Chapter 1

“Elizabeth Howard, come down here this minute! Your father will be arriving with the king in a few moments!” my mother shouted.

“No! I’m not coming down! I do not want to see the king. He is cruel! All he does is raise people’s taxes and torture people!” I shouted.

“Stop arguing and come down or I’ll have to get you myself!”

Slowly, I came downstairs. I did not want to see King John. He was cruel. I heard the story he is the spawn of a devil. His ancestor had fallen in love with a beautiful woman. She charmed so much that he married her. She always made excuses about not going to church, and when she finally did go to church, she was presented with the host and disappeared into thin air. People believed that the woman was the devil, and that her children were the devil’s children. As cruel as he was, I believed it.

“Why is he coming here?” I asked.

“He is just stopping for supper that is all. He is tired of his queen, Isabella of Angouleme, and he has just returned from Alnwick Castle to meet with Eustace de Vesci. They say that John was so enamored of Vesci’s wife that he wanted to sleep with her. Eustace de Vesci substituted a prostitute in her place when the king came to Margaret’s bed in the dark of the night. The next morning John boasted to Vesci how good his wife was in bed.”

“He is a fool.”

“Hush, he will be here any moment.”

My mother was right. As soon as we stopped talking, my father, the Duke of Norfolk, entered the house with the King behind him. King John was awkward, short, bow-legged, and stocky. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Underneath his appearance, you can tell that he had a lot of power. He also looked cruel, treacherous, and the moment he saw me, there was lust in his eyes. As soon as I saw the lust, I was frightened, shocked, and took a step back.

“Your majesty, may I present you my daughter, Elizabeth Howard,” my father said.

I curtseyed at King John and said, “Good evening your highness, welcome to our home.”

King John came toward me, kissed my hand, and said to my father, “You have a beautiful daughter, Thomas.”

My father murmured “thanks”, and we went to the dining table to sit down. “Just two hours, and he’ll leave. After that, I will never see him again.” I thought.

While we ate, John seemed to be paying all his attentions to me. I was frightened. I didn’t want the king to be paying attention to me.

After dinner, the King said, “Leave me alone with your daughter. I want to speak to her.”

“Your majesty, why do you need to talk to her alone?” my father said.

“I said ‘Leave!’” John yelled and made my parents and me jump out of our seats.

My parents quickly got up, and before I pleaded with them to ask them to stay, they quickly ran out of the room. I was frightened. I was alone with the treacherous king.

“How old are you, Elizabeth?” John asked.

“I am seventeen years old,” I said trying not to show how frightened I was.

“You have charmed me, Elizabeth,” John said passionately.

“Pity, I can’t say that about you,” I said between gritted teeth. I was no longer afraid of him. I hated him, and I wanted to tell him so.

“Why not?” John asked looking baffled.

“The reason is because I hate you!”

“Why do you hate me?”

“You are an evil king! You are the worst king we ever had in England! You are lazy, stupid, and cruel! Your own mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine didn’t even like you. You betrayed your own father, when you realized that he could not fulfill his ambition to make you King of England and fled to support his enemy, the King of France! While King Richard was absent on his crusades, you told everybody that he was dead, and tried to make them proclaim you King of England. Then, when Richard died, Arthur of Brittany, your nephew and the rightful heir to the throne because Richard put him in his will to inherit England, you proclaimed yourself king and murdered him! You are noting more than an ambitious, torturous murderer!” I shouted.

“You know I could have your head or torture you in the Tower of London for this,” John said bitterly.

“Kill me! Torture me! I don’t care! I am not going to take my words back because it is the truth.”

“You are a courageous woman,” John said. I was stunned. I meant to hurt him, but when I looked in his eyes, there was admiration.

“You are a coward.”

John was silent for a moment and then said, “Bring your parents in. Our conversation between us is over.”

I was relieved that the conversation was over. I brought my parents in. Then after he had gone, I went to bed.

A sound woke me from my slumber. I wiped my eyes and looked to the left to see what had made that sound. I saw that the window was opened. How had that window opened when it was closed before I went to bed? Then, all of sudden, I knew why the window was opened. I started to scream, but then a hand quickly covered my mouth on the right side of my bed. I looked to the left, and fear swept through me. There was a man in black that was standing over me. He picked me up, and carried me through the window. I tried to fight back, but he was too strong. I felt weak in his arms.

He then put me on his back, and we climbed down the rope. When we got to the ground, he dragged me into the open where another man met me. He tied my arms and legs, and carried me away from Norfolk. “Scream if you want. No one will hear you.” The man said cruelly.

We rode on until I saw a camp full of soldiers, and in the middle of the camp was King John! I was frightened! King John was my kidnapper!

The man threw me onto the ground at the king’s feet, who was apparently waiting for me.” The feeling of falling to the ground with such speed hurt me. I saw bruises on my knees.

“You should treat a lady with more respect, young Mortimer,” John said.

“Sorry your majesty,” Mortimer said.

I looked up at King John and asked, “Why have you kidnapped me?”

“I want to make you my mistress. I am in love with you,” John said.

“Mistress, I’ll never be. You are not in love with me. You feel no such thing. You lust after me. You have never felt love for anyone.”

“You are very amusing. I’ll have my way with you girl, whether you like it or not. Take her to Winchester castle!” John ordered.

They took me to Winchester castle. Although I was King John’s prisoner, I was more determined than ever not to be King John’s mistress.