I tiptoed through the secret passage with a single candle, my shadow dancing all around me. I had been down this exact passage at least ten times this week, by now I knew it like the back of my hand. But it didn't make it any less terrifying. No one knew of my secret travels in the dead of night, not even my ladies whom I tell everything. I cherished these visits, and by telling anyone even my friends would be putting them in danger of exposure.

I took the last turn right into the very door I wanted to see. It could only be opened from the other side, so I brushed my knuckles ever so slightly across the damp wood. Hopefully he heard my knock, I was starting to catch a chill. I was about to abort this trip and return to my room, It didn't seem as if he were awake. I took a deep breath a knocked one more time, just a tad bit louder this time. Within seconds the door swung open and he stood there in baggy night shirt looking so handsome. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to him wrapping his arms around me. "Oh Marry, you're cold! Come let me warm you up." He led me over to his grand bed and pulled to blankets aside. "After you my love." My love, oh how I loved when he called me that.

Before I crawled into his bed I turned exposing my back, "Francis? Do you think you could unlace my dress?" He came up behind me and brushed his thumb down my bare arm and then back up. He lips just barely made contact with the base of my neck, "It's torture seeing you every day, knowing that I am not allowed to touch you like this. I miss you so much. "He untied the laces and let my dress fall to the ground. I slowly turned to face him now in my underdress. There may have been a time when I would have blushed, or tried to cover my bosoms in a childish attempt to salvage my modesty. Those days are gone, I have shared a bed with this boy.

I got into bed and he climbed in behind me. He wrapped the blankets around me trying to warm me up. I just wanted to lay here forever, this is all I wanted out of life. "Francis, you know I'm sorry. You know I could never truly marry Bash. My heart truly only belongs to you. When I'm not with you I feel as if I can't breathe. You are all that I want out of life, I want to marry you and have children. I want to grow old with you as we watch our children play this tedious game we call life. I want to live that life with you… or… or die now."

He cupped my cheek in his palm, "Now you listen to me, don't you ever wish death upon yourself. There is no way I could possibly go on living in a world where there is no Marry, Queen of Scotland, most beautiful creature God has blessed the earth with." I giggled, "I fear you may overstate my beauty ." He kissed me on the forehead, "Not a bit, to me you truly are perfect."

I looked into those eyes, they were honest, he really did think I was perfect. I did nothing to deserve this boy. I climbed on top of him, straddling him but not in a sexual way. We had had our fair share of sexual exchanges but this… this was playful. I gave him a mischievous look. "You know, there is one great advantage of having known you since we were children." He gave me a quizzical glare as he rubbed his hands down my bare legs, "And what would that be?" I leaned over placing my lips right next to his ears as I whispered in my most seductive voice possible, "I know where your ticklish spots are."

Before he could react I attacked him with tickling. He tried not to laugh, he knew if he laughed someone would hear and we would be discovered. He rolled on top of me, "Are you trying to get us caught." He giggled before kissing my forehead, followed by nose, then my lips. "Mary, run away with me. We can go anywhere start new lives. Lives where we don't have to be royalty, sucked into politics and conformity." I could see that he was being serious, but in my heart I knew it wasn't an option. "Francis, we both know why that would never work. Even I f we managed to escape the castle, we could never escape its reach. They would never stop looking until they found us. Your father wants England that bad."

He let that sit for a moment, thinking it over before coming back with his version of a solution. "We could fake our deaths. Hire a fake assassin. One before the other, I could say I watched you die, before taking my own life. Then everyone in the future who reads our history will know just how much I loved you." I can't believe I'm even entertaining this idea. "I do agree that, that would be a solution, a mad, dangerous solution, but one none the less." He kissed me on the lips, harder this time. The playful atmosphere had dropped, leaving a raw passionate one in its place. Francis showed me just how much he loved me. Twice. Before we fell asleep, my head on his chest, his arm wrapped around my waist. This is what true happiness felt like. And right then I decided I was going to stop at nothing until I could truly have this happiness, without having to look over my shoulder.