Chapter Ten: Fragile Things
[chapter nine can be found here]
Richard cursed himself over and over as Kate closed the door behind them and he caught sight of the mirror again. His hand hurt. He deserved it- breaking Kate’s mirror had been a terrible thing to do-
“It doesn’t matter,” Kate said, and Richard realised he’d been babbling apologies. He also realised he was in bed, Kate had led him to- he relaxed a little. Beds were safe- Exton let him sleep in one sometimes if he’d been good or if he had been so bad something had broke or the bleeding wouldn’t stop and the doctor said they had to leave him alone until he was better, Richard thought this was probably a case of the latter. “I’m sorry,” he told Kate.
“I know you are,” she said gently. “It’s alright.” she hesitated. “Richard, remember what I told you? You’re not a prisoner any more. You’re not going to be- to be punished for things, especially when you didn’t realise you were doing them.”
Right. He still couldn’t remember actually hitting the mirror…he shivered. There were a lot of things he couldn’t remember that they’d told him he’d done, or times where he knew something had happened but he couldn’t remember what. It frightened him. He only had the vaguest sense of why he’d been imprisoned in the first place- he had been wicked, trying to usurp the King and- Richard shivered again. He wasn’t a prisoner anymore, but maybe he ought to be. Maybe justice demanded he be. “Why?” he mumbled. “Why did the King decide to let me free?”
King Henry was merciful, he knew that- he allowed Richard to live. Was he kind as well, did he pity him? Northumberland (Northumberland frightened him, Richard knew with certainty that the man wanted to hurt him) Northumberland was the King’s man, and he had said- in his custody, so maybe Richard wasn’t a prisoner, but he still had to be minded…house arrest, of course. And maybe if he could prove he didn’t mean the King any harm, they might let him…tantalising possibilities rose before him . Edward. They might let him see…and there was a girl, wasn’t there, his- his wife, but not Anne, but he loved her very much anyway only not quite in the same way…he would be good, he promised himself, he would do everything that was asked of him, and then, perhaps….
He was so lost in his dreaming that he didn’t notice Kate hadn’t answered his question, or the stricken look that had crossed her face. “The food is still over there if you decide you’re hungry,” she murmured, as she saw his eyes drift close. “Sleep well.”
Harry had pretty much reached that conclusion anyway, but when she came back in looking on the verge of tears, it settled the matter. He scooped her up, carried her to the bed and settled down next to her, wrapping her in his arms. “What, love?” he murmured, nuzzling her hair.
“This isn’t going to end well!” Kate said. “He’s- Harry, you saw him, you’ve spent longer in his company than I have! He’s- he isn’t- he-”
“I know,” Harry said quietly.
“I think his fingers were broken,” Kate continued. “I felt- they’d healed well, at least, someone must have taken care of them but his fingers are so thin, I could feel…”
“Exton made it his mission to b-break him,” Harry said quietly, thinking back to the Warden. “To stop him being a threat to King Henry-”
“Richard said,” Kate told him, “I tried to give him one of his old robes, Richard said Exton wouldn’t let him-”
“I’m sorry to interrupt.”
Both Kate and Harry sat bolt upright at the sound of Harry’s father’s voice. Harry blushed fiercely, though he wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like they were doing anything they shouldn’t be, Kate was his wife, he was allowed to hold his wife on their bed, in their bedroom-
“Elizabeth,” Northumberland continued. “the King has requested your presence at Court. To go in to the service of Queen Isabelle.”
