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

[Hannelorian]

"No wonder she's in a foul mood." Arthur said softly to his wife, keeping his voice low as not to be heard, though it seemed they were in no particular rush to reach the drawing room. "Lashing out like that at the end of dessert." Arthur could have done without the display, the snide comment that had no reasoning behind it. None aside from Arabella doing as she always did, saying what she always sad without a single thought spared for the consequences or indeed the ramifications of her words. To his mind, Arabella acted with cruelty as a default, she knew no other way of being, it took her work and effort to lean toward kindness, it was an active choice that had to be made on her part, the exact opposite of Alexandra.

"The only thing she loved more than Richard was that house." Arthur rolled his eyes, his mind recalling his meetings with Alexandra there, that being the only highlight of his time in what he felt was a rather wretched place. It was beautiful yes, Arabella had done as she continued to do, decorate with the taste of a rich and elegant aristocrat. But what the house lacked was a soul, a beating heart. "And what would we do with it?" Arthur seemed genuinely baffled by the decision, knowing the 'logic' of it was something that clearly only made sense to his father. "Why not give the damned place to his wife? After all it's her husband and his family buried on those grounds."

Arthur did not relish the thought of the late Suffolks being under his care. As a husband, and now father, Arthur never understood men like Richard. His old world views, old guard values. Yet how much of it did he truly believe if he let Arabella run ramshackle as he had? Surely there was some irony in all of that. "I'm assuming she's furious about the whole thing. I can't say I blame her." There was a twinge of sympathy the man felt, after all it had been Arabella's marital home, the home of the great love of her life, for her it was a place filled with happiness and warm memories. For Alexandra it was more of a prison than anything else.

Arthur hated Suffolk. Arabella loved Suffolk. Arthur hated Windsor. Arabella loved Windsor. The two always running opposite to one another. The man let out a deep sigh and quietly embraced his wife. "We shall act surprised and be grateful." Arthur was determined not to make things worse for any of them, and if Arabella had instructed Alex to be joyous and grateful, it was surely what the King wanted, which delivering upon would only make things easier.

The Queen now just outside the drawing room, alone with her husband smiled softly and closed the distance between them. Her arms wrapped tenderly around his waist as she drew herself into him, leaning forward to rest her forehead against his chest. "You need never apologize to me." Arabella looked up at him and offered a warm and perhaps sincere smile. Allowing her embrace to drop she walked beside him the final bit of the way.

"A Tudor Christmas with the full court would be lovely. I know it was a great uproar to ask them to leave us be." Arabella understood she rocked the boat, but she had intended to do just that. Arabella was flexing her power over the court and she knew it. "I am enjoying our family holiday." Arabella's voice was filled with warmth and gratitude, the smile on her face broadened and she seemed to be practically glowing. "I wish it could always be this peaceful." Peaceful did little in the way of easing Arabella's troubled mind, after all, she was still married to Christian. "I do apologize for my little sniping comment." The Queen at least, understood her place, for the most part. "Old habits and racing hormones." Arabella wondered what she would blame her bad moods on when she was no longer pregnant. A problem for later. "I am very eager myself to see what you've planned. You're positively brimming with excitement." Arabella did, in truth, enjoy this side of her husband. Even if he did not love her, he was kinder, and he did seem genuinely happy, no matter how out of touch with the world he was. Those little things went a long way.

[DuchessLivilla]

Christian grinned. One could see him already planning it. It was rather amazing that the man could be, at the same time, planning a war that would, in his mind, end with his son dead or put away and his daughter-in-law likely the same, and also thinking about a Christmas spectacle of family and court. These did not appear to war in his head. It was the same with Suffolk and the other lavish gifts he had for his son and Alexandra. He hated them and wanted them gone but in equal measure he craved the family life and so on.

He did not appear to realise he had no family life nor any true friends due to his own poison.

"Yes so am I," he agreed, smiling. Then he frowned a little, thinking back, "Oh, your comment to your sister?" He chuckled, "You need not apologise for that, my love! It was a fair comment! Even my love-sick fool of a son must admit she is hardly a nymph in figure!"

He glanced back to where Alex and Arthur were and smirked then grinned back at his wife, "Yes, yes I cannot wait. Come come let us go in, those pair will catch up I am sure." He opened the door to the drawing room himself, smiling like a child as he unveiled his little surprise to Bella alone.

The drawing room -dark wood panelled with high windows, dressed with red damask curtains- had been, much like the rest of Windsor, decorated as if Christmas itself had thrown up in the room. There were three trees, each lavishly decorated with real candles -hastily lit when the family rose from dinner- along with garlands in U shapes upon the walls, large red damask and cloth of gold bows concealing the joins.

Surfaces were decorated with embroidered clothes and topped with gilt pots of greenery, and along the back wall were four tables, each laden with gifts...One for each family member. These were identified with embroidered clothes hanging down over the edge, bearing the monograms of each person; CR & AR for Christian and Arabella Regina in gold thread, and PW & PA for Arthur and Alexandra in silver thread.

Surprisingly, even the table meant for Alex was well filled with gifts. Either the King had decided to be diplomatic or perhaps Bella had taken the matter in hand.

Christian grinned and lead his wife around the room then seated her before the roaring fire in a plush chair, ever caring for her state. "Is it not wonderous, my dear? I saw to the decorations myself." That didn't need to be stated...It was very over the top. Very Christian.


-

Alexandra smiled gently as her husband muttered hostile thoughts against Suffolk. She knew he disliked the place, chiefly for her sake but also because it represented something he could not love; the old world of superstition and cruelty.

Still, for Alex it had something she did love, and she stroked his cheek gently to tell him so, "I love the place no more than you do, but still, it has a little of my heart because it was there we had our first dance...There where you looked at me like a woman, like a person, no one else had ever done that for me. I still hold that memory of walking into the ballroom, a little late and knowing Bella would be furious at that and my gown and then...you looked at me and the world vanished."

She smiled again and laughed softly, glancing forward to make sure the King and Queen were not paying any mind: they were not, they were some distance away and focussed solely on one another.

"As I remember saying to Alice and in my first letter to you, she could have killed me that night and I should have died happy because I would have died with your smile in my mind and the feel of your hand on mine. I can never hate Suffolk truly for that reason alone...however close to a prison it was for me."

She rested her head on his shoulder briefly and added, "But yes, we must smile and look thrilled. At least if it is ours, the King cannot destroy it. That would break her heart. We can protect it for it...In case..."

Alex looked towards the King and Queen and paused. Something had changed in her. Since she had the children. Before, the idea of becoming Queen had not interested her but now...She wanted it. And if she was honest, she wanted it for herself as much as the children's future. A small but still loud part of her wanted to be able to lord it over the women -and men- who had tormented her as Bella's parties...Who had excluded her and never thought of her as anything more than a waste of air.

"Would Arthur think me wicked for that? He thinks me so good...different from my sister but am I really?"

She shook her head, banishing that. She would deal with the thoughts later. "In case we are suddenly free. She could go home, be happy, with Bea...in a place she loved. If he gave it to another, they would change it, pull it down, destroy it. She knows we will not harm it. That will calm her...I hope."

Alex noticed the King looking at them and sighed, "We had best catch up to him. You never know how he shall act," she kissed Arthur's cheek then the pair of them hastened to join up with the King and Queen.

The pair of them entered the room a few moments after the Royal couple; they both paused, blinking at the décor. It was over the top but even Alex had to admit it was pretty enough; had there been children here, they would have been delighted! Even more so with the present tables!

"Is this a royal tradition, your Majesty?" Alexandra asked, smiling and gesturing to the tables. "I imagine as a child one could hardly wait to run in on Christmas Eve!*"

The King, in a fine mood, chuckled, "Oh yes indeed, Princess. It was great fun as a child, hence why I wished to bring it back into play for us now. No doubt my dear heart shall tell me I have done too much," he winked at Bella, "But I would hear none of it! Still, we must wait for presents," he grinned, "My surprise awaits us in the anteroom...I am told she shall only see us one at a time and shall chose who comes first...So let us all sit and await her."

He sat down on the sofa beside his wife, his hand automatically finding hers as the Wales's took their places too. "Ah," he remembered and rang a little bell. For a moment nothing happened and then a door opened and a small figure hobbled into the grand room.

The wizened figure turned out to be a woman, of some great age if her face was anything to go by, dressed in a plain gown of thick cotton, tied at the waist and in the style of a peasant from some decades before. She had a number of bangles and beads about her neck and gave every impression of being a gypsy.

Alexandra watched, unsure what to make of this. She knew, from her reading, that such things had once been the style; fortune telling and the like but now it was witchcraft and one could and did die for such 'trifles'. Surely this was an act and the woman was a servant, dressed up?

She was less sure when the woman started to speak. She sounded like no servant, and that accent was too hard to be fake!

The old woman looked over them all, in their finery, with ill-concealed dislike. "I take one at a time," she muttered, giving everyone another hard stare. "One at a time. Alone," she added, fixing Christian with a look.

Christian himself looked thrilled beyond measure and not a bit annoyed by her lack of formality nor respect. "Of course, madam, we are at your whim," he replied smoothly. "Who shall you have first?"

The gypsy looked them over, as if selecting a pie in a bakery. Finally she raised a wrinkled hand and pointed at the Queen, "I shall have the Queen first." She turned and set off back to the anteroom, without waiting for Bella to either agree or move or even blink.





* The Royal family, even to this day, have their presents on Christmas Eve instead of the day itself, it being a German tradition that came with the Hanoverians.