Faithful Traitor – Samantha Wilcoxson

In confusion and grief, Margaret let the tears fall. “Margaret, you must wake,” the disembodied voice ordered. Ursula, the crowd, and Tower Green disappeared. Margaret gasped to find herself in bed, her ladies surrounding her with fear plastered upon their faces. “It was only a dream….a nightmare,” one of them dared to explain. Heat rushed to Margaret’s face as embarrassment replaced her fear and sadness.

She must have called out in her sleep, but what had she said? Could they discern the content of her dream? She sat up in bed, smoothing the covers and her hair, fidgeting because she did not know what to say. “Thank you,” she managed to mumble. Her attendants, seeing her discomfort, tipped their heads to her and began to move away.

Just as Margaret was catching her breath and the flush was fading from her cheeks, an unexpected knock came at her door. Whispering between the girl who had rushed to it and the mysterious person on the other side of the door ensued for just a moment. The young woman closed the door and leaned against it for support.

She suddenly realized that all eyes in the room were upon her, and she looked to Margaret with an apologetic look on her face. “It was a messenger, your grace.” She paused, looking around the room and seeing that everyone waited impatiently for her news.

“The duke of Buckingham has been executed for treason.” Everyone seemed to freeze just as they had in her dream, and Margaret prayed that she would be shaken awake once again to discover that this was not reality either. When her closest attendant laid her hand upon her shoulder in condolence, she knew that this was, in fact, real life.

Edward Stafford was dead. Feelings of guilt washed over her as she realized that her first emotion had been thankfulness that it had not been Henry. OceanofPDF.com June 1521 “I knew that you would be desperate for news, and I am always eager to visit my princess.”

Copyright © 2016 Samantha Wilcoxson All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced or distributed in any printed or electronic form without the prior express written permission of the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted material in violation of the author’s rights. ISBN10: 153017404X ISBN13: 978-1530174041 Printed in the United States of America OceanofPDF.com For my husband, who believed in me long before I did.

OceanofPDF.com February 11, 1503 The Queen of England was dead. The parchment bearing the news fell to the floor as Margaret grasped for the closest chair and collapsed into it. She forced herself to swallow the lump in her throat and closed her eyes in an effort to form a prayer. Margaret fought the conflicting feelings churning within her upon hearing about the death of her cousin, Elizabeth of York. Elizabeth had done what she thought was right when she married the last hope of the Lancastrians, Henry Tudor, but Margaret would always hate the man for sending her brother to his death.

Edward had been innocent, of that much Margaret was certain. What she still wondered was how much Elizabeth had truly done to help him as his youth wasted away while he was imprisoned in the Tower. Elizabeth had loved him once, Margaret knew, but she had also allowed him to be executed on the Tower Green. Grief threatened to rise in Margaret’s chest as she remembered Edward and Elizabeth running through the moor at Sherriff Hutton, laughing and being chased by the puppy that Edward had adopted upon arrival.

They had both boasted the bold red-gold Plantagenet hair that glimmered brightly in the sunlight. It was difficult for Margaret to convince herself that they were both gone now, and she would not see either of them again until they greeted her in heaven. She remembered that Edward had a sprinkling of freckles across his sun-kissed cheeks, while Elizabeth’s skin had been smooth and pale like Margaret’s own. Elizabeth’s relationship with Edward had begun, in part Margaret was sure, to fill the gap left by the disappearance of her own brothers when their uncle Richard had taken the throne in 1483.

It seemed so long ago now. Margaret sighed and opened her eyes, memories had come more easily than prayers. She leaned to retrieve the unpleasant missive and wondered if she should have been there with Elizabeth in her last moments. Allowing herself to become lost in reminiscences again, she reflected upon the times that she had attended her cousin during the birth of other children.

The one that had taken Elizabeth’s life, baby Katherine, had quickly given up its own as well. “Oh, Bess,” Margaret sighed and briefly wondered if the gentle spirit of the first Tudor queen could hear her.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: f85a7d66cfc21ee8
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 1,865,843 bytes (1.779 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781530174041, 153017404X
• Pages: 409
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 514.8 minutes
• Total Words: 102,961
• Total Characters: 583,566
• Average Words per Page: 251.74
• Average Characters per Page: 1426.81

Most Frequent Words

margaret (1310), henry (447), king (370), catherine (331), said (312), mary (278), time (236), one (234), margaret’s (228), eyes (222), mother (222), see (218), face (205), father (201), son (192), herself (184), well (165), now (164), queen (162), elizabeth (162), made (158), children (155), upon (145), god (145), though (144), know (142), knew (136), richard (133), seemed (133), princess (132), much (131), catherine’s (131), head (130), felt (129), asked (128), away (127), like (127), edward (123), young (122), child (120), thought (119), room (118), back (115), never (114), family (112), ursula (112), reginald (111), hand (110), still (108), even (108), way (107), little (107), hussey (102), took (97), without (96), words (93), since (92), looked (92), mind (91), take (90), woman (90), many (89), life (89), years (88), com (87), brother (87), man (86), daughter (86), lady (86), voice (86), oceanofpdf (85), smile (85), hands (84), news (83), wife (83), henry’s (83), enough (82), first (81), continued (80), mary’s (79), husband (78), long (78), look (78), arthur (77), girl (77), almost (77), soon (74), place (73), king’s (73), turned (73), heard (73), taken (72), side (72), good (72), leave (72), moment (71), nothing (71), kathryn (71), cousin (70), held (70).

PDF Download