Chapter Two

Henry had passed the day tolerably well, considering the poor start with his argument with Catherine that morning. Diane had been only too willing to distract him from his agitation, and the rest of the morning had passed easily with matters of state that were not too tedious to bear. He had enjoyed an excellent lunch and the opportunity to catch the eye of a young lady who he hadn't seen before at court. She was with a party of nobles visiting one of his children, he couldn't remember which. It stoked his fire to command the attention of a pretty woman and see how flattered and eager she looked in response to his interest. Henry leaned back in his chair at the desk in the map room, where he was meeting with some of his advisors, and smiled to himself at the memory. He would have to seek her out later. Or perhaps tomorrow, since his time was definitely filled for tonight.

"Your Majesty?"

The voice of the Lord sitting across the desk from him broke through his wandering thoughts, pulling him back to focus again. He sat up straight, abruptly.

"I'm sorry Lord Beauchamp, what were you saying?"

"Simply that if we are to hope to gain England, we must first reclaim Calais."

"Yes indeed!" Henry stood and gestured to the wooden figures scattered in groups upon the map before him. "I had that in mind already." The half dozen men in the room drew nearer to the desk, leaning forward with interest, ready to see the plans their King and commander had in mind for them. "If we divide our army into two groups - "

Whatever Henry had begun to say was interrupted by the echoing clatter of the large wooden doors as they opened to admit the Queen to the room. Henry gave a frustrated sigh, his brow creasing with irritation.

"What is it, Catherine? You are interrupting a very important meeting." He felt that he knew exactly why she had come, and he was not in the mood to deal with her input again, especially in front of his advisors.

Catherine smiled benevolently around the room at the small gathering.

"Gentlemen, I do apologise for the disturbance, but it has come to my attention that you are planning an attack on England." In the silence that followed, her smile tightened somewhat before she spoke again, glancing briefly at the map before them and taking in the figures laid out strategically. "Or perhaps, Calais first… I have spoken to Henry about my concerns over the matter, and thought it would be best to bring them to your attention too." Catherine averted her eyes from her husband's warning glare as she addressed the men. One or two of them glanced uneasily at their King, but his lack of response implied that he might be tolerating her interruption, so she pressed on.

"I would remind you, gentlemen, that France is having to manage without a large number of her soldiers, having sent them to protect Scotland." Her tone implied exactly how annoyed she was by this fact. "And it would surely not be a wise course of action to deploy most of the remaining men for an unnecessary war, at such a time as this."

"Catherine." Henry's voice was tight, and his warning clear, but his wife continued.

"These things must be taken into consideration. A desire to start a war is not at all the same thing as war being thrust upon us by our circumstances. War is costly, and we cannot - "

"Catherine!"

This time she stopped, the echo of his angry bark ringing in the silence.

"Your presence here is unnecessary, Catherine. These men are perfectly able to take France's best interests into consideration without the strong opinions of a woman on the matter."

"These men, Henry, will have as much say on the subject as any well-trained dogs following their master! Which of them would dare object to a plan that their King staunchly insists on carrying out?!" She looked at them, her anger evident to all in the room, before addressing them as a group. "Who among you would defy your King, if he tells you he wants this, hmm?!"

Silence.

Catherine turned to her husband, one eyebrow raised.

"Advisors to the King?!" she scoffed with sarcasm. Henry raised himself slowly to his full height, and walked around the desk, the nobles parting to make way for him as he did so. Coming to stand in front of his wife, his dark eyes glared down at her. She stood her ground, unflinching, jaw squared as she tipped her head back to look him in the eye. Before Henry had chance to say a word, the door opened, and a guard held it back to admit a messenger.

"I'm sorry for the interruption, your Majesty, but I have been sent to tell you that the visiting party from Nantes will be arriving earlier than expected this evening, and there is still no word on which chambers they will be occupying while they are here."

The King relaxed slightly, turning to face the messenger, before gesturing dismissively at his wife with his hand.

"My wife will deal with this."

Catherine gave a huff of indignation. "But Henry - "

The King turned to face her, holding up his hand up to stop her in her tracks.

"This seems like a matter of housekeeping, Catherine, which is your domain, is it not? Hurry along now." He shooed her gently, and tried not to show his amusement at the angry flush covering her face. His wife's eyes locked with his in a furious glare, holding the moment meaningfully for a few seconds before turning and sweeping out of the room, with the nervous messenger in her wake.

Henry looked down at the ornate tiled floor as the doors closed once more, and sighed, shaking his head. He knew he should not push his wife to anger like this, especially when her anger was legendary, but she infuriated him so! Sometimes he just could not help himself. He did not like to be humiliated in front of his advisors by his strong-willed wife, and it soothed his irritation to put her in her place.

/-/-/-/-/-/

Henry tried his best to distract himself with the usual routine throughout the rest of the day, but he really couldn't put his wife out of his mind. He knew that Catherine wouldn't let this go so easily, and it made him feel tired and tense, to always be at odds with her. Especially when she saw nothing as an obstacle she couldn't get around in some way. He ate with two of his friends before retiring for the evening, and only then did his spirits recover somewhat, as he remembered that Kenna would be paying him a visit very soon.

He undressed in his chambers and put on his most luxurious robe. He had dismissed the servants already, but he busied himself lighting a few candles around his bedchamber, before her knock came to his door. He took a deep breath and exhaled all his tension, the anticipation of pleasure and a good time filling his mind instead. He was glad to be able to have these lovely distractions whenever he needed to – and he did have needs.

He let her in eagerly, and soon Kenna's lithe form and attentive hands soothed away all the stresses of the day. It would have been perfect, had the door not opened just as things were beginning to get hot and heavy in his bed, and his wife had walked into the room for the second time that day. Kenna gasped – he knew she was somewhat afraid of his fiery Queen, probably with good reason – and Henry flopped his forehead onto her shoulder, letting out a frustrated groan.

"Oh, I'm sorry," came the sarcastic tone of Catherine's rich melodic voice. "Am I disturbing you?"

Henry raised his head, then jerked his body into a sitting position under the sheets. Kenna rolled away from him, clutching the sheets around her shoulders and avoiding looking down the room to where Catherine stood.

"Yes, Catherine, yes. You are disturbing me. Again. This is the second time you have disturbed me in my own chambers today!"

She held his eyes with a long hard stare, before answering him. "Yes," she said accusingly, "It is the second time. And not even the same woman." She huffed a bitter laugh, shaking her head. "I suppose I should be thankful that they're keeping you busy…"

"What do you want, Catherine? I've had a stressful day, and you have played a large part in that. I would rather you leave now, and we discuss any pressing matters tomorrow."

Her eyes widened, and he couldn't tell if it was in anger or surprise. She seemed lost for words for a moment.

"You have had a stressful day? You have?! And I am the source of your stress?!" She broke off, blinking and shaking her head incredulously. "And you want some space with your plaything?"

"Yes, I want some space from you. You have been interfering in my business all day long, Catherine, and I've had enough of it. I've had enough of you." He flicked his hand towards her in a dismissive way, as though giving a servant their leave. She took a step backwards, hesitating as though wanting to say something else, although her fire and confidence was clearly gone. She stepped back again, towards the door, holding his gaze. Her eyes showed him a mixture of defiance and hurt, but she didn't speak. Then she turned and left the room.

Henry exhaled heavily, letting his shoulders slump forwards. He heard the sheets rustle, and Kenna sat up next to him, her hand smoothing over his rounded shoulders in the silence.

"Do you want me to go, too?" she spoke hesitantly. Henry turned to her.

"No," he reassured her, reaching out to brush her cheek with the back of his fingers. "You are just what I need." And smiling, he leaned in to kiss her.

It was only later, after Kenna had gone, that Henry lay in his bed staring up at the painted ceiling. He couldn't make out the details of the images in the dark, but he wasn't really looking at them anyway. He had enjoyed the evening after Catherine had left, but he was unsettled now, and could not sleep. It bothered him that she didn't appear to care. Sometimes he could discern hurt in her expression, but it was all too often masked by anger or contempt. She mocked him in front of his mistresses – how that angered him! – as though she hardly cared at all that he was with them, and while she was busy not caring, she was determined to humiliate him in their presence as well.

Turning bitterly onto his side, he closed his eyes and tried to banish all thoughts of his wife from his mind. He focused instead on things that made him feel confident. His power as King, the fact that he could do whatever he wanted – within reason. His ability to put his wife in her place at will… And there she was again, back in his thoughts. Henry rolled over in frustration. Still, he thought, he was grateful for small mercies. Imagine if he didn't have such power to silence Catherine when she was getting out of hand? He would have preferred an amiable relationship with his wife, but since it wasn't that way, at least he could find other ways to meet his own needs, and keep her at a distance while he did so. He had loved her once, in fact, truth be told, he still did deep down. They rarely came together intimately anymore. Henry was sure she really didn't have much interest in any case, but when they had done so, there was fire enough between them. They could certainly manage to be on excellent terms between the sheets. If only Catherine wasn't so determined to have authority and power in so many ways. He knew that she was usually just motivated by the wellbeing of their children, but sometimes it seemed to Henry as though it was almost as if she would prefer to be the one ruling France instead of him.

Chuckling lightly at the audacity of such a thought, Henry relaxed enough to fall into a deep sleep.