Henry was now tampering with their shared sleeping place, which did not suit his wife. She had done all the work, and now he thought it was a good idea to interfere?
Her daughter stretched out her arms to Catherine, and her lower lip trembled suspiciously. It was really time for some peace and quiet. The journey had been even more exhausting for the little girl than for Catherine herself. She took Margot in her arms and talked soothingly to her before she would actually start crying, watching as her eyes kept falling shut after a while.
"Now we can lie down," Henry announced after removing most of the straw from the ceiling and pushing the pile of straw together again.
Catherine only shook her head slightly, noticing Margot clutching her dress fearfully as a particularly gusty gust of wind made the barn shake again. It was going to be a long night.
She held Margot against her as she settled down on the prickly straw, God how she missed her bed and her soft mattress. Once Catherine had settled into a reasonably comfortable position, she felt Henry settle into the straw behind her and spread the blanket over them. Even though Catherine thought he was far too close to her, she endured his presence silently.
"Can't you give me some air to breathe?" she finally asked gruffly, feeling his breath on her neck.
"The blanket is too small," he replied promptly, and she could have sworn that he had moved even closer to her now. Catherine refrained from arguing, choosing instead to watch Margot sleep. It had taken the girl only a few seconds to fall asleep, clinging to her stuffed lamb and her mother. Catherine finally felt bottomless tiredness overtake her and her eyelids grew heavier. Just before she fell asleep, she noticed Henry's hand on her hip, pulling her a tiny bit closer. Usually, Catherine would have at least threatened him with a broken finger, but this time her tongue failed to utter the sentence she had formulated in her head.
Catherine woke up when she felt Henry's hand moving slowly from her hip towards her chest. She blinked. It was early in the morning, the fire had almost burnt all the way down - this man was simply unbelievable.
"Are you awake?" the question was whispered in her ear, and Catherine removed his hand from her waist with a rough movement. "No, I'm not."
Her answer was a good deal sharper than had initially been her intention, and the movement behind her led her to believe that Henry must have turned on his back. Catherine drifted back into a light doze, using every minute to recover before Margot would wake again. When she awoke for the second time, Henry and Margot were gone. Panicking, Catherine sat up and almost lost her balance when she regained solid ground beneath her bare feet. Judging by the voices outside, Henry was out there, but there was no sign of Margot.
"Margot," Catherine tried not to let her panic show and breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted Margot in a darker corner of the barn.
"Mamaa," she was greeted by her daughter, who immediately started running towards Catherine. The latter was so relieved that nothing had happened to her daughter that she had almost completely forgotten her displeasure a few hours ago.
"Catherine?" Henry stuck his head into the barn, and she looked up, "the horses are here. We can ride on." There was no mistaking the relief on his face, and Catherine nodded curtly.
"We can't go yet," she objected, lifting Margot from the ground onto her arm.
"Why not?" he frowned, and Catherine shrugged impassively.
"I have to breastfeed your daughter first," she answered bluntly, and her husband rubbed his face in annoyance. "Can't you do it later?" he tried to convince her, but she merely shook her head, holding Margot's small hands that had already tampered with her dress.
"Don't be silly, Henry," she replied, slightly scornful, and sat back down on the pile of straw. While Margot ate her breakfast, Henry prepared everything for her departure. He seemed to want to travel on very urgently indeed. For Catherine, this was just another reason to take an endless amount of time. After a while, she caught Henry staring at her bare chest. "Henry!" he actually flinched and looked up slightly guiltily, yet with his trademark grin back on his face. "Yes?" he asked innocently, not averting his eyes as she struggled with the strange and still unfamiliar dress.
"Leave me alone," Catherine rose unnerved, setting Margot down on the floor. She couldn't stand the fact that Henry only cared about her because there was no other woman around him at the moment. Yet he wasn't even trying seriously. Catherine had nothing but contempt for his half-hearted attempts at seduction, especially since she believed he knew that if he tried just a little, she would give in to him entirely without another thought.
"Let's go," Henry took the blanket from Catherine and nodded in Margot's direction, "She'll ride with me."
"Excuse me?" she finally had enough. Catherine was an excellent rider, and Henry knew that it was just another way of demonstrating his power over her. "You heard me, Catherine," Henry merely shrugged as Catherine took both of her daughter's hands and supported her as she walked out of the barn on her own two feet. "What's going to stop me from just taking her on the horse with me?" exasperated, Catherine put her hands on her hips and looked at him challengingly. "My word will stop you, Catherine," he fastened her pack to the simple saddle and turned to face her, "I am your husband, and you will do as I say."
"Oh please," Catherine hissed, her face close to his to express her anger, "maybe you should start treating me like your wife and not a runaway whore."
"Then stop acting like one!" he snapped at her, and Catherine lost all self-control. Smack - her flat hand landed full force on his left cheek, almost immediately leaving a mark.
Catherine was sure that his surprise and Margot's presence had saved her from his revenge, and she turned away, still quivering with rage, to take a quick look at the horse. She expected everything, it was dangerous to turn her back on him, but to her surprise, it remained silent. After Catherine had briefly familiarised herself with the horse, her trained eye having scanned it for injuries, she led it a few paces on the reins to see if it was lame. All in all, it seemed to be in excellent condition, and Catherine nodded with satisfaction. Henry had settled almost effortlessly into the saddle with Margot on his arm, and she led the animal to a tree stump to mount. Henry didn't wait; he had already taken a path, Margot giggling as she sat on the saddle in front of him. Catherine felt a strange wave of self-satisfaction as she gave him some head start to trot behind at a comfortable pace. Her burning hand reminded her of the slap she had given him seconds before, and she jutted her chin slightly; he wouldn't dare to call her a whore again.
A few hours had passed, and Catherine's feeling of smugness was ebbing away. As good as it had felt to slap Henry, he had had his way and kept Margot with him. Very slowly, the sky darkened, and Catherine clearly thought that she was no longer used to riding longer distances. However, she would rather die than ask Henry for a break. So Catherine gritted her teeth and forced herself to ride on, following her husband towards a village. Margot seemed to have had enough, too, calling for her again and again and only calming down when she could see her mother. It was getting cold, and Catherine shivered when they finally reached the village.
"Wait here," Henry held Margot against him as he dismounted after stopping in front of a run-down-looking inn. Catherine looked after him in confusion. And as her horse came to a halt next to his, he handed her the reins. Henry disappeared inside the inn but returned to her after a few minutes.
"We'll stay here tonight," he announced after Catherine had dismounted. She did not answer; she had hardly spoken a single word all day. She expected a revenge action, still, or just a conversation about the slap she had given him. Still wordless, she took in her exhausted daughter, who could barely keep her eyes open, but was too hungry to sleep. The logical thing that followed from this was constant soft moaning, and Catherine knew it would continue until she had time to nurse her. A maid hurried after Henry and led the horses into a hutch at the back of the house after taking the luggage from the horse's saddle. The atmosphere between them was so frosty that Catherine believed not even if she set fire to him would he thaw. The taproom was cramped, crowded and reeked of mead. Catherine wrinkled her nose as the unmistakable smell of dung hit her. Henry simply made his way and hers through the crowd; they were barely noticed; Catherine realised she was dressed the same as any ordinary woman in the room and didn't know how to feel about that.
The noise level muffled Margot's whining, and Catherine followed her husband as patiently as she could up a narrow wooden staircase to the second floor. She had barely followed him another two steps when Henry opened a door and entered a tiny room. Catherine squinted her eyes and tried to make out more than dim outlines in the room lit by fires burning in the fireplace. A bed stood in the corner, and her relief at having reasonably decent bedding made her body relax completely.
With an indistinct murmur that he would get them something to eat, Henry disappeared from the room, and Catherine put Margot down on the bed. She searched her luggage for her daughter's stuffed animal, and the girl calmed down as soon as she held it in her tiny hands. Catherine took a sip from the water bottle and had realised while searching her luggage that she would have to look for another nappy for Margot. The little girl lay on the bed playing with her stuffed toy, and Catherine decided to ask one of the maids for a nappy or just a piece of cloth. Unobtrusively, she left the room, trying to attract as little attention as possible when she re-entered the taproom. A few minutes later, Catherine had traded a new nappy and even a warmer shirt for Margot in exchange for a gold coin - a bad deal, but she would do far worse for her little princess. She had just put her hand on the wooden railing when a movement made her lift her gaze.
It had only been a brief glance. Just a split second in which Henry had taken his eyes off the girl's cleavage as she sat on his lap and caught her gaze. That sight gave Catherine a sting she had felt so many times before, and suddenly her hunger was gone too. She saw his hand on her hip and how he must have pulled her closer to him. Catherine couldn't read him, his face showed no remorse or sense of being caught, and she resigned herself. She climbed the steep steps to her room and closed the door behind her with a bang that made Margot wince.
Trembling with anger and disappointment, Catherine sat down on the rickety bed. Even now, while she had been the only woman around him for more than a day, he preferred a stranger, a whore at worst; anything seemed preferable to turning to his own wife. She only realised she was about to cry when Margot looked at her in confusion, stood on the mattress and tried to wipe away a tear on her mother's cheek. Catherine took a deep breath and managed a smile for her princess. She wouldn't have wanted his attention anyway. She tried to focus on the important things again and spotted a washing bowl on a small table. The water was cold, but they would all have to live with that. Catherine was tired. It was late; every bone in her body ached, not to mention the heartache that had been added. Catherine removed the worst dirt from Margot's hands and feet with the coarse cloth and cold water. The little girl had finally had enough and roared angrily while Catherine diapered her and put her into the fresh shirt. Completely unmoved, she simply had no strength left; Catherine also cleaned her own hands, arms and legs.
"Bedtime," she whispered and joined Margot on the bed in just her undergarment. It was a strange feeling to know that Henry would later lie down next to her as if it were the most normal thing in the world to sleep in one bed. She slipped under the covers and took her little girl in her arms so she could finally nurse her in peace. Even if Catherine did it half for herself - forgetting about time for a while and letting herself be carried away by the love for her daughter - the sight of Henry with someone else had hurt her more than she had expected. But how could he have changed? It had been ridiculous to think that losing the crown would make Henry a better person, a better husband. After Margot had finished her meal and Catherine no longer felt the urge to loudly vent her anger, she lay down. Margot, as the night before, snuggled close to her.
Catherine didn't know exactly how much time had passed, but it couldn't have been more than an hour, she was sure. When the door opened, she expected to see every person in the world - but not Henry.
"Was she too expensive?" Catherine asked sardonically, sitting up, watching him, "Or are you rusty and already exhausted?" It was the more peaceful way to express her pain, and she could well play this game for a few more hours, days or weeks if she had to.
"Neither," Henry seemed unimpressed, which, on the other hand, spurred Catherine to be at her best.
"Then what was it? You didn't remember something about the little word 'decency', did you?", with a sideways glance, she noted that Margot was listening intently to her parents with her eyes wide open.
"Catherine, let it be," she heard that his tongue seemed heavy and surprise mingled with her annoyance. He clearly seemed to be at least drunk, and he still hadn't cheated on her? After some difficulty with his shoes, he joined her in bed, Catherine having by now lain back down and turned her head in his direction to find out how drunk he actually was.
"I really wish you weren't so bitter," Henry almost slurred, yet his gaze was strangely clear as he took her chin in his hand and pulled her to him, pressing a kiss to her lips. "Good night." A moment later, Henry had turned on his side, his back to her. Catherine was so surprised that she lay motionless for a few seconds after the kiss, trying to understand what had just happened. The taste of alcohol, combined with his lips, left a chaos of indescribable proportions in Catherine.