When the Heavens Fall Read Online Free Page B

discontinue our visits.”
    Her smile faded. “Oh, I am aware of it. My father forbade visits. He kept me closed off from all the world.”
    â€œI tried several times to see you, but I was never admitted. It was only recently that I learned that you were again able to receive visitors.”
    Mary rose and strode to the fireplace, clearly agitated. “My father separated my mother and me. We loved each other dearly, and he wouldn’t even let me see her for years. I hated him for that.”
    Stuart did not know what to say. “How is the king?” he asked finally
    â€œDying.”
    â€œWell, I’m sorry to hear that.”
    â€œI should be, Stuart, but how can I love a man who dismisses his true wife and executes two others? And now . . .” She shook her head, as if willing herself out of a dream. “Catherine Parr is a good woman. There is no romance to their marriage of course. He only wanted to marry her so that someone would nurse him through his illnesses. But Catherine is good to all of us. We love her very much. Even little Edward is fond of her.”
    â€œAnd Edward will be king.”
    â€œIn name, but there will be a Protector for him, given his age.”
    â€œWhat’s the boy like, Princess?”
    â€œHe’s . . . very strange, very religious. He delights in sermons and talking with learned preachers and theologians.”
    â€œWell, I suppose that’s not all bad,” Stuart said, thinking of his own years as a boy and his meetings with Tyndale
    â€œIt doesn’t seem good to me. Not in a nine-year-old. And he’s quite frail. Frankly, I don’t think he’ll live to rule.”
    Stuart blinked in surprise. “Then you would be next in line.”
    Mary shook her head. “You know how it is in England. There are many who would prevent me from taking the throne because I’m Catholic.”
    â€œWell, come, now. Sit, as you bade me to do. Suppose for a moment that there was no opposition. If you were queen, what would you do?”
    A glow came to Mary’s eyes, and she took a seat, but her back was straight, and she rubbed her hands in excitement. There was a strength in her, Stuart saw, though it was not obvious at first glance. There had to be strength within her in order for her to endure all Henry’s neglect and ill-treatment. She stared into his face and said, “I’d bring England back to the true faith. No more beheadings, no more fear. I would love my people. I think, Stuart, they long to return to the old faith, but my father made that impossible.”
    â€œI could never keep up with your father’s religious views.”
    â€œI don’t think he has a firm grasp on them himself, but I would bring my people out of heresy and back into the true church, the Catholic Church.”
    There was a light of fanaticism in Mary’s eyes. Stuart shifted, suddenly uncomfortable in his chair. He had thought it through, and like the great majority of Englishmen, he had no desire to see England turned back into a Catholic nation. But he made himself sit still, listening, as Mary began to tell him about her plans if indeed she was ever crowned queen

    Elizabeth had been picking Brandon apart with questions, prying into his mind. It did not take long for him to decide thatshe was a very clever girl, coming at him bluntly if he refused to respond
    She asked him about his studies, and he said, “I’m not much of a student. I would rather ride and hunt and fence—you know, pursue the things of men, not scholars and children.”
    â€œYou’re very handsome,” she said, sliding her hand through the crook of his arm as they walked. She cast an impish look at Hanson, the servant, who followed them by ten paces, but seemed unafraid of interruption
    Brandon blinked then laughed. “You shouldn’t say such things, Princess. But if I may say it, you are very