Replies to reviews:

elder441 [chapter 56]: Lola isn't my favourite either, haha. The consequences are shown below. You'll just have to see ;)

Guest (1) [chapter 56]: John really is and he's lucky to have a father like Francis! Mary's relationship with John is really flourishing and this allows John a better relationship with his siblings and cousins, especially Robin as the only other older boy.

Guest (2) [chapter 56]: It's always the grandparents who are set in their ways, especially about discipline. Francis may be in his thirties but he will be known as the adult king with the strict and eager to smack mother, haha! Francis and Mary haven't disciplined their children in terms hitting them but they do have harsh, strict words with them and I'd imagine the governesses smacking the children with their parents' permission. They'd be the good, fun parents mostly and the governesses would be the evil ones, haha. John has joined our baby squad! I wouldn't say that John is Francis's favourite as their relationship is broken and strained and they are working on that. Catherine is trying to plant the seed in Francis's head because of what happened with Henry, Bash and Henry's lack of attention to her own children except for Francis as the future heir. But we obviously know that Henry did most things for himself to feel better. I would say that Anne is still Francis's favourite but as the girls grow older, he's mellowed out on favouritism in favour of being more aware that his sons need coaching through life as the Dauphin of France and the Dauphin's two heirs for now.

"How was Austria?" Mary asked, taking a seat on the bed by her husband's frame. She ran her fingers through his hair and watched as he opened his eyes in slight confusion.

"Austria?" He mumbled before his eyes became more alert. "Oh, the deal fell through. Barely stepped through the compound before the Archduke backed down from his offer - said having two French royals in the family would be bad for business."

Mary frowned a little. "Is he serious?"

"I think he couldn't come up with an excuse because we found out that he's pretty much worthless and his businesses are bust," Francis replied, grateful he did his research regardless. "We went to Hungary instead but nothing came up worthwhile."

He hated how good at lying he had got when it came to Mary. Five years ago, they'd been repairing their marriage but he still found something to complain about. He had been working on that but couldn't help keep some things from her because that was just how marriage was. Keeping things from each other.

"Bash must be gutted," Mary said. "Sorry to hear that."

"Yes, he is but everything happens for a reason, Mary," her husband replied, getting out of the bed. He could sleep later. "How were the children?"

Mary knew what that meant. Whenever he went off, he never had to ask because their children were always well-behaved but now he was asking because he wanted to know about John.

"They were well behaved, as usual, the boys enjoyed John reading them bedtime stories," Mary replied with a smile.

"Is that so?"

"Yes," she said with a giggle as she watched him get dressed. "They love him and he's been so happy here."

"That's good," Francis said in relief. "Mary, if John came to you with concerns of his, would you tell me?"

Mary nodded. "Of course, he's your son."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

Francis sat down beside her, taking her hand. "For accepting him. I know it is difficult and he was the cause of some conflicts in our marriage."

Mary rolled her eyes lightly. "He is a child. He's innocent and I can't punish him for yours and Lola's sins."

"Mary-"

"The past, Francis. Leave it in the past because we are happy now with our six children," she said, making Francis shake in shock. She accepted him. History won't repeat itself with his father and older half-brother.

Francis kissed her. "I love you, Mary. I always will, do not ever forget that."

Mary smiled at him, cupping his cheek. "I know. I love you too, Francis."

She squealed when he pushed her back against the bed and attacked her face with kisses.

"Somebody missed their wife," she said as he started to undo her laces and his trousers.

"Somebody missed their queen," he replied, kissing her.

...

John handed the reins of his horse to the stableboy and turned, taking his gloves off. With his gaze down low, he didn't realise he was walking into someone and that person gently stopped him from falling back with a soft chuckle.

"Children these days can't see what's beyond their noses," Bash said to him, lifting John's chin up. "You're taller."

"Uncle Bash!" John cried out, hugging him tightly. "Robin said you were here."

Bash smiled, pulling back. "He's not the reason I'm here."

"Did my father tell you?" John asked shyly.

"And many others," Bash said. "Let's get out of here."

They ended up at the local town. Many people noticed Bash and thanked him, offering fruit or things valuable to them as offerings. He politely rejected them but did take an apple before throwing it over to John who caught it.

"Most important meal of the day - breakfast," he told the boy.

"Why are we here?" John asked, eyeing some people begging.

Bash sighed. "These people... I was their voice. I still am in a way," he said. "Your father opened up a school a few years back on my lands. I hired teachers to teach local children how to read and write and get their families out of poverty."

"You're their hero," John said in awe.

"I really am not," Bash said. "Because there's not a day that goes by when I don't think about 'what if I was one of them'? You've been told about my father, your grandfather. He got bored easily and sadly, I was one of his playthings."

John winced. "Was he a bad man?"

"Not at first," Bash admitted. "But even kings have their bad days. He happened to have a lot and he wasn't always in the castle. His state of mind was in pieces. He exiled me to Spain, did so a lot. Threatened to have me cast out into the woods but he forgot that the woods were my kingdom."

They headed towards the woods, the harsh darkness behind it gone as years went by. It became a place of leisure for people, many noblemen taking their sons on camping and hunting trips. Some of the townsfolk even used it to gain money, opening their own hunting grounds to appeal to the rich.

"I could survive five months in the wood if I really wanted to," Bash said. "I was free but I was free inside a prison."

"That doesn't make sense," John stated.

Bash smiled wryly. "It doesn't. But it made sense then. How's your archery?"

"I'm a bit rusty," John admitted.

"Huh," Bash said as they walked over to an archery grounds. He paid the stall minder and retrieved two bows and two quivers of arrows.

"What are we doing?"

Bash turned to him, handing him a bow and quiver as John pocketed the rest of his apple. "We're practising. Well, you are."

"For what?"

"Next week, your sisters and aunts are travelling," Bash began, putting his quiver on. "And us men are going on a hunting trip."

John gasped. "Really?"

"Have you ever been on a hunting trip?"

The boy shook his head. "No..."

"I always take Robin," Bash said. "He'll be happy to help teach you should you need it."

John grinned. "That would be great."

...

"If we didn't know better," Kenna said lowly to Mary as they watched Bash and John laugh and talk animatedly. "People would have thought John was Bash's."

"They're like souls," Mary replied with a warm smile when John's eyes met her own. She waved and he waved back with a blush before turning back to Bash. "I guess it's Henry's genes that show in our husbands and John. Even Peter looks like him according to Catherine."

Kenna cringed. "Thank God none of my children takes after their father mostly," she said lightly. "Imagine seeing the man who... Forgive me, who needs to think about the past when we're living in the present?"

Mary squeezed Kenna's hand as they passed man and nephew. "So, what did Bash tell you about Austria?"

Kenna shrugged. "Not much, really. He only tells me things of importance."

"You're not curious?"

"Should I be?"

Mary chuckled. "No. I guess your marriage is based on trust and you don't need to tell each other the little things."

Kenna frowned a little. "Now, you're making me scared, Mary."

"I don't know," Mary muttered. "I received a letter from the Medicis, thanking Francis for his brief visit."

"Austria and Italy do share a border," Kenna said to her friend. "He might have visited Catherine on the way back."

"The dates... They don't align with what Francis told me."

"He must have got his dates mixed," Kenna explained. "Bash does all the time and we sometimes miss the school's morning bell because he thinks it's still Sunday."

Mary laughed. "I guess. Small mercies you get off lightly because your children are royalty."

Kenna grinned. "I do get you. They might have gone from here to Italy and from Italy to Austria-"

"To Hungary," Mary finished. "Yes. And then return via that way."

"You don't need to scrutinise-"

"Lola?"

"What? No, not Lola-"

"No, look," Mary said, pointing where a very emotional Lola was heading towards them. "Lola's here."

Kenna stepped forwards in time for Lola to launch herself into the other woman's arms, sobbing loudly. Alarmed, she turned to Mary who shrugged in reply and rubbed Lola's back.

"Lola, whatever happened?" Mary asked her.

"Oh, everything's ruined!" Lola sobbed.

...

Mary paced the room. "Francis, they will order for her blood to be spilt! Her betrothed was a high figure in Italian politics!"

Francis sighed from his desk, rubbing his head. "I know. I am doing everything I can to ensure they do not remove her from France."

"They could start a war!"

"I doubt it," Francis said. "My mother is a Medici, remember? Her family rule Italy as it is. They won't try anything with me. I share their blood."

Mary sighed. "The Grand Duke of Tuscany wants an audience," she said. "He's your mother's distant cousin, a soldier who runs Italy. He doesn't take 'no' for an answer."

"Look, Lola will not be killed for something she didn't do."

"You believe her?"

"She's the mother of my son, of course, I do," Francis replied. "And she's your friend."

Mary studied him. "Were you in Italy when the Duke died?"

"I can't recall my every move, Mary," Francis said. "Yes, we visited my mother along the way - she was bemoaning the fact that the others have more or less abandoned her. I was near, she was unwell and I was in Italy, trying to get back to France. The Grand Duke even sent us some gifts and we asked that our visit be discreet."

"Why wouldn't you want people to know you were in Italy, Francis?" Mary asked, crossing her arms.

Francis sighed. "I didn't want to offend the Pope by not granting him an audience," he said. "You know how he is, the minute I step out of France for pleasure reasons, he would demand I see him and affirm my faith."

"Why wouldn't you want to affirm your faith?"

"Mary, you are asking too many questions, my love," he said, getting up and placing his hands on her forearms gently. "I'm tired, I've barely seen the children-"

"I know when you lie, Francis," Mary said softly. "Don't see me for a fool." She cupped his cheek. "You have that look."

He frowned. "What look?"

"The look of satisfaction," she whispered. "One only gets when they've... taken a life. I know that look, I've had it myself."

"Mary-"

"Did you kill Duke Morelli?"

"No," Francis said. He wasn't lying. Technically, Catherine started it and Bash ended it. He was a spectator. "Mary, I promise you that I had nothing to do with Vincenzo's death. Why would I want to disrupt my illegitimate son's mother's life?"

Mary scoffed. "You demanded his name from me."

"You lied," he said. "You knew who he was-"

"I just wanted Lola to be happy and we'd solved the issue by having John here permanently!" Mary cried out. "How could you?!"

"I didn't do anything!" Francis cried back, stepping away from her. "It's nice to know that my wife trusts and believes me."

Mary laughed scornfully. "Oh, Francis, don't forget you felt exactly the same years ago. We are past that, aren't we?"

"We are-"

"Then don't lie to me."

Francis shook his head. "I'm not."

The door opened and Bash handed Francis a letter.

"Cosimo de Medici demands an audience. The first letter was out of courtesy, but this one... he's coming here."

Francis scanned the letter and turned to his wife. "Mary, I will find out who killed Lola's fiancé and clear her name. She is our subject, she will not be forced away from us."

Mary looked between the brothers and rolled her eyes. "Both of you need to work on your deceitful faces," she told them. "I can read you as clear as glass. I hope it was worth it. Starting all of this."

"Mary, my son will always be worth it," Francis snapped, leaving the room.

Bash paused by the door. "It was me," he said. "John sought my help and I provided it. Francis didn't know."

Mary slowly walked up to him. "You'd kill someone for a boy you barely know?"

"You forget that John used to spend Summers at Avon when he was a boy as Kenna and Lola drank in the sun and he and Robin played," Bash said. "It's hard for bastards enough to be beaten and threatened beneath their loved ones' noses. So, yes. I will kill for John. I would even kill for you, Kenna, Francis, all of our daughters and sons... That's what family do. We protect each other and we kill for each other." He began to back out. "You should tell Lola to stop falling for the bad ones. It certainly doesn't help our image killing them off all the time. Not that we killed anyone, right?"

As he walked away, Mary set her jaw and shook her head in disbelief. But it was true, she couldn't deny that.

Stephane Narcisse was a betrayer to the throne, his head and body separately buried in the woods. Colin tried to rape Mary all those years ago, which now felt like a whole damn lifetime away. Now, Vincenzo Morelli, the man who abused her son as Lola stood by and did nothing out of duty to her future husband and the desperate need to secure her future.

Mary cursed, leaving the offices.