I expected the knock on the door for hours now. I was prepared for it, or at least as prepared as I could be. The maid entered timidly and spoke.
"Lady Lola your grace."
I almost scoffed aloud at her title but nodded slowly and the maid left. After a minute, Lola appeared in the doorway looking not nearly as shameful as she should have.
"Mary, I.."
"Tell me something. Did you know about it before he told me? Did he come to you first? Did you accept behind my back while I remained ignorant this whole time?"
Lola looked startled but she quickly recovered and looked down.
"Yes he spoke to me last night."
"I see."
"I need to tell you-"
"I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear anything you have to say. And from now on I don't want to see you under any circumstance but for the ones I can not avoid."
"Mary please understand-"
"Understand? You want me to understand? How dare you request empathy of me? You, who I have treated as a sister and have regretted every moment of it. You who I have protected and supported and helped and who has brought me nothing but misery, and despair and pain!"
Tears were running down Lola's cheeks and it meant nothing to me.
"I did it for my son. I had no choice-"
"Do not! Do not try to insult me with your excuses. You had a choice when you came here to be my lady. You had a choice to respect me enough not to lay with the man I loved. The man I sacrificed everything for. You had a choice to respect me and respect yourself. Instead you took advantage of his pain and weakness and whored yourself for a few moments of relief!"
Lola flinched and it gave me a savage pleasure to watch.
"And you will continue to take advantage of his guilt and his desire for an heir and my inability to provide with one. You have become nothing more than a filthy, disgusting stain in our lives, one we must endure with shame."
"I could not leave-"
"Yes you could. You could leave and leave alone and let your son be raised by his father. You could show enough integrity not to permanently worm yourself into our marriage . Enough dignity to accept the consequences of your actions and do the right thing. But of course you wouldn't do it. Because dignity is not a word you understand. Always so quick to point out the ways others have wronged you but incapable of actually answering for your own indiscretions."
"I understand you are angry. But we can manage to get used to this over time. I don't want to be Francis' actual mistress-"
Mary turned to her then. She had been staring out the window this whole time.
"Francis is my husband. I love him and I forgave him long ago, for he owed me no loyalty at the time. I also understand why he feels indebted to the woman who spread her legs and bore his bastard."
Lola's expression shifted to anger.
"I shall not allow-"
"Allow? Do you realize your position? Who you are talking to? I am not Catherine de Medici. I did not become a Queen by marriage. I am the Queen Regnant of Scotland, your Queen. If you are under the illusion that your new position as Francis' harlot has given you some power you need to think again. He feels sympathy and gratitude towards you and nothing more. But believe me if I had you beheaded, it would not take long for him to forgive me. I am his wife, his Queen and a part of him would be relieved to be rid of you as much as I would.
You will no longer be my lady. You will not be allowed to associate yourself with Kenna or Greer. Any highborn woman who speaks to you shall be shunned by me. You will be treated as the backstabbing whore you are and you will only associate yourself with other whores who sleep with noble men. You will lose every form of status you had in Court. And if you think Francis will help you just keep in mind that he would have to disregard my wishes for yours first. I am done speaking with you. You may leave."
Lola positively trembled under my gaze. She came here seeking the same clemency I had shown her many times before. But I was not the same Mary. My innocence was taken from me and today she witnessed what she helped create. A ruling Queen.