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gardenofkore · 1 year

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"I am Manfredi, grandson to the Queen Costanza: whence I pray thee, when return'd, To my fair daughter go, the parent glad Of Aragonia and Sicilia's pride; And of the truth inform her, if of me Aught else be told. [...]

Look therefore if thou canst advance my bliss; Revealing to my good Costanza, how Thou hast beheld me, and beside the terms Laid on me of that interdict; for here By means of those below much profit comes.

Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, Purgatory, III, 112-117 & 141-145

Costanza was born around 1249 to Manfredi of Sicily and his first wife Beatrice of Savoy ("et filiam suam Constantiam, quam ex prima consorte sua Beatrice filiam quondam A. Comitis Sabaudiae"). The exact date is unknown, but historian Saba Malaspina attests that when she was born, her grandfather was still alive (“imperatore vivente"). As for the place, it might have been one of the Apulian castles where the Emperor settled down in the last period of his life.

Her wet nurse was Bella d’Amico, mother of admiral Roger of Lauria. Bella, while she was alive, never parted from Costanza, acting like a mother and confidante, especially since Beatrice of Savoy, Manfredi’s first wife, had died when her daughter was just months old.

Nothing is known about Costanza’s childhood. She’s first mentioned when Berthold von Hohenburg asked for her hand on behalf of his nephew Januarius, son of his brother Diepold VIII. Berthold had married Isotta Lancia, cousin of Manfredi’s mother Bianca, and certainly intended to deepen his relationship with the Hohenstaufen’s family. Manfredi, on the other hand, was strenghtening his position (to the point he would be crowned on August 1258 King of Sicily, despite the true heir, his nephew Corradino was still very much alive, although far away in Germany) and so he could afford to reject this marriage proposal.

From a princess of low importance (despite the pretentious name which honored her great-grandmother Costanza I), Costanza soon became a valuable asset and, until Manfredi’s second marriage to Epirote princess Elena Angelina Doukaina, her father’s heir. The Sicilian King then started looking for an important match for his daughter, and ended up selecting Peter, son of Aragonese King James I.

Marriage agreements required that Manfredi supplied his daughter of a dowry of 50000 golden ounces (worth in gold, silver and jewels). On the other hand, the Aragonese crown committed to return the dowry to her family if Costanza were to die without heirs. She would also act as regent for her children (until they were 20 years old) in case Peter were to die before her. In addition, the Sicilian princess was given personal ownership of the city of Girona and the castle of Cotlliure.

Still, the future union presented some problems. First of all, that 50000 golden ounces dowry was indeed a large amount. Manfredi had an hard time collecting it (he had to increase taxes and that spread discontent among the population) and a lot of time passed before the Aragonese crown could collect it (alongside with the bride). The Papacy was obviously against this marriage, and Urban IV asked James I to give up to this union to avoid disgracing his House. Furthermore, in order to save the plans of the future marriage between his daughter Isabella and the heir to the French throne, James had to promise King Louis IX to not support Manfredi in his fight against the Papacy, as well as not helping Provençal rebel Bonifaci VI de Castellana against Charles of Anjou (the King’s younger brother).

Despite all the external pressure, James didn’t give up to the Sicilian match and on July 13th 1262, Peter and Costanza got married in the church of Notre-Dame des Tables (Montpellier). The difference between the lavish Hohenstaufen court and the more simple Aragonese one was huge (“And the said King Manfred lived more magnificently that any lord in the world, and with greater doings, and with greater expenditure”), but thanks to the accounting records of the time, we know that James and Peter tried their best to meet Costanza’s need, purchasing large amounts of luxury items. Since the incomes deriving from Girona and Cotlliure weren’t enough, she was given an annual pension worthy of 30000 Real de Valencia (a type of billon coin) which also soon wasn’t enough to cover the expenses.

Following the death of Manfredi in the Battle of Tagliacozzo (1266) against Charles of Anjou, many of his former supporters (or simply people linked to him, like the former Nicaean Empress as well as his sister Costanza) fled the Kingdom of Sicily and took refuge in Aragon. The death of Corradino (executed in Naples in 1268 by order of Charles after the Battle of Benevento) and the fact that Manfredi’s sons from Helena Doukaina were just children and in French hands (they will die in captivity years later), made Costanza the only legitimate heir to the Sicilian crown. Starting this moment Costanza started being referred as queen (not infanta or madama) in the documents of the Aragonese Chancellery.

In 1276 James I died, and so Peter was crowned king of Aragon. In the meantime, Costanza had already given birth in 1265 (November 4th) to the firstborn and heir, Alfonso. Followed by another male, James (April 10th 1267), and then Isabella, future Queen consort of Portugal (1271), Frederick (December 13th 1272), Yolanda (1273) and finally Peter (1275). According to historian Muntaner, although it wasn’t a love marriage, Peter and Costanza came to care for each a lot and “there were never was so great love between husband and wife as there was between them, and always had been”.

On Easter 1282, Sicilians started their revolt against the French rule, starting the so called Sicilian Vespers. Peter was quick to reclaim the crown of Sicily and Apulia on behalf of his wife. To the eyes of many Sicilian nobles the King of Aragon could be considered their legitimated master due his marriage to Queen Costanza (”nostre natural senyor, per raho de la regina e de sos fills” ). Before leaving headed for Africa (from where he would launch his invasion of Sicily), Peter named Costanza and their son Alfonso regents of the Kingdom of Aragon during his absence. As soon as he took possession of the island, Peter asked his wife and their children James, Frederick and Yolanda to join him. When the Queen arrived in Trapani in the spring of 1283, she received a warm welcome and was saluted by the people as their natural leader (”cela qui era lur dona natural”; Bernat Desclot, Llibre del rei en Pere d'Aragó e dels seus antecessors passats, ch. 103).

It is around this period that her strained relationship with lady-in-waiting and de facto second lady of the Island, Macalda di Scaletta (wife of Alaimo da Lentini, Grand Justiciar of the Kingdom of Sicily), was born. Macalda, who is described by historical sources as an ambitious and greedy woman, had tried to seduce Peter of Aragon, but without success. Since the King had declared himself devoted to his wife, the Sicilian baroness developed a burning hate towards her rival, the Queen.

In Messina, Costanza could finally embrance her husband again, but their meeting only lasted three days and it was their last. The King named his wife Regent of the Kingdom of Sicily (“Quant lo rey hac estat ab sa muller e ab sos infants en la ciutat de Mecina, e hac stablit sos balles e sos vicaris per tota Cecilia, si los feu comandament que tots fessen lo manament de la reyna e de son fill En Jaume, axi com perell, e comana la reyna als homens de Cecilia e de Mecina, e sos fills”) and returned to Aragon as his rival, Charles of Anjou, had proposed a trial by combat (who would never take take place) to be ideally fought in Bordeaux to decide the fate of the contended Kingdom. Peter died two years later in Villafranca del Penedès (Catalonia), on November 11th 1285.

Before leaving Sicily, Peter had declared that the Kingdom wouldn’t be merged into the Aragonese-Catalan territories, mantaining his autonomy, and that in thet future the succession of the two reigns would be handled separately, specifically with the Sicilian throne bequeated to the second son (at that time, James, already named Lieutenant of the Realm).

With Peter dead, Costanza didn’t choose to rule over Sicily by herself despite being its titular queen, but, as it had already been decided, relinquished her rights to her second son James (although she would keep managing the island on his behalf), while Alfonso succeeded his father. In accord to the pre-nuptial arrangements, the Dowager Queen supported her teen son in the matter of ruling the Kingdoms he had inherited.

In 1284, Costanza’s milk brother, Roger of Lauria carried out a successful expedition in the Gulf of Naples. The admiral captured Charles of Salerno, the Angevin heir, and took him in Messina, where he was saved by the angry mob thanks to the intervention of the Dowager Queen. During the same raid, Lauria had freed Princess Beatrice of Hohenstaufen, Costanza’s younger half-sister. The Queen soon put her unfortunate sister under her protection, arranging Beatrice’s marriage with Costanza’s half-nephew, Manfredo IV Marquis of Saluzzo. The wedding was celebrated in October 1286 in Messina, and during the celebration the Princess had to give up on her rights to the Sicilian throne.

In 1290 she deployed troops to defend the city of Acre, but given the excommunication of Pope Martin IV against Peter III of Aragon and the Sicilian people, those troops were sent back. The following year, 1291, Acre would be conquered by Mamluk forces.

Also that year, Alfonso III died heirless. James succeeded him as King of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca, Count of Roussillon, Cerdanya and Barcelona, and, in normal circumstances, his brother Frederick would have inherited the Sicilian Crown, but James had other ideas. The new King kept Sicily for himself, naming Frederick Lieutenant of the Realm. The dispossessed Prince then left the Kingdom headed to Sicily, where he joined his mother Costanza.

Her son’s death represented a turning point in her life. Although already a pious woman, she started pondering about a future in the cloister and retired in a Clarisse nunnery she had personally founded in Messina.

In 1295, James signed the Treaty of Anagni, an accord signed by Boniface VIII, James II of Aragon, James II of Majorca, Charles II of Anjou and Philip IV of France, which should have put to an end to the Vespers War. As part of the terms, the King of Aragon had to return the island of Sicily to the Pope (let’s remember the fact that officially, since Norman times, the Kingdom of Sicily was actually one of the Papacy’s many fiefs, and that its lords were just lieutenants), who would in turn give it to Charles of Anjou, in exchange for the annulment of the excommunication weighing over him and the concession of the licentia invadendi (the permission to invade) concerning the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. The treaty required moreover a double dinastic union, James would have married Princess Blanche of Anjou, while her brother Robert was wed to James’ sister Yolanda.

There was someone in particular, though, who wasn’t happy about this settlements. Backed up by the Sicilian population who refused to return under French domination, Infante Frederick was crowned King of Sicily in Palermo on March 25th 1296, de facto nullifyng any attempt to stop the war.

This had a huge impact in his mother’s life. Unlike her son, Costanza had always recognized the Papal authority. By not accepting the treaty’s terms, Frederick had in fact rebelled against the Pope (not mentioning his own brother). Costanza chose then not to support him and, because of this, she had to leave Sicily since, as Papal emissaries put it, if she stayed she could be considered an accomplice (“E madona la regina Costança fo absolta per lo Papa, é tots aquells qui eren de sa companyia , si que tots dies oya missa; que axi ho hach a fer lo Papa, per convinença a les paus quel senyor rey Darago feu ab ell. Per que madona la regina parti de Sicilia ab deu galees , e anassen en Roma per pelegrinatge” in Crónica de Ramon Muntaner, ch CLXXXV).

Together with her longtime supporters, Giovanni da Procida and Roger of Lauria, in february 1297, she traveled to Rome where the Pope had promised to economically support her staying in Rome (although apparently it was a short-lived promise) and where she witnessed her daughter Yolanda’s marriage to Robert of Anjou. In 1299 the Dowager Queen returned to Catalonia and died in Barcelona on April 8th 1302 (“Non sine cordis amaritudine vobis presentibus intimamus quod die Veneris Sancta, quasi in media nocte, serenissima et karissima domina et mater nostra domina Constancia, fidelis recordacionis Aragonum regina, diem clausit extremum, ex quo tanto nos pungit doloris ictus acerbus quanto per eius obitum sentimus nos tante matris solacio destitutos.” in La muerte en la Casa Real de Aragón..., p.20).

Aside from many donations to various religious houses, in her will (dated february 1st 1299) Queen Costanza would include a small bequest in favor of her son Frederick with the condition he had to make peace with the Pope, observing thus the terms of the Treaty of Anagni.

She was buried wearing the Franciscan habit in the convent of St. Francis in Barcelona (“E a Barcelona ella fina , e lexas a la casa dels frares menors, ab son fill lo rey Nanfos, e muri menoreta vestida ” Crónica de Ramon Muntaner, ch CLXXXV). In 1852 her remains would be moved to Barcelona Cathedral by order of Queen Isabella II of Spain.

Sources

Claramunt Rodríguez Salvador, Alfonso III de Aragón

Corrao Pietro, PIETRO I di Sicilia, III d'Aragona in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 83

Desclot Bernat, Crónica

Ferrer Mallol María Teresa, Constanza de Sicilia

Hinojosa Montalvo José, Jaime II

La Mantia Giuseppe, FEDERICO II d'Aragona, re di Sicilia in Enciclopedia Italiana

La muerte en la Casa Real de Aragón Cartas de condolencia y anunciadoras de fallecimientos (siglos XIII al XVI), ARCHIVO DE LA CORONA DE ARAGÓN

Malaspina Saba, Rerum Sicularum

Muntaner Ramon, Crónica / translation by Lady Goodenough

Sicily/Naples: Counts & Kings

Walter Ingeborg, COSTANZA di Svevia, regina d'Aragona e di Sicilia in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 30

#historicwomendaily #history #women #history of women #historical women #costanza ii #House of Hohenstaufen #house of aragon and sicily #peter iii of aragon #norman swabian sicily #aragonese-spanish sicily #people of sicily #women of sicily #vespri siciliani #myedit #historyedit

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houseofbrat · 1 year

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Did you see that two deranged cambridge stans on your post? They're right on schedule like markle stans lol

Oh, I see all the comments on my posts, even though I usually don't comment.

People are losing their minds over this without thinking any of this through. Mostly because they don't understand the situation or Charles. Instead they're resorting to apocalyptic thinking that would never happen, e.g. Sussex balcony appearances, Archie & Lilibet attending the coronation, etc.

Basically everyone freaking out about this demonstrates that they don't know anything about Charles or his plans to slim the monarchy. Instead, someone who does understand the immediate situation would be River on YouTube. I don't watch River's videos, but someone posted a summary of it on reddit:

In this video River says the following:

Duke and Duchess of South Park were very angry that Archie was not styled a prince when he was born. They refused to acknowledge that letters patent only styles grandchildren of the monarch gets those titles, and at the time the queen was still alive.

Duke and Duchess of South Park refused to use the title Earl of Dumbarton, which is Harry´s secondary title.

Then the Oprah interview happened, where they claimed Archie was not given a title because of racism.

When the queen died, Harry wanted KC to change the letters patent to validate their racism story.

KC did not do so, but did not announce the children´s titles.

And here we are - Duke and Duchess of South Park had to make their royal title announcement via People magazine, and not via a court circular, which is the normal way.

Duke and Duchess were panicking and paranoid, expecting the titles to be taken away.

Harry's wife is panicking. She is not even being photographed with him. He was at a BetterUp event this week. She's been avoiding getting photographed for months, and now she suddenly gets papped and has her lapdog Scobie release photos of her at a charity. Someone is DESPERATE, and it isn't The King.

Everyone freaking out about the titles--and I mean EVERYONE who is acting as if this is the end of the world--is proving that they a) don't understand Charles and b) do not understand the British monarchy.

Twenty years ago, Charles would have been perfectly fine with Beatrice & Eugenie to have been downgraded to daughters of a peer. The person who wasn't down with that change was Queen Elizabeth II.

Guess what? Charles is in charge now. Not QEII.

I'm sure Charles thought the will Louise choose to use her princess title when she turns 18 drama was real cute. Likewise, I doubt he's going to endure that pr drama again in another two and a half years when James turns 18.

I'm sure when Charles issues his letters patent some of the same people whining about the situation now will be whining about how mean Charles is about taking James & Louise's title & styles away. And likely Beatrice & Eugenie's titles & styles as well.

Neither of those four will ever be working royals. Ever.

Does it make sense for Beatrice or Eugenie to be princesses twenty five years from now? When they were never working royals? When they are the first cousin once removed of King George VII? No, it doesn't.

Does it make sense for James or Louise to have the ability to choose to use an HRH style and prince titles 30 years from now either? Or whenever it suits them in the future? No, it doesn't.

This is why the letters patent that Charles will issue will be a big deal. It was never going to solely revolve around the Sussex kids.

But the people whining over the last two days aren't smart enough to realize that.

#ask #BRF fandom #charles haters #pearl clutching #titles 'n shit #reddit #Harry's Wife's Public Reputation Management #crazy cambridge stans

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scotianostra · 5 months

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November 28th 1489 saw the birth of Margaret Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII of England.

Maybe Margaret was destined to be Queen of Scotland, she was baptised on November 30th 1489, St Andrews day.

From an early age, Margaret was part of Henry VII’s negotiations for important marriages for his children and her betrothal to James IV of Scotland was made official by a treaty in 1502 even though discussions had been underway since 1496. Part of the delay was the wait for a papal dispensation because James’ great-grandmother was Joan Beaufort, sister of John Beaufort, who was the great-grandfather of Margaret Tudor. That made James IV and Margaret Tudor fourth cousins, which was within the prohibited degree. Patrick Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell, acted as a proxy for James IV of Scotland for his betrothal to Margaret Tudor at Richmond in January 1502 before the couple was married in person in August 1503.

The Tudor writer Richard Grafton escorted Margaret to Scotland and it’s seems he wasn’t too taken with us, he later wrote….“Then this lady was taken to the town of Edinburgh, and there the day after King James IV in the presence of all his nobility married the said princess, and feasted the English lords, and showed them jousts and other pastimes, very honourably, after the fashion of this rude country. When all things were done and finished according to their commission the earl of Surrey with all the English lords and ladies returned to their country, giving more praise to the manhood than to the good manner and nature of Scotland.”

It’s amazing we survived as a race, let alone as Scots, given the mortality rate, even in cases where the mothers well better off, as in Margaret’s case, she had a horrible time trying to provide James IV with an heir. Her first pregnancy was in 1506 and she gave birth to a son, James, in February 1507 who lived about a year. Margaret next gave birth to a daughter in July 1508 who only survived for a few hours. In 1509, Margaret’s father died and her brother was now Henry VIII, the new king of England. Early in that year Margaret became pregnant once again and gave birth to another son, this one named Arthur, in October. However, this child also died at a young age, only nine months old.

Margaret’s next child was born on April 11, 1512 at Linlithgow and named James. This child, unlike all those before him, lived to adulthood and at little over a year old he was to succeed his father as James V. The Queen became pregnant yet again shortly afterwards and gave birth to another daughter, who died a few hours later.

It was during Margaret’s final pregnancy that James IV and the Flower of Scotland, died on the battlefield at Flodden.

Margaret had thoughts of becoming regent for James V, but it was unheard of for women to rule, so needed a husband, unfortunately for her she chose a man seen by his counterparts as a fool. Her second husband was the powerful Scottish lord Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. And so it was that John Stuart, Duke of Albany (a cousin to the king, and next in line to the throne after little Alexander’s death), was invited by the Scottish lords to be Regent. Albany had been living in France with his mother’s relatives and served three French kings - Charles VIII, Louis XII and Francis I. Albany arrived in Scotland in May 1515.

By this time Margaret was pregnant, yes again!. As an English woman among Scots she felt ill at ease and fled to England, James V had by this time been seized from her by the Lords. She gave birth to a daughter, Margaret Douglas in October. Margaret fell very ill after her daughter’s birth and nearly died, her Douglas abandoned his wife about this time and returned to Scotland. Margaret stayed in England for about a year before returning to Scotland under promise of safe conduct in June 1517.

The marriage of Margaret and Angus turned out to be disastrous. While he was in Scotland and she was in England, Angus had taken a mistress and was living off of Margaret’s Scottish revenues. The next few years were terrible for Margaret, with a horrible marriage, no money, no power and very little contact with her son James.

In 1524 Margaret, in alliance with the Earl of Arran, overthrew Albany’s regency and her son was invested with his full royal authority. James V was still only 12, so Margaret was finally able to guide her son’s government, but only for a short time as her husband, Angus took control of the young King. Margaret was finally able to attain an annulment of her marriage to Angus from Pope Clement VII and by the next April she had married her third husband, Henry Stewart, who had previously been her treasurer.

Things got serious for a time when her second hubbie, arranged for the third hubbie to be arrested as no permission had been granted by the Lords for this marriage, it was all resolved by 1528, whe James V was able to rule for himself, being 16. He appointed Henry Stewart as Lord Methven and proclaimed the Douglas’s as traitors, Angus fled to England.

Margaret’s relationship with her son was relatively good, although she pushed for closer relations with England, where James preferred an alliance with France. In this, James won out and was married to Princess Madeleine, daughter of the King of France, in January 1537. Madeleine was a poorly woman and died in July she is buried at Holyrood Abbey.

After his first wife’s death, James sought another bride from France, this time taking Marie de Guise.

By this same time, Margaret’s own marriage had followed a path similar to her second one when Methven took a mistress and lived off his wife’s money.

On October 18th, 1541, Margaret Tudor died in Methven Castle in Scotland, probably from a stroke. She was buried at the Carthusian Abbey of St. John’s in Perth.

#scotland #scottish #history #royalty #the stewarts

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homomenhommes · 4 months

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THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … December 19

1626 – Queen Christina of Sweden (d.1689), Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. As the heiress presumptive, at the age of six she succeeded her father on the throne of Sweden upon his death at the Battle of Lützen. Being the daughter of a Protestant champion in the Thirty Years' War, she caused a scandal when she abdicated her throne and converted to Catholicism in 1654. She spent her later years in Rome, becoming a leader of the theatrical and musical life there. As a queen without a country, she protected many artists and projects. She is one of the few women buried in the Vatican grotto.

Christina was moody, intelligent, and interested in books and manuscripts, religion, alchemy and science. She wanted Stockholm to become the Athens of the North. Influenced by the Counter Reformation, she was increasingly attracted to the Baroque and Mediterranean culture that took her away from her Protestant country. Her unconventional lifestyle and masculine behaviour would feature in countless novels and plays, and in opera and film. In the twentieth century, Christina became a symbol of cross-dressing, transsexuality and lesbianism.

Christina was unusual in her own time for choosing masculine dress, and she also had some masculine physical features. Whether she choose her attire because of a self-perception as masculine, or purely for reasons of functional convenience, is difficult to know.

She was irrefutably gender-variant, cross-dressing by her early teens. Of Queen Christina, Father Marmerschied, priest to the Spanish Ambassador, remarked, "There is nothing feminine about her except her sex. Her voice, her walk, her style, her ways are all quite masculine."Christina associated mostly with men, letting go of the ladies-in-waiting routine. But there was one particular romantic relationship she'd had since her teens. The Queen did not hide her affectionate bond to her best female friend and noted passion of her youth, Ebba Sparre, whom she called Belle. Most of her spare time was spent with 'la belle comtesse' - and she often called attention to her beauty. She introduced her to the English ambassador Whitelocke as her 'bed-fellow', assuring him that Sparre's intellect was as striking as her body. Queen Christina wrote to her, "and if you remember the power you have over me, you will also remember I have been in possession of your love for twelve years; I belong to you so utterly, that it will never be possible for you to lose me; and only, when I die, shall I cease loving you."

Christina abdicated her throne on 5 June 1654, in favor of her cousin Charles Gustavus, amid some financial hanky panky and wandered Europe, dressed as a man, frequently under the pseudonym of Count Dohna.

Based on historical accounts of Christina's physicality, some scholars believe her to have been an intersexed individual. (Someone with a blend of female and male genitals, hormones, or chromosomes.)

According to Christina's autobiography, the midwives at her birth first believed her to be a boy because she was "completely hairy and had a coarse and strong voice." After changing their minds, deciding that she was female, her father Gustav II Adolph decided "to find out for himself the nature of the matter."

Such ambiguity did not end with birth, as Christina made cryptic statements about her "constitution" and body throughout life. Her unusual body was also noted by acquaintances, who noted that the queen had a masculine voice, appearance, and movements. Although not direct evidence of her bodily makeup, Christina had a disdain for marriage, sex, and childrearing that may have stemmed from the realities of such things for a person of unusual physicality.

In 1965 all of these observations led to an investigation of Christina's mortal remains, which had inconclusive results. As the physical anthropologist who undertook the investigation, Carl-Herman Hjortsjö, explained, "Our imperfect knowledge concerning the effect of intersexuality on the skeletal formation ... makes it impossible to decide which positive skeletal findings should be demanded upon which to base the diagnosis of intersexuality." Nevertheless, Hjortsjö speculated that Christina had reasonably typical female genitalia because it is recorded that she menstruated.

1816 – Georgia adopts a new criminal code, reinstating sodomy as a crime after a 32-year hiatus. The penalty is compulsory life imprisonment. The law is not enforced.

1910 – Jean Genet (d.1986) was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing. His major works include the novels Querelle of Brest, The Thief's Journal, and Our Lady of the Flowers, and the plays The Balcony, The Blacks, The Maids and The Screens. He is the author of the quote: "I'm homosexual... How and why are idle questions. It's a little like wanting to know why my eyes are green."

While he received excellent grades in school, his childhood involved a series of attempts at running away and incidents of petty theft . For this and other misdemeanors, including repeated acts of vagrancy, he was sent at the age of 15 to Mettray Penal Colony from 1926 to 1929. In The Miracle of the Rose (1946), he gives an account of this period of detention, which ended at the age of 18 when he joined the Foreign Legion. He was eventually given a dishonorable discharge on grounds of indecency (having been caught engaged in a homosexual act) and spent a period as a vagabond, petty thief and prostitute across Europe— experiences he recounts in The Thief's Journal (1949).

After returning to Paris, France in 1937, Genet was in and out of prison through a series of arrests for theft, use of false papers, vagabondage, lewd acts and other offenses. In prison, Genet wrote his first poem, "Le condamné à mort," which he had printed at his own cost, and the novel Our Lady of the Flowers (1944). In Paris, Genet sought out and introduced himself to Jean Cocteau, who was impressed by his writing. Cocteau used his contacts to get Genet's novel published, and in 1949, when Genet was threatened with a life sentence after ten convictions, Cocteau and other prominent figures, including Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso, successfully petitioned the French President to have the sentence set aside. Genet would never return to prison.

By 1949 Genet had completed five novels, three plays and numerous poems. His explicit and often deliberately provocative portrayal of homosexuality and criminality was such that by the early 1950s his work was banned in the United States.

In the 60s and 70s he became highly politically active in France, the USA, and the Middle East. Genet developed throat cancer and was found dead on April 15, 1986 in a hotel room in Paris. Genet may have fallen on the floor and fatally hit his head.

1957 – Cyril Collard (d.1993) was a French author, filmmaker, composer, musician and actor. He is known for his unapologetic portrayals of bisexuality and HIV in art, particularly his autobiographical novel and film Les Nuits Fauves (Savage Nights). Openly bisexual, Collard was also one of the first French artists to speak openly about his HIV-positive status.

The semi-autobiographical Savage Nights (Les Nuits Fauves), finished in 1992, was Collard's first and only feature film. The autobiographical story examines the life of a thirtyish aspiring director, Jean, engaged in simultaneous affairs with an 18-year-old French girl and a young, "straight" Spanish rugby player, Samy, who develops a taste for S&M and moves in with him, while Jean still (compulsively?) enjoys frequent, rough anonymous hookups, all of which is further complicated by his being HIV+. It won four Césars (best editing, best film, best first work, and most promising actress) in 1993. Unfortunately, Collard did not live to accept his award; he had died three days earlier.

Early in his career, Collard assisted fellow director Maurice Pialat and directed six music videos, as well as several television programs. Among the music videos he directed were those of French-Algerian band Carte de Séjour, whose lead singer Rachid Taha is one of the most famous rock-ethnic musicians in France today.

Collard's own experiences with AIDS undoubtedly influenced his work. He died of AIDS-related illness aged 35.

Matthew Waterhouse (R) with Doctor Who

1961 – On this date the British actor Matthew Waterhouse was born. He is best known for his role as Adric in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. Adric was a companion of Tom Baker and Peter Davison's Doctors from 1980 to 1982. Waterhouse was the youngest male actor to play a companion.

Waterhouse is openly Gay and is believed to be the first actor on Doctor Who to have been open about his sexuality while on the series.

After leaving the series, he began a stage career. In 2006, Waterhouse self-published his debut novel, Fates, Flowers: A Comedy of New York.

1964 – Dean and Dan Caten (né Catenacci) are Canadian fashion designers, radio personalities, and businessmen. They are identical twin brothers and the founders and owners of Dsquared², an international fashion house. The youngest of nine siblings, identical twins Dean (the naughty one) and Dan (the sensible one) do everything together: they work together, they play together, they even sleep in the same bed.

When they were teenagers, the Catens’ parents could no longer afford to take care of them and the Canadian government had to step in. The twins were shuffled between various foster families, and eventually placed with an abusive couple in Arizona. Again, the exact nature of that abuse was something the twins were unwilling to discuss.

It was during this time that the two were forced apart, after the couple decided that Dean was too difficult to deal with and sent him away. The trauma of that separation, perhaps more than anything else the pair suffered in their young lives, would seem to be at the core of their extraordinary closeness, and their co-sleeping. “There was a moment in my life when I thought I was never going to see my brother again,” said Dean. “That will never happen again in our life. So if we’re afraid of the dark and need to sleep next to each other then we’re okay because there’s no stronger power that can get us. It’s not sexual, it’s brotherly.”

Dean and Dan Catenacci were born in 1964 in Toronto, Ontario and grew up in Willowdale. They have seven older siblings. Their father is from Casalvieri, a small town in Ciociaria, Lazio, Italy. In 1983, they moved to New York to study fashion at Parsons School of Design, but stayed for only one semester before returning to Toronto.

Finding a financial backer in 1986, they launched their first signature womenswear collection, DEanDAN. By 1988 they had signed on to label Ports International as creative directors. At the same time, the Catens designed for their lower-end, leisure brand, Tabi International. In 1991, the brothers moved to Milan, Italy where they worked as designers for the house of Gianni Versace, and denim brand Diesel, the latter of which funded and launched their namesake brand. They debuted their men's collection in 1994, and in 2003, they launched a women's collection and a men's underwear collection.

The Dsquared² brand was launched in 1995.

In 2000–01, Madonna commissioned the brothers to design over 150 pieces for her Drowned World Tour 2001 and "Don't Tell Me" music video.

A runway show in 2005 ended with Christina Aguilera stripping male models of their clothes. In September 2007, the Dsquared² fashion show in Milan featured Rihanna entering the stage in an American muscle car, followed by a runway walk. In January 2010, the Dsquared² Autumn/Winter 2010 menswear show in Milan featured Bill Kaulitz descending from the ceiling in a caged elevator à la Rocky Horror Picture Show. Bill Kaulitz opened and closed the Dsquared² Autumn/Winter 2010 menswear show in Milan.

In June 2007, the first Dsquared² flagship was opened in Milan's fashion district. Stores also opened in St. Moritz, Athens, Mykonos, Capri, Istanbul, Kiev, Cannes, Singapore, Paris, Nicosia and Hong Kong. In March 2015, Dsquared² opened their first flagship store in London. This is the first stage of their major store redesign programme that will continue into the US at the end of 2015. More recent Dsquared² stores openings have included Miami, Doha, Los Angeles, New York, Baku, Rome, Istanbul and Madrid.

1987 – Ronan Farrow is an American journalist, lawyer, and former government advisor. He is the son of actress Mia Farrow and filmmaker Woody Allen.

In late 2017, Farrow's articles in The New Yorker helped uncover the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations. For this reporting, The New Yorker won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, sharing the award with The New York Times. Farrow's subsequent investigations exposed similar allegations against Eric Schneiderman and Les Moonves, which led to the resignations of both in 2018.

Farrow was born in New York City to actress Mia Farrow and filmmaker Woody Allen. His father's family is Jewish, whereas his mother's family is Catholic. His given name (Satchel Ronan O'Sullivan Farrow) honors National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige and actress Maureen O'Sullivan, his maternal grandmother. Now known as Ronan, he was given the surname "Farrow" to avoid a family with one child named Allen amid Farrows and Previns. In 2013, Mia Farrow raised speculation that singer-actor Frank Sinatra could have been Ronan's biological father.

As a child, Farrow skipped grades in school and took courses with the Center for Talented Youth. He attended Bard College at Simon's Rock, later transferring to Bard College for a B.A. in philosophy, and becoming the youngest graduate of that institution at age 15. In 2009, he received a J.D. from Yale Law School, and was later admitted to the New York Bar.

From 2001 to 2009, he was a UNICEF Spokesperson for Youth, advocating for children and women caught up in the ongoing crisis in Sudan's Darfur region and assisting in fundraising and addressing United Nations affiliated groups in the United States.

In 2009, Farrow joined the Obama administration as Special Adviser for Humanitarian and NGO Affairs in the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

After leaving government, Farrow began a Rhodes Scholarship at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Farrow hosted the investigative segment "Undercover with Ronan Farrow" on NBC's Today. Launched in June 2015, the series was billed as providing Farrow's look at the stories "you don't see in the headlines every day", often featuring crowd-sourced story selection and covering topics from the labor rights of nail salon workers to mental healthcare issues to sexual assault on campus.

On October 10, 2017, The New Yorker published an investigative article by Farrow detailing allegations of sexual misconduct against film producer Harvey Weinstein five days after The New York Times published the findings of its own investigation into Weinstein. In 2016, NBC had decided against airing Farrow's initial findings. The New Yorker won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for Farrow's reporting, sharing the award with Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey at The New York Times. Farrow was included in the Time "100 Most Influential People in the World" list in 2018.

Farrow has identified as part of the LGBT community. He was recognized by the Point Foundation in 2018. His partner is podcast host and former presidential speech writer Jon Lovett. The couple has been together since 2011.

1991 – The New York Court of Appeals rules that sex in a parked car on a public street does not necessarily violate the state's public indecency law

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wandering-cemeteries · 7 months

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My favorite tomb at St. Denis (suburbs of Paris) belongs to Louis XII (1462-1515) and his wife, Anne de Bretagne (1477-1514) (Anne of Brittany). Not only was he the King of France from 1498-1515, but also the King of Naples from 1501-1504. (Naples, Italy, was passed around a lot.) Louis XII died without a male heir after three marriages, although he did have two surviving daughters. The first one was to a sterile relative (forced to by his cousin, King Charles VII). The second to Anne of Brittany, widow of Charles VII. The third to Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII of England. He died only three months after that last marriage.

#louis xii #tomb #tombs #sarcophagus #church #church architecture #sculpture #taphophilia #taphophile #paris #france #st. denis #original photography #photography #photographers on tumblr #lensblr #wanderingjana

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justforbooks · 2 years

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The long reign of Queen Elizabeth II was marked by her strong sense of duty and her determination to dedicate her life to her throne and to her people.

She became for many the one constant point in a rapidly changing world as British influence declined, society changed beyond recognition and the role of the monarchy itself came into question.

Her success in maintaining the monarchy through such turbulent times was even more remarkable given that, at the time of her birth, no-one could have foreseen that the throne would be her destiny.

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on 21 April 1926, in a house just off Berkeley Square in London, the first child of Albert, Duke of York, second son of George V, and his duchess, the former Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.

Both Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret Rose, who was born in 1930, were educated at home and brought up in a loving family atmosphere. Elizabeth was extremely close to both her father and her grandfather, George V.

At the age of six, Elizabeth told her riding instructor that she wanted to become a "country lady with lots of horses and dogs".

She was said to have shown a remarkable sense of responsibility from a very early age. Winston Churchill, the future prime minister, was quoted as saying that she possessed "an air of authority that was astonishing in an infant".

Despite not attending school, Elizabeth proved adept at languages and made a detailed study of constitutional history.

A special Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham Palace, was formed so that she could socialise with girls of her own age.

Increasing tension

On the death of George V in 1936, his eldest son, known as David, became Edward VIII.

However, his choice of wife, the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson, was deemed to be unacceptable on political and religious grounds. At the end of the year he abdicated.

A reluctant Duke of York became King George VI. His Coronation gave Elizabeth a foretaste of what lay in store for her and she later wrote that she had found the service "very, very wonderful".

Against a background of increasing tension in Europe, the new King, together with his wife, Queen Elizabeth, set out to restore public faith in the monarchy. Their example was not lost on their elder daughter.

In 1939, the 13-year-old princess accompanied the King and Queen to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth.

Together with her sister Margaret, she was escorted by one of the cadets, her third cousin, Prince Philip of Greece.

Obstacles

It was not the first time they had met, but it was the first time she took an interest in him.

Prince Philip called on his royal relatives when on leave from the navy, and by 1944, when she was 18, Elizabeth was clearly in love with him. She kept his picture in her room and they exchanged letters.

The young princess briefly joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) towards the end of the war, learning to drive and service a lorry. On VE Day, she joined the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace as thousands gathered in The Mall to celebrate the end of the war in Europe.

"We asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves," she later recalled. "I remember we were terrified of being recognised. I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief."

After the war, her desire to marry Prince Philip faced a number of obstacles.

The King was reluctant to lose a daughter on whom he doted, and Philip had to overcome the prejudice of an establishment that could not accept his foreign ancestry.

But the wishes of the couple prevailed and on 20 November 1947 the couple married in Westminster Abbey.

The Duke of Edinburgh, as Philip had become, remained a serving naval officer. For a short time, a posting to Malta meant the young couple could enjoy a relatively normal life.

Their first child, Charles, was born in 1948, followed by a sister, Anne, who arrived in 1950.

But the King, having suffered considerable stress during the war years, was terminally ill with lung cancer, brought about by a lifetime of heavy smoking.

In January 1952, Elizabeth, then 25, set off with Philip for an overseas tour. The King, against medical advice, went to the airport to see the couple off. It was to be the last time Elizabeth would see her father.

Elizabeth heard of the death of the King while staying at a game lodge in Kenya and the new Queen immediately returned to London.

"In a way, I didn't have an apprenticeship," she later recalled. "My father died much too young, so it was all a very sudden kind of taking on and making the best job you can."

Personal attack

Her Coronation in June 1953 was televised, despite the opposition of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and millions gathered around TV sets, many of them for the first time, to watch as Queen Elizabeth II made her oath.

With Britain still enduring post-war austerity, commentators saw the Coronation as the dawn of a new Elizabethan age.

World War Two had served to hasten the end of the British Empire, and by the time the new Queen set off on a lengthy tour of the Commonwealth in November 1953, many former British possessions, including India, had gained independence.

Elizabeth became the first reigning monarch to visit Australia and New Zealand. It was estimated that three-quarters of Australians turned out to see her in person.

Throughout the 1950s, more countries hauled down the union flag and the former colonies and dominions now came together as a voluntary family of nations.

Many politicians felt that the new Commonwealth could become a counter to the newly emerging European Economic Community and, to some extent, British policy turned away from the Continent.

But the decline of British influence was hastened by the Suez debacle in 1956, when it became clear that the Commonwealth lacked the collective will to act together in times of crisis. The decision to send British troops to try to prevent Egypt's threatened nationalisation of the Suez Canal ended in an ignominious withdrawal and brought about the resignation of Prime Minister Anthony Eden.

This embroiled the Queen in a political crisis. The Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader and, after a series of consultations, the Queen invited Harold Macmillan to form a new government.

The Queen also found herself the subject of a personal attack by the writer Lord Altrincham. In a magazine article, he claimed her court was "too British" and "upper-class" and accused her of being unable to make a simple speech without a written text.

His remarks caused a furore in the press and Lord Altrincham was physically attacked in the street by a member of the League of Empire Loyalists.

Nevertheless, the incident demonstrated that British society and attitudes to the monarchy were changing fast and old certainties were being questioned.

From 'the Monarchy' to 'the Royal Family'

Encouraged by her husband, notoriously impatient with the court's stuffiness, the Queen began to adapt to the new order.

The practice of receiving debutantes at court was abolished and the term "the Monarchy" was gradually replaced by "the Royal Family".

The Queen was once more at the centre of a political row when in 1963, Harold Macmillan stood down as prime minister. With the Conservative Party still to set up a system for choosing a new leader, she followed his advice to appoint the Earl of Home in his place.

It was a difficult time for the Queen. The hallmark of her reign was constitutional correctness, and a further separation of the monarchy from the government of the day. She took seriously her rights to be informed, to advise and to warn - but did not seek to step beyond them.

It was to be the last time she would be put in such a position. The Conservatives finally did away with the tradition that new party leaders just "emerged", and a proper system was put in place.

By the late 1960s, Buckingham Palace had decided that it needed to take a positive step to show the Royal Family in a far less formal and more approachable way.

The result was a ground-breaking documentary, Royal Family. The BBC was allowed to film the Windsors at home. There were pictures of the family at a barbecue, decorating the Christmas tree, taking their children for a drive - all ordinary activities, but never seen before.

Critics claimed that Richard Cawston's film destroyed the mystique of the royals by showing them to be ordinary people, including scenes of the Duke of Edinburgh barbecuing sausages in the grounds at Balmoral.

But the film echoed the more relaxed mood of the times and did much to restore public support for the monarchy.

By 1977, the Silver Jubilee was celebrated with genuine enthusiasm in street parties and in ceremonies across the kingdom. The monarchy seemed secure in the public's affection and much of that was down to the Queen herself.

Two years later, Britain had, in Margaret Thatcher, its first woman prime minister. Relations between the female head of state and female head of government were sometimes said to have been awkward.

Scandals and disasters

One difficult area was the Queen's devotion to the Commonwealth, of which she was head. The Queen knew the leaders of Africa well and was sympathetic to their cause.

She was reported to have found Thatcher's attitude and confrontational style "puzzling", not least over the prime minister's opposition to sanctions against apartheid South Africa.

Year by year, the Queen's public duties continued. After the Gulf War in 1991, she went to the United States to become the first British monarch to address a joint session of Congress. President George HW Bush said she had been "freedom's friend for as long as we can remember".

However, a year later, a series of scandals and disasters began to affect the Royal Family.

The Queen's second son, the Duke of York, and his wife Sarah separated, while Princess Anne's marriage to Mark Phillips ended in divorce. Then the Prince and Princess of Wales were revealed to be deeply unhappy and eventually split up.

The year culminated in a huge fire at the Queen's favourite residence, Windsor Castle. It seemed a grimly appropriate symbol of a royal house in trouble. It was not helped by a public row over whether the taxpayer, or the Queen, should foot the bill for the repairs.

The Queen described 1992 as her "annus horribilis" and, in a speech in the City of London, appeared to concede the need for a more open monarchy in return for a less hostile media.

"No institution, city, monarchy, whatever, should expect to be free from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support, not to mention those who don't. But we are all part of the same fabric of our national society and that scrutiny can be just as effective if it is made with a measure of gentleness, good humour and understanding."

The institution of monarchy was very much on the defensive. Buckingham Palace was opened to visitors to raise money to pay for the repairs at Windsor and it was announced that the Queen and the Prince of Wales would pay tax on investment income.

Abroad, the hopes for the Commonwealth, so high early in her reign, had not been fulfilled. Britain had turned its back on its old partners with new arrangements in Europe.

The Queen still saw value in the Commonwealth and was deeply gratified when South Africa, where she had come of age, at last threw apartheid aside. She celebrated with a visit in March 1995.

At home, the Queen sought to maintain the dignity of the monarchy while public debate continued on whether the institution had any future.

Death of Diana, Princess of Wales

As Britain struggled to find a new destiny, she tried to remain a reassuring figure, and with a sudden smile could lighten a solemn moment. The role she valued above all was that of symbol of the nation.

However, the monarchy was shaken and the Queen herself attracted unusual criticism after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car accident in Paris in August 1997.

As the public crowded around the palaces in London with tributes of flowers, the Queen seemed reluctant to provide the focus that she had always tried to do during great national moments.

Many of her critics failed to understand that she was from a generation that recoiled from the almost hysterical displays of public mourning that typified the aftermath of the princess's death.

She also felt as a caring grandmother that she needed to comfort Diana's sons in the privacy of the family circle.

Eventually, she made a live broadcast, paying tribute to her daughter-in-law and making a commitment that the monarchy would adapt.

Losses and celebrations

The deaths of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, in the Queen's Golden Jubilee year, 2002, cast a shadow over nationwide celebrations of her reign.

But despite this, and the recurring debate over the future of the monarchy, a million people crowded into The Mall, in front of Buckingham Palace, on the evening of the jubilee.

In April 2006, thousands of well-wishers lined the streets of Windsor as the Queen performed an informal walkabout on her 80th birthday.

And in November 2007, she and Prince Philip celebrated 60 years of marriage with a service attended by 2,000 people at Westminster Abbey.

There was yet another happy occasion in April 2011 when the Queen attended the wedding of her grandson, William, Duke of Cambridge, to Catherine Middleton.

In May that year she became the first British monarch to make an official visit to the Irish Republic, an event of great historical significance.

In a speech, which she began in Irish, she called for forbearance and conciliation and referred to "things we wish had been done differently or not at all".

Referendum

A year later, on a visit to Northern Ireland as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, she shook hands with the former IRA commander Martin McGuinness.

It was a poignant moment for a monarch whose much-loved cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, had been killed by an IRA bomb in 1979.

The Diamond Jubilee brought hundreds of thousands of people on to the streets and culminated in a weekend of celebrations in London.

The referendum on Scottish independence, in September 2014, was a testing time for the Queen. Few had forgotten her speech to Parliament in 1977 in which she made clear her commitment to a United Kingdom.

"I number kings and queens of England and of Scotland, and princes of Wales among my ancestors and so I can readily understand these aspirations. But I cannot forget that I was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

In a remark to well-wishers at Balmoral on the eve of the Scottish referendum, which was overheard, she said she hoped people would think very carefully about the future.

Once the result of the vote was known, her public statement underlined the relief she felt that the Union was still intact, although recognising that the political landscape had changed.

"Now, as we move forward, we should remember that despite the range of views that have been expressed, we have in common an enduring love of Scotland, which is one of the things that helps to unite us all."

On 9 September 2015 she became the longest reigning monarch in British history, surpassing the reign of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria. In typical style she refused to make any fuss saying the title was "not one to which I have ever aspired".

Less than a year later, in April 2016, she celebrated her 90th birthday.

She continued with her public duties, often alone after the retirement of the Duke of Edinburgh in 2017.

There were continued strains on the family - including her husband's car accident, the Duke of York's ill-judged friendship with convicted American businessman Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Harry's growing disillusionment with life in the royal family.

These were unsettling moments, presided over by a monarch who demonstrated that she was still firmly in control. There was also the death of Prince Philip in April 2021, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, and her Platinum Jubilee a year later.

Although the monarchy might not have been as strong at the end of the Queen's reign as it was at the start, she was determined that it should continue to command a place of affection and respect in the hearts of the British people.

On the occasion of her Silver Jubilee, she recalled the pledge she had made on a visit to South Africa 30 years before.

"When I was 21, I pledged my life to the service of our people and I asked for God's help to make good that vow. Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgement, I do not regret, or retract, one word of it."

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Queen Elizabeth II #in memoriam

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fantasies-fairytales-n-fics · 6 months

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Thranduil and Josie Pt. 158- Enemy Within

Summary: Jace and Raven give in to their feelings. Clover is reborn. Garrett revamps. He makes another shocking discovery and faces a face he never thought he'd see again. The vampire needs aid and Josie feels it. A warlock lord is scorned and acts accordingly. Catherine and Josie clash. Bard has bad news and Josie reels over it. Unexpected visitors arrive. A man is saved. A happy reunion takes place.

*Chapter Warnings* smut, language, angst, mentions of child loss,

Stories Stories Stories Masterlist

Chapter characters: Raven, Jace, Garrett, Kate, Josephine, Lola, Charles, Catherine, Narcisse, Bard, Aragorn, Gimli, Boromir, Legolas

Chapter word count: 6,515

The spontaneous kiss that Raven stole from the more than willing warlock, tasted and felt just like everything the dhampir of long scarlet strands imagined it would be. Although Jace had recently devoured mounds of greasy fried food, his scent of clover, that ironically used to be Raven's name, was the only thing prominent in his teasing tongue as his mouth made meticulous love to hers and in the highly anticipated moment of mutual desire, fireworks ignited and true love could no longer be denied.

Although Raven had recently realized she had inherited the blood rage gene from her father, the late vampire Craven, for the first time in her 20 years of locked up life, she had finally felt peace. The only fire that now burned inside of her was set by the rising arsonist concealed in Jace's black leather pants that pressed firmly into her core.

None of this was planned by either of the love struck pair. Both had been caught up in Jace's emotional moment of facing the truth that you were not his sister, but merely his cousin. Although you were still his relation, Jace felt it wasn't the same as the bond with a sibling, especially one who shared the putrid parentage of the notorious goblin King and wicked warlock, Jareth. Instead, you were truly the daughter of Jace's uncle Julian, the white warlock per se, a 7th son, now compromised by Jareth's mind conditioning to be evil like him. From what Raven informed Jace of, you had a real full blooded brother, a twin you did not know about that possibly even shared your copper locks who was also fathered by Julian and birthed of your malevolent mother Caroline, so why would you need Jace now?

It broke Jace, for he had searched for you most of his life in hopes of having a real family and when he had finally found you, although the meeting was brief, Jace had come to love you, an emotion that was forbidden by his parents, Jareth and the evil witch Queen Ravenna. An emotion he had now come to face as he released Raven's lips and gazed into her electric blue eyes. An emotion she too now faced.

"J..Jace..I...I..." Raven stuttered as he placed her hand upon his stubbly haired cheek.

Jace softly smiled at her touch and her out of character skittish demeanor, for Raven was as fiery tempered as a redhead was perceived to be, times a thousand. He then did something also out of character for himself as his mismatching orbs of blue and brown danced with hers.

"I love you Clover."

Normally, Raven would have barked at anyone calling her by her true name, but when Jace said it, it finally felt right because he saw the her, the real woman that she was, something no one had ever seen or even cared to try and see.

"I...I love you too...Jace. I..."

Jace took her words away with another kiss and in the heat of the moment, Clover began to lift his shirt up. Jace pulled back, breathing heavily against her lips and stroked her cheek.

"Are...are you sure we should...do this? I mean...after...after what happened to you?" Jace asked with deep concern, referring to her very recent child loss, courtesy of the Elvenking.

"I...I don't want to hurt you Clover." he continued with the most sincere eyes she had ever witnessed. No one ever cared of they hurt her.

"Jace...Matthew healed me...remember? Yes...I'm sure I want to do this. You have no idea how much. I've never wanted anything...anyone so much. Please Jace...make love to me."

Clover was whisked off of her feet and carried in Jace's brawny arms to his candlelit bedroom where they both removed the other's clothing, baring their bodies and their souls to one another with not a single ounce of feeling self-conscious....and then those bodies laid upon the bed and became one.

Jace kissed Clover deeply and passionately before gently pushing his solid girth into her.

Her gasp was rightfully incredulous, for Jace felt much larger than what he appeared to be when he stood before her moments ago, and to her, he looked quite huge then. Jace's bellowing moan upon entry was also validated, for Clover was tight, warm and soaking wet, so much so that he filled her completely in one slow slide.

Clover's fingers laced through Jace's as they began to move in perfect unison. Slowly at first, for Jace was ready to burst at the seams of his deprived cock. He always had many opportunities. Wherever he went, women practically threw themselves at him, but he would never give in to the torturous temptations. Being old fashioned at his young age of only 22, Jace remained celibate, waiting for the one he knew would come one day. He just never in his wildest dreams, imagined it would be a half witch, half vampire. Sure, he had a human nature inside of him and would occasionally pleasure himself when the ache became too much, but that is as far as it went, for Jace was a virgin until this very moment.

Even so, Clover was none the wiser because Jace certainly knew what he was doing, moving in ways that brought her to multiple orgasms, ones that snuck up on her out of nowhere which she had never experienced before, not even with the extremely well equipped Elvenking.

Clover's last climax was so intense that Jace could not contain his any longer. His pulses were vigorous and his grunts tumultuous as the two released together.

The waxing gibbous moon of Manhattan glowed through the old abandoned church's window by Jace's bed as he and Clover basked in their own afterglow, kissing and talking until eventually, the smitten warlock and dhampir drifted off to sleep, snuggled tightly in each other's arms.

In the land of middle earth, the sun still lighted the way of the cold December mid-afternoon, including Peter's old cabin where Garrett remained, replenishing himself of bad men's blood that he had tried depriving himself of and failed miserably at. The hallucinations had became too much to bear and he had made the decision that he no longer wished to die and no longer wished to stay away from you, which Amara had helped him come to that decision for her own selfish purposes that Garrett was not aware of. That and the fact that he knew Narcisse had finally had his way with you and Garrett knew the warlock lord was not what you wanted. The head over heels vampire would return to you, beg you for your forgiveness for leaving you yet once again and explain to you why he lost control on Stephane's warlock guards in such a gruesome manner.

It had only been a few days and a few days too many it was for his crazy in love un-beating heart and he needed to tap into you, to hear your voice, to see you in his mind but he couldn't do that in a drunken and starved stupor, although little did he know, you had heard him, had even dreamt of him, briefly believing him to be dead by his own hand.

Now that Garrett was feeling somewhat recharged, he began to gather his only belonging, his acoustic guitar and then he opened the box again that he found under the floorboards, now knowing it belonged to you. Ignoring the sterling silver ribbon ring and tarot cards, he focused once again on the photo of you and Sarah in your teen years. He still wasn't sure if he had hallucinated the night before when he saw the young blonde move her lips and heard her speak, asking him to help her. He sat and stared at her smiling image for a good five minutes and when nothing happened, Garrett then believed his lack of sustenance and overindulgence in whiskey brought on the creative animation.

His then found his eyes locked onto your then olive colored ones and he swore he felt a thump in the cold lifeless heart beneath the invisible protection mark Amara's faerie goon had given him on his chest. How could he be dead, yet feel so much pain? It was Garrett's undying love for you, plain and simple.

Garrett shut the box, tucked it under his arm and headed out with the guitar case swinging in his other hand. Snow had fallen in large quantities there in the open wilderness and he knew he was going to have to trek through it for the time being until he regained his full strength to fly. He stood outside of the cabin and decided he would try to reach out to you before he departed, nervously bouncing as he did so. To hear your voice again would weaken him more than any other force could.

"Josephine. Hey little one. Can you hear me?"

"If...if you're still pissed at me, at least say so. Please. So I can hear your voice. Just let me know you're ok. Something..anything Josephine. Tell me that you hate me even. it wouldn't be the worst thing you ever said. Just don't tell me that it's over."

And then there was the sound of silence that also weakened him, making him want to die all over again. Garrett knew it was his own damn fault. He promised you so many times he would never leave you and every single time, he broke that promise so how could he blame you?

His eyes glowed yellow of sadness and pain as he lowered his head and began to walk.

"I love you my little one. Alwa.......Ugggggghhhhhh!!!!!"

Garrett was blindsided and knocked through the air by something of jet fueled force. He plowed on his back through the snow like a train at full speed, sending the white powder bursting out on each side of his fifty foot long slide, leaving a hefty trench behind him when he came to a rest.

"What the FUCK!!!" Garrett roared as he whipped up to his feet, his eyes now a burning red as they darted to every inch of the wide open space.

All was silent, but he could smell it. A vampire, for nothing else had such strength, speed and invisibility. Normally, the scent of his kind would have been pleasant to him and most likely he would have recognized the identity as well, but this...this was nothing he had ever smelled before. It was like burning flesh as if it had risen from the gates of hell.

As he cautiously made his way back to the cabin, he found your box, shattered into splinter like pieces with the contents scattered about.

"What the fuck??" he once again recited, but in a whisper as he caught sight of a violet hue in the snow reflecting a glare from the sun.

Garrett swiped up the photo and tarot cards and placed them into his pocket. After that, he slipped the silver ribbon ring onto his pinky finger for safe keeping since it was so small and then he reached for the shiny object. Once he brushed the icy powder off of it, an amethyst pendant was revealed.

"Where the hell did you come from?" he asked as he began to look all around again at the wooden shards from the broken box. The only in tact remnant was the bottom of the box. As he picked it up, Garrett noticed the underneath side had been knocked loose in the hit and inside was an empty compartment just big enough to hold such an item.

Garrett studied the purple stone for a moment, then placed it inside his coat pocket with the other items. In his distraction, he had momentarily forgotten of the danger that lurked about him.

Turning to reclaim his guitar, that danger appeared before him, completely undetected by his senses until it was too late to react.

"Hello lover. Miss me? It's been a long time."

"K..Kate?? What the fu.."

The once truly dead vampiress and ex mate of Garrett's, bolted towards him at lightning speed. In his utter shock, he forgot about the shock she possessed as he raised his hand to stupidly grab her. His hand lit up a strobe light as a massive electric current zapped through his entire body, sending him straight to his knees, bellowing in pain.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Garrett's scream echoed through the mountains as she clung to him, peering down with a wicked grin at his once again yellow eyes until he passed out.

"Garrett??!!!!" you shouted as you sprung from your slumber.

"Josie?? What is it? Were you dreaming of him again??" Lola asked as she rushed over to you after laying a sleeping Leean down in her cradle.

"Do you smell that???" you panted in panic as your nose whiffed the air.

Lola lifted her nose to do the same, then tilted her head at you with confused eyes.

"I don't smell anything. Well except Leean's sweet scent from when I was holding her? Was it cotton candy that you once called it?"

"Something is burning...and..and so is my left arm. and...and, what the hell? So is my...birthmark." you explained as you rubbed it.

A birthmark that consisted of three small moles on your lower back that formed a triangle. The one your mother pointed out to you when you had first saw her again at Lestat's.

"Didn't you have a dream last night that Garrett was burning and you thought he was dead?? But you said later that you knew he was alive??"

"I...yes I...did but..."

You paused and thought back on the dream. It was Garrett's left arm that you saw on fire but...it didn't make any sense because you later heard him singing to you which proved he was ok. But still, this smelled of burnt flesh.

"Something's wrong Lola. Just like I thought before and had went to look for him until I fell down that damn hole and now everything's foggy. I need to go back. I have to find him. What if Harker has found him????"

You got up and began to pace. "Garrett??? Can you hear me??? Please, tell me you're alright??"

There was only silence, until Lola spoke.

"How is it that you have this connection with a vampire to hear each other's thoughts?"

"It's...it's a long complicated story. We um...we share each other's blood. I...I drank his before and I took my shield down and invited him into my mind and then once, I let him drink my blood to save him."

"Ohhhh. You mean, like you share Thranduil's blood and could hear him too?"

The mention of your King's name was a punch to your gut. You had come to the conclusion that the feeling would never go away just as your yearning for him would not as well.

"I...I'm sorry Josie. I can see I have upset you more so than you already are."

"It's alright Lola. Yes, you are correct. Thranduil and I could hear each other and speak to each other's minds. His magic that flows through my blood is what kicked mine into gear. If only...I could hear him again. In my dreams or even if I have to hallucinate from the dark forest's poison to do it, although I still swear that was real. That he came to me from the other side to save me. I just...I feel him slipping further and further away from me Lola and I'm scared one day I will lose all sight and feeling of him permanently."

A knock on the door interrupted you conversation, which saddened you, for talking about Thranduil helped you to keep him alive.

"It's me. Charles. Can I come in please!!?" he asked in an urgent tone.

"As soon as you opened the door, Charles was pushing his way inside, seemingly quite anxious.

"Charles, what is it? Has Bash taken a turn for the worst??"

"He's fine, but my father has gone completely mad with what he's done!!

"Ok slow down, slow down. Is Stephane alright??"

"Physically! But he needs to be in a camisole for crazy people like my mother should be. Plus he's on a war path with Haldir and.."

"Wait what???!! Has he done something to him???" you frantically asked of the Lorien elf who laid one hell of a kiss on you only hours earlier that Narcisse had walked in on.

"Well of course he is Josie. He's Haldir. But that's besides the point and the least of my worries. My father brought my mother into this castle!!!"

"Ok...yes, Charles, I know he said she intentionally hurt herself out in the dark dungeon and had to go deal with that, but...I...I did not know he would allow her back inside???"

"No one did. He just went and did it. She's tied to a bed in the infirmary but anyone in their right mind, which clearly he is not, knows that nothing good will come of this! He claims he did it for me because she's my mother and she will be returned to the dungeon when she is healed. Why?? So she can just do it all over again?? She may be no witch like you, but she had that black magic book of yours once upon a time and I guarantee you she recalls every evil word inside of it and he knows this!! Which makes me wonder if she's done something to him again for him to be such an arse! I told him, by God's bones he will regret this and now I am being punished for swearing. Do you see now??"

"Alright, alright. Yes. I understand why you may think he has been cursed again, but I honestly think it is something else. Where is Stephane now?"

You were referring to the kiss Narcisse witnessed with the Marchwarden that you didn't feel Charles needed to know about. It wasn't planned. Haldir instigated it in a heated argument between you and him, with it understandably being over Stephane and your relations with him the night prior, something else the young warlock didn't need to be informed of.

"I last saw him go into the infirmary. I will not go see her! She will work some kind of magic on me to fee sorry for her. She is a liar with a black heart. Look what she had done to my sister, her own daughter who just had a child! She don't care about us. We are and always have been just a pawn in her twisted games."

"Speaking of Claude, how is she doing? Is tour father really going to banish her and the baby from here? I mean, like you said, your sister was taken advantage of by Catherine, used would be a better word. A pawn just as you said."

"He better not or I will go too! How can he keep the real evil here and let a young new mother go homeless??? All for me??? I don't want my mother in this castle, let alone anywhere near me!"

"I understand your frustrations, for I feel it too. We all do. I will do my bet and try to get through to Stephane, for I am the one he is upset with. I will try and make this right Charles. I am so sorry. I hope your punishment is nothing too severe??"

"Stable duty. Shoveling horse droppings. I might as well be cleaning a shitwell way in the city for the stables are just the same as any pissing alley I've had the unpleasantry of smelling. This should be my mother's duties!"

You and Lola had to both contain your giggles, for the affluent boy certainly did not find any of it amusing. So much so, that he was swearing again, the reason for his punishment in the first place, but you would never rat him out and Charles knew it.

"I agree but your father would never allow her near the horses again after what she put Arion through and I can not blame him for that."

Charles scoffed. "Well, I better be going. The shit isn't going to shovel itself. Oh...and before I forget, the bowman...Bard is it? He wishes a visit with you when you have some free time. I spoke with him and Haldir earlier in the dining hall who luckily kept my father and the elf from going to blows."

"Ugh, so much for their too good to be true truce...thank you Charles. Yes, his name is Bard. He arrived a few hours ago with a shipment and I've asked him to stay for the time being due to the threat of Harker. Speaking of...maybe you shouldn't be out in the stables right now. Stay inside and I will go speak my concerns to Stephane."

"Yes my lady. I like your plan better." he grinned and then smiled sweetly at Lola, his crush, and quickly departed.

As you neared the infirmary door, you could hear the squabbling muffles between the warlock lord and Catherine. Your heart came up into your throat at the thought of facing either of them, but mostly Stephane, for you didn't know how you were going to make him understand what he witnessed. You didn't even know how to handle things with Haldir for that matter because the kiss was rather intense, shaking up some buried feelings of the past that you had for the Lothlorien elf.

You had become caught in another web of your own spinning and didn't know how to get out of it. If Garrett were here, or could hear you...you would tell him the code between you to come take you away, just for a little while. Just say "the word", you imagined his voice saying. Those two little words that he asked you to say at Lestat's to get you away from Caroline after finding out your mother and Thranduil had past relations. You cringed all over again at the thought of that and what Caroline had done to Haldir as well. What hadn't the wicked vampire witch done to those you loved? You were glad she was gone.

With your acquired skills of great stealth, you slowly turned the door handle and cracked it open just enough to see inside and in your clear view was a very splenetic Stephane and in his blue eyed death glare path was a very cross Catherine, chained to a bed, giving back what Narcisse was dishing out.

"All I want is my son!!! You cannot keep him from me!" Catherine shouted in rage as she struggled against her iron shackles.

"He is MY son that YOU kept from me once or did you forget about that little tidbit?? I don't have to keep him from you. You have done a splendid job of alienating him all on your own with your wickedness. Look what you have done your daughter! I almost feel sorry for the young girl for falling victim to your evil and I may just offer her some mercy because she is very remorseful because unlike you I have a heart"

Catherine bellowed in sarcastic laughter. "A heart??? Is that what that little girl in there that you're fucking told you? You have no heart no more than I do if you want to get technical. Yours is as dead as the bloody vampire's that your Josephine is in love with, you blind fool!"

"Oh Catherine, none of this is even about Charles. You couldn't care less about him and would be the first to use him as your pawn just as you did Claude! You used him against his faux father all to inherit his fortune and look how that turned out for you. This is alllll about your jealousy."

Just when you wanted to hear the rest of the conversation, you heard voices at the end of the hall and you didn't want to be caught eavesdropping on the warlock lord of Dorwinion in is own castle, so you scurried off to hide around the corner and decided to wait until Stephane left so you could have some words with Catherine yourself about Garrett and what she had done to him. Stephane and Haldir too.

"Jealousy??? YOU speak to me of jealousy. HA! Do not forget what I know and what exists in regards to that knowledge. It has jealousy WRITTEN all over it. All I have to do is sing like a canary and your happy little playhouse will crash and burn!"

"And you know what will happen if you do that. All bets are off and you'll either be my dinner or Blaze's and you should pray that it is the Bengal tiger to do it, for he will not waste any time ripping you limb from limb. His hunger instinct for meaty blood will supersede his hatred for you where is the white tiger will drag your death out slowly, playing with you, taunting you, torturing you just like a cat does with their prey, for the only hunger he possesses in regards to you is of pure loathing. If you sing, you die."

"If you kill me, you will never know where that letter is. It is only a matter of time before your little Queen finds it and learns the truth that her King is alive and well, or at least was, could be really dead now for all we know and she will be more than curious to know how a letter to her from Thranduil, made it's way here while in his captivity with Jareth. I may find her despicable and quite the little whore but she is far from stupid. Can you imagine what she will do to you when she knows you kept something of such magnitude from her?? You'll be eating and choking on her dust while she goes to save her King. Oh my, and if he is now dead...well, I think you can see how much worse it will be for you when she could have had the chance to save him."

"ENOUGH!! Who's to say she won't think it was you who kept it from her out of spite?? I mean, YOU did hide the letter, not me. You cannot prove that I knew and who do you think she will believe?? This ends now. I will not be blackmailed by anyone let alone the likes of you! This has gone on for far too long. You will tell me where it is or face the consequences."

"No." Catherine simply said, infuriating Narcisse more, if that were even possible. "Go ahead, kill me, lock me up, gag me. Do what you will. Yes, you could easily slither your way out of it like the snake you are BUT... it all ends the same. Josie learns the truth and she will be a gone girl. But if you kill me, you are the one who will face the consequences of losing your son too. Eventually your fairytale will come to an end because you will never know where that incriminating letter is or when it will magically turn up....and believe me...it will"

"Then you leave me no choice. I will torture it out of you." he growled through his teeth and stormed out.

"YOU WILL NEVER KNOW!! I WILL TAKE IT TO MY GRAVE! DO YOU HEAR ME STEPHANE NARCISSE!!!!"

You gasped at the slamming of the door and planted your body flat against the wall around the corner as Narcisse zipped by, too pissed off to even notice your scent with his extremely keen nose. Although you hadn't heard all of their words, you certainly heard Catherine's last ones. What won't he ever know and what would she take to her grave?

Once the coast was clear, you tip toed to the door and used your magic to unlock it.

"Well now, look what the cat dragged in. I told you there was a rat problem did I not?? Find any in your bath lately?" Catherine snarked as she glared you down.

"I could say the same about you regarding Blaze. Your hair alone looks something of a rat's nest and...what on earth is that god awful smell?" you riposted with a crinkled nose at the dirtied and bloodied woman.

"It's a combination of horse droppings and tiger breath, but you knew that. Don't think for one minute I have forgotten your relishing of me locked up in that wooden wagon with that wretched beast. How dare you come in here to mock me once more!"

"How dare YOU to play the victim of putting yourself right where you are! You poisoned Haldir! and you placed black magic spells on Stephane and Garrett! And why?? All to hurt me when I had never done anything to you!!"

"Have you ever once considered that YOU are the cause of all of this tragedy!??"

"All was well here until YOU came along. Why couldn't you have just went back to where you came from?? I even offered you riches to do so but you couldn't do it. You just had to stay and take all that belonged to me! Even my son!! Tell me, are you spreading your legs for him too???"

"You are sick Catherine, beyond measure. Your jealousies and insecurities have gotten you where you are, not me! You're losing your son because he sees what you have become. I spoke to him earlier and he does not want you here. He's afraid of you. He warned me that nothing good will come of it. You're an embarrassment to him and to Claude! Even to yourself! Look at you!"

You grabbed a standing mirror and turned it to her. "You're pathetic Catherine and insane. Plunging your head into a wooden door all so you could make your way inside here where no one wants you! At least the tiger does."

"You vampire bitch!! If I get out of these restraints and I'll show you just how insane I am!!"

"Now now Catherine. I could end you with the twinkle of my nose so I'd watch your words. I'd watch your step too because if I had my way, i would do to you what Stephane should have done a very long time ago. If you EVER try to hurt anyone I love again, I will turn you into a shrew and lock you in a room with Merlin. TTFN!"

You shut the door behind you and then relocked it, then headed to find Stephane.

"Oh it may be ta ta for now little witch, but you and I will meet again and you will rue the day you ever crossed me." Catherine snarled.

You made your way to the dining hall which was the direction Narcisse had been headed, but he was nowhere to be found. Instead, you found Bard there where Charles had said he was, standing at and peering out the window, looking rather grim.

"Bard?? Is...everything alright?"

The bowman slowly turned around and smiled, which you knew was forced, for you had come to know him quite well.

"Ahhh, Queen Josephine. You are awake and feeling better now I see?"

"I am yes, and please...just call me Josie. There's no need to be formal, for I feel like no queen anymore. If anything, I am the one who should be formal by addressing you as you are, the King of Dale."

"Yes my lady..or Josie I..I mean." he softly replied, seemingly distracted as he glanced at the window again.

"Bard...something's happened? What...what is it? Where's Haldir? Charles said he was here and you had to do damage control once again between he and Stephane."

Bard turned back to you with a somber expression and could not look you in the eyes.

"Bard?? Tell me what's happened!"

"Lord Narcisse. He...he ordered Haldir to vacate his lands."

"WwwwwHAAT???!! Ok, no no no. Where is Haldir??? He..he wouldn't leave me. Not now. He never leaves me."

"I am sorry my lady. Haldir had no choice. He was escorted out by the guards about an hour ago and he...was not permitted to say goodbye."

"Oh my god, this is NOT happening!! He cannot be out there alone with Harker sniffing around! Did you see where Narcisse went?? I am going to give him a piece of..."

"My lady. Haldir...he asked me to tell you to let it be, for he will not be far. I assume he will go to the city, for as you said, he would not leave you."

"LET...IT...BE??? Oh I will NOT let it be! This is not acceptable. I don't care if this is his realm because this is horseshit!!"

"Josie...I have something for you."

Bard reached in his pocket and pulled out the life saving emerald pendant that Haldir had been wearing.

"He...asked me to give this to you. He said you you are the one meant to have it for what's to come."

Standing in wide eyed shock, you took the necklace into your hand.

"Why...Jesus, why would he take it off when he is out there alone?? He needs it more than I do. What am I supposed to do with it?? I don't even have the other runes or know where they are for that matter! Well, except my moonstone but...never mind."

You had to stop yourself, for you had secretly given it to Garrett to hide and no one, not even Bard could know it's whereabouts.

"Bard, I need to go find Stepha..."

A tumultuous commotion came from outside by the bay. As you ran to the window, a group of warlock guards were surrounding some small wooden boats that had arrived and then you saw a man being hoisted out and put on a cot, appearing to be injured. When the crowd parted to carry him through, you then saw Aragorn and Gimli climbing from the boats, looking like they had been through one hell of a storm.

"Oh my god! Aragorn!" you shouted and ran out with Bard quickly following.

You halted to watch the unconscious injured man be carried past you, covered in blood. A man of reddish hair that you had never seen before who was extremely pale and his injuries appeared to be quite severe.

"My lady!!" Aragorn shouted as he raced up to you. "We need your assistance quickly. Please. The man, he is my good friend. Will you heal him, for I cannot. He is dying."

"Of course! Take him to an empty room!" you commanded the guards.

You, the King of Dale and the King of Gondor followed them inside with Gimli remaining outside, which you thought was odd. Did Narcisse not welcome dwarves in Dorwinion?

"His name is Boromir." Aragorn informed you as they placed him on a bed and then exited.

"What happened to him? To all of you? Your clothes are torn to shreds and your arm, you're hurt too. Did Harker find you?"

"No. It was not him but someone of great similarity. Do not worry for me. It is just a scratch. We were attacked by orcs on our way here. Jareth's man made orcs, a breed like no other."

"Wait...Jareth? We..we heard of the dragon invasion on his kingdom. So he...he survived? and why...were you coming here??" you asked, still believing that Lestat was responsible for the fiery attack to avenge the loss of his fortress.

"Josie, respectfully, you know Jareth cannot be killed and..."

Aragorn had to choose his words wisely, for he knew he could not relay to you that Thranduil was alive. That was Legolas's decision.

"Jareth sent the orcs to track us, most likely in his revenge for the war at Lestat's. We were coming here because Boromir has imperative information for you."

"For me? but...I..I don't even know him?"

Boromir groaned and coughed, beginning to spit up blood.

"Oh my. Lay still. You're going to be alright. I promise." you told the man you now knew as Boromir and held his clammy hand, then took out the pendant with your other hand, kissed it so he would not lose his memories and then placed it upon his chest.

"I..I thought that only healed the dead?" Aragorn asked.

"It is for the dying as well and much faster and more reliable than my powers have been lately."

The emerald began it's ear piercing hum and shone it's blinding light. Boromir gasped and shook as his back arched up, then, just like that, he was healed.

His eyes fluttered open and his peachy skin tone returned as he exhaled deeply with incredulous relief, then he looked down at your hand holding his. With a soft smile, Boromir lifted his head and spoke.

"It is you. You are the one. I can see it now. The resemblance is uncanny."

"I..I'm sorry?"

"I...I need to tell you something. I.."

"I think you sir Boromir are a bit confused from shock and need to rest for now. We can speak soon ok? I promise."

He dropped his head back down and sighed with another smile.

"Yes my lady. I...I am rather exhausted."

"Very well then. Sleep now. When you awake, I will have fresh clothing brought to you and there is bath calling your name. Then we can speak over dinner?"

"And wine? I have been craving Dorwinion's finest for some time now and I sure could use a bottle or two."

You giggled. "Indeed. There will plenty to go round."

"Thank you...I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are just as I have heard. Kind and compassionate. Just like Faramir."

"Faramir??"

"Josie...I don't mean to interrupt, but there is someone else waiting outside to see you." Aragorn said, forming a telling smile.

"Someone...else??"

"Go see for yourself."

Now you were extremely curious. Had Haldir said fuck it and came back?? Off you rushed to see, although your intuition was telling you, it was not the Marchwarden.

As you ran outside, you came to a screeching halt when you saw a vision that made your knees feel like they would buckle. There, by a waterfall, stood the platinum haired Prince, or King you believed him to be known as now...Legolas.

Your stunned expression then turned into a sweet smile as your eyes locked with the moonstone orbs of your Leggy.

No words were spoken during the long intense gaze as Legolas returned the sweet smile and then, he broke the silence with five simple words that you knew to be true.

"You knew I would come."

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