if they understood any of it." Arthur giggled lightly, these kinds of events were more often for everyone else rather than the children themselves, and besides they would never remember it. "We'll have to make sure we get good sketches of it, so a portrait can be made. Their first one. And naturally for all of us as well. I hardly want to have a moment go undocumented." Arthur's mind raced with thoughts of the future and assorted scenes that would paramount, to his mind, to immortalize. Even if he had known the truth, it would further drive him to want to document everything. Cherish every moment, no matter how many or few were to be had.

[DuchessLivilla]

Alex smiled at her husband, "As I said before, love, he will drag it out for hours if he can. Do not worry, I am fine." She reached up to stroke his soft, ink black hair as it rested on her shoulder, then added, "Perhaps you could champion photography for the twins? It is becoming quite the thing now...I know the King has refused to take it up, thinking it too new and such, but it might be perfect for us. You could have as many pictures of the babies as you wished, in far less time than portraits...Though naturally we must have them too."

She glanced over at the King, making a scene with her sister. Part of her wondered who Bella did it for...It couldn't be for Arthur and herself, surely? And why do it for the King, he did not love her and told her so. She could give up the show. But of course she couldn't. She would not be Bella if she let her mask slip in this. Even if the King had her on the scaffold with a sword ready, Arabella would be professing her love and devotion...

Whereas Alex, always on the edge of it, would have used those seconds to tell everyone watching exactly what the King was.

"I wonder what Anne Boleyn really thought when she stood there. She too said all the right things, even though she must have known by then there was no hope of the King coming down the steps to call it off...Or maybe, God Rest her, cruel though she could be, she really thought till the very end her dear Henry would change his mind. They say she looked back so often as she walked to her death. It would have been kinder to tell her he was already planning his wedding and gave her not a thought, rather than have her hope till the end..."

She trailed off that thought, thinking of what she had been told earlier. She bit her lip. "Am I not the same though? Bridget told me my son shall be weak and sickly and...and 'a' son of mine shall be King. She did not tell me Alec would be. Had I stayed I'd have known his fate for sure but...I could not bear it. I cling to my hope. I cling to the idea that he might not be King because he chooses another path...the church perhaps..." She swallowed again and took a deep breath, banishing such thoughts once again.

Across the room, Christian smirked and returned his affection before he set his gun down and closed the window. He took her arm and led her back to the chairs, "Come dear heart, sit down, you must be exhausted being on your feet all day." He glanced at the mass of presents. "I do fear we have over done it...Perhaps we shall stay an hour or so more and then do the rest tomorrow before the hunt?" He chuckled, "I forget we are not all excited children who tear through paper in minutes!"

He sat himself down beside his wife, facing his son and daughter-in-law once more then looked at Taylor, who stood ready, "Ah...who's turn is it...Arthur, lad! It's you. Well I suppose the first for you must be from your dear wife...Princess, what shall Taylor fetch for your husband?"

"He never uses my name..." Alex thought briefly as she looked over to the table bearing Arthur's monogram, "Funny as he was so against me being one...Then again, I imagine in private he uses neither. I am the witch, trollop, harlot etc." She smiled at that, though it looked as if she was smiling at the gifts, "Then again, I never use his either so we are equal in that as well."

She smiled kindly at Taylor, "Could you bring the Prince that one there, with the holly paper?"

Taylor nodded and did as he was bid, fetching the square, rather heavy and flat parcel. He handed it over to the Prince and bowed before retreating back again.

Alex smiled at her husband, "I know you'll love it anyway, no matter what it was...even socks," she laughed. Arthur was well known to be a cheerful and easy going man; what you saw was what you got and she was convinced he had few devious streaks to him. He was honourable and good to his core. "But I hope it's something you really like anyway."

Within the package was a large book, containing numerous beautifully illustrated maps of areas of Britain with stunning details, including details of populations -as per the last census- and so on at the sides. It had country areas and cities; the one of London took up several pages alone and even showed tiny street scenes, bustling with life. The front piece of the book was beautifully bound in green leather, with a map of Britain as a whole in the same style.

[Hannelorian]

Arthur opened the package carefully. Much like Arabella, he didn't want to ruin any of the delicate wrapping that he knew his wife had put some effort into. Anything from her, even mere paper was something of a treasure and was worth preserving. Withdrawing the book, Arthur's face upturned into a bright smile. His fingertips running along the cover slowly, feeling every last bit of the pattern before delicately opening the object, his eyes taking in the beautifully hand illustrated maps. "Now this is quite amazing." Arthur hardly looked up from the thing, his eyes rolling over every last detail as he turned a few of the pages.

"What a thoughtful and perfect gift." Arthur reassured as he finally looked to his wife and placed a chaste kiss upon her cheek, pulling her in a little closer to him. "I have no idea where you found it, but it is a thing of magnificence." Arthur loved maps, he loved data and information, reports. It set his mind to work, got the gears turning and put him in a strategic frame of mind. "Thank you my dear heart." Arthur was still smiling brightly as he carefully closed the cover.

"Taylor, would you kindly get the blue box please." Taylor bowed his head and stepped to the appropriate table, retrieving a medium sized box wrapped in blue paper, the sort of shade of a Robin's egg, light and bright with silk ribbons in a deeper shade of navy. Arthur admittedly did not wrap the gift himself. He tried, several times, it was a first for him and indeed he proved rubbish at it. Mercy had to step in at the last minute and save him. He was entirely grateful for the rescue.

Within the box was a smaller one, long and thin. Within was a bracelet crafted from precious gold. It was two beautiful long strands that were carefully intertwined, each strand carrying the letter A, representing each of them and the intertwined nature of their lives. It was a simple thing, no fuss, not terribly gaudy. It was something for Alex, simply to let her know that he cared deeply for her.

Arabella had pulled her legs up onto the seat, drawing them closer to her as she repositioned herself to lean against Christian. It was a rare moment of genuine softness between the two. His body supported hers, an arm wrapping around his wife to steady her as she found a modicum of comfort in this position. "Those both are lovely gifts, very much the exact thing I would expect from each of you." Arabella kept her commentary simple and short, this moment was not for her. Every now and again Arabella would catch her eyes closing, entirely exhausted from the events of the day, but still she tried to remain awake and present. She was content and merely smiling.

[DuchessLivilla]

Alexandra was so happy Arthur liked his gift. She knew he loved maps and figures and facts, being logical in most things. "There are numerous details in it of all kinds. I think it names every mountain, river and lake in the whole country. I had a look through it myself but I know you will devote hours to it," she grinned, the dimples in her cheeks making her look very pretty in the candle-light.

When the gift for her, from Arthur, was handed over, she opened it and smiled shyly, biting her lip at the simple bracelet of two combined strands of cold, with two dangling A's. "It's beautiful," she said, holding out her wrist for him to put it on her at once. As she wore no gloves that night -and the King did not seem to have noticed or cared about this shirking of his tight rules- the gold settled coolly against her skin in a way that made her smile. The weight of it, not much by any means, was comforting. "Thank you," she said softly, admiring it a moment more before she kissed him gently, genuinely...not the desperate passion of her sister's playing at love show.

The Wales's saved their passions for home where they enjoyed a close and heated relationship. One that would, as everyone said, result in numerous children, God willing.

Christian watched them, a small smile on his lips, though his gaze was faraway until he sniffed and said, "Ah, young love, my dear, is it not something?" It was an odd comment, given Arabella herself was only twenty-five to her sister's twenty-two. In fact, she was a year younger than the Prince of Wales himself. Still it was clear that the King enjoyed the idea of himself and Bella as the older, superior couple to the 'young' ones of the Wales's and reality meant little to that!

He smiled again then stroked his wife's cheek, "Not long now my love. In fact... One more gift for the Prince and then we shall save the rest, eh?" He clicked his fingers at Taylor, "That one there, lad, in the gold for the Prince."

Taylor fetched the cylinder shaped present, wrapped in golden paper. The servant handed it over and bowed again. "You can excuse yourself, Taylor," Christian added, smiling, "Tell my man I shall be along to my room shortly, make sure the fire is lit too. Ah, and send word to the Queen's maids to make sure her room is prepared and warm for her."

The young man nodded, "Of course, Majesty," before he bowed and left to see about his tasks.

Alexandra caught her sister's eye when Arthur held the tube in his hands. She knew what it was, thanks to Bella but still, she felt her nerves rising. She stared at it, almost seeing through it to the scroll she knew was in there...The one, in the King's name, with the seal of England, granting Arthur the title, lands and deeds to the Duchy of Suffolk, with all that came with it, including any and all incomes.

"Now," Christian sat forward, smiling kindly, "This was an oversight on my part, lad, you must forgive me, but I am making it right now. The Queen, and myself, are thrilled to give this to you..."

[Hannelorian]

With the pleasantries over, the real gift was now finally on the table and slowly being handed to the Prince of Wales. Christian was insistent that it had merely been an oversight. He also insisted that they together, as King and Queen, husband and wife were thrilled to present this gift. The anger that rose within Arabella was soothed only by her own exhaustion, the advancing pregnancy was getting the better of her, though perhaps in this moment it was a good thing.

"Absolutely delighted. You'll be laughing yourself silly when you realize how it'd been forgotten." Arabella smiled softly, now fully in the realm of consciousness as she watched Arthur open the thing and withdraw the scroll inside. His eyes cast down across the words once he had done so. Over course, he too knew what this was, but for the sake of his father, he took his time as though he didn't already recognize the deed of the land from Crown to Prince. "Suffolk." Arthur looked up at his father, in something of disbelief. "I would have never imagined." Arthur of course was smiling brightly.

Arabella did not so much as shift a centimeter in discomfort or upset. "But of course. Without Richard, the land lacks a master and your father and I agree that you are the land's best steward." Arabella's voice dripped with sweetness, she appeared calm and thrilled. Arthur still unsure of how to react. "I pray it bring you the happiness it once brought me. Though your father has since shown me what true happiness is. Do be kind by it, it is humble compared to some." Arabella's hand squeezed at Christian's thigh comfortably and reassuringly, reaffirming that she was content with the situation.

Arthur set the scroll down and nodded. "Thank you father, and thank you mother." Arthur didn't want the land, he didn't want the estate, he didn't view it as his. Arthur was once more reminded of his father's true cruelty. Did he even care that it would anger Arabella? No, he viewed it as temporary, Arthur was sure. "As the Duke of Suffolk, I will do everything in my power to honor Richard, and the great men who came before and made it the seat of power that it was known as." Even if it wasn't what Christian wanted to hear, it was important to Arthur to signal to Arabella that his intentions were positive.

"It is a kind gift, if even an oversight." Arthur looked to his wife and smiled, nodding and hoping this was truly it for the evening. He didn't know if he could handle being the cause of another's suffering even more. Even if it was his father who truly created the situation.

"Don't be silly Arthur, I was truly thrilled when Christian suggested it." Arabella looked up lovingly at Christian and for the umpteenth time that evening placed a loving kiss upon his cheek. Her body curling up into his, looking relaxed. Even though her inner turmoil was... bubbling, now was not the time. Besides, that wasn't the greatest gift of the evening. No... that had been the Queen's fortune.