It had all happened too fast.
King Henry was lying on the left side of his bed with his wife beside him, naked and with rust-colored hair scattered all over the pillow.
They were silent for a few minutes, after which he put his arms around her and pulled her to him; he held her close for a while, cuddling her and kissing every part of that perfect face of hers. After several minutes in that position the king said, "You know, I still remember the first time I saw you. You were wearing a dress with full red silk skirts decorated with gold trimmings and the bodice as well as being incredibly tight was full of precious stones. All of them. they focused on your outfit and it was actually understandable why you were gorgeous. But the first thing I noticed was your hair: it was a wonderful color, red but with honey undertones. It was gathered in an elaborate hairstyle and it was placed on top of it. a beautiful crown with red diamonds that echoed the dress. " she smiled and said in turn "I too remember the first time I saw you: you were very elegant in your leather pants and your blue doublet decorated with gold embroidery" there was a moment of pause then added laughing "you still had yours hair: they were curly just like Francesco's but dark exactly like our little Carlo's "smiling and running his hand over his bald head he exclaimed" yes, they gave me my hair in fact ". That said the silence fell between them again but it didn't last long as Enrico took Caterina's chin with his thumb and forefinger and turned her face towards him, then whispered "I still love your hair, darling" and he took her lips in a sweet kiss.
They spent some more time together, then the Queen extricated herself from her husband's loving embrace, got out of bed and started dressing. Enrico, on the other hand, still remained in bed watching her as she transformed from Caterina, her adorable and sweet wife to Queen of France, a woman who was always careful not to show her emotions to anyone, much less to him.
When she had finished composing herself, she went to the bed smoothing her dress and kissed her King's cheek, who gave her a pat on the cheek and said "I don't want to let you die" "Then don't do it" she replied softly.
Only a few hours had passed since that time.
Caterina had returned to the tower and Enrico was still in his rooms pondering what to do; when he finally made up his mind to have his wife released and was on his way to tell her, someone knocked on the door. "Come in" he exclaimed irritably. Maria, Basch and a rather short, plump woman entered. "Father we have to tell you something" his son announced "Come on son speak, I have a rather urgent matter to attend to" "Sure father it will only take a moment, this woman has to tell you a story", so saying he gestured to the woman to begin.
Enrico could not believe it: a moment before he was lying in bed with his wife in his arms and a moment later there he was discovering his betrayal with Richard, the one he considered to be a brother.
Kicking everyone out of the room and sending Richard into the dungeon, the King headed for the tower where Catherine was.