Richard caught George’s eye and acknowledged the revenge with a respectful nod before following the king and others in a search for the Lancastrian leaders. Most had taken sanctuary, but Edward, uncaring of his mortal soul, had them dragged out of the church and put in chains. This time Somerset and his cronies could expect no mercy from Edward, who had pardoned them for previous rebelling. Subsequently the next day, Richard, as constable of England, together with the earl marshal, Norfolk, tried them all for treason and had them executed in the town square. Richard stayed to watch, his heart hard, as one by one the heads rolled. “They should be shown no mercy,” he told Edward. “Not this time.”

His victory complete and his throne secure, Edward could afford to be magnanimous. He prohibited the rebels’ bodies to be quartered and exhibited in public places as was customary but instead had them buried in the churchyard. In deference to his rank, their prince, Edouard, was entombed in the abbey’s nave.

“This business is not finished until we find Margaret,” Edward declared, “but we go north from here. There is more trouble brewing.”

Richard wearily climbed back into the saddle and joined Edward on the road to Coventry. He was not so much thinking about Margaret as wondering what had become of Anne, who was last known to be in the deposed queen’s company. It had occurred to him the night before, as he lay under the stars unable to sleep, that she was now a widow and free to remarry. Despite her childish peskiness at times, he remembered her fondly. They had liked each other then, but would she want him now? Had she loved Edouard in the end? He even wondered if she might be with child. He had sat up then with a “nay!” on his lips. She was not even fourteen, he recalled, so surely the marriage could not have been consummated. And yet…I was only fifteen when Kate conceived our very first time.…Then he had a more disturbing thought about Anne’s possible pregnancy: Her child would be the Lancastrian heir and mean Edward’s hard-fought victory at Tewkesbury would have been for naught. He wondered if Ned had contemplated such an unpropitious circumstance, and if so, would the child even be allowed to enter a Yorkist world. In truth, he thought not. Time alone would tell.

Richard would never forget the triumphant entry into London on the twenty-first day of May, for Edward had given Richard the supreme honor of leading the procession. Londoners were greatly relieved that Edward’s victory at Tewkesbury had also put paid to the recent Lancastrian attacks on their city. With news that northern dissent had also dissolved with the intervention of the earl of Northumberland, there was nothing or no one now to stand in Edward’s way of reclaiming his throne. Tower-bound King Henry had no one to rescue him now.