🌹!
Here’s a bit of the bad pregnancy timing au, ft. the de Bohun sisters. Lady Felbrigge, who does not appear in this scene but is discussed a bit, is Margaret (in Czech, Markéta) of Teschen, one of Anne’s ladies-in-waiting (and possibly her cousin; there’s some uncertainty over who exactly her parents were) before she married Richard’s standard-bearer Sir Simon Felbrigge. A prayerbook belonging to her, containing a Czech-language prayer, still survives today -- it might be the book featured in this scene, even, because it does contain a drawing of St. Margaret so let’s say that it is! Sorry, that was a long sidebar but I think it’s so cool that that book exists.
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Some of the ladies present unpin Anne's veil while others help her out of her gown and kirtle, which she soaked through when her waters broke. They're probably ruined now. Her chemise is wet in the front, as well, but there's no need for a fresh one; this one is certainly going to get ruined anyway. Mistress Avice's attendants tie a piece of coral around her neck and place rings on her fingers—the stones have protective powers, they explain—and then wrap a parchment girdle around her belly. Mary and Eleanor usher her to bed, while their mother is still conferring with the guards, and then take seats beside her.
"I brought this for you," Mary says, holding out a book. "Well, Lady Felbrigge brought it, but my lord of Warwick sent her away, along with the other Bohemian ladies. She gave it to me to give to you, in case it helped. It's about Saint Margaret?" Mary swallows and bites her lip nervously. "At least, there's a picture of her in it, with the dragon. You probably won't be able to concentrate enough to really read it, and none of the rest of us know the language, but I think it probably counts with Saint Margaret even if it's just here in the room. I'll pray to her for you, and to Saint Anne, of course."
"Thank you," Anne says, smiling up at her, although she suspects it looks rather thin and wan. Mary last gave birth less than half a year ago, with her own attendants and her mother present to hold her hand (if the Countess is the hand-holding type, at least). She reminds herself not to be envious. Mary is her friend. None of this is her fault, or Eleanor's, or the Countess's, and she's trying to help. She takes the book and opens it to the picture of Saint Margaret and the dragon, placing it on the pillow beside her and wishing Markéta were here to read it to her.
