The King's Angels: High Treason in Henry's Court (Tudor Crimes Book 5) by Stevens Anne

Author:Stevens, Anne [Stevens, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: TightCircle Publications
Published: 2015-10-06T16:00:00+00:00

“Sir Thomas, you wish to see me?” King Henry says, in a not unkindly manner. He notes the grey pallor of the man’s skin, and his unsteady gait, and agrees with Thomas Cromwell’s physical assessment of his councillor. They are in the same garden as Henry’s earlier meeting with Tom Cromwell, and the light is now fading into a pink suffused evening.

“Your Highness,” Sir Thomas More says, bowing with a little difficulty. “I come as a supplicant. It is plain that my health is failing me fast, and I cannot continue in even those lighter duties you ask of me. It is not my wish to bring the office of Lord Chancellor into disrepute, by dint of my health, and I beg you to let me lay down this heavy burden. Take my chain, sire, and bestow it on a worthier pair of shoulders, for mine are grown too weak.”

“I thank you for your past service, Sir Thomas, and willingly grant you leave to resign your high office. You will retire to the country?”

“To Utopia, sire,” More replies.

“I think not,” Henry tells him, with one last twist of the blade, suggested by Anne Boleyn. “The country air will suit you better, I think. Cromwell will find you a place, down in Dorset, or Hampshire.”

“As you command, sire,” More says.

High above, Anne Boleyn is standing at a window, and observing the scene. She is there at Cromwell’s prompting, and turns to him now, for clarification.

“What am I seeing, Master Cromwell?”

“The end of Sir Thomas More,” he replies, simply. “See how he hands over his chain of office? The king will accept, and your enemy is finished.”

“But he still lives.”

“Pray leave him now, madam,” Cromwell tells her. “Press further, and it might rebound on us. The man is without his high office, without his king, and without hope. Left alive, he will suffer the agonies of failure. His fall is so complete, that even the hardest of hearts might pity him.”

“You have done well, Thomas,” she says, nodding her approval. “Only last evening, I advised Henry to send More far away from London. Let us hope he listens.”

“Without Utopia, Sir Thomas will not last a month,” Cromwell says, appalled at her cruelty.

“No, he won’t, will he?” she tells him, and smiles benignly. “I am pleased, and will reward you. What can I get the king to give you?”

“I want nothing for this days work, My Lady,” Cromwell replies. “It is done, because it has to be done. By your leave, I must retire, and see that Sir Thomas is escorted home safely.”

“Master Hot and Cold,” Anne says. “That is what I shall call you. You are nine parts cold business, and one part hot passion. It will be the undoing of you, sir.”

“Humanity often is the undoing of a man, Lady Anne,” he says, as he leaves. “Have a care for your own.”

Anne watches him leave, and sighs with satisfaction. More is gone, Henry is under her thumb, and even Master Cromwell seeks to do her bidding, despite his initial reluctance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.