Hey guys, This chapter is slightly shorter than the third one but it gives the story the stuff it needs for the next chapter which will be longer and more revealing, I promise. I hope you liked the third chapter I posted earlier and I hope you'll like this one as well. Besides that i decided to bring a new character to the story who wasn't in Reign, but i thought it could be very helpful to have this side character around for some chapters. I hope you enjoy this chapter and have fun reading it.

Disclaimer: I don't own "Reign and I don't make any profit with this story.

Enjoy the reading :)

Chapter four

It was a strange feeling, being left behind while Lord Narcisse went away to his chambers.

It felt almost like being invalided out, that sense that everyone else was off doing something terribly important just out of sight while Catherine took her ease in her chambers, once again on her way to her study while listening to the birdsongs. Her headaches and the temporary dizziness didn't stop by now which didn't make her situation any easier.

It had been years since Catherine was left at loose ends like this. It seemed like everyone around her was changing in some way and it was strange, indeed it was very strange.

First Henry's sudden change of behavior...well she didn't trust his motives. He had so many of those "changes" in those twenty five years they were married that this particular change shouldn't feel so strange to her, but it did feel different and she cursed herself for believing in his words.

And the second one...Lord Narcisse, she still didn't know anything at all about this particular man except that he was a nobleman and had lost his first three wives and now his oldest son. She didn't know why he wanted to talk to her in private and she also didn't trust his motives, who would trust them anyway?

It seemed a rather harsh judgment on Lord Narcisse, but watching him earlier in the throne room had only hardened her suspicions of him.

He didn't do any things others didn't do, he flattered her, tried to flirt with her, he did all the small things Catherine experienced each day from so many others, it didn't even bother her anymore. However, most of them stopped after they registered that she wouldn't let herself get seduced or after they noticed that she wouldn't even give their compliments a flattert smile or a word at all. There was a reason why everyone called her ice cold and heartless.

Anyway, in Lord Narcisse's case it was different, he didn't gave up when his compliments and flattery fell on unrequited ground. He just continued and even asked her to go to a picnic with him...this man surely was suspicious.

Speaking of picnic, it was a rather bright day early in May, and it seemed to be good weather for a small picnic, even if Lord Narcisse's request still seemed very strange to her.

No doubt it was a charming request, and that was a rare enough sight at French Court that Catherine was inclined to savor it, but she did get the impression that something seemed terribly wrong.

Even if Lord Narcisse had only good intentions..she couldn't picture why it was exactly her he wanted to talk with.

It was this that troubled her most about being asked to go to a picnic, perhaps: the thought of being used as a object of lust and demoted into their ranks after he'd been… what? A man of influence, according to Lucrezia, one of her ladies.

Still, if his intentions were well meant than this whole idea of a picnic wouldn't be so bad, she thought, trying to ease all the doubts which were growing inside her and made her headache worsen once again.

It was mid afternoon when Catherine decided to change her dress to one which was perfect to go to the gardens, she took a blue dress with white flowers on it and a few golden appliqué at the bottom of her dress and a couple on both arm ends.

She didn't wore this dress in years but today, she thought it would be a perfect opportunity to wear it again. Afterwards she went with steady steps to her Jewelry box and took a golden crown with a few blue diamonds, a highly detailed golden necklace set with graded marcasite and blue paste to imitate rose diamonds and sapphires, and from the same collection earrings with a pear shaped and round aquamarines surrounded by claw set transition cut bright white well matched diamonds.

Her husband gave her this collection a few months after their wedding. He went - just for her - to a little village next to the palace to buy her some jewelries.

She never experienced someone who did this to her and to be completely honest she still held those jewelries very dear to her even if she didn't wear them a lot. Henry was so childish and naive back then...they both were, even if she always thought she was the more mature one.

He gave her this jewelry set as a present for their fourth month wedding anniversary, at least it was intended to be for their fourth month anniversary, he actually gave it to her two weeks before it because he couldn't wait any longer.

Back then they both were so madly in love with each other and both didn't waste any thought of hurting each other, they sweared they would never do this. She and her husband even took walks in the gardens where Henry loved to kiss Catherine under the trees. The both of them created all sort of scenes in those times. Some of those would be the cause for a lot of whisper at French Court.

However, the two lover didn't care about the people around them, all those years ago, they were just concentrated about themselves and their growing love for each other. They were so very naive back then but weren't all people who fell madly in love like that.

The love the two lover once shared was so pure and innocent. It seemed like nothing and nobody was able to destroy what they had.

Who would have thought that their relationship would end like this?

Both parts being on each other's throats, fighting and cutting each other with words, so sharp that it felt like small blades cut through your skin and would reopen all those old wounds again and again.

Catherine was torn from her thoughts by a small knock on her door. Who could it be? She thought to herself while she softly said enter.

The big wooden door was slowly opened by a servant, he entered the room, took a few steps forward to his Queen and said,

"Here is a invitation for you, your majesty."

And without another word the young servant gave the invitation to his Queen and left her chambers again.

After hearing the little click sound of the door Catherine let out a sigh, she was holding since this young servant boy gave her the envelope, her face was pale as she saw the small white envelope, the ornate stamp placed in the corner.

However, she couldn't help stopping the small bubbles of excitement which bloomed in her stomach and she cursed herself for having such a childish reaction like that. She wasn't a young girl anymore after all.

"Oh, good lord," she muttered, slowly opening the letter, seeing the gold leaf lining.

She reached in, pulling out the white lace invitation. She pulled on the satin bow holding it together, revealing what she was silently hoping not to see for another few days or even weeks.

She certainly wasn't mentally prepared for this.

She read the invitation and sighed once again;

"Invitation to the Grand Royal Masquerade Ball,

I Request your presence at this Grand Royal Masquerade Ball.

For a Fantastic evening of intrigue, mystery and fantasy.

Sincerely, King Henry II of Valois. "

Why did he plan such a big event without consulting her first? Was the first question running through Catherine's mind.

She slowly folded and put the invitation card back into its' decorated envelope while those small bubbles of excitement which still bubbled a bit inside her stomach, came to a halt and were changed with a numb feeling in her chest which threatened to take over her entire body.

In one word, she was surprised, very surprised by Henry's invitation, she expected anything but this when she got the envelope with the card in it...everything seemed to be strange, unrealistic and certainly not like she pictured her week to start.

Truthfully she didn't really know what to think about it and since there was no real reason for this masquerade Catherine's suspicion rose even more, however, one thing she knew for sure; she couldn't intend the picnic Lord Narcisse and she planned to do because the ball was intended to start only a couple of minutes after they wanted to meet.

Even though she was still rather surprised if not shocked too, she was able to call for one of her servants with a steady tone and said, "please tell Lord Narcisse that I can't intend to his picnic today."

With this words the servant gave his Queen a determined nod and left the Queen's chambers within a minute, leaving her alone to her wandering thoughts.

Why was her husband doing this ? Why a masquerade and why now ?

All questions she couldn't answer yet, no matter how hard she tried to search to find those possible answers.

It wasn't like she didn't liked the idea; she found it actually pretty great since she loved dancing but her husband usually informed her before he wanted to do a big ball...and a masquerade surely was an event where her husband would've informed her before..but he didn't this time which gave Catherine yet another thing to worry about.

What did this mean? Did this even mean anything at all?

"Well," she thought, looking at her invitation - which she opened again without even realising it - "hopefully this will be fun and not another event ruled by Henry's ego to get yet another woman into his bed."

Fortunately she didn't had to change much; the dress and jewellery she choose for the picnic fitted perfectly to one of the several masks Catherine owned, besides it was simple, enough that someone didn't directly think of the Queen of France while seeing her at this strange masquerade.

With steady steps, she went from her study to her dressing table, sat down and took a look at her still rather pale face.

Truthfully it wasn't that white anymore but even with the bit of make-up in her face she looked rather sick.

She didn't feel very great either which added yet another weight to her body, the headache and reappearing dizziness didn't got any better the last couple of days and even though they were rather easy to ignore in her day by day life, she wasn't able to ignore them any longer today.

She took one last look into her reflection, checking if she looked all right, when she remembered one particular event, when she was still a newcomer to France and not yet married to Henry

"Are you excited for the ball my lady?" Lucrezia, a woman a few years older than Catherine - and her lady-in-waiting - asked.

"I don't know Lucrezia, are you sure he will even find me pretty? I just don't know, do you think I could fall in love with him ? Do you think it could be possible?" Catherine replied, her voice unsure and full of emotion.

But Lucrezia saw a faint glow of red on the young Italians face, and Catherine knew her lady was peeking into her head already.

"You don't have to worry My Lady, he already likes you a lot," she exclaimed, finishing putting up some hair strains, while smiling in excitement. "And I'm pretty sure he already fell for you, or what was that one scenario on the balcony just a few days ago?"

Catherine reached out, shushing her, but laughed regardless at her cuteness. "Shh! You forget super soldier hearing is a thing, I swear. Besides nobody except you knows about that incident and it didn't mean anything,really. We are just friends, he just likes me as a friend."

The young maid laughed, spinning around once more before finishing Catherine's hairstyle completely. "Did he say anything else regarding this subject?, you both are so terrible in seeing the feelings the other has for you."

Letting out a scoff, Catherine took a look into the mirror only to see her blushing reflection staring back at her, before answering. "He joked that I wasn't allowed to fall in love with him..."

The corner of Lucrezia's mouth turned up in a faint smirk, and only widened when the young Italian woman glared at her. She already knew what was going through that mind of hers, and she didn't even have powers like Lucrezia did.

"And did you promise him you wouldn't?" asked Lucrezia curiously.

Catherine rolled her eyes, "No, I just called him a jerk."

Lucrezia let out a brief, if not a bit evil chuckle and said, "Then you have free rights to fall for him. You should take advantage of that."

"Oh, stop it will you. I won't fall for him. I'm one hundred percent sure I wont," Catherine replied, the red on her face darkened "I can't, even if I wanted to. Which I do in a way, but you get my point. He's being a good friend, that's all. And I know we will get married but we'll just stay friends."

"Mhmm," Lucrezia replied, clearly doubting her words. "We'll see."

Catherine sighed, finishing to look at her hair before turning to her lady in waiting, "Well, the ball is in two hours. Can you come help me pick out something to wear?"

Lucrezia smiled, putting a few pins out of her hands and on the dressing table before heading with Catherine to the wardrobe.

Coming out of her thoughts Catherine smiled quite a bit, her younger self was such a naive if not a bit foolish girl

Lucrezia was right when she doubted her words back then, it didn't took long after the ball that young and foolish Catherine and Henry fell for each other.

But it wasn't the fairytale romance, she always dreamed to have, if she fell in love. Even if the romance she and her husband once shared began like a fairytale, it surely didn't end like one. And it didn't seem like she'd get this fairytale romance she dreamed of as a young girl.

Life wasn't a fairytale after all

It took Catherine quite a while until she was able to sort her thoughts again and even though her foggy mind still bothered her in these days, she found it rather easy to ignore the dizziness and fogginess of her mind.

She looked once more at her reflection, seeing - just for a millisecond- the young girl she once was, and took a white mask with some gold applications on the upper and lower side and a blue feather which adorned the right side of the mask while silently cursing herself once more for thinking about those old and more innocent times.

She wasn't fourteen anymore and she wasn't going to fall in love with her husband once again. She couldn't allow herself to, no matter what grand or not so grand gestures he might come up with in the future.

She couldn't and she wouldn't, she had no other choice...even if her heart longed to give into him and just try one last time. She couldn't do it, not while he was with other people too; not while he continued with his behavior of being a asshole who slept with nearly every young and pretty lady or maiden he saw and found rather attractive.

A small knock on her chamber door brought Catherine out of her thoughts once more,

"Enter," she said in a gentle tone, she may not feel like being very gentle right now but this wasn't a reason to scare some young servant away. At least that was who she thought would enter.

"You're Majesty, excuse me for disturbing you but you asked me to come here if I have any news regarding your husbands changed behaviour or his health. And, well, I have some news about your husband, regarding his changed behaviour." Lucrezia said, without giving any hint if the so called news were good or bad.

"Oh, yes, what is it? Did something bad happen?" Catherine said, her words were full curiousness even if she tried to hide it. Her thoughts started to fill her mind with all the bad things her husband could've done.

Was he in the bed of another woman again? He didn't mean the words he said, he just wanted to have her in his bed as another trophy. Her thoughts kept spinning to those assumptions.

Lucrezia rolled her eyes at her mistresses comment, smiling softly, "No. Personally, I think it might surprise you. He broke off his relationship with Lady Kenna and she was brought to the tower, it's the new whisper of the castle as of now. As I heard, he asked for her and told her that it's the end of their sexual relationship and then its said that she got angry and threatened him and you…and he decided to lock her in the tower for now.

Catherines mouth fell open, and she had to focus on closing it before she could speak properly again. "Oh…and does he already have another woman now? You know him as long as I do, you know him since I first arrived here and you know that he won't keep faithful to me. He can't. And besides that, he has Diane and I'm sure she will not wait long to arrive here. I can't allow myself to fall for him and his flattery again, Lucrezia, you know I love him and you know that I hate myself for loving him so deeply but I can't be with him, not when he's still with others..and I know he won't give that up for me."

For a moment Lucrezia nothing, slowly choosing what to say next.

"Your Majesty…Catherine, do you remember what I've told you on your first official ball as Henry's fiancé? In case you don't remember, I told you that Henry already loves you and that you love him, and that you both are so terribly stubborn and rather deny the feelings you have for each other than accepting them and give into them. And this doesn't mean I want to justify your husband's old behaviour. Actually I think he doesn't even deserve you, but he loves you and you love him and I think, this time, Henry really tries to win your heart my lady."

Catherine swallowed thickly, too shocked to respond for her lady bringing up that stupid conversation from more than twenty five years ago, "I don't know what to say."

Lucrezia just smiled warmly, and was full of assuredness, and if you didn't know any better, also with a bit of hope. "I just wanted to report to you about your husband's changed behaviour, as you ordered my queen, I didn't intend to make you mad or confuse you in any way possible."

The older woman gave her Queen one last glance before she left, shutting the door behind her.

"What am I going to do?!," whispered Catherine. Before turning to glare out of the window, watching the sun slowly set, her heart still pounding.

"I'll thank you only if I survive this week, and something tells me I barely will."

AN: I hope you liked this chapter. I wanted to give Catherine a friend, someone who was and still is there for our Queen and besides that she might be able to open our Queens eyes hehe. By the way the name I got from a book I've reread recently, called "The confessions of Catherine de'Medici" by C.W Gortner - I REALLY recommend this one! It's one of the best fictional books I've read about Catherine. However, I hope the length of this chapter is okay too, it's not as long as the ones before but the next one will be a way longer, I promise. Thank you for reading this story and thank you for always encouraging me to write more. You are amazing guys and feel free to leave a review if you liked this chapter.