Sorry for the insane delay everyone! Once again, I discovered some plot holes that I needed to work through so that this story made sense. Thank you to everyone who has hung in there and waited for the next installment of this story! Leave me a review when you're finished reading to let me know what you think!

Chapter Seven

Within a fortnight, they had assembled themselves in the courtyard as they awaited the arrival of their guest from Savoy.

The party that stood out in the bright sunshine was quite small and much more intimate than the group that would gather for when the Duke of Buckingham arrived, but that was something that Anne had insisted upon. The flashy show of the French court would be reserved for when the English party presented themselves on foreign soil. But the arrival of her niece was something that could be done without drawing the same attention. This smaller arrangement was a show of familial respect, Anne had said, and it would make things much easier if they didn't go through the grand protocols and such when Louise arrived.

Dressed in a pale green that complemented her eyes, Katherine stood beside her father and uncles, all of whom wore their musketeer uniforms as they stood in a perfect line. Mya was just behind her, now attired in a simple gown of blue and white that she had been in awe of as soon as Kate had produced it and begun the process of having it altered to fit her smaller stature. Evidently the girl was not used to wearing such soft cotton fabrics, something that her new mistress looked to remedy.

"What do we know about Louise of Savoy?" she asked her father softly.

Artemis glanced at his daughter out of the corner of his eye, then glanced at the King to ensure that they were not being listened to. But the young man was already conversing quietly with his mother, and so the opportunity to speak was present. "There is little of great importance," he confessed. "She is the only child of the old King's sister, the Duchess of Savoy. And as such, she was raised to observe all of the courtly protocols that Louis was, save for the obvious one."

Yes, of course, Katherine thought. Louise would not think herself to be a King…

"So she won't be all that pleased to see me among the King's advisors," Kate ventured.

At this, her father showed hesitation before he shook his head. "No, I do not believe that she will be pleased to note you presence. If she has heard anything about the reputation that Louis has had with women in the past, she will probably question your place the way the rest of the council does."

Brilliant. She hadn't even had the chance to meet the woman yet and already she could tell that there was going to be nothing in common between them, save for their sex. Louise would know herself to be the daughter of royalty, a Princess in her own right. Kate knew herself to be a bastard child who hadn't been wanted by her royal father.

And were it not for the constant love she had been given by her Uncles and dear Papa over the twenty years of her life, she might perhaps have been far more bitter about this knowledge. But she had grown up with a family who had loved her. It was a family unlike any she had ever seen or heard of before, but it was her family. And she loved them all dearly. No man was better than another. She called only one "Papa," but they had learned long ago that the titles did nothing to distinguish the affection that Katherine held for each and every single one of them.

In an attempt to distract herself slightly from the annoyance that was already beginning to bubble within her, Katherine turned her eyes back to the young woman who loomed like a shadow and offered her a gentle smile. No doubt poor Mya was uncomfortable in the heat, but at least she had the benefit of a simple cotton dress against her skin and not the seemingly endless layers that Kate wore herself. As a lady's maid she wouldn't be given much thought by anyone of means at court. And that was perhaps for the best, for the girl was still terrified that she would be returned to the tailor at any moment. Thus she was wary of the people around her.

Save for Kate, at least. She showed no signs of fear when in the presence of her new mistress.

"Kate."

Her dark head turned back to look at her father, but her eyes quickly discerned the reason that he had muttered her name so quickly. The carriage was now in sight and had entered the grounds of the palace, beginning to wind its way up the circular drive and toward the place where the Royal party awaited its arrival.

"Here we go," she muttered in return.

All at once her posture straightened and her gaze returned to the front, hands tucked neatly behind the fabric of her skirts in preparation for the curtsey she would need to execute. She was ready to meet with Louise of Savoy. Or at least she thought that she was. The instant that the carriage came to a stop and a footman moved around to open the door, however…

It was a beautiful blonde woman dressed in burgundy who got out of the carriage, her face carefully shielded from the sun by the angle of the hat that she wore on her head with its many feathers and decorations. Behind her trailed two other women in lesser clothes, presumably her own ladies in waiting, all of whom were helped from the carriage one by one before they advanced on the waiting party and paid their respects to the King and his mother.

"Cousin," Philippe greeted her with a warm smile, quickly moving forward to raise her from her curtsey and kiss her cheek with great affection. "We are so very grateful that you have been able to join us for this occasion. I trust your journey from Savoy was pleasant?"

Louise seemed to smile easily in return. "Bumpy roads aplenty, Your Majesty, but nothing we would not endure for the sake of accepting such an invitation from you."

Nodding in delight, Philippe then laid a gentle hand against her back to turn her slightly and gestured toward Katherine, who stood with her father and uncles. "I wish to present to you Mademoiselle Katherine, as well as four of my most trusted musketeers. Aramis, Porthos, Athos and D'Artagnan, their captain."

All five of them fell into their shows of respect with lowered eyes. "It is a great honour to meet you, my lady," Katherine spoke, rising to her feet after a moment. "His Majesty has spoken of your arrival with great excitement over the last few days."

"No doubt."

Despite the temperature outside in the sunlight, Katherine suddenly felt like she was a few degrees cooler thanks to the look that she had suddenly earned from Louise. The other woman lifted her chin so that she was looking down on Kate, quite a feat considering that she was a few inches shorter than the brunette was. But the look in her eyes grew cold and unpleasant, a clear display of what she likely thought of the young woman who now sat on the King's Privy Council. The ultimate snub, however, came in the fact that she quickly turned herself away and engaged Philippe in conversation without any proper greeting to Kate or the others.

"I have heard that the gardens at the palace at beyond compare," she said smoothly, gifting the King another easy smile. "Would it be too much of an inconvenience for Your Majesty to show them to be?"

Philippe looked at her for a moment. "Would you not perhaps like to rest from your journey?"

But Louise shook her head. "Perhaps afterward. But I have been sitting for so long that I think it would be good for me to take a bit of a walk. If I am not keeping you from anything, that is."

"Of course not! I would be delighted!"

Kate could have sworn that there was some sort of triumphant look on the face of their guest when Philippe offered her his arm and quickly began to lead their company back onto the grounds, leaving the rest of the party to follow in his wake. One by one the various servants and other members of the Council fell into their place behind the King, his mother and Louise, until it was time for Aramis and the others to take their place. But his intention of proceeding directly behind his daughter was hindered when Katherine didn't move at all.

"Kate, we need to go," he mumbled to her, eyes looking upward at the party that was slowly beginning to pull away.

"Go ahead," his daughter replied stiffly. "I won't be joining you."

D'Artagnan swiftly left his place at the other end of the line and looked down at his niece, frowning slightly. "Katherine, you cannot just-"

"I'm not just doing anything," she interrupted him. "Louise has made it quite plain to everyone who was standing here that she will not tolerate me. You would have to be blind to ignore the snub. And Philippe is too busy showing his new guest the gardens to notice my absence. I'm not going to subject myself to her scrutiny for the sake of courtly protocol."

Porthos sighed gently, reaching out to place his large hand upon her shoulder. "These are protocols we must all follow," he told her softly. "Whether we like it or not."

But the young woman firmly shook her head and stepped backward out of his reach, her blue eyes looking at all four of the men now gathered around her. "You might have been raised to observe the subservient ways of the court, but I was not. I didn't ask to be kept here. And I will not be put on display for the sake of the King if his cousin is intent on showing me every slight that she can over the course of her visit."

She sighed softly. "I will do as His Majesty asks and be here to assist with the planning of the Duke's arrival. But once Buckingham is on his way back to England and peace has been obtained, I will be resigning from council and returning home."

Without another word Katherine spun off, motioning for Mya to follow her. There was a small chorus of people calling her name, but she answered none of them and simply continued onward. She had no desire to be out there anymore. Nor to be in the company of anyone else. She just wanted to escape, to find a place that was no filled with the court or people or anything else that reminded Kate of just how much she didn't belong where she was.

But when you lived in a palace, that was near impossible to do.

"Mistress?"

It was only the soft, female voice that forced Katherine to slow her steps, allowing her to regain some sense of where she was. Breathing deeply she turned herself around once more and knelt down against the warm stone of the pathway. "Mya, we've been over this," she said gently, reaching out to place her hand upon the girl's arm. "If you must call me anything remotely formal, just 'Katherine' is fine. I don't like the fancy titles, and I don't like the idea of you feeling that I own you."

The very notion troubled Katherine deeply. Mya was a person, not a piece of property or an animal or an urn or anything else that should exchange hands from one person to the next. The very idea of what the tailor might have done to her in the time that she was under his care still made Katherine's blood boil, but she tried to be conscious of not letting the young girl see her anger, lest she think the emotion was directed at her.

"You seem sad," the little girl told her.

"Well, I suppose I am a little," Katherine confessed.

Mya tiled her head, a look of confusion on her face. "Why?"

For a moment, all Kate did was look at her. She had to choose her next words with great care. Though she didn't doubt that she could trust Mya, it would be too easy for someone else to come in and coax those secrets from her lips. And the poor girl was young and inexperienced in the ways of courtly life, much as Katherine had been. She wouldn't understand that there were people here who didn't like the woman that she served. She wouldn't understand the dire need for secrecy when it came to the truth behind Katherine's parentage. All of those secrets that she was forced to keep would need to remain with her for a while longer…perhaps even forever.

"Mya," she began carefully. "You know how I was asked to be of help to His Majesty, yes?"

The younger girl quickly nodded her understanding. So Kate pressed onward.

"I have a lot of responsibility on my shoulders right now. Everyone is counting on me to help make peace with the Duke of Buckingham when he arrives. And if I fail, I could be responsible for a lot of people getting hurt. Do you understand?"

Again, the girl nodded. But her puzzled look remained. "Why did that lady seem so mean?"

Katherine laughed softly. "You must be careful when you ask things like that. The wrong person might hear you and Lady Louise would be greatly offended by your words." Though she had to admit, the thought of ruffling the noblewoman's feathers a little bit was not entirely disagreeable to her. "She is a lady though. She is the King's cousin, and herself royal by blood. I am just a common girl. Compared to her, I am nothing."

"That's not true!" came the quick protest of the girl, who stomped her foot against the stone walkway as if to illustrate her point further. "You're a nice lady! You saved me from the tailor, and you're good and kind and pretty-"

"Mya, dear, you misunderstand me!" Kate reached out gently to grasp Mya's shoulders in her hands, waiting for the girl to calm herself before she dared to continue. "It's sweet that you think those things of me. It really is. But you must understand that this world…this life at court? It's going to be filled with people who think that they are better than everyone else just because they have money and titles and fancy clothes."

"Is everyone like that?"

Kate shook her head. "No, not everyone. The Queen Mother is perhaps one of the kindest people I've ever met in my life. And the King is known to have moments of gentleness as well."

Mya did not look so convinced. "What if he makes me go back to the tailor?"

One of the hands that had been on her shoulder moved gently to cup the side of her face. "You will never be made to go back to that man," Kate promised her quietly. "Not as long as I continue to draw breath. I will never allow it. And nor will His Majesty when he learns of how you have been treated."

"Promise?"

Katherine nodded firmly. "I promise."