Chapter Text
Lady Mary Tudor watched with great envy as their space overlords were greeted with the sounds of thunderous applause by gracious crowds of gullible subjects. It irked both Tudor sisters to see their father’s legacy discarded so easily.
All thanks to their no good cousin. How could their father ever had chosen Thomas Wayne to be his heir? He did not even bother to honor their father’s wishes. Rather than bear the name of the House of Tudor which his forefathers belonged to loud and prouder, he chose to forget a new dynasty: the Wayne dynasty.
Worse of all, he had married a woman with such base morals that it made all the gossip and vile accusations against their mothers seem like nothing in comparison.
“My beautiful nieces, I present to you my wife and your future Queen, Duchess of Richmond.”
The adolescent girls bit back the urge to remark that her current title was more than she deserved.
“The pleasure is all mine. Lady Elizabeth you are as lovely as a springtime breeze and you, my lady,” she turned to the eldest of the two Tudor sister, “what Master Vives said of you, does you no justice. I yearn to learn from both of you. May God bless us with long years of friendship.”
“He sure will. The Lord has already seen fit to bless his creations with gifts that put all heroes of old to shame.” King Thomas Wayne said. Several courtiers nodded. Others, despite their unreadable expression, the sisters could see a deep fear in their eyes.
“Some might not be so generous as you, uncle.” Lady Mary dared to say, choosing her words carefully. Lizzy got closer to her, squeezing her hand. But Mary gave her a look that told her not to worry. She had grown up among more power hungry wolves and ravenous beasts than Lizzy had been exposed to. Mary’s childhood had never been idyllic. Up until Anne Boleyn came, she was Henry VIII’s heir presumptive. Catherine of Aragon never stopped drilling into her that one day she’d be England’s first ruling Queen and as such she had to see and hear everything but trust and forgive no one.
‘God gives forgiveness, you give none of it to anyone, even your loved ones.’
Harsh words from a woman whose love for an ungrateful husband proved to Mary that she had been right all along.
‘And yet’ -Mary thought –‘it had all been for nothing. Mother died days before the pope granted my father his longed-for annulment so he could marry his paramour Anne Boleyn. And that too was for nothing because all he got out of that union was another useless girl.’
Were it not for their father’s sycophants, Mary and Elizabeth would still be Princesses, champions of their mother’s respective faiths. But of course, with the surge of these so called ‘gifted’ people across the globes whom their ‘wise’ king called ‘heroes’, Catholics and Protestants were more worried over who got to capitalize on this new development. And with Thomas Wayne having most of them in his pockets, it was easy to sway them away from the temptation of using either sister as a bastion for their faith in England.
Not soon after Henry VIII got deadly ill, as head of his new church, he ordered the archbishop Cranmer to annul his second marriage and make a new will that named his closest male relative as his heir.
Thomas Wayne did not waste any time bribing every higher up in government and in every faith to bless the King of England’s decision. On top of that, to earn the good will of those who had been loyal to Mary and Lizzy’s mothers, he swore that they’d be treated with the dignity befitting the daughters of a King, and find good suitable husbands for them.
Lizzy was four years younger than Mary. At only twelve, she was already savvy to the horrors that a bad marriage entailed. She was in no hurry to grow up and be sold to the highest bidder. Neither was Mary. However, she was a realist. Sooner or later, Thomas, whether moved by interest, political necessity or by someone else, would marry her off to some boot-licking courtier who’d see her as nothing more than a prize.
Until that day came though, Mary would give the court and her darling new Majesty a piece of her mind, using the same two-faced diplomatic subtlety that her mother used in her day.
“Whispers among outsiders are that these gifted people are demon breeds like the sky messengers claiming to come from the stars to conquer us.”
“Hmph. Talks from a frightened bunch. Fear God, not mortals. If God is the creator of all worlds, then surely He also willed for our people to be born with these miraculous powers and for people of other races beyond our planet to existence.”
“I fully agree. Before he passed, my lord father helped your late father, His late Majesty, finance many merchant ships across several uncharted territories in the East to open new markets. On one of these travels that my father went, he said he saw a winged teenage girl, no older than you milady, fighting against the dreaded band of the five finger raptors, the same ones who have been responsible for kidnapping various girls and selling them into bondage to various harems. When he and his crew were about to be attacked by some of these pirates, she saved them all. ‘Like God’s avenging angels’ -he told me.
We can only hope that we are so fortunate as to be graced with these heroes in His Majesty’s reign.”
“Here, here!” Said the King, wrapping his arm around his future Queen. “The Duchess is not yet Queen and she already speaks like a Queen ought to. She will be a true peacemaker.”
It was the ultimate insult. Lizzy’s mother had been named a marquis in her own right. Thomas Wayne decided to go a step further. Not one week after he was crowned, he ennobled his dirty urchin with the dukedom that had once belonged to their grandfather, Henry VII, the first Tudor King and subsequently his mother, Margaret Beaufort.
Just when they thought things could not get worse, the Wayne dynasty added further insult to injury by welcoming with open arms a couple of super powered individuals who just so happen to come from the stars.
Lizzie was equally dumbfounded. “They cannot be bothered to let us be heads of the Queen’s household because our uncle thinks we undermine her but he lets that spaceman’s wife be part of her inner circle.”
Mary shared her sister’s anger. But unlike Lizzy who only voiced her complaints in private, squealing like a petulant child, Mary openly let her dismay be known through carefully selected words that shielded her from any accusations of disrespect towards the King and Queen and their celestial guests.
The Queen’s celestial friend did not share Her Majesty’s patience. Following the second birthday of her son, Lara-El mentioned how joyful it was to know that her son would carry on with her planet, Krypton, legacy.
“You keep mentioning Krypton but you have not yet told us about the customs of court etiquette and marriage.” The Queen said. A knowing smile appeared on her face as she glanced from Lara, her two year old son Kal-El, and Mary.
If Mary had to guess correctly, which she almost always did, this wasn’t Martha’s doing but that space bitch Lara.
‘Very well’. She will play along. Whatever trap they set for her, she’d not fall.
But for the first time in her life, she found herself defeated. Not by men’s intrigues or women’s petty jealousy but a space woman’s superior intellect.
As Lara spoke of the customs of marriage and etiquette of the higher social circles she and her husband Jor-El belonged to, she remarked that all of that could be taken away if there was no direct descendant to carry on with a person’s legacy.
“The aspiration of every parent is to have their offspring molded in the image that will carry on a legacy of power that will reverberate throughout future generations. That can only be possible through descendants, whether through the male or female line.” Lara said, her blue-green eyes locking with Mary’s grey orbs. “As women, we have the greatest gift that the universe can give us: seldom do species in this universe possess the power to hold life within one’s womb that carries the genetic material of both father and mother. I read on your mother’s and grandmother’s war ventures. You have a great legacy to uphold. Your Majesty can think of no greater way than to honor you than through marriage to a man with a spirit as valiant as yours.”
Oh she had been good. Real good. Queen Martha would have never in a million years dared to say such words for fear of one of Mary’s barbs, but Lara did so , speaking to her with such fake sweetness that it was nauseating.
Mary’s response was to say thanks but no thanks. Unfortunately for her, Mary’s artful defiance did not work with that celestial bitch. All she had to do was cry to Jor-El how Mary was ungrateful to her and their royal host, for Jor-El to convince the King that Mary’s refusal could be construed as an insult to his authority.
Summoned before Thomas Wayne, his top councilor, Lord Pennyworth, archbishop Cranmer of Canterbury, and of course, the spaceman himself who’d quickly risen through the ranks after he effortlessly helped the King pacify all of Scotland, Wales and Ireland, bringing all three under England’s dominion, Jor-El; Mary was asked why she continued to openly spit at the King’s kindness.
Spit. That was not a word that the King would use. That crass language came from the space snake whispering in his ear.
Jor-El and Lara both looked at her like she was nothing. She knew of their powers. Unlike most of the simpering courtiers, she wasn’t intimidated by them. She had stopped fearing death since her mother died and her own church agreed with her father that she was a bastard born of incest.
Nothing they said could intimidate her. It was the first time she and the King raised their voices at each other and he threatened to drag her to the altar in chains if need be. She dared him to, giving him a mock curtsy before she turned on her heel and left, ignoring his calls to return.
Much good it did me. Her uncle did try to make amends, promising Mary titles and a level of freedom few wives had, that would be equal to her great-grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. Mary was not content with that. Nothing would be good to her unless it was a husband of her choosing, one she was certain would never betray her.
That only made Thomas angrier. He said it was too late for him to go back. The marriage agreement had already been signed. Once again, he repeated his old threat. Either she agreed to go to the altar willingly or she’d be forcefully dragged. Mary’s response remained the same. So her father had no choice but to drag her into the altar, his guards holding her in place.
Two weeks before the wedding to her mystery man, Jor-El came to her and Lizzy’s shared chamber to tell her that Lizzy would have her own separate chambers.
Lizzy cried and demanded not to be taken away from her sister. Mary fought hard against the guards. She was quickly overpowered, just as she threatened, she was defiant to the very end, voicing objections to a union she called “evil” and “unholy” because she had not given her consent to it.
She swore to Lizzy before they were separated that she’d find a way for the two to be together. Married or not, they were sisters, the only ones who bore the last name of Tudor. Until the day they died, they’d plot, cheat, and do whatever was necessary to survive and restore the vision their grandfather Henry VII had for England.
To her great shock, when she came face to face with the man she’d be sworn to for the rest of her life, he was nothing like she dreamed of. Having heard very little of Phillip Wittelsbach, Count Palatine and Duke of Bavaria, she expected a rough looking, battle hardened man but he was nothing of the sort.
The man was far beyond handsome. He was perfect.
To say she was hooked was an understatement. Against her sane judgment, Mary fell hard for Phillip Wittelsbach.
The wedding night was supposed to be a public affair. Jor-El insisted that there should be more witnesses present than usual for such a “glorious occasion to ensure the legitimacy of her future issue and honor be done to the House of Tudor to which you own your crown my liege.”
Her cousin chose to listen to the spaceman before her. Mary resisted the urge to bark back at him, reminding him that this was not Krypton. This was one of the many worlds under God’s dominions. Whatever faith he followed was as welcome here as the devil-born that had begun appearing across the globe.
Philip shocked her once more, this time with his gentlemanly attitude, stepping in between him and the King and his top councilor and everyone else present.
“Cousin Thomas if you’d like, we can have witnesses outside. Many here are no strangers to the lovely act of copulation. I will gladly submit to your judgment but I humbly make this request. Lady Mary is a King’s daughter, your family and it would be a better honor not to stress her. This is her first time. For the sake of also honoring her Spanish relations, I want this to be a dignified occasion.”
A smile danced on Mary’s lips as she saw Jor-El’s dismayed expression. Thomas was moved by his cousin’s political tact – something that despite Jor-El’s self-proclaimed superior intellect, he clearly lacked.
Everything moved smoothly after that. What her mother had often prayed for, God had seen more fit to give to her daughter. Before the year was over, Mary was with child. She was delivered of twins. A boy and a girl. She could not be any happier. Now that she had proven herself, giving what the King and Queen still could not give England, there was no more reason to deny her demands to bring Elizabeth back to her household.
Elizabeth fell in love with her niece and nephew. She was a consummate aunt. However, she had no desire of marriage. Seeing how fortunate Mary was, she was afraid she would not fare so good. Mary understood. She swore to Liz that as long as there was breath in her body, she would go above and beyond to protect her and others dear to them.
So it went. Time went by. Martha and Thomas Wayne remained heirless. Not even a bastard to boast of the King’s strong seed.
Deep down, the Tudor sisters prayed. Each in their own way according to their respective faiths, that the Lord would never smile on the King and Queen.
Rumors began to spread. A little before Mary had given birth to her precious twins, Jor-El and Lara had welcomed their own bundle of joy. “The first of many, we pray to Rao, that is born on this new world.” Lara said, declaring that nothing could be greater than the gift the heavens had granted them in the form of their son.
The child was baptized as Clark, though his Kryptonian name was Kal of the House of El. Strutting like she was the highest lady in the land, only beneath the Queen, she had ladies of her own to keep her company.
Despite what Lara said about the blessing of her precious Kal-El, the woman hardly spent time with her son. Named Martha like the Queen, the mothering duties fell to Martha Kent, a woman of a disgraced noble family who had married to a merchant landowner of good reputation from southeastern England, where he proudly adopted his last name of ‘Kent’.
Mary had met her before. In the last year of her father’s reign, Johnathan Kent had been granted an audience with the King. He was one of the few ‘rebels’ of the Pilgrimage of Grace who had not been indicted. Cromwell saw him as another bug to be squashed, but to the surprise of many, he pleaded his case so well that he his passion, surprisingly Protestant zeal, and blind optimism for truth and justice blew the King’s top legal scholars away.
It had also impressed Jor-El, who was only a minor councilor then.
Henry VIII granted him a pardon and restituted all his lands, farm business and right to trade.
Cromwell wasn’t happy, for once he had been defeated by someone of his same ilk who had not used trickery or backroom deals to get ahead in life.
With the ascension of Thomas Wittelsbach who had changed his surname to ‘Wayne’ to sound more English, Johnathan Kent’s good fortunes had escalated. Jor-El found him formidable. Moreover, Cromwell hated him, and that was good in Jor-El’s book.
It was good in Mary’s book too. He and his wife were one of the few people whom she approved in the Wayne court.
On top of that, his honesty and penchant for justice would be a good influence on little Kal-El whom he and his wife preferred to call by his Earth and Christian baptismal name: Clark.
“He will usurp the place of our savior, mark my words. You heard his parents many times, they keep saying that he will bring us all into the light. You’d think he was the freaking messiah!”
Liz did not want Mary’s children anywhere near little Clark. Mary saw no harm in it. A child was not his or her parents.
“That only applies if you are human. He is not human. Do we even know that is their true appearance. They accused my mother of being a witch and then her supporters accused your mother of the same. Oh Mary, can you not see that they are using the same wiles others have used to dupe us? They seek to replace us, not just us, the royal family, but everyone else. They will make a little Krypton of this country and then the world.”
“Liz, you are overreacting. Cassandra and Oliver enjoy playing with the little space duke.” Mary said with a laugh.
Liz crossed her arms, her eyes hardening at the mention of her children. Since that fateful day that Mary had been dragged to the altar kicking and screaming, Elizabeth had made the choice never to marry. And to this day, she kept that promise. As such, she viewed Cassie and Oli like they were her own. She guarded them with such ferocity that it’d appear that she was the mother and Mary the aunt.
It was touching at times but at others, it was too much.
She reminded Liz that she was their mother and knew what was best for them. Liz however, remained steadfast in her decision. Whenever Dame Martha Kent brought Clark to play with her niece and nephew, Liz made sure never to leave the room.
Oh, if only I knew. But her pride would not allow her to concede victory to her sister, even if she had been proven the naysayers right. Some of the Evangelical faction and anti-Spanish Catholics believed Mary to be an unfit mother for fostering a friendship between her children and Clark El.
My mother’s weakness had been thinking she could always beat the odds or find a way around the obstacles. I thought that by being practical, allowing Oliver and Cassandra to form a friendship with Jor-El and Lara’s offspring, I could gain a foothold into the royal circle so when the time was right, it’d be me and Liz calling the shots through Oli and Cassie. But I was wrong … so very wrong …
And now she was reaping off from the seeds of her own idiocy that she sowed on unfortunate England.
More common folk kept coming, clamoring their new monarch’s princely ducal councilors.
Mary’s hands balled into fists.
“All those honors bestowed upon inhuman subjects who have now been elevated to the highest honors in the land and with titles that not even the great Margaret Beaufort could have dreamed of.” Liz snorted. “Proud Cis is rolling in her grave, so are our mothers.”
Mary pressed her lips harder, forming a red thin line.
“Look, there is your darling husband. At least he did not bring Oli and Cassie there. The gall to let Thomas pass these honors over the rightful bearers of the Tudor name.” Liz kept going, unwilling to let this go. It was her way of saying ‘told you so’. Mary had no other choice but to put up with it.
At the Great Hall in Hampton Court, all the royal family along with the newly created princely dukes were seated at the high table, overlooking all the courtiers below. Everybody pretended to rejoice in their King’s new pronouncement. They were all smiles and laughter, veiling their fears, misgivings, disapproval behind a mask of mirth and court etiquette.
Those who were valiant to utter what they truly felt, spoke behind coded sentences and feigned merry tones in Latin -in case the Els just so happened to know that Earth language as well.
The only ones who were not afraid were the Tudor sisters. Mary had proven a poor player in the game of politics because like her mother and Elizabeth’s mother, she had let her heart get in the way of her judgment. Liz, on the other hand, kept a cool head. She reserved her strong emotions for her niece and nephew, and the ambitions she had to see a Tudor wearing the crown of St Edward the Confessor again.
In her chambers, alone with Philip, she turned the other cheek when he made his way into their marital bed and leaned over to give her a kiss.
“How could you betray me like this?”
Philip looked at her dumbfounded.
And he dares act like there is nothing wrong. “When I was little, I swore to my mother that one day I would be as my grandmother, her mother before her, a woman with nerves of steel who put her people first above her personal needs. When my father cast me over and the pope himself chose to side with him over my mother, I chose to rebel. Even when my heart surrendered itself to you, I still maintained that oath. I’d never bend the knee over to mercy. That was my mother’s fault. She kept saying ‘I am my father’s daughter’.” Mary smirked. “Now that I am older, I realize her hopes were as hollow as her words. Her foundation lay on a fantasy. My mother did not inherit her parents’ strength. My grandparents loved power above everything else. Tanto Monta – Monta Tanto -was their motto. As one is the other is. The other as one is. Out of all the useless euphemisms that royalty uses to justify their dastardly actions, there could have been no better way to explain the relation between those two. Isabel and Fernando’ attraction to each other did not lie in mutual love. Oh! Trust me, they definitely did love each other. In spite of my grandfather’s numerous affairs, he stuck by her to the very end and with his dying breath, he begged for her mercy rather than God’s. Still, that was not the driving force of their union.
Power. The raw desire for more that can only be shared by someone whose ambition is equal to yours. My mother had the brains and the religious devotion that they instilled in her, but she had neither their gall to bend fate to her will.
Many times, Chapuys told my mother that if she wanted, she could rally the entire country under the banner of righteousness so they’d rise up in my name and defend what was rightfully mine. But she was blinded by love and that righteous devotion. In her last letter, she implored me that I obey my father in everything he says and be a good filial daughter of the one true church."
Mary scoffed.
"I did everything that was right and look where it got me. I was more prepared, I possessed more royal blood than anybody else and yet, I was cast aside like some useless rag. My mother fared worse. None of her charity, her religious devotion and her educational patronage is remembered. Proud Princess, the Impatient Spaniard! Upstart Cat! And Liz' mother ... do not get me started about her! Despite the bad blood between our mothers, I love my sister with all my heart but I cannot bring myself to forgive Anne Boleyn. I doubt I ever will. But one thing I can say about her, is that she was a cosmopolitan, highly educated woman who did not deserve what our father did to her.
Liz and I lived in a political limbo until my father had the brilliant idea to make his cousins his heirs. I protested to marry you. You were Thomas' cousin too and therefore my enemy. But when I saw you, I fell hard. I loved you Philip -and God curse my womanly heart, I still do! My mother did not dare to further her ambitions because she cared about not hurting the man she loved. I swore that the same will not happen to me. But it has."
A tear fell down her eye.
"Upon the altar we swore to each other that we would be together in sickness and in health. You also swore to me on the marriage bed that everything we do, we'd do it together. As one being, one soul. How could you betray me like this? You let Thomas Wayne talk you into forging my signature to give part of our titles and your birthright to that spaceman's brat!"
"I did not let him muzzle me into anything. The deed was done out of my own freewill."
"What?!"
Philip gave her a sad smile. He went on to explain how the marriage contract had a special clause that stated that once Thomas Wayne became King of England, the Tudor sisters would be subject to whatever their new King dictated. If Thomas wanted part of their properties or birthright to be taken away under the guise of national security or to strengthen the country's defenses, he rightly could.
That did not seem right to Mary. "Liz and I never consented to it! When parliament hears of this-"
Philip cut her off. "Parliament convened secretly before I arrived to England. They were bought off by late father and Thomas' bankers whom they owed a lot of money. Why else do you think Antwerp, the Medici bank and other banks have not bothered to remind England of its old loans?"
Merchant King of England -Liz mockingly called Thomas after he'd been crowned King of England. "How much do you think it cost the Italian bankers to make that new crown?"
Liz could be crass if she wanted, but she'd been right. Again.
Mary, you are a fool. A golden, lovesick fool who'd let her heart guide her rather than her head.
"Before Thomas changed his last name from Wittelsbach to Wayne, he sent his best man, Alfred, to see me. He told me everything."
Mary's eyes widened slightly in surprise as Philip explained the whole deception.
You blind lovesick fool! She had been duped from the start. Mary had been right not to question this marriage when it had been forced upon her. Seeing his handsome face, softspoken voice, his striking record in battle, upstanding physique, and loving promises, she cast aside all of her misgivings and allowed herself -for the first time in a long time- to hope.
"Your father feared the rise of superhumans across the globe and the prophecies that foretold the doom of his legacy if he let anyone of his daughters wear the crown of St Edward. He also feared the banks that were becoming bolder in reclaiming their loans. The only one who could settle those scores without alienating the rest of Christendom or bringing more blood to your doorstep was Thomas."
"And you just happened to be the happy beneficiary too, I imagine. The gambling debts and the wreckage the Turks left on your family's duchies and counties would all be miraculously taken care of."
"Yes. It was not an easy decision to come to, Mary. I was raised under the strict tutelage of a heartless woman whose only desire in this world is for the Wittelsbach name to be well respected."
"Oh please, Philip, do not come here with your sob story expecting me to forgive you."
"I do not expect that from you. I know what I did was wrong, but you deserve to know the whole truth. Before you hate me for the rest of your life, allow me to tell you the whole story."
Mary nodded, letting him continue.
"I was trained to kill my enemies. Show no fear. Do not hesitate. Mercy is only for the weak. You strike first. Do not pity the dead. If you have any doubts about the mission, think about the pain you've caused. A quick death is a greater mercy than subjecting your enemy to the pain of living conquered under your boot. That is what the generals would tell me during every training session. I lived by that mantra. Whatever it took to give glory to our House. Marrying you was supposed to be a simple mission but I fell in love with you from afar."
"What a convenient excuse." Mary could not help but say, giving him an incredulous look. "Two lovebirds struck by Cupid's arrow from the moment we laid eyes on each other."
"Mock me all you want, Mary. It is the truth. However, I fell in love before we met at the altar."
"Pff."
Philip continued in spite of her rude interruption. "Before I came to England, I heard stories about your courage and your mother's courage. I knew all too well the story of the Trastamaras, the Holy Emperor's favorite aunt. Reading reports from my cousin about your defiance and the defense of your sister, I grew to admire you. The more I heard from you, that admiration grew to love. When I finally met you, unwilling to comply to your father's commands, I knew that you were the right woman for me."
"Our cousin must have been delighted to hear how I fell in love with you. Did you two bet how long it'd take for you to tame the wild beast?"
Philip flinched at her cold words and icy tone. I deserve that much, he thought. "My cousin is not the sort of man who likes to leave things to change. Unlike your father who thinks that fame favors the bold, Thomas always loved to be cautious about every one of his investments. He knew that no man in this world, regardless of how much he got you to love him, would ever tame you. I gave your father a false report which was good enough to satisfy him and his councilors but not Thomas."
"I do not get it. Why would Thomas let us remain married when he became King if he knew you'd never have me under your leash? Is it because of our offspring?"
"Partly."
"Then why, Philip? Stop giving me half answers and get to the bloody point. What is the real reason why they kept up with me and my sisters all these years? What do the King and his damn spaceman plan to do with us?"
Mary did not have her sister's short temper but Philip's mild mannerisms and endless explanations was frustrating. He might be quick at killing but too slow when it comes to his sword. It is no wonder that my mother always said that the political arena was the reign of shadows that women must be prepared for, because it is us who have been trained in the arts of deceit and double-speak.
"I am getting there." Philip said, giving Mary a pleading look, to let him finish his tale. "In war, there is a point where we chase what is left of our enemy's battalion to a dangerous terrain. Mind you, all the other roads have been compromised except for a few. Because they're a desperate, we make sure that they'll choose the one that will bring them more advantage. Once they're there, we allow them to strengthen, long enough for them to get on the move again. When they think that everything is safe, that is when we strike.
Thomas cannot have children. God only knows that he and Martha have tried, but for some reason, the Lord has not grant them that blessing. Before you say something, it is not Martha. Jor-El and his wife who specialized in different sciences. Medicine is one of them. They have examined both and there is no question who is sterile.
Because Thomas fears what will happen to the progress brought by the spaceman, the two have plotted to take away most of the titles and lands bestowed on you and Elizabeth by your father, including the ones you gained through your marriage. He knows how angry it will make you. You and Liz will probably plot against the King, and this plot will be easily discovered. And when it is, the King will take possession of our offspring, and place you and Liz under house arrest for the rest of your lives."
"And you? What will you gain?"
"Nothing. Thomas promised me the complete ownership of those lands and titles, to administer and safeguard them until Oliver and Cassandra are of age. But now it is Thomas who underestimates me. I could see it in his eyes when he told me his plan. He could lie to me before, but ever since marrying you and learning much about the wolves you had to deal with, your whole life, I can read people a little bit better than before.
In war, it was far easier to know how your enemy is. It is not so in the world of politics." Philip said. "I am not going to apologize for my actions. I was a soldier, duty-bound to my house but that changed when I met you. My allegiance is now to you and our family."
"Assuming that last part is true, why tell me about our darling cousin's master plan when there's clearly no way of escaping his devious machinations? We are clearly in that chokehold. Even if Liz and I do not act against him, he will find another reason to send the two of us to a remote location and you to some battle where he'll make sure you're the first one in the list of casualties."
"It is not over yet. You fought for your mother, your birthright and your sister, even when all was lost."
"And look how far that got me."
"You told me how your mother did not possess her parents' spirits and gave up on fighting too quick. You will not make that mistake. You have the Catholic Kings and the first Henry Tudor's indomitable spirit. You will bring the whole world down if need be to protect your cubs."
"Do you think we can win?"
They had to. Otherwise, why would Philip be telling her all of this, if there wasn't a winning chance?
"I am not going to sugarcoat this. It will be difficult. They're going to do the same thing I've done to my enemies, except we have the winning advantage of knowing where the trap will be laid."
She asked again what they should do. Philip surprised her by saying "Nothing." Seeing her quizzical look, he explained the King centered his plot on her reaction in the coming days after he makes another big announcement.
"He is going to be bestowing more honors to the space man's offspring. Probably give your half-sister's maternal lands and hereditary titles from the Butler side, so he builds a power base in Ireland."
"And guarantees any possible alliance between the English and Irish nobles once Jor El sits on the throne." Mary surmised.
Mary bristled as she pictured that space man and his haughty wife being crowned King and Queen of England.
"Centuries of Plantagenet rule brought to an end thanks to their vices and infighting and mere decades of what should have been a greater dynasty by those demonic imposters. Philip, if they get to sit on that throne, even with all their powers, the people will never be pacified. My grandfather married my grandmother to validate his claim. Even though the Tudors love to say that Henry VII was the rightful claimant, the truth is that he would have never ruled successfully if it were not for his marriage to Elizabeth of York. And even then, he had to deal with dozen uprisings." Mary's face darkened as she came to a horrifying conclusion. "With their parents and doting aunt out of the picture, Jor El and Lara can marry our Cassandra to their brat. I will die before I let that happen."
"Thomas will act against us sooner if he senses something is amiss. With his space man and his wife away on some duty, we have enough time to plan. For now, act like you would usually act. Be angry, show your anger and tell Liz, but Mary, I urge you that you stress upon her how important it is that everything goes according to plan. Otherwise, they will move against us and then there will be nothing we can do to save our family."
Mary agreed. For the next weeks, everything went according with to plan. Mary raged and openly protested the King's decision. Liz for her part rallied the moderate and Evangelical Protestants. While they were no friends of her half sister, they laid all their hopes on her offspring after Liz made it clear that she'd never marry. Both they and the Catholic faction were determined not to let their King displace Henry VIII's Lin in favor of a man who wasn't even from this planet!
Thomas' decree left no room for argument. Surprisingly, it was Cromwell who joined in on the party. Too late, in Mary and Elizabeth's opinion. The man had never been a friend of either one of them. Philip and Sir William Cecil convinced them that it was best to keep them on their side. His hatred for the King and the spaceman was bigger than theirs.
"Besides, he has been in contact with Knox and staunch Catholic leaders who all share the commonality of opinion about our space overlords." Sir William Cecil said, his lips pursed together in a thin line, his eyes as dark and devoid of any emotion.
It takes one to know one. Mary had to hand it to him. Out of all the Protestant statesmen, there was no one wittier and more Machiavellian than he. Unsurprisingly he'd be on the side of the lesser of two evils. He had been one of Cromwell's son's worthy recommendations who had caught the eye of Thomas Wayne as soon as he became King. It was only natural, that he harbored some level of gratitude for his best friend's father.
And there was also the obvious fact that under Thomas Wayne he could only progress to a certain point. With either Mary's children or Elizabeth on the throne, he'd enjoy greater benefits and exert influence over the crown's domestic and foreign policy.
"For the sake of argument that Jor El and my cousin does not suspect a thing, how are we going to prevent them from striking back? Jor El is worse than any mythical creature our ancestors feared in the old days before our savior's sacrifice. The Kryptonians have the power to burn everything down if he does not get his way. The people would rather be enslaved by demons to save their loved ones than be ruled by the rightful rulers of this country whose promises of an everlasting afterlife has never seemed so hollow since the riches and miracles Thomas and Jor El have brought them." Mary said with disgust. It was a crude truth she had been unwilling to admit for so long. Now in the face of desperation, she did, and urged the others to do as well.
"It pains me to say this, but the devil has come and he's won. The only way to win is to be unflinching in our intentions against him. Either we continue living with pretense or we go all in, show no mercy and end all of them before they consume the whole world."
Everyone looked at her surprised.
"Lady Mary, forgive me. I thought you a woman who did credit to your namesake, but I see in you someone who will go through any length to protect what is rightfully hers. Such courage is to be feared. What do you propose we do, my lady?"
Mary did not mince her words as she bluntly told them that if they wanted to be free from the shadow of Krypton and Wayne's reign, was to kill all of them.
"Color me more impressed, sister. Finally, you have unleashed the dragon." Liz said, smiling proudly at her sister. She referred to the red dragon of Cadwallader, the legendary dragon king who ruled over Wales -of which the Tudors claimed to be descended from. "There is only one problem here: How will we get to kill the Kryptonians? Remember the radical group that shot at him with all the guns they had? He did not even have a scratch."
"His ship. Thomas Cromwell was privy to many secrets. Surely he knows about where his ship is located. Jor El let it slip one time that Kryptonians are powerful thanks to the sun." Mary said. "It is like a hunt, Liz. Take a predator out of his natural habitat and he becomes a danger to all the lesser creatures in his new home. But put him back in his home, and he is just as vulnerable as any other living being."
"So you suggest we use his ship to make weapons? Just how will that work?"
"Philip, you know the best smiths and you Sir William, surely there are members within the army that will work within a veil of secrecy so we can get them all together for the next celebration, and end this fiasco once and for all."
"There are not many who will be loyal, but men's loyalty can easily be bought." William Cecil said. "We will have to move fast though, the next celebration takes place in a month."
"We will. Gentlemen, they have invaded not just our land, but our planet. It is time we leave it clear and for any other alien threat, that this is our home and no one is going to rule it except us. Anyone who disagrees is a traitor and will be shown no mercy."
And so the plan was laid and the accord was made. Overly confident, the Tudor sisters went to their respective chambers, praying before they went to bed that before the year was over, God would smile upon them and restore their line on the throne.