Catherine blinked. The light shone through her thick eyelashes, cold and much too bright, yet she forced herself to open her eyes completely. She had no idea how long they had been on the road, but it must have been early morning. Searching her surroundings with her eyes, she found that Henry had disappeared. The carriage also stood still. Catherine's first thought was that her husband might have left and was now travelling somewhere through France, which in turn would have allowed her to simply return to the castle with Margot. However, she was disappointed when she heard his voice outside the carriage. By his tone of voice, she could tell that he was upset, and Catherine's curiosity was awakened. She wanted to get up and check, just at that moment did realize that Margot was still lying on her bare chest. A wave of panic swept over Catherine, and she looked down at herself quickly, relieved to see that the blanket had saved her from an argument with Henry. Hastily, Catherine began to pull her dress back into place, impatiently tugging at the coarse fabric, while Margot slept on calmly. When Catherine found herself appropriately dressed again, she removed the blanket and completely wrapped Margot in it again.
She held her little one carefully against her as she got up and left the carriage to see who Henry was arguing with.
"And how long do we have to wait? "Henry's angry voice cut uncomfortably through the silence, and Catherine took a moment to look around. She didn't hear the coachman's answer and didn't realize who they were dealing with. Catherine noticed heavy grey clouds clouding the morning sky and that the carriage had stopped at the edge of a forest. Only when Henry moved in their direction with an angry snort, she caught his gaze and asked her silent question, which remained unanswered for the time being. A few moments later, Henry stood before her again, this time, the sack and a rolled-up blanket under his arm.
"We'll have to walk a bit", was all Catherine got as an explanation, and she stared at him with a mixture of surprise and horror. Walking? With Margot on her arm?
The carriage started to move, and with the realization that her worst nightmare had just become a reality, Catherine saw her precious jewels and one of her favourite dresses driving away.
Henry just turned and headed for the forest. Calculating her chances of survival, Catherine realized that it was probably the smartest thing to go with him. At least for now.
"Where are we going?" she asked when she had caught up with him, and Henry pointed to the forest where a narrow path led.
"I can see that too," Catherine commented dryly, trying to relax her shoulder, her arms already tingling under Margot's weight, "Why don't we stay on the road," she added, her frustration tolerance level dropping frighteningly fast when Henry didn't answer immediately.
"A little deeper in the woods," he started and kept his eyes stubbornly straight ahead, which challenged Catherine's subliminal rage even more, "there is a stream. We can fill our bottle there." Her eyes followed the movement with which he pointed to the sack that he had shouldered in the meantime.
"And how do you know that for sure?" Catherine checked and moved to stop when Henry merely took her by the upper arm and pulled her with him. "If you would just shut up, you could hear it."
Catherine's cheeks burned with anger and also shame as he dragged her with him - did he want to humiliate her even more than he had already done in the last hours?
After a few seconds, she could no longer control herself and tore her arm from his grip. "Touch me again, and I swear this is the last time you will have a working hand," she threatened him, boiling with rage. Henry stopped and positioned himself in front of her with an almost bored sigh.
"You are my wife, Catherine," he said slowly as if he had to think about those words, and she gritted her teeth as he retook her arm, "that means you belong to me. And that, in turn, means that I can do with you whatever I want whenever I want."
His voice was soft, but Catherine felt his grip become so tight that the pain drove tears into her eyes. But she did not look away and endured his breath on her face without a word. He was tall, much taller than Catherine herself, and she knew how strong he really was. Holding Margot in her free arm, she realized that she shouldn't keep testing his limits. Who knew what would happen?
"I noticed that," she replied coldly, "you successfully demonstrated that after Thanksgiving. Now let go of me," every move she tried to make to escape his grip hurt, so she held still and looked at him with every bit of disdain that had room in her body.
"Oh come on", Henry snorted but finally let go of her, "that was not-" he was interrupted by a loud crack in the undergrowth that made even him flinch.
Catherine looked around in panic but found it difficult to orientate herself in the unknown surroundings in the early morning hours.
"Come on," muttered Henry, the freehand on his belt, ready to draw his dagger at any moment. This one time, she obeyed him without argument and followed him further into the forest, watching her every step. After a time that had seemed like an eternity to Catherine, they reached the narrow river, and Henry filled their bottle in no time.
"Where are we going now?" it was impossible for Catherine to keep quiet unless she had all the information.
"East," Henry replied succinctly but then deigned to reveal another piece of information, "an abandoned barn stands outside the forest. That's where we'll wait."
Catherine saved herself the question of what they would be waiting for. Henry also had his survival in mind, and as long as Catherine kept to him, she was safer than alone, apart from the fact that he regularly let her become a Fury.
Her shoes were so tight that as they continued their way, Catherine toyed with the idea of simply walking barefoot. Her displeasure grew with every step she took, and she didn't notice at first that Margot woke up and was now busy playing with her mother's curls. The little one had continued to rest her chin on Catherine's shoulder while her arms grew heavier and heavier. The former Queen was almost convinced that she had never walked such a long distance before when finally a small, rickety barn appeared in front of them. It was hardly brighter than in the forest itself, and Catherine looked up into the sky. The clouds seemed heavy, dark grey and gathering menacingly above them into a storm.
Wordlessly Henry accelerated his steps, and Catherine had trouble following him. Now she hated him a little bit more. Margot was heavy, her shoes squeezed, arms and legs were tired, but no, Henry had not bothered to offer her his help. Angrily, Catherine stomped through the high, scratching grass, staring at Henry's back, as if she wanted to set his shirt on fire with her bare eyes. At last, they reached the barn, it must have been afternoon, she looked even worse than Catherine had suspected from close up, and she turned up her nose in disgust.
A little damp straw had been spread on the hard ground, a heap had been pushed together in a corner, which Catherine thought was best protected from the wind. While Henry was still looking around, she set Margot down on the ground, happily muttering to herself. ShaKing her arms to regain the feeling in it, Catherine approached her daughter with the blanket and the little cloth lamb in her hand, holding the gold pouch in the blanket. After making sure that no animal lived in that heap, Catherine put down the things she had been carrying in her hands until recently. She would soon have to find a safer hiding place for the gold pouch. Pondering one possibility, she pushed the straw together with her sore feet to a halfway decent sleeping place. At the mere thought of having to sleep in the dirt, a shiver ran over her.
Just as she spread out the blanket Henry had been carrying on the straw, she heard her name.
"Catherine", she couldn't place Henry's voice immediately and turned her head in his direction. Taking a breath to ask what was wrong, she saw Margot clinging to her father's trouser leg and beaming at him. On the other hand, Henry looked admittedly helpless, and his wife didn't bother to hide how amusing she actually found the sight presented to her.
"Margot," lured Catherine after a moment in a sweet voice and knelt on the floor to be at her eye level, "come to mama."
Margot laughed, a joyful, relieved laugh as she walked through the dirt towards Catherine. Wobbly but with an admittedly impressive speed. She threw herself into her arms, and Catherine almost laughed as she picked her daughter up. She could feel Henry's gaze on her but shed the feeling when she turned back to Margot.
"We need wood," Henry remarked. He seemed strangely annoyed at not having Catherine's attention.
"Well," Catherine shrugged, "you'd better hurry up and get some before it starts raining."
This obvious impudence didn't seem to leave him cold, but he turned away wordlessly, slamming the unstable door behind him after he had left the room.
With a quiet laugh, Catherine placed a kiss on Margot's nose, "If we go on like this, he'll soon go mad," she whispered and sat down on the blanket, holding the little one in her lap. Margot beamed at her - this situation really didn't seem to bother her much. After all, she had everything she needed. Catherine smiled slightly at the innocence with which she now began to pull her mother's hair, gleefully chattering away.
"My little sunshine", for the first time, Catherine relaxed a little and leaned against the wall, holding her daughter's hands as she stood on Catherine's thighs.
She watched the girl's focused face and finally understood what she was after as she put her hand on Catherine's chest with a mischievous smile and sat down, looking at her mother expectantly. "Mama?"
Indeed, Margot could not have chosen a better time. Henry had disappeared and would undoubtedly be gone for a while. Catherine finally took off her uncomfortable shoes, pulled her legs up on the blanket while Margot impatiently pulled on her dress.
"Yes, yes", she laughed softly and pushed her dress off her shoulder as Margot snuggled into her arms with a contented sigh and a few moments later started drinking, observing Catherine.
She didn't know how quickly time passed. Any sense of time had set in with her as she caressed Margot's light and soft curls tenderly. Now and then, wrapping a strand of hair around her index finger, Catherine looked up slightly dreamy when the door opened. After a split second, the dreaminess was gone, and she looked Henry right in the face.