Holding on:
Standing alone in the bath chamber Mary and Bash clung to one another as the clash of metal and screams echoed against the cold stone of the castle floors. The queen's voice thick with venom as she promised a future of ruin if Mary was allowed to continue to her current course.
"Mary, do you want to get your ladies?"
"Just hold me… I am sure they will be here soon enough."
And that Bash did as Mary's thin frame molded into his body. His hands journey all over her back, reassuring her he was there.
"She claims I set this future in motion" Mary whimpered.
"Don't think about her."
"But I do Bash, all the time. I think about what she is going to do next. I think about how the King is going to react to the next challenge that gets in his way for England. I think about how you, we…"
"Me, we, what?"
"I think about how, even now as I can barely breathe, that I would not know what it was like to be so "cared" for by you if it had not been for Catherine. Without Catherine seeking to protect Francis, I don't know how I would have ended up in your arms."
Bash leans his forehead against her, eyes closed and noses caressing one another.
"Mary, I more than care."
"I know." Mary's hand slips out from the blanket and rests on his cheek. "I wish you were my husband now."
"As do I." Closing the distance, Bash drinks her lips in with his. Trying to find his own breathe, Bash's mind wonders to a world of wishes. "I would send all these people away and draw you a fresh bath myself to clean the poison from your beautiful body. Only to then carry you to our bed. I would account for each patch of your skin with a kiss of promise. And to hold you all night so that I might chase whatever evil from this night tried to sneak into your mind."
"I wish that moment had not been stolen from us. You seeing me…"
"I didn't see Mary. All I could do was see was a possible future of losing you. The fear overwhelmed me. We will still have that moment, unhindered and unreserved."
"And before a room of onlookers…"
"Perhaps, but we don't always have to play by the rules."
"I know I have been slow in learning how to as you said open my heart, but if I had not been as slow as I have been I don't think I would understand the gravity of what I feel for you Bash." Bash lifts his head slightly from her's, looking her in her tear stained eyes, as she continues to talk. "I used to think love was something that I could control and direct with charm and laughter, but what I feel for you Bash is so different from anything I have ever felt before. Yes, we laugh, but we also have trust in one another. Trust being one of the most scarce feelings I can ever afford myself."
"We do have trust. And trust does not come easy for me either. Were you are used to everyone trying to use an angle against you, I am the one that has always been expendable."
"You're not expendable Bash. With you I feel like I could do anything, without having to change who I am, or change my status. I can be here in a sheet clinging to you for strength and still be a queen. I feel like a better version of myself when I am with you."
"I am glad that I can strengthen you confidence."
"Its more though Bash. What I feel for you runs deeper than anything I have been taught to feel or consider. I respect you in ways that I could never respect another man. I look at you and all I see is this person who has been built by the principles of love and commitment to one's family, versus a world of illusions and politics. I see a man who by a simple glance of the eye, makes my body warm with want. You compliment me in ways that no one else could. Together we are whole. Apart we are adrift. I'll say it again, I know exactly who you are."
"And who is that Mary?"
"You are not the makings of childhood fantasies, you are my first adult love. You are my perfect match."
"Mary…" Instead of words Bash attempts to kiss her, when the doors come crashing wide open.
"OH! Mary! I can't believe what she almost did!" Kenna whimpered as she came running into the room.
"Thank God you were able to hold onto the side of the tub as the poison caused Catherine to collapse." Greer said as she followed Kenna in.
"But I wasn't."
Bash pulled back only enough to appraise her. "What do you mean Mary? That is how I found you?"
"It was Clarissa who saved me. The vapors from the poison had caused me to slip underwater. I was drowning. It was Clarissa who came in and pulled me out of the water."
"Who is Clarissa?" Lola asked as she entered.
"Catherine's daughter. The ghost of the castle. She uses the passage system in the castle to move about. I promise I will explain, but to be honest I am feeling rather weak right now."
"We have to get this poison off of you." Lola stated.
"The maids are bringing more hot water for you" Greer informed them.
"No we can't use this tub again. Please direct them to fill the tub in my chambers. I would find it highly unlikely that someone would attempt to kill me with a bath, a dagger yes, but not a bath." Bash stated.
"But Bash, all of my clothes are down here."
"Well then we are going to move both you and your bed clothes to my chambers."
"Isn't that I little much Bash?" Lola speaks up.
"No, Mary is going to be my wife and I am not letting her out of my sight until I know that she is healthy and safe."
"Bash…"
"Mary, please. Let me take care of you. I may not be able to do everything that I want at this time, but I can at least share with you. Alec has done multiple threat assessments of my chambers and I have come to believe that they are the safest place in the castle as of now. We need to inspect your chambers to make sure that nothing has been poisoned or tampered with. And you need to tell me more about Clarissa being in the passages. I am thankful that she saved you, but until this moment we did not know that she was alive. She is still Catherine's daughter, and we don't know how she is going to react to this development with her mother."
"Alright, but how am I going to get there wrapped in a sheet?" Mary said with the first smile since he rescued from the bath that night.
"Like this." And with that Bash picked Mary up still wrapped in her sheet and carried her to his Chambers, with her ladies in tow.