FATED
Disclaimer: I do not own Reign, but how I wish I did.
A/N: If you've followed me from my other story, thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me. I know I said I would finish the other before writing anything else, but this just wouldn't leave my head. If you're a fan of the show, I hope you'll give this story a try.
Again, huge thanks go out to my absolutely wonderful beta, Kathie aka Katmom for taking this on.
Chapter 1
France 1560
"After dinner, your usual game of catch with Anne, James is going to want your attention, too, with his reading."
"I'll have him work on it."
"You promise? Promise me, and mean it. Promise me you'll try. One year of marriage isn't enough. Fight, Francis, please. I will give you children. Don't give up on our dreams, on the life we could have."
"Such a beautiful dream…."
"No. No, Francis, don't leave me."
The couple lay in bed, a queen and her king.
She watched as the light left his eyes and she leaned over him, embracing his body. She didn't want to let go. He wasn't only her husband; he was her childhood friend, her best friend, her confidante, her equal, her love.
As his body grew cold, she thought of their nations, their people, for they had just lost a great king. But they will grieve tomorrow. Tonight, the insurmountable pain was drowning her to the point that she could barely breathe. Tonight, she will weep heavily for her loss, and for the girl who just lost the love of her life.
As days, months, and years passed, she still couldn't forget him. She still bore the pain of losing him. Yes, she had other husbands, but they were of no comparison to her Francis. They were only wed for a year, but their love was pure, strong and true. Despite the many obstacles they had met and overcome, a love like theirs was eternal. Something so powerful simply cannot wither away.
And so the Fates decided to give them another chance, for the queen and her king to share their love once more, and for mankind to witness that a love so great still exists in the world.
Almost five hundred years later, Mary and Francis will live and love again.
oOoOo
USA, New York, 2013 (founded in 1524 as Nouvelle Angoulême for King Francis I, Francis II's grandfather)
The sound of clicking heels echoed through the halls of Stuart Enterprises. Mary, the heiress of the said business corporation, walked briskly toward her mother's office.
Seeing her approach, her mother's secretary, Mrs. Seton, who was situated at a desk outside the office, stood.
"Mary, she's busy at the moment," she stated. She had known the young woman in front of her since she was a baby. And she knew, by the girl's expression, that Mary had found out something she did not like.
Mary heard Mrs. Seton clearly, but the words fell on deaf ears. She was beyond furious with her mother. She sidestepped the older woman and walked on.
She opened the wooden double doors with a flourish, not caring that the knobs banged against the interior walls.
Marie Guise – Stuart looked surprised for a brief second before composing herself once more. She smiled at her daughter and calmly placed the pen she was writing with back on the table.
Mary, in a silver grey pants suit, strode purposefully to her mother's ornate mahogany desk and stood proud and tall.
"Mother, what did you do?"
Mother and daughter stared at each other. While the younger was fuming, the older remained stoic and placating.
Mrs. Seton peered at the open doors, seeing her two bosses at a stand-off. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Stuart. I couldn't stop her. I—"
The mother raised a hand and smiled, dismissing her assistant. "It's quite all right Mrs. Seton. Just close the door. Thank you."
Mrs. Seton did as she was told. And as soon as they were left alone in the room, Marie stood, walked toward her daughter and placed her hands on the younger woman's arms.
"What's the matter, sweetheart?"
Mary jerked at her mother's touch and took a step back. She was indignant. She couldn't wait to hear her mom explain her way out of this one.
"Valois Ventures. Does that mean anything to you?" Mary asked through gritted teeth, crossing her arms over her chest.
Marie shrugged. "Why, of course. They are good friends of mine and your father's. You remember them, don't you? Henry and Catherine. You even spent a whole summer in their home when you were growing up."
"Yes, I remember spending an entire summer away from you," said Mary angrily. "But that's not what I was referring to. Valois Ventures and Stuart Enterprises are to be merged upon my marriage to its heir?"
Marie gave a brief nod and moved to sit back at her chair.
Mary slapped her palms on her mother's desk, leaning over it. "So, it's true?" she yelled.
Her mother looked at her in an irate manner. "Don't raise your voice at me. I am your mother. And yes, it's true. I'm doing this for your own good."
"My own good? How can that be? You and your friends are only thinking about the business. Not me. And I certainly doubt they had their son's happiness in their minds as well," Mary exclaimed.
Her mother sighed. "I don't know what else to tell you. If it helps you sleep better at night, then go ahead. Think what you will. But I know that you'll have a happy marriage with Francis."
Mary stood upright suddenly. That name. There was something about that name that made her jolt. "Francis?" she whispered.
"Yes. Francis, your betrothed."
And with that one word, reality came crashing back in.
"Betrothed? Seriously, Mother, this is the 21st century. Who does that anymore? Arranged marriages for money?" she spat with disgust. "I can't believe you would do this to me. I'm 22 years old! I'm not a child, and we are totally not in the middle ages where arranged marriages are accepted." Mary's eyes narrowed. "Trust me, this is the worst decision you have ever made. I WILL NOT MARRY VALOIS!" And with that she strode off, slamming the door behind her.
Mary leaned back on the door, her eyes closed as she exhaled loudly, hoping the stress of today would leave her as well. When she opened them, she saw Mrs. Seton looking at her worriedly.
"Are you all right, dear?" Mrs. Seton had babysat her at times when she was a toddler and had to go to work with her mother. She cared deeply for the young woman that she had watched growing up.
Mary's father dying when she was young wasn't easy on her mother. She was grateful that her mother was smart and had managed to keep their corporation afloat and later on to grow into a Fortune 500 company.
Mary breathed deeply. "Yes, well… as well as can be expected, considering…."
"Ah, so now you know," Mrs. Seton said.
Mary pushed off the door and approached Mrs. Seton. "You know about the arrangement?"
Mrs. Seton nodded. "I do. Your mother mulled this over a hundred times before agreeing. I didn't understand it at first either, taking the decision away from you, on something as big as to who you'll marry. But she has your best interest at heart. When your father passed away, she worried greatly on leaving you penniless if something were to happen to her also. So she set this in place. Henry and Catherine Valois care for you, too, you know. They treat you like you're one of their own."
Mary scoffed. "Right. I haven't seen them in years. How could I know how they'll treat me? Besides, they're not the ones I'm going to be marrying. It's this… Francis."
Mrs. Seton blinked in surprise. "This Francis? Mary, don't you remember him?"
With hazel eyes opened wide, she shook her head.
"Mary, how could you not? I recall when you were five years old. You went to the Valois' estate and stayed with them the entire summer. When you came back, Francis was all you talked about. And I believe the case was the same with him. And that's when your parents thought of this arrangement," Mrs. Seton divulged.
"Oh my God! You mean, I've been engaged since I was five?! That's… that's wrong on so many levels," Mary stuttered.
Mrs. Seton took Mary's hand in hers. "It won't be so bad. I hear he's really handsome. Maybe you'll get to fall in love with him anyway."
"How sad is that? I have to put my hopes on a maybe," Mary commented.
Mary went back to her office, picked up her phone and dialled Kenna de Poitiers number.
"Can we meet up somewhere tonight?" she quickly asked.
"Hmmm, I don't know. I think Kenna might get suspicious," the voice on the other end replied.
"What?" She then rolled her eyes and groaned. "Bash, why do you have Kenna's phone?"
Sebastian de Poitiers was her friend Kenna's husband. Though she and her friends all had a crush on the tall and dashing Sebastian when they first saw him, it was Kenna who landed the man.
"She's in the fitting room. I'm left outside holding her purse. When I saw it was you calling her, I thought I'd answer it and say hello," Bash responded.
"Oh, well, can you tell her I called? I really need to talk to her," Mary said.
"Sounds ominous. You can talk to me, too, you know," Bash offered.
"Yes, I know. And thank you. But I don't think you can help me out with this one."
"Well, since we're both waiting for Kenna, how about I give it a shot, huh?"
Mary sighed. "Very well. Do you know how I can get out of an arranged marriage?"
"What?!" Bash shouted.
Mary winced and pulled the phone away from her ear. When she couldn't hear anything from Bash, she spoke once more. "Did I lose you?"
"Yeah, for a minute there I thought you said you wanted out of an arranged marriage," Bash spoke cautiously.
"Yup, you heard it right."
"Mary, seriously?"
"Yes, apparently, my mother thinks it's an amazingly great idea," she said sarcastically.
"So, uh, who's the lucky guy? Or should I say unlucky?" Sebastian asked, chuckling.
"Francis Valois."
Bash's laugh was cut short. "Fr— Francis?" he stuttered.
"Yes, you know him?"
"Uh, um, oh hey, here's Kenna." Bash disappeared, obviously handing his wife's phone back to her.
"Hello? Bash?" Mary called.
"Mary," Kenna's voice came through.
"Oh, thank goodness. I need to see you guys, tonight. No, right now, if you could." Mary started fixing her desk, arranging her papers so she could work on them tomorrow. She knew it would be pointless to continue today. She would just end up rereading everything, twice, three, maybe four times.
"What's going on? And why does Bash look like he just saw a ghost? Honey, are you all right?" Kenna addressed her husband.
"What happened to Bash?" Mary asked as she looked at her secretary, Aylee. "Cancel everything else I have for today. I'm leaving."
Aylee nodded and hurriedly went about her task, calling other personnel to rearrange Mary's schedule.
"I have no idea what just happened. What were you talking about?" Kenna asked over the phone.
"Can we meet now? I'll call Lola and Greer on the way."
"Where do you want to meet?" Kenna asked.
"How about Café Europa on 5th?" Mary suggested.
"Sure, see you there." Kenna hung up as Mary heard her order Bash to drive to their destination.
A few minutes later, Kenna was walking toward the table where her three friends were already seated, her brown hair blowing behind her.
"What took you so long?" Mary stood to greet her friend, giving her an air kiss.
Kenna did the same with their other friends, Lola and Greer. As soon as she sat, she got right to the point.
"So, what's with the urgent meeting?"
"Where's Bash?" Lola asked.
"Parking the car. Come on, I'm anxious to know, especially after seeing Bash so shocked."
"Why was he shocked?" Greer questioned, after sipping some of the hot tea she ordered earlier.
"Oh goodness, can we get right on it before the questions are thrown?" Kenna said impatiently.
Mary took a breath. "My mother and the Valois have agreed on a fixed marriage."
"What?"
"When?"
"To whom?"
The three girls' voices overlapped.
"Yes, I only found out today. Catherine Medici Valois did an interview with Vogue Living, bragging about the Valois' summer home in France. And in the article, she mentioned Francis' and my engagement," Mary informed them.
Greer and Lola were speechless, their mouths were slightly open. Varying comments were running through their heads though they were utterly unable to say a word. Kenna was a different story, however.
"So that's why Bash looked like he saw a ghost," Kenna said to no one in particular.
"What do you mean?" Mary asked, turning her attention toward her brown-haired friend.
"Well…" Kenna was uneasy. It wasn't her story to tell. Luckily Bash came to save her from answering.
Bash sat beside his wife and looked at her with a half smile, before addressing Mary. "Francis is a good man. He may be impulsive and headstrong, like someone I know." He looked at Mary pointedly. "But I know for a fact that he'll be a good husband. That is, if he gives in to this as well."
"Who says I'm giving in?" Mary's voice rose.
Greer quickly held Mary's hand in silent support while Lola took over the questions. "How do you know Francis?"
Kenna looked at her husband and kissed his cheek. Bash smiled at her, thankful for the encouragement he was given.
Bash then told them. "He's my brother."
"What? How did that happen?" Mary asked.
A mischievous smile appeared on Bash's face. "Well, Mary, when a man and a woman share an intimate—"
"Okay, okay. I got it. I meant, how are you related? You don't use the Valois name."
"We share the same dad, actually."
"Oh."
"Yeah. So technically, I'm a Valois, but Catherine doesn't really like my presence so I try to stay away," Bash said.
"That's kind of you," Lola said.
"But you seem to know Francis quite well," Greer countered.
"Oh yes, Francis and I, our dad, as well as my other brothers, we're all good. I just choose not to be as close as much in respect to my mom. She hates how Catherine loathes us."
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Mary sincerely.
"You weren't at our wedding," Kenna said in an outburst, looking straight at Mary, her eyes wide.
"How many times must I apologize for that? I sent you an extravagant gift to make up for it, didn't I?" exclaimed Mary. She wasn't able to go due to a problem she had to deal with in one of their factories in the Midwest.
Kenna shook her head. "That wasn't my point. Francis was there. He was Bash's best man. You met him, Lola."
"Oh, that was Francis? He gave me some other name, something de Brilhac," Lola replied, puzzled at the alias.
"That was probably to throw Catherine off his scent. She'd be furious if she found out Francis attended, let alone was the best man," Bash answered.
"See." Kenna tapped Mary's arm. "If you were there, you would've already met."
"But you have met." Bash looked confused. "Mary, you and Francis were very close when we were kids. You two were practically glued at the hips the entire time you were with us. And I was happy for him, 'cause he got to be just a regular kid with you around, not some heir to a fortune, always being told what to do, how to act. At five years old, no less!"
"I… I really don't remember," Mary said quietly, trying to recall a childhood memory that eluded her.
"Well, you both were so young then. But trust me, if Francis doesn't rebel against this, I'm sure you'll both be happy together. You were when you were kids."
Mary rolled her eyes. "Kids, being the operative word there. I don't even remember him! How could I marry someone I hardly know?"