The Fourth Queen
“To save a queen she must defy a king..."
Synopsis of The Fourth Queen
Berkshire, 1531
Marris North and her sisters are to lose the roof over their heads when King Henry VIII sells the former Priory of Winterhill to his loyal courtier Sir William Sharington. Sir William's solution - that Marris should marry him and come to court as lady-in-waiting to the new Queen, Anna of Cleves.
Anna, Henry's unwanted fourth wife, is surrounded by danger and treachery. When trouble strikes, it is to Marris that the Queen turns. But in order to help the Queen, Marris must defy the King and forever keep Anna's secrets.
500 Years Later
Jenna Bergin vividly remembers her previous life as lady-in-waiting to Henry VIII's Fourth Queen, Anna of Cleves. When excavations at the ruins of Winterhill Priory threaten an ancient secret, Jenna and her sister Bree must protect it at all costs. But soon it seems that the past is going to repeat in the present, with deadly consequences...
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Extract from The Fourth Queen
Extract from Chapter 2
Across the frosty green and white expanse of the nave, some jarring police-style orange incident tape fluttered in the cold breeze. It startled Jenna; it looked out of place and threatening. Her stomach swooped and she knew immediately that this was the moment she had been waiting for.
“This was why I had to come…”
She hurried over, her footprints indenting the frozen grass.
A neat square had been cut into the turf and marked out with pegs. It was a metre wide and about half a metre deep and in the base of it were some exposed fragments of stone that matched the limestone of the pillars. Close by, a second test pit had been marked out but not yet dug, and a third some five metres to the south of that. All of them were fenced off with the bright orange and white tape attached to metal poles. Jenna could see a little sign in the grass: “Vale Archaeology” and the logo that was very famous in this part of the country, a stylised white horse.
She felt her heart start to race as she realised the implications. This was an archaeological excavation. They were digging up the priory church, excavating the place where Marris, Rose and Bridget had lived and worshipped so long ago. But the length of time that had passed did not matter; it felt extraordinary and intrusive, as though, without warning, someone was trying to pry into her life history, into her soul. It was an extraordinary sensation.
“You’ve seen the fliers about the archaeological dig, then?” Jenna jumped at the chirpy voice behind her and swung around. A woman in her early twenties in a Vale Archaeology fleece jacket, dark trousers and boots was smiling at her. Despite the layers, she looked cold. “I’m afraid there are no demonstrations today because the ground is frozen,” she added, “but if you’ve any questions, I’d be happy to help.” She paused, looking enquiringly at Jenna, head tilted slightly to one side like a curious bird.
“Oh…” Jenna pulled herself together quickly. “Actually, I hadn’t realised there was a dig going on. Is it just this small area—” She indicated the test pits, “or is there more?”
“Please say no…” She thought. The area that the archaeologists had currently identified would be fairly harmless, she thought. They would find some of the church’s foundations and a few graves from the medieval period, but not much else, as far as she was aware. However, if the dig extended into the Lady Chapel… Jenna swallowed hard. Then, they would be excavating a past that was far better left buried...
END OF EXCERPT