DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN REIGN!
AN:OK SO 4 DAYS UNTIL REIGN RETURNS! MEGAN WILL BE BACK AND I'M SO HAPPY! MORE THEN JUST HAPPY! OVERJOYED! I HOPE I SEE LOT'S OF CATHERINE'S ANTICS THIS SEASON! I'LL MISS HENRY SUPER BAD THO :/ :'(
When Claude was ushered into Marcel's room, she immediately requested for wine to be brought. It was better to be ready at any moment. Marcel would come soon and she wanted to have her part of the plan over and done with quickly. She wanted to be gone from this miserable place, and she worried for her parents. They both were in a most vulnerable position. She just had to do her best to stick to the plan and maybe they would all walk away. Her thoughts were interrupted as the guard brought in the wine. Once left alone again, Claude emptied the contents of the small vial into one of the cups and then started sipping on the other as she waited for Marcel. She didn't know how long she had waited when the same guard entered and built a fire in the hearth before leaving. Removing her cloak, she checked her appearance in the tiny mirror on the desk before she heard footsteps outside the door. Marcel glided through the door.
Shutting it behind him, he complimented Claude, "My, my, you do look lovely, my dear."
Putting on a pristine smile, Claude sauntered slowly to him and presented him with his glass. "Well, it warms my heart to know that I meet with your approval. Now what shall we drink to?" She asked with a sly grin as she raised her glass thoughtfully looking into the dark liquid.
"To battles won and kingdoms conquered, to love and war, to happiness and pain, but mostly to you, my darling." Marcel said as he clinked his cup to hers. "To our future together."
"Yes, our future together." Claude said echoing his sentiments as she raised her cup to her lips.
She watched as he drank his wine knowing the deed would soon be done. Until then she would just have to keep him talking which she knew wouldn't be an easy task from the way he now ran his eye up and down her body.
"Tell me, Marcel, what will your position be at court once a new king has been placed on the throne?" Claude inquired when he took her cup from her and sat it along with his empty one on the desk.
"Why do you think I want a position under the new king, Princess?" Marcel asked furtively.
"I am not a fool, Marcel. Love is a very powerful emotion, but it isn't strong enough in itself to make you risk everything with only a hope of me as a reward." Claude said casually watching as he shifted from one foot to the other. "I wouldn't think any less of you for it." She said with a calming hand to his chest. "I think if we will be spending our lives together, we had better start sharing our intentions now."
Looking at her intently, he believed her words and spilled his soul to her. "I was offered the position of hand of the King if I helped overthrow your father. I accepted the offer, but before I did I personally asked for you, as well." Marcel said passionately as he stroked Claude's hand with his palm. "I saved you from what they would have done to you. They wanted to kill you along with the rest of your family. I couldn't let them do that. I love you. I've done all this to save you and give us a chance."
He was totally insane! If he honestly thought she would think he was doing all this just to save her, he was more dangerous then she had thought at first. If she got out of this room without her virtue ruined, she was definitely going to be more careful with whom she flirted with in the future. This was ridiculous! You take a stroll through a garden alone for one evening and suddenly he wants to kill your entire family? Where is the logic in that?
"I understand." Claude said hiding her anger and her disgust at his words with innocent eyes. "You did what was best for us. I won't ever doubt your loyalty to me."
"Never, my lady." Marcel said as he stroked his thumb down her cheek to brush her lips.
Slowly, so as to not arouse any suspicion from him and to indulge his male ego, Claude kissed his thumb while looking up into his eyes before taking the tip into her mouth. Claude rolled her eyes mentally when his other hand slid its way from her shoulder down to her lower back and pulled her against his chest. Removing his thumb, he kissed her fervently and started sliding his hands down her back to grab her bottom before starting to kiss her neck.
"Do I please you, Marcel?" Claude asked seductively into his ear.
"Mmhmm," He mumbled against her neck.
"Well I am not!" Claude said unpleasantly as she pushed him away from her and moved closer to the roaring flames in the fireplace.
"What is displeasing to you?" Marcel asked roughly, irritated at her actions.
"I don't mean to anger you, Marcel, but I need to know what will happen with my parents? You say my entire family will be killed and expect me to be fine with that arrangement?" Claude asked coldly.
"You acted as if you cared nothing for your mother when you arrived, and your father let her send you away. Why would you care what I have done with them?" Marcel asked suspiciously wrinkling his brow.
"They are my parents. Some ties can never be broken even if you are hurt by those you love." Claude said truthfully as she looked in the red flames that danced as they devoured the log of wood.
"But they have hurt you! After tomorrow morning you shall never be hurt by them again. I am going to make sure of that!" Marcel said sinisterly with a wicked gleam in his eye. "You may even choose the stake to mount their heads on. Oh, it shall be glorious, Claude. I shall be known as the man who ended the Valois line and you will be my bride. We will be bound together through-out eternity and neither of them will ever keep us apart again. Doesn't it thrill you, precious? I have shown them both who is stronger. First, I showed your father by having him beaten until he bled and your mother is learning that lesson now as we speak."
"You had her beaten?" Claude asked lowly as she gripped the poker in her hand and turned back to face Marcel keeping it hidden from his view.
"A beating wasn't enough for that bitch. After denying our wedding and keeping us apart a much more excruciating punishment was in store for her. She has been released to the men to do with as they wish. They have become cranky as men do when they are denied their physical needs. I expect them in much better spirits by the time the sun rises. As I shall also be." Marcel said as he started towards Claude with an evil grin on his face.
"You bastard!" Her anger driving her arm, Claude swung the poker at Marcel as hard as she could, knocking him to the floor as it connected with his head.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Marcel yelled out as he tried to stand up and grab Claude before she held the poker to his throat.
"I wouldn't get up if I were you. My father made sure I knew how to swing sharp objects. He knew I would need to know how to protect myself against men like you!" Claude breathed out in a heat of rage.
"You ungrateful little whore! My men will kill you before you leave this room and then they will kill your parents. I'll have them flayed alive because of this!" Marcel threatened as he tried to reach for a knife he kept hidden in his boot.
Claude saw and speared his hand through with the point of the poker, causing him to scream in pain before she pulled it back out. "You shouldn't have done that, Marcel. I have my father's impulsive nature. I don't take kindly to threats against my parents."
"I don't take kindly to being fooled!" Marcel said cynically before launching himself at Claude in desperation. Stepping back, Claude caught him with the end of the poker. It went in smoothly into his abdomen before lodging against his ribcage and sticking firmly in place. Marcel howled in agony as blood seeped from his body before he fell to the floor writhing in pain.
Claude stood over him with an eerie calmness as she watched him there. "I am a Valois princess. My father is the king and my mother is a Medici. You should have remembered that before thinking I would submit to you. You underestimated me and now it has cost you your miserable life." She said coldly as he looked up at her with dead eyes as his body lay still as she watched him draw his last breath.
She would never forget the way he looked up at her with those cold, dead eyes. She knew she would see him every time she closed her own. Before having time to fully comprehend every emotion that was washing over her, she heard yelling outside the door before it was flung open and the guard from earlier ran in. Seeing his leader dead on the floor he moved toward Claude with his sword drawn meaning to kill her until he was stopped by a threatening voice behind him.
"You won't harm a hair on her head or I will kill you now!"
Claude was sure she had heard that voice before.
"And just who do you think you are?" The guard asked sarcastically as he turned toward the intruder.
"I am Roman de Medici. Throw down your sword and I'll make sure you are returned home to your family." Roman said as he bargained with the man.
With a yell the man swung at Roman's head missing him by a mile as he sidestepped the awkward man and cut his legs out from under him before bringing his sword to rest in the guard's throat, severing his airway and ending him quickly. Claude dropped the poker at seeing her uncle kill the man. She had no need of it now. Help had finally arrived!
Surveying the dead man before him along with the blood on Claude's hands and dress, he deduced what had occurred. The young woman shook like a leaf probably in shock from the act she had just committed. Roman remembered when he had lost his blood innocence. Taking a life was never easy, but the first was especially hard.
"Thank God you are safe." Roman said as he took Claude into a warm embrace.
"I almost wasn't." Claude replied as she tried to forget the past few minutes. How would she ever live with what she had done?
"Uncle Roman, we must find mother and father. Marcel, he said he was going to have mother…" Claude's voice tapered off before she could finish.
She couldn't even speak the words. What if they had already…no she couldn't think about it either. Not here. Not now with the scent of fresh blood still lingering in the air. She could taste it in her mouth and it was starting to turn her stomach. Looking at her pale face, Roman decided it best to get her from the room as quickly as possible. It was certainly affecting her more than she was willing to say.
"I have sent my men everywhere. We will find your parents, un prezioso." Roman said affectionately as he ushered her from the room. "I am sure your mother is fine. She is a strong woman, and has been through a lot worse without anyone to call to help her. Now, stay behind me until we reach the safety of the outside." Roman warned as they made their ways through the dark halls in search of safety.