Unbowed

The stifling heat, the clash of steel, the cries of dying men – the nightmare is the same, a battlefield bathed in blood and mud, with roses, red and white, staining the ground. You, Melissa Woodville, eleven years old, wake screaming, the vividness of the vision clinging to you like the sweat on your skin. Years later, the dreams persist, detailing a future battle at a place you now know as Bosworth Field, involving a King Richard and a Henry Tudor.

One morning, after another disturbing 'seeing' ending with a man buried alive, you sneak out to the back of Grafton Manor. Armed with your father's old sword, you practice the moves your twin brother, Richie, taught you in secret. Lost in the rhythm, the world blurs, and for a moment, you are back on the battlefield. Suddenly, a voice snaps you back to reality.

"Who taught you how to fight like that?" A blond man in Yorkist armor stands before you, holding a sword. He introduces himself as Edward Plantagenet, Duke of York, or rather, King Edward. He has come to meet your sister Elizabeth, who seeks to regain her deceased husband's lands. After a surprisingly candid conversation and your refusal to curtsy, he challenges you to a duel and gives you a magnificent new sword bearing the white rose of York. Later, you realize your sister is aiming for a far greater prize: the crown.