"Well, well, well, I have some news for you." Mary sauntered into the cold dungeons of the French Court, leaning casually against the door of the podium, looking down at the mother of her step son. Lola lay upon a blanket on the floor, her body pale. She looked up at Mary as her Empress and Queen entered her cell.
"Your Majesty,I-"
"I'm glad to see you've remembered your respect and place this time around." she chuckled. "I'm sure the servants that bring you food have let you know of mine and Francis' events these past two days."
"I-I am told you took a trip to King Antoine of the engagement of young Princess Margot to his son, Prince Henry."
"Not quite." she shook her head. "I met with Antoine, yes, but only for a sparse conversation to drop the baby and Greer and a few others for a few hours of respite. This morning," she spoke as if she was speaking to a rather slow child. "King Phillip and I met."
"What? You met with-" Lola trailed.
"I did. He informed me that you were not directly involved with the plot against my life. And for that, you will live."
"Thank you, Majesty. Thank you, I-" Lola moved to kneel.
"Not for everything, but you will live for that. Regardless if you were desperate and confused, forgot your place, trying to engage your bastard to a Hapsburg is treason. Conceiving and producing your Queen's bastard step child is treason. And for that, you will be punished. Finally punished." Mary smiled manically. Lola gulped audibly, starting to sniffle. "But not for a while. Your role in the war has sped things up a little. After it is over, you will be brought to justice. But not now. Oh, don't look so scared." Mary said, noticing the lock of fear in her eyes. "This is a gift for you, you get to live for longer than originally planned. If my husband had his way, your head would be on a pike before we left England."
"Y-you can't do this. Francis said that he would protect me when we returned here years ago?"
"Did he? Well, you are not French. You are still Scottish. And you are still my subject. So, Francis cannot help you. He loathes the fact you are the woman who bore his firstborn. He tells his brother and I on drunken nights that even the thought of touching you as he did once rolls his stomach. He will care for your son, he will protect him and try his best to guard his future and maybe if you hadn't committed another account of treason against your sovereign lady and mistress, maybe you wouldn't have been so publicly punished. Merely left to live our the rest of your days in scorn and neglect. But not now, Lola. Not now." she said, shaking her head towards the end.
"Did you ever think that that night in Paris would lead to all of this? Your eventual trial and probable beheading, your treason against the entire European monarchy by running away with my husband?" she slowly and casually walked down the stairs to Lola's floor.
"O-of course not!" Lola cried out, shivering from both cold and fear. "I didn't mean to get pregnant! It was only supposed to be one night, nobody would have known! I didn't want to hurt you and I didn't want to put you in danger. It just happened!"
"Do you see how foolish that argument is? You didn't mean to," Mary tutted, pouting dramatically, enjoying the effect she had on Lola. "That makes it all better, doesn't it! You didn't mean to, so I'm going to forgive and forget and nobody need know a thing again. I'll welcome you back as one of my ladies with open arms and just brush off the fact that our sons are half brothers. I don't think so!" Mary scoffed. The Empress faced the proven traitoress.
"Please, I just want to-" Lola stood.
"No!" Mary snapped, the back of her hand raising and striking Lola to the floor. (A/N again. That was so satisfying to write and visualise! Why couldn't that have happened in 2x04? Okay, back to story!) The former Lady cried out as she fell roughly to the floor. She brought a hand to her throbbing and stinging cheek, feeling what Kenna and Greer and any servants or nobles had felt whenever they stepped out of line just after Francis ran from this very castle years ago. "Why didn't I see you for what you truly are that morning in the courtyard when I returned from Scotland?!" she cried out to herself. "Why was I so blind that I thought you would be loyal like the rest of them?! Why didn't I see that you are a manipulative, self serving harlot who deserves a tenfold more than what she gets?!"
She heard Lola crying from the floor, but a sudden anger and repulsion Mary had never felt so much of before, filled her body from head to toe. She didn't even hate Lola that much when she came to see her when she and Henry were still together and they had just returned from Italy.
"But I damn sure got a sneak peak when you blamed me for Collen's pretend death! Think of it, your little farmer boy who had taken your virtue-" Mary paused for a moment. "Why would you even sleep with him in the first place? Don't you know how important virtue is in this world? If you're going to sleep with somebody, at least make it someone you're engaged or married to." she hissed. But she shook off that question, knowing it didn't really matter."Your little farmer boy who had taken your virtue was ordered by Catherine to rape me and when he was caught, you took his side! You weren't sympathetic to me at all! And when Catherine made you think that they had him killed before she actually did kill him, you blamed me!" she paused, leaning down to Lola, gripping her jaw roughly and forcing her to look up at her. Mary took perverse satisfaction at the red, swelling cheek and the bloody lip and chin. "You said I was the reason he was dead! What would you have me do?! Lay back and enjoy it, letting all hope of aid and France slip through my fingers as he took me, just so your weak little lover wouldn't face the consequences of his own treason?! What is wrong with you?!" she shrieked, throwing away Lola as one throws away a closed door.
"I was heartbroken!" Lola yelled from the floor, slowly getting up to a side laying position. "I thought my first love was dead! Are you saying you would say things you didn't mean when you thought Francis was dead?!"
"Do not even compare the two of them!" Mary yelled, advancing upon her prey. "They may have been the ones who had the misfortune of sleeping with you, but the similarities stop there!" she yelled.
"For a time, with Tomas, you tried to be loyal, all the while messing around with Sebastian knowing he was not only being the womaniser of French Court -and also, he could never marry you- and harboured feelings for me! He and Francis sleighed the monster of Portugal and you tried to take credit for it not long ago to Kenna when she confronted you in England!"
"I-"
"Stop it." she hissed. "For a time, I thought you had changed, and you did try to, I will admit, after you got pregnant, but then you stupidly got trapped in plague." she hissed. "Why didn't you just stay in the carriage? Was it your intention to lure him out there?"
"No, of course not! I didn't think you would send Francis, but a physician. Nostradamus, a guard, someone! But Francis came-"
"You told me to tell him in your letter, do not turn this around on me. Yes, Francis could have sent a physician or a guard, but so foolishly and sentimentally, he ran away into plague. I really did think you changed after you married Remy. But as I look at you now," Mary angrily chuckled. "I don't know you anymore." she shook her head from side to side, upper lip curling in something very close to disgust. "I knew somebody who looked like you once," Mary suddenly added, her tone deceptively light. "she was a liar, and a cheater." Mary's voice lowered into that low, dangerous tone she'd used on the night she, Francis and John had returned to French court. "and on one fateful night in Paris, she took a blade, much like this one," she gripped the hilt and rose it a tad. "and stabbed it right through my back and right through my heart." Mary shoved her away again. (This is literally my favourite thing ever, guys.)
"And now I will spend the remainder of my days locked away in this cell." Lola sniffles. "Ripe and ready, like a pig for the slaughter!" Lola suddenly snapped.
"Of your own violation. You made this yourself, the moment you agreed to lay with Francis. These are the consequences of you actions, Lola! You didn't think sleeping with the Dauphin of France whilst you were ovulating would cause a pregnancy? You know the changes in your body, you didn't grow up in a convent! I barely did and I know what happens then!" she spat.
"Mary, it was one night! I made a mistake! You've never made one of those? Sebastian's legitimisation bid, for instance?" she snapped, tears sliding down her cheeks.
"Stop saying that." Mary snapped. "You conceived your son in the morning." she finished. "As for my own mistakes, yes, I have made some. But no more. I am not permitted to make any. I am an Empress, a Queen since my sixth day of life." her words dropped with royal authority. "If you didn't want to end up here in this moment, you should have looked at every possible outcome that morning in Paris. Two being the most notable. A pregnancy, and me finding out. If you didn't think a pregnancy was possible, you were too childlike to lay with a man anyway. And as for me, basic monarchical loyalty should have stifled any lust between you. On your end anyway."
"It was only a few hours! A mere moment of comfort!" she cried, coming towards the wall as if to attempt to try and get away from her enraged ruler. Mary blinked owlishly.
"It matters not. A moment of betrayal to your Queen is not acceptable, not a single second. Let alone hours of it." she glared, not allowing Lola to goad her into something she'd regret. "You'll only have a few more minutes to portray your attempted alibi. I am an Empress, I have more important things to think about then your empty ecstasy. Such as a war, a war you have been a factor in igniting." she hissed. "You know, for somebody who understands not a thing about being a ruler, your actions sure have affected the fate of nations. Guiding Francis -a King- into plague. Trying to marry John off to a Hapsburg, my enemy."
"I did what I did in France because I was desperate! Because I didn't want to die, nor my baby to die in the plague! And I tried to arrange a match because Kings are dispensable! Should something happen to Francis, my child wouldn't be safe! I had to ensure a safe haven for him!"
"If Francis dies, James will be king -again, might I add- and I will be regent! Nothing will happen to the unfortunate offspring, the product of a rendezvous gone wrong that will know nothing but scorn and neglect for the rest of his life, but I cannot say the same about you!"
"I know I deserve your wrath and hatred and more, considering Francis and I share a son. But please, spare my life. My life and my sons."
"Your son's life is secure, his angering of James and George and the noble children nothing but jealousy towards them. Perhaps they will grow to enjoy each others' company in their latter years, perhaps not. But you will not force it up on any of them. He won't be punished. But you, time and again, you have betrayed me and made my life harder than need be. I gave you chance after chance to make things right, but the third time's the charm, is it not?" Mary asked. Lola's lips parted. "You will be punished once and for all."
"I know I deserve your anger, but please, see it from my perspective. Francis and you weren't together when I slept with him!"
"That doesn't mean anything!" she shrieked. "Just because we weren't physically together has just as much meaning as your declarations of close friendship and loyalty towards me for the last several years."
"What? You think that because Francis and I weren't physically together at that time, it was okay? It's true, my husband didn't think he would see me again, but you? You were going to set eyes on me mere hours later. I knew from the moment I saw you, Kenna didn't even have to interrogate you. That look in your eyes told it all. You had a plan to keep it from me, which is a treason in itself, lying to the sovereign. Let alone conceiving her bastard step child the day before she weds." Mary glared. She shook her head. "There was a time when you had meant much to me. But now," she looked her up and down, chuckling through her nose. "now you mean nothing to me.
Mary turned away from her former Lady and heard her anger evaporate and the tears grow heavy down her cheeks. She could hear the tears turn to sobs. Mary did nothing. It was Lola's time to cry.
"I want you to understand something, Lola." Mary said after several minutes of silence, broken only by the Empress' heavy breathing and the former Lady's choked cries. She heard Lola's cries not entirely stop, but stifle and took this as an opportunity to talk again. "I can hate you. I can spare your life. But I can never forgive you for what you have done to me. Not anymore."
Mary made to walk out the door, but was stopped by Lola's soft voice start to talk again, weak and exhausted.
"I don't deserve your forgiveness. But I have information for you that can benefit the war effort. More than what I've told Francis. More than Bash or Catherine or the torturer. I owe this to you."
Mary turned around slowly.
"What is it?"
"Phillip." Lola began. Mary blinked slowly, almost owlishly.
"What about him?"
"There are proven rumours that before his first marriage, he married another, whilst promised to the first wife he took. Legal under the eyes of the Vatican, not so much in the eyes of the previous King. He demanded the marriage annulled, and the couple agreed, but not before the Prince put a boy child inside her. That child grew into a man, he is the true heir of Spain and Don Carlos would be declared a-"
"Bastard." Mary whispered. "Ineligible to rule."
"Yes." Lola breathed.
"Why are you telling me this?" she asked. "After everything we've done to each other."
"I have a soul, Mary. A blackened, tainted soul. But a soul that wants to be good. I want to help you in whichever way I can. Not because I want anything out of it, not because I think I can undo my mistakes. But because it is the right thing to do. I have a duty to tell you everything I know of the Spanish King, and I have. Whenever you take my head, I will kneel to my death in peace."
Mary blinked, waiting in silence for a few minutes. Lola didn't say anything at all.
"What were you thinking, Lola?" Mary asked, her voice now quiet. "How could you do that to me? How could you think I wouldn't find out?"
"I know I shouldn't have done it, and I regret it every day since, but at the time-"
"No, I don't want to hear any more of your words. They have little meaning to me in this circumstances. Now that you've told me what you know, I need you to prove their worth. I can't go off hearsay without physical proof."
"Speak to sir Miguel Igulanta. He can confirm what I say. He has the proof."
Mary nodded silently.
"What happens now, Mary? What will become of me, of us?" Lola asked, her fingers twiddling in front of her. "Our friendship." she clarified. "You hate me, and you have every right to. I know that. But, I do not hate you, after all of this. I love you as Kenna and Greer do. I know I've done awful things, none of which deserve to be forgiven. I just ask for one last chance to prove myself to you."
"What will happen to you?" Mary asked, her voice slow and languid.
"Yes."
"Go to hell." Mary shook her head, voice as sharp as a pin. "You will go to hell."
Lola paused, ever present tears making their way down her flushed cheeks.
"I understand." she whispered. "After all I've done, said, put you through. I understand. You wont see me again, Majesty."
Lola took steps backward, but Mary's voice stopped her.
"Lola?" the Empress asked, voice dripping with genuine confusion. Lola turned. "You wish to know what would happen to you and I." she started. "We're going to hell. We're going to the battlefield. We're going to war."
My loyal subjects, the Empress began, not that long after. I have full confidence that if every man, woman and child, do their duty for their country, leave not a stone unturned and leave not a speck neglected to the best of their ability, we will defend our island home and our European soil that we have cared for as if it was our own. We will ride the storm of war and tame it as one does a wild beast. We will outlive the tyranny of the Spanish King. And should our allies neglect us, which I do not for a single second believe possible, we have the full ability to tame this beast for years, if necessary, we can do it alone. It is the will of your sovereign Lord and Lady, who will take up arms by your side as your generals and your judges. Along with the finest swordsmen in the world, the most tactical generals ever seen on this soil in which we are in duty to protect, the storm of battle will prove not enough to the might of a unified empire. Men and women acting as good comrades should, Catholic and Protestant working together as one, this is the vision I believe in and this is the vision I have created with all of your help. No man or woman shall be alone in this trying time, my people will aid each other as the finest comrades will always partake. Although, my people, multiple faiths and countries have fallen to the tyranny of the Spanish, and multiple more may yet fall in this almighty battle, I can swear to you on my immortal soul that it will not deter us. It will not extinguish the fighting flame that our proud and gracious ancestors have lit inside the human spirit. We will fight them. We will fight the oppression of tolerance and we will fight every single man whom stands in our way of revolutionary change. We will see this battle to it's end! We will fight in the land of the French, we will fight in the isle of the Irish, the Welsh, the English and the Scottish. We will be unified in the face of our enemy and we will face death with not an ounce of fear! We will fight with everything we physically have, we will never let them win! We will never give up our land to the Spanish and we will never let them take away our freedom! We will defend our island and our land whatever the cost will be. We will fight them in any setting. We will fight them in the seas that are our own! We will fight in the mountaintops, we will fight them in the streets, the farms and the oceanic borders! We will never surrender our victory! I believe this not for a single moment, but should our land or our island home be starved and oppressed, our spirit will never surrender it's freedom! Our empire, guarded by the finest fleet, our working men and women will forever carry on the struggle, until in the almighty Lords chosen time, the world we have envisioned and the world we will create will step forward from these dark times and flourish in a new era of this world!