Page 40 of The Uprising
‘This is why I wished to speak with you alone,’ whispered the queen.
Cara’s eyes studied the queen’s sweet face. Her heart began to thud. She knew this must be serious for the queen to say such a thing.
‘What is it, ma’am? Pray tell me what you have heard, or my heart shall beat itself out of my chest.’
‘Let’s move deeper into the gardens and walk by the river,’ she said, looking back up at the windows. A curtain twitched—someone always had their eye on the queen, and she was quickly becoming accustomed to it.
Cara threaded her arm through Queen Jane’s, and they walked in silence for a few minutes, admiring the shrubbery and the bright flowering borders of the meticulously tended lawns. The River Thames sparkled before them in the sunshine.
‘What troubles you, Your Grace?’
‘This is for your ears only, Cara, and I risk telling you only because I hold you and your husband in such high esteem. I remember what befell your family when we were both ladies-in-waiting, and I know the king regretted his hasty decision. He is too easily led,’ she whispered, and patted Cara’s hand, her eyes full of fear.
‘You can trust me, Your Grace. I understand the magnitude of your words and will do everything within my power to protect you.’
‘I do trust you, Cara. I believe Secretary Cromwell and his minions engineered your past troubles; the king loves you both dearly and at the time I found it odd for him to turn on you as viciously as he did.’
‘I am most grateful and humbled by your kindness. Pray continue, Your Grace.’ said Cara.
‘I overheard a conversation between the king and Cromwell, and I believe your husband is in danger of falling foul of another of Cromwell’s ingenious plots to undermine the king’s most trusted confidants...’
Cara tried to steady her racing thoughts and control the rising panic threatening to engulf her. She walked along the river bank in a daze and her five-hundred-year future flashed before her as a wedge of snow-white swans glided through the blue sky and landed smoothly on the surface of the water. It should have been a perfect day.
What the hell am I going to do now?
Chapter 13
Rose Cottage, York - Present day
Cara swung into the yard and the wheels sliced through the dusty gravel as the car came to an abrupt halt. The orange sun hovered low in the pink sky, just visible over the thatched roof, the sun beams dancing on the ivy leaves nestling in the crevices of the decorative half-timbered Tudor-style cottage.
George grabbed Eddie’s holdall from the back seat and they jumped out of the car and piled in through the heavy wooden door.
‘Oh, it’s nice to be back,’ said Eddie as they wandered into the cosy kitchen.
‘It seems ages,’ said Cara.
‘It does—I’ve been dying to see you both.’
Cara made coffee and they sat around chatting about nothing in particular, enjoying being reunited in the way old friends do.
‘I hear you’ve been hard at it in your lab in London. How’s it all going?’ asked George, a while later.
‘Pretty good, although I still haven’t made any headway with the TTS. It was such a mess last time, I don’t know what to do next.’
‘TTS?’ said George.
‘Time Travel System,’ replied Cara. ‘Remember, it’s what we were testing when I disrupted the Tudorville timeline and we had our little stay in the Tower of London.’
‘Oh yes, when you were trying to catapult Cara into the future to save the world?’
‘Sounds a bit hubristic when you put it like that, but yes; that is pretty much what we were up to,’ said Eddie with a wry smile which lit up the craggy lines of his face.
‘I was supposed to travel to 2100 to report back on the state of the planet, so Eddie could study the data and we could avoid a future catastrophe.’
‘What happened to not meddling with the future?’ said George.
‘Ah well, it seemed like extenuating circumstances. I’m afraid if we don’t course correct and make the right decisions for the planet now, we may not have a future,’ said Eddie.
