Chapter Eleven: St. Valentine's Day 1611
When Catesby entered the Queen's chambers next, he grabbed the wine out of her hand, swallowed it in one gulp and threw the glass against the wall.
"Will that do? Or shall I get two more glasses?" She asked coldly, with a gesture to Fawkes and Garnet who had entered with him.
Catesby sneered. "No games, girl. I know Raleigh was working for you to undermine my authority."
"You have no authority except what I let you believe I'd given you."
"We should kill you," Fawkes snapped. "Try again with one of your namesake's cousins."
"We won't though," Catesby countered. "You have no power. Not now that I'm Prime Minister again and your protector is dead. Yes. I killed Raleigh myself."
The Queen set her jaw. "Yes. I was there when he did die."
"Really?" Catesby was a little surprised but calm. "When I'm your husband I'll have to keep you on a short leash."
"I will never marry you," Elizabeth declared.
"Oh but you will. You have no choice now."
"No, it's too late for that." Frederick stepped out from behind the Queen's screen with the Irish priest Elizabeth had brought with her to the Tower. "The Queen is my wife now."
Fawkes laughed at her. "You married this peasant?"
"Right," Frederick mused. "We've never been introduced. I'm Frederick, the Electoral Prince of the Palantine."
The cabinet members were astonished and none spoke at first. At length Garnet turned to the priest. "A Calvinist?"
The priest shook his head. "Irish Catholic, my lord."
"It was legal then?" the shocked archbishop asked.
"According to our traditions, yes."
Frederick nodded. "That may not matter to them, but it counts to you, doesn't it."
"Why?" Garnet asked.
"Your cohorts would see the Irish pushed out of our own lands," the priest told him. "The Queen promised us the Pope could have total spiritual authority over us, as long as we gave her all temporal authority."
Garnet sagged. "I see."
"You can't possibly accept this," Fawkes shouted.
"There are ways around that," Catesby insisted. "We have control of the officers of most of the army. She can't compete with that."
"Can't I? You've spread your forces thin battling the Calvinists. I've sent more of them out since then. I wasn't sure I had enough yet here in the metropolis but it turns out there were more than enough to arrest your co conspirators at the Tower."
The three ministers looked at each other in shock. Catesby closed on the Queen and Frederick drew his sword.
But Catesby never reached her.
Catesby fell, suddenly struggling to breathe. Then his body started trembling with seizures. The Queen just stared down at him, camly. "I've been meaning to do something about you snatching my wine without so much as a by your leave."
Fawkes had no idea what was going on; at this point witchcraft wasn't unbelievable. "What have you done?"
"Something they use on vermin," she told him. "My apothecary assures me it's very painful. The least I could do for the man that oversaw the death of my father." But maybe too quick because Catesby was dead.
Fawkes drew his own sword, calling out, "Guards! The Prime Minister has been slain!"
The guards came, but to Fawkes' surprise, they surrounded and disarmed him. "Orders, your Majesty?"
"Have him drawn and quartered. Now."
Fawkes was dragged out, shouting in impotent fury. Elizabeth didn't even glance at him as she closed in on Garnet. There were still several guards in the room and the archbishop realized how much danger he was in. "Your Majesty, I--"
"Enough! I'm not going to kill you."
Garnet knelt at her feet. "Thank you, my dear sweet child."
"Get out of here," she demanded. "Go to Rome and tell him of the deal I've made with my Catholic subjects. There will be no more wars of religion here. The days of men killing for God in Britain is over."
"Yes ma'am."
Elizabeth turned to the remaining guards. "I want him on a boat out of England by nightfall. Kill anyone he stops to speak to." She turned to Frederick, sheepishly realizing she never even told him her plans on religion let alone asked her new husband.
But as Garnet was hustled out and Catesby's body was taken away (previously arranged to join Fawkes'), Frederick looked quite content to have such a powerful wife. "Freedom for all. I like it."
"Thank you."
The priest was dismissed, encountering Cecil on his way in. "I see things went as you wished," he noted.
"Catesby went faster than I'd have liked," she admitted. "But it was more practical."
"Funnier too," Frederick suggested. The newlyweds shared a smile."
"Shall I send for a real minister to marry you two?" Cecil suggested.
The teens shared another glance, the Prince again deferring to the Queen. "Not yet," Elizabeth ordered. "Catesby was right about his support in the army. We need to wait for the response to our messages. The Scots, Irish, and Welsh marching to the center." She quickly drew out the situation, looking exactly like the triangle graffiti around the country.
"I was wondering about that symbol," Frederick admitted.
"We will be ready," Cecil told her. "I would beg though that I won't have to wait as long as my father."
Elizabeth and Frederick looked at each other again. And though she did not answer him, Cecil knew he wouldn't wait long.