Disclaimer: I neither own Reign, nor profit from this story.
The next day Catherine woke slowly. Uncertain if the conversation she was remembering was just a dream or if it had really happened. Deciding that her initial recollection was indeed accurate she sighed with a mixture of burgeoning hope and a weariness that had begun to settle in as an almost constant companion of late. Curling into herself, she decided that she deserved a few more moments of peace before having to face the day. Although she had trained herself to maintain a constant state of alertness, even she tired at times. Henry, Richard, Mary, Francis, so many names, so many lives, so many loves gained and lost…so much regret.
The nickname that she had achieved over the years of ice queen in some ways was well earned, but with very good reason. Henry was her first love, for many years her only love, and for some unfathomable reason she had never managed to let him go…heaven help her she loved him still. And for her trouble the only way she had managed to somewhat mend her shattered heart was to seal it together by sheer force of will. How else does one mend a heart which is constantly in a state of being slashed open and crushed by her the very man who had held it in his clutch for more than half of her life? And as he continued to punish her, she continued to lash out…the cycle went on and on.
If his pleas from yesterday was in earnest, however, that may just be changing. But who was able to discern the true heart of he King? Especially when he seemed incapable of even grasping the state of his own heart, and lately his own thoughts.
Regardless of his intentions, she was reminded of a few bits of information she had recently received of his seemingly deteriorating health. Regardless of his true intentions, she had made a point of assigning several ladies to the task of looking into his health. Perhaps this new wave of, whatever it was, would at least give her the chance to determine herself if there was indeed something wrong. The last thing France needed was an ill monarch.
Defenses firmly in place she had a new manageable way of handling this situation that Henry seemed to insist on creating. She would indulge him, a little, if it meant getting close enough to properly discern if there was indeed something amiss. That way too if, and likely when, he was to fail her again she at least had a logical, reasonable plan of entry and retreat that should just keep her heart in tact…this time…for the most part.
Henry was hardly able to sleep at all, his mind whirring with the events of the last several days, not to mention the recent advent of a monster of a headache that he could not seem to shake. As for Catherine, he had never lost interest in his feisty darling of a wife, but she could be so difficult at times! Though he had called her a devil, she could be as much an asset as a pain in his… She kept him so on his toes so often, he rarely had the chance to become annoyed for long. Then there was the fact that no matter the state of their personal union he could always be certain of one thing, her loyalty to France. This above all could never be questioned, except in the rare instance that the good of her children and the good of the country were in direct contradiction. In fact, if he hadn't heard the personal testimony that she and Richard had in fact betrayed him, he would never have believed it possible!
He knew his anger was irrational given all that he had put her through fro years, but the revelation still stung. What she didn't know, was that he had simply imprisoned Richard, and not beheaded him. Although he had become enraged by their betrayal, and had since realized that the night they shared together not two weeks ago was probably just a tactic to try and delay her execution, with the absence of Diane and a more mature Kenna making an appearance, he had become more contemplative of late. Perhaps it was his guilt, perhaps his long friendship with Richard, or perhaps he was simply tired of losing those closest to him, or more specifically her.
Realizing what he had to do, he began formulating a method of proving himself as she had so eloquently challenged. While she had insisted that flowers and favor would not be enough, he had been courting a good portion of the female population for years now and knew one thing for certain…flowers and grand gestures never hurt a man's cause, though he knew this time that they alone would not be enough to win her back.
