She was so confused. She had so many conflicting feelings fighting to take precedent that she could barely tell which end was up. She wanted to protect Mary, but she also wanted to tear her down. She wanted to trust Narcisse, but she knew deep down it was foolish. And then there was Bash. The son of her worst enemy and her dead husband. A boy she'd resented for his entire life. And now he was trying to help her. Or was he? He'd seemed sincere in his worry for her, but she couldn't fathom a reason for him to do so. Why would he care about her at all? One could argue that he was doing it for Francis's sake, for France. For all her hatred of his existence, she always knew he loved her son, that he would do anything for him. So that's what she'd thought, at first. But the way he'd looked at her when he told her she wasn't a monster. No one had ever looked at her quite like that before. Like he'd seen right through to her soul. He was treating her like a person and not just an object. She didn't know how to process that. Being used she could handle. She knew how that worked. This was new ground for her. How does one deal with being treated like you actually matter? She had to get to the bottom of this. She was currently waiting for Narcisse. She needed to find out if Bash was lying before she could begin to figure out what to do next.

"You called for me?" Narcisse asked as he entered her chambers.

"Yes. I had a little talk with Mary earlier and I fear there is more to what she's planning than we'd thought. Have you gotten any new information?" she asked, waiting to see if he would tell her what she already knew he'd found out.

"No. Nothing yet, but I have my people on it." he said calmly, showing no sign that he was covering up something. She turned around so he wouldn't see the anger on her face.

"Nothing at all? Not a single piece of information?" she needed to make sure.

"Nothing." he repeated.

"Why are you lying to me?" she said turning around.

"What?" he said surprised.

"I know you found out about her plan to send our army to Scotland. I've already confronted her on the matter. Now I want to know why you tried to hide it from me." she said, balling up her fists in anger.

"I only wanted to make sure the information was correct before bringing it to you. I couldn't be sure my source was reliable." he said.

"So what. You couldn't have just explained that to me?" she asked.

"You already had so much on your plate I didn't want to burden you without being sure. I was trying to protect you." he replied, looking her in the eyes and placing a hand on her shoulder. She breathed in a sigh of relief. Of course. Why hadn't she thought of that. She had been right about one thing, she had no idea how to trust someone. Perhaps, he was just trying to protect her, but her issues with trust were making it impossible to see it. Maybe, Bash had the same problem.

"I'm sorry. I just don't know who to trust right now. Everything that was safe and known is changing. I just needed to be sure." she said.

"I understand completely. I wouldn't trust me either." he said, partially joking. "I take this to mean, the information was correct after all."

"Yes it was. She thinks she's saving Scotland. She just doesn't understand that she can't. I have to find a way to make her see that." she said.

"She's a smart girl. I'm sure you can reach her. You just need to find the right angle." he said.

"I hope you're right. As angry as I am at her, I don't think I could bear to see her head taken. She is still the girl I raised for a time. She is just lost." she said.

"I'll go and see if I can find out who is helping her. If we can turn them to our side, we can destroy her chain of information. She can't make a move without intelligence." he said. Catherine nodded.

"Yes. Even if we can't stop her, maybe we can slow her down long enough to ruin her plans." she said. He bowed his head and left the room. She went to the door and watched him leave, then she spotted bash in the dark corner of the hall.

"What are you doing? Why are you still following him?" she whispered to him loudly.

"Why are you still listening to him?" he said. She yanked him into her room so their conversation wouldn't be heard.

"This has got to stop. You will stop following him. Leave him be." she warned.

"He is winning you over. I've got to give the man credit. It must take a powerful mind to fool the likes of you, but then again perhaps it's not his mind that is fooling you." he said, almost sounding jealous.

"How dare you." she seethed at the insinuation, but was taken back a bit by his tone. Did it bother him that she was attracted to Narcisse?

"You are just letting your emotions get the better of you because you're upset about Francis. And you can't stop me from following him. Nothing will stop me until I find a way to end this." he said.

"You're paranoid. Your hatred of him is driving you to delusions. He isn't doing anything wrong...not to mention you're doing a terrible job of following him. He's going to catch you anyway." she said.

"Thanks for the tip. I'll make sure to be more careful." he said bowing his head, sarcasm on his face, as he backed out of the room. She pursed her lips and angrily pushed some papers off of the desk.

'Why am I letting the bastard get to me like this? Why do I even care what he thinks? Why did he look at me like that? If he really thought Narcisse was up to something, why not just take it to Mary? She'd surly remove his head without even asking any questions. Unless he was trying to protect me. But why would he do that? He said he was trying to protect Francis, but he only kept on about how Narcisse was using me. Was he right about me only letting him in because I am afraid for Francis? He said there was nothing wrong with me. And his eyes when he said it...No. He's wrong. Narcisse cares about me. I know he does.' she thought to herself. Then sat at her desk, head in her hands. She had to go back to focusing on Mary. She had to keep her mind from going over this nonsense until she was crazy