Rage
It's spiraling down. Biting words like a wolf howling. Hate is spitting out each other's mouths.
Mary was filled with anger, a white-hot rage that wouldn't dissipate. How dare he? Francis had no right to keep her from her country, from her brother, no right. She didn't care if he thought he had uncovered a plot to assassinate her! They were always under threat. They were rulers. There would always be something - why couldn't he understand that she needed to do this?
Francis finally entered the room, and she flew at him verbally, wanting so badly to strike him, but even now she wouldn't.
"Locked in the tower?" she snarled at him. "Did you think that I would try to slink out of my rooms like a rat in a passageway?"
"Not like a rat," he said evenly, and she had to curl her fingers into fists to resist the urge to hit out at him. "Like a defiant queen. You will be released as soon as your brother has cast off for Scotland. I told him that we would follow as soon as we could."
"So you lied!"
"It is not a lie. When I know that it is safe -"
"It will be too late!" she shouted, her voice filled with a blistering rage. "We both know that day will never come!"
Francis merely sighed, turning away from her.
"I will not help you with the cardinal, if that's what you think," she told him, beginning to pace again.
"I know. My mother and I will do what we have to. We'll find a way." He took a step closer to her. "I know that you hate me right now, but I have done this for you. I love you, and I have put you first."
Mary's lips turned up into a derisive smile. "You love a girl!" she hissed in response. "You don't love a queen, or you would allow me to be one! You are putting yourself and your country first, just as you always have!"
"That is not true -"
"If Scotland falls, I will never forgive you!" Mary whirled on him again, unable to help her pacing like a caged animal. "You will lose my country and you will lose me! I warned you, Francis, we are one and the same."
"Scotland won't fall," he said calmly, "and neither will we."
Now that she had started, she could not stop the hatred that was spitting out her mouth. "I can't hear another word, get out!"
Francis stared at her for a long moment, and then started for the door. "I'll be back when you've had a chance to calm down."
Mary closed her eyes for a long moment, and then turned back to him. He surely wasn't just going to leave her locked in the tower, was he? Even he wouldn't do that under the name of protecting her. "Francis," she said, following him. "You can't just leave me locked in here. Francis."
The door swung shut, and he was still walking away. Her lips parted in shock and she gripped the door.
"Francis," she said again, and her voice rose until she was screaming after him. "Francis! Francis!"
Mary screamed her voice raw that night waiting for him to come back, waiting for her brother to depart for Scotland. But Francis didn't come back.
He left her trapped in those stone walls for hours, and when he finally sent someone to free her and inform her that James had left, she had never felt so hopeless.