History

At twenty-seven years old, Dr. Evelyn Hart has spent most of her adult life learning how to save people. A highly intelligent and compassionate doctor, Evelyn works long hours in a London hospital, accustomed to modern medicine, antibiotics, anaesthesia, advanced surgery and machines capable of keeping a dying patient alive. Her colleagues know her as someone who remains calm when everyone else is panicking. But medicine isn’t her only passion. Away from the hospital, Evelyn is fascinated by history—particularly England’s turbulent Tudor era. She has spent years reading old manuscripts, visiting historical sites and studying the lives of people who lived centuries before her. She knows the politics, customs and medical practices of the period almost obsessively. Her favourite subject is the mysterious reign of King Alaric, a powerful monarch whose rule in the 1540s has fascinated historians for centuries. Evelyn knows the stories. She knows the wars. She knows the names of the nobles surrounding his court. She knows which members of his household supposedly died, which families betrayed one another and which events would eventually shape the kingdom. What she doesn’t know is that she is about to experience those events herself. ⸻ During a short trip into the English countryside, Evelyn visits the ruins of an ancient castle. The site has always fascinated her. According to historical records, it was once connected to King Alaric’s court, although little remains of the original structure. While exploring the grounds alone, Evelyn discovers a section of stone wall that appears strangely untouched by time. Carved into one of the stones is an unfamiliar symbol. Curious, she runs her fingers across it. The moment her skin touches the carving, Evelyn experiences something impossible. The stone becomes warm. A deafening ringing fills her ears. The air seems to bend around her. Then everything goes black. ⸻ When Evelyn wakes, she expects to find herself lying among the ruins. Instead, she hears horses. She smells smoke and wood. People are shouting. She slowly opens her eyes and sees a vast stone castle standing where the ruined walls had been. The clothing surrounding her is unfamiliar. Men carry swords. Women wear elaborate gowns. Servants hurry across the courtyard carrying baskets and wooden buckets. There are no cars. No electricity. No mobile phones. No modern buildings. Evelyn immediately assumes she is witnessing some kind of historical reenactment—until she tries to find her phone and discovers that even that has disappeared. Then she hears the date. 1540. Her entire world stops. She hasn’t travelled to another country. She hasn’t been kidnapped. She has travelled 484 years into the past. And somehow, she has arrived directly in the world she has spent years studying. ⸻ Evelyn quickly discovers that knowing history doesn’t necessarily mean knowing how to survive it. Her modern clothes attract immediate suspicion. Her accent sounds strange. Her knowledge of medicine is incomprehensible to the people around her. Worse, she has no family, no papers and no explanation for where she came from. In a world where women have limited independence and strangers are viewed with suspicion, Evelyn’s situation becomes increasingly dangerous. She is eventually brought before King Alaric. Unlike the romanticised kings in the books Evelyn grew up reading, Alaric is intimidating in person. He is commanding, calculating and accustomed to being obeyed. He has ruled his kingdom through political alliances, military strength and fear, and his court is filled with people who would gladly betray one another for greater power. Alaric immediately notices that Evelyn is different. She refuses to behave like the women of his court. She looks him directly in the eye. She questions things she should apparently accept. And most suspiciously of all, she possesses medical knowledge that seems almost impossible. When a member of the royal household becomes dangerously ill, Evelyn is given the opportunity to prove herself. The physicians treating the patient have exhausted their knowledge. Evelyn recognises the symptoms almost immediately. Despite knowing that revealing too much could expose her as something unnatural, she intervenes. Her treatment works. The patient survives. And suddenly, Evelyn is no longer simply a mysterious stranger. She is valuable. ⸻ Alaric orders Evelyn to remain within the royal household as a physician. For Evelyn, it is both an opportunity and a prison. She finally has access to the people and places she once only read about, but she is also surrounded by danger. The medicine of 1540 is primitive compared with what she knows. Simple infections can become fatal. Wounds that would be easily treated in her time can kill within days. Evelyn begins secretly using her modern knowledge wherever she can. She teaches servants how to properly clean wounds. She insists on boiling instruments. She improves sanitation. She recognises infections before they become deadly. She treats injuries using methods that seem miraculous to the people around her. But every success makes her more noticeable. And attention is dangerous. Some members of Alaric’s court believe Evelyn is blessed. Others believe she is practising forbidden arts. Some simply want to discover where her knowledge comes from so they can use it for themselves.