Chapter Text
~Prologue~
Henry was close to the end. He could feel it as he sat for his painting. With every stroke of the Artist’s hand, he felt himself grow weaker and weaker. His eyelids felt like they weighed a hundred pounds, Henry struggled to keep them open until he saw her.
“.....What are you doing here?”
She looked...beautiful. She was dressed in a simple black gown with a hood covering her magnificent red hair. Like many times in their marriage, her presence demanded the attention of those in the room.
“I have come to see my children.” Catherine’s accent hadn’t faded, even after decades spent away from her home country. “Why should that surprise you, Harry?”
Henry’s breath hitched as Mary and Hal appeared beside her. Their faces were creased with sadness and hurt. Especially Hal’s.
“You’ve have not always been kind to them. I have wept so often to see them abandoned by their father. Left to scratch and claw for their birthright.” It was the tone of her voice that caused him to shake. Catherine was the only one who could do that to him.
“Is that why you’ve come back, Catherine?” Henry asked, “To chide me for everything I am not?”
“They have had to fight for their survival every step of the way.” Catherine turned to Mary, who stared back at her father. “She was once the pearl of your world, you’ve left her to wolves too many times. The only reason she finds herself with a family of her own is because of her older brother.”
Henry felt his heart drop as she looked up towards Hal. A smile appeared on Catherine’s lips.
“My sweet Hal. Precious boy, the long-awaited son of the king.” She reached up and caressed his cheek before turning, “For the true heir to the throne to be cast out and deemed a bastard?”
Her smile disappeared when she glanced back at Henry. “How despicable.”
“Go away...shade. Go away, Catherine.” He whispered.
“You sent me away once; you sent all of us away.” She paused, “Though I loved you...I was still your wife, and they are still your true heirs in god’s eyes...And we still are.”