“Not to me.”
He eyed her with a particularly unpleasant glint. “Strange that you have found your way back to court, in a new role.”
She was not in the mood to let this pass. “Strange? How so?”
“After your devoted service to the Princess Catherine, you now find yourself here in Queen Anne’s household.”
“I am no stranger than yourself, my lord, who has trod the same path, although I think your former master was Cardinal Wolsey, was it not?”
She had touched a nerve; she could see it in his face. He touched his cap to her. “Good day, my lady.”
Thomasin walked away, reminding herself too late that she could not afford to offend Cromwell any further. As the king’s right-hand man, he was too powerful an enemy.
At the entrance to Anne’s apartments, there was a confusion of voices and movement. It appeared that the queen was trying to leave her apartments, while others around her raised their voices to dissuade her.
“I will walk in the gardens,” Anne said firmly. “There is no harm in it. Why should I be prevented from doing so?”
“It is better for you to rest,” came the gentle voice of Lady Elizabeth, “at this late stage.”
“All I do is rest! Soon I will be confined for weeks. I must get some air and exercise.”
“Walking might bring on the child,” said Jane Boleyn.
“Then so be it! The sooner, the better; I am ready now. I will walk outside!”
“Ah, Lady Waterson,” said Jane, seeing her approach. “What is your view on this? The queen wishes to walk in the rose garden, but we fear it may be too much exercise for her at this late stage. There are many steps between here and the gardens.”
Thomasin looked at the concerned faces ringed around the queen. Isabel Danvers stood in the background, uncertain of her position.
“I have just come from the rose garden. It is very pleasant, and if the queen is feeling strong and well, I cannot see a reason why she should not take a little mild exercise, if she is accompanied.”
“That is well said,” said Anne, offering Thomasin her arm. “You will accompany me, and Nan Gainsford and Isabel. The rest of you can await me here.”
“But…” protested Lady Elizabeth.
“Never fear, my lady,” Thomasin reassured her. “I will make sure no harm comes to her.”
“Do not worry, Mother,” said Anne. “I am not going to deliver my child in a rose bed!”
They walked sedately along the corridor. Anne took some time on the stairs, more out of caution than anything, but soon they were back outside amid the bright gardens. They walked in pairs: Anne still holding Thomasin’s arm, Nan and Isabel behind.
“Thank you,” said Anne after a while, surprising Thomasin with a genuine smile. “A queen seems to lose all her power once she is carrying a child. Her wishes are overruled, her common sense ignored, and she must be hidden away and coddled as if she might break as easily as an egg.”
“A little exercise will do no harm.”
“And there are worse ways to bring on the child.”
“I would not know about that, my lady.”
“You have no children yet of your own?”
“None, my lady.” Thomasin thought how strange this conversation was, coming so soon after Anne’s own father had offered to share her bed, to give her that child she lacked — a child that would have been Anne’s own sibling. But she kept silent about it.
They headed along the main walk, then through the hedges to where the knots of roses grew in their bright, summery colours. Thomasin was relieved to see that the bench where Rafe had recently found her was now empty.
“It is pleasant here,” said Anne. “I always loved these gardens. I first came here the summer after I returned from France. 1522, it was. I was young then, full of excitement to come to court, to dance and see the king. There was a summer masque held, one of many that year. I played the part of Love; how strange that is. Mary was Jealousy, and my sister-in-law Jane was Soft Words,although she was not yet married. I had no idea how things would turn out. I could not have known I would be walking among these flowers again as queen.”
“It is strange how things turn out,” said Thomasin, thinking of the time that she too had arrived as a young woman, eager to see what court had to offer, taking her own place amid the masques, dressed in cloth of gold.
