Anna von Kleev Ch. 06: Aftermath

There was something in the timbre of her voice which suggested that it would be wise for me to comply with her desire.

"Unless you wish to involve her, I would suggest, my lady, that we keep this matter to ourselves."

"When would you be able to show me?"

"Well, my lady is off into the country on Friday, and I have work to do here, and you cannot leave, so I shall suggest to her that I remain with you."

So it was agreed.

Anna had looked at me when I told her of my plans. Despite what I said to Elizabeth, I was not going to deceive my love.

"I wondered if she would want to experiment."

"You mean as her sister did with you, my darling?"

She coloured.

"You knew?"

"I suspected."

"You did not mind?"

"I love you, Anna, I always have and always will, your dalliance with one princess did not change that. Were I to imitate you with the other princess, would it change your heart?"

She smiled.

"I think naught could do that my darling. Educate Elizabeth, and you are less dangerous than all these men Mary keeps suggesting."

At twenty-one, Elizabeth was in the first blossoming of her womanhood. But she has wanted me to show her the pleasures of sapphic love, and that I would do.

I went to her chamber on the Friday night in only my nightgown, and found her in bed clad in her gown. I joined her, at her invitation on the bed.

My lips touched hers. My hands entwined themselves in her hair. We kissed. Forever we kissed. Her tongue invading, my mouth surrendering. As her hands besieged my body, I let my mouth slide down to her breasts.

They were small but perfect, and as she pulled my gown aside, I sucked on her full, thick, dark pink nipples, marvelling at her freckled skin's translucence. As I lowered her final defence, I pulled myself down the length of her body, kissing every inch between her breasts and her mound. She opened her thighs so I could get closer. My hands massaged her nipples, feeling them stiffen, and hearing the effects, then, as I began to lick her forest of red hairs, I could see what effect my counterassault was having. I gasped.

Elizabeth was wet for me, and as I parted her lips, I was surprised to see that, unlike my lady, her clitoris swelled from its hood, resembling a small male member. I immediately fastened my lips around it; she gasped. I moved my face in and out of her sex, using my teeth, lips, and tongue to pleasure her.

My fingers worked on her nipples. My mouth encompassed her bud, which I licked and grazed with my teeth. Then, letting it go, I slid my tongue down her engorged lips, licking along each one, her hairs brushing my face, engulfing me with her perfume.

I licked upwards, pushing her bud back, licking under and behind it, then sucked harder. Her hair tickled my nose, and her scent overwhelmed me. Sucking, I grazed with my teeth. Her hands pushed me inwards, and I went. Then, sensing her need, I bit, and then, again. As I sucked and licked, she exploded. With a great groan, she squirted her juices all over my face, as I lapped, sucked, and licked. I did not want to miss a drop of her sweet nectar; nor, it seemed, did she want me to miss one, either.

I lay between her matchless thighs. She pulled me up to lie on her, as she lay on the bed.

"Is it always like that?"

I smiled at her.

"No, but you are an ardent lover my lady."

"Passion burns bright, but it is dangerous, Pippa. I could have let Seymour have me, but what would have become of me when he was executed? I know what happened to my mother, from whom I seem to have inherited a passionate mature. I saw my father cut his way through a swathe of women, and I have seen my sister make doe eyes at a man who would as soon bed me as he did her. So I shall confine my passions to where they can be exercised with care."

As I told Anna on her return, it was hard not to fall in love a little with Elizabeth, but it would be dangerous, as in the end, she was a survivor, and would, if necessary, sacrifice others for herself.

The question of what would become of Elizabeth in the event of Mary giving birth was never answered, because it transpired that the "pregnancy" was a phantom one. In fact it presaged the cancer which was to kill her.

Elizabeth and I continued our intimacy, with Anna's consent. Then, in early 1558, my lady began to suffer from intestinal pains, which did not abate. I sat with her through the long nights, and caught some sleep myself during the days, but by June it was plain that she was not long for this world.

We retired to our small palace at Chelsea to await the inevitable. I was shocked when the Queen came to pay a courtesy visit, as she seemed to have aged by a decade. Her skin was sallow, her complexion spoke of an illness. I found myself wondering, as I told Elizabeth, which of them would die first.

As the night of 17 July faded into the morning of 18 July, so my lady Anna too faded.

"I have loved you, Pippa. You have been my constant support and love. Do not think I do not know what you have done for me."

I smiled as she squeezed my hand. I looked into her eyes.

"And I have loved you, Anna. What I have done, I have done for love of you."

She looked at me. Our eyes locked.

"I shall see you again, my Pippa."

And so saying, she passed into the shadow realms.

At Queen Mary's behest, we buried her with great ceremony in Westminster Abbey. Duke William and Lady Amalia came over for the occasion, and invited me back to Cleves. But I stayed with my lady. She is the only one of Henry's wives to lie in the Abbey. I must remind Elizabeth to get on with paying for her sepulchre there.

Mary survived my lady by a mere four months, dying in November, when my lady Elizabeth became Queen. In her first speech to Parliament in 1559 she declared that it was "sufficient" for her to "live and die a virgin." That, of course, applied only to men. I stay, still, in Chelsea, and see Elizabeth as her schedule allows. I miss Anna, but am content with my lot. Elizabeth asked me recently how history would judge her. My response was that as it tends to be written by men, they would scare know what to make of a Virgin Queen, so would probably idolise her from a distance.

"Unlike you, my Pippa, who can idolise me more intimately."

She had, as always, a point.