Read Online Six of One by JoAnn Spears - Free Book Online

Dolly. Sir Reginald Bray was the man who retrieved the crown from the hawthorn and placed it on my son’s head. Reggie had very big crush on me, back in the winter of 1473. He would have done anything to improve his chances with me, right down to diving into a prickly hawthorn bush.”
    The punning possibilities of the horny and the thorny were tempting, but I took the high road and left them alone, inquiring instead about step five of the plan.
    “Step five was my son wedding Elizabeth of York and producing heirs; Elizabeth’s family’s place and my family’s place in the monarchy were secured.”
    “And do not forget, mother-in-law, the Arthurian place in the monarchy secured as well,” added Elizabeth.
    Of course, I knew as an academician that the Tudor line claimed descent from King Arthur of the Round Table legends through their Welsh ancestor, King Cadwallader. If Elizabeth of York’s brothers failed to bring King Arthur himself back, Elizabeth would birth a direct descendant of said king through her marriage to Henry VII. The woman really did have it all sewn up. She even named her first, sadly short-lived son Arthur.
    “Back to the plan!” I said, seeing the end in sight. “Step six?”
    “Step six was to lay the groundwork for the boys’ voyage,” said Elizabeth, and then she took the tale home.
    “My husband, King Henry VII, visited Bristol shortly after we were married in 1486 and set things up with the assistance of a man named William Weston. We stayed in touch with Cabot in Italy. We waited patiently while the boys learned their trade, and the Bristol sailors continued their preliminary explorations. In 1496, everything came together. Henry issued a letter patent to John Cabot and his “sons” Sebastian and Ludovico. They were granted leave to explore the northern New Found Land where the Bristol merchants believed Avalon itself was to be found. The patent prohibited any other seamen whatever from exploring the area, so our secret would remain safe. John Cabot and my brothers finally set off on their quest in 1497.”
    “Hoping to see King Arthur face-to-face when they crossed the bar,” I murmured. “Did they?”
    “They returned in 1498 without having found Avalon, but intrigued enough by what they had found to think they would find it eventually,” said Elizabeth. “They set sail again in 1498, accompanied this time by Father Carbonariis. John Cabot and Father Carbonariis never returned from that voyage, and Dr. Lewis died here in England at around the same time. That meant that now only my husband and I, my mother-in-law, Baron Strange, and my brothers themselves knew the truth about their identities.”
    “Sebastian/Edward returned to England eventually, though, didn’t he?” I asked. “I know that before it was all over, he did some prodigious sailing. He visited Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and, eventually, Russia in search of the Northwest Passage.”
    “Of course,” answered Elizabeth, “the Northwest Passage quest was a cover for his real quest: Avalon and Arthur. It had become as much an obsession for him as it had for me.”
    “My brother said he would live and die trying to find Avalon,” Elizabeth continued. “He was at sea when I died in 1503—the same year Baron Strange died. Edward/Sebastian did not return to English soil until 1512. At that point, my mother-in-law and my husband were dead, too. We never told my children anything about my brothers and the identity substitution, so they thought that their uncles, the Tower Princes, were dead. That left Edward/Sebastian free to travel the world and pursue his Arthurian dream. As far as I know, he never found Camelot, Avalon, or King Arthur. I can only hope that he found joy in his journey if not in his destination.”
    “By the way,” I asked, “what happened to Little Richard?”
    “Richard/Ludovico never returned from the voyage that also lost us Carbonariis and John Cabot.”
    I bowed my head, partly out of