“I asked for time to realize my joy,” I say dryly.

“How long d’you think you’ve got?”

“Weeks?”

“He’s always impatient,” she warns me.

“I know.”

“Better accept at once.”

I shrug. “I will. I know I’ve got to marry him. I know there’s no choice.”

“As his wife, you’ll be Queen of England; you’ll command a fortune!” she crows. “We’ll all get our fortunes.”

“Yes—the family’s prize heifer is on the market once again. This is the third sale.”

“Oh Kat! This isn’t just any old marriage arranged for you; this is the greatest chance you’ll have in your life! It’s the greatest marriage in England, probably in the world!”

“For as long as it lasts.”

She looks behind her, then puts her arm through mine so that we can walk, head to head, and speak in whispers. “You’re anxious; but it might not last so very long. He’s very sick. He’s very old. And then you have the title and the inheritance but not the husband.”

The husband I have just buried was forty-nine, the king is fifty-one, an old man, but he could last till sixty. He has the best of physicians and the finest apothecaries, and he guards himself against disease as if he were a precious babe. He sends his armies to war without him, he gave up jousting years ago. He has buried four wives—why not another?

“I might outlive him,” I concede, my mouth to her ear. “But how long did Katherine Howard last?”

Nan shakes her head at the comparison. “That slut! She betrayed him, and was foolish enough to be caught. You won’t do that.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I say, suddenly weary of these calculations. “Because I’ve no choice anyway. It’s the wheel of fortune.”

“Don’t say that; it’s God’s will,” she says with sudden enthusiasm. “Think of what you might do as Queen of England. Think of what you could do for us!”

My sister is a passionate advocate for the reform of the Church in England from the state it is in—a popeless papacy—to a true communion based on the Bible. Like many in the country—who knows how many?—she wants the king’s reform of the church to go further and further until we are free from all superstition.

“Oh, Nan, you know I have no convictions...and anyway, why would he listen to me?”

“Because he always listens to his wives at first. And we need someone to speak for us. The court is terrified of Bishop Gardiner, he’s even questioned Lady Mary’s household. I’ve had to hide my own books. We need a queen who will defend the reformers.”