In which Nora of Lancaster continues to fight for her family and their rightful place on the throne of England, despite all that she has lost already.
THE WHITE PRINCESS
BOOK TWO IN THE COUSIN'S WAR SERIES
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Lizbeth entered the Queen's Rooms after being summoned. She found Cecily to be standing there alongside Margaret. They both stood in front of a chessboard, which was covered in chess pieces that had cards attached to them.
"Lizbeth, look!" Cecily exclaimed as she lifted up one of the chess pieces, "This is me, the Queen, with my intended, John Welles."
"The pawns are Lizzie and Maggie," She continued to point to different pieces on the board, a smile on her face, "And this is baby Arthur."
"My son is too young to be betrothed," Lizbeth argued in a defensive tone as she snatched the chess piece that was supposed to stand for Arthur away from Cecily.
"Oh, but the King has said that he will win for him the hand of the Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon," Margaret corrected Lizbeth, taking the chess piece from her grasp before placing it back down on the board, "Best ally to guard against your mother and your aunt."
"We may discuss it but we will not bind him to it," Lizbeth ordered, taking the chess piece that stood for her son off the board alongside Maggie's, "And I will choose Maggie's husband."
"It is decided," Margaret informed Lizbeth, who began to frown.
"Not by me and I am queen, not you," Lizbeth retorted as she smiled almost threateningly at Margaret, "And I shall take the Queen's rooms now whether you want to give them up or not."
"She is to marry Henry's loyal commander Richard Pole," Margaret argued, ignoring Lizbeth's demands of having the queen's rooms, "The family have been notified."
Lizbeth scoffed, a small smile forming on her lips. "Pole is far beneath her. He is unfit to marry a girl of her standing," She explained in a threatening tone, "And you will move out today, do you understand?"
Margaret looked up at Lizbeth, acting as though she wasn't intimidated. In truth, she was. All she saw in Lizbeth's eyes was her mother. Despite them being brown while her mother's were blue, they still had that same cold, threatening look to them. Ones that could have any sane person quaking in fear.
"They say he is a vicious brute who lost his arm and half the fingers on his hand but still fought on!" Cecily explained enthusiastically, his eyes lighting up at the thought.
"The King has blessed the marriage and it is settled. As am I, in rooms the King gave me himself," Margaret boasted and Lizbeth balled her right hand into a tight fist.
It was taking everything within her not to punch the woman in the face at that moment.
Cecily felt uneasy because she saw it as well. She knew the look. It was the same look her sister had given her before striking her just a few months prior.
