Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to review! Your kind words always mean so much. Sorry for the delay, just kept hitting blocks with this particular chapter. Hopefully you all enjoy!
Today was the day the Venetians were leaving. For Henry it was also the last chance to catch a glimpse of the masked lady. Once they left, he would probably never cross paths with her again. Or even if he did he might not even know, he never figured out her identity.
But what was it about this woman? He knew that his heart belonged to Catherine and always would. He also didn't want to pursue anything with her other than friendship. He couldn't quite explain the pull towards her. Maybe it was the mystery, or the comfortable feeling he had with her, or maybe it was still there was something about her that reminded him of his wife. She felt like Catherine in his arms, their conversation in the maze reminded him of conversing with Catherine back before every conversation turned into an argument, and that day when he saw her standing in the courtyard he noticed she had lighter hair, like Catherine's.
Speaking of Catherine, Henry looked to his left where his wife stood. She looked radiant. Did she long for him the way he did for her? Speaking with the mysterious lady gave him a new perspective, one from a woman's point. Perhaps Catherine acted the way she did out of pain and not hatred like Henry previously thought. Maybe she hid her feelings from him, the way he hid his from her. He couldn't blame her if she did, their marriage wasn't known for romantic overtures.
Catherine hadn't even looked his way, instead keeping herself preoccupied by scanning everyone in the rooms face. Was she looking for someone? Odd, normally she took these political matters seriously. She seemed like she was barely paying any attention to their guests who were thanking them for their hospitality and looked forward to the compromises made. Instead she just kept looking at the people amongst the crowd.
Of course now that he was fully watching his wife, it did seem like she looked stress. She barely smiled, and while if she were trapped into conversation with him that would be normal but she was still playing the role of hostess, to her own countrymen! Florence and Venice may not have had the most solid of relationships, but she knew that France and Venice needed one another, especially to keep Spain under control. Catherine was not herself, she just seemed preoccupied.
Throat clearing pulled Henry back to the party saying their farewells. Didn't that look great, while the queen seemed distracted by someone in the crowd, the king was distracted by the queen. Trying to divert his attention back to his guests, Henry couldn't help but allow his thoughts slip back to Catherine. His masked partner had wanted reconciliation, could Catherine as well?
Without thinking Henry reached out and took hold of her hand, immediately pulling her attention from the crowd to their entwined hands. She looked up at him with a questioning expression. Henry just smiled down at her and gave her hand a quick squeeze when she returned the smile with a small one of her own. That had to be a good sign.
Returning his attention to the speech being given, Henry felt eight feet tall. He would send her flowers today. He could easily have his secretary get on that after the goodbyes. Catherine would like that, she always loved flowers.
Unbeknownst to Henry, after giving his secretary the task of delivering flowers to Catherine, was that his secretary assigned the task to his visiting nephew. He had brought the young man, visiting from Provence, to assist him with his many tasks after all the talks and negotiations. The young man quickly wrote down the queen's name in his neatest calligraphy and brought the flowers to the queen's chambers, leaving just as quickly as he arrived.
Once Catherine entered her chambers, however, a smile was not the first thing to grace her face. She immediately noticed the vase filled with an assortment of flowers from her favorite garden, but the vase was not put on her desk, which was where her ladies placed everything. So who ever dropped the flowers off was not familiar with her space, even Henry's secretary would place items on her desk in her study, not the first table one saw when they entered her quarters.
Eyeing the flowers suspiciously she looked at the small card placed delicately next to the vase. The card simply read her name, "Catherine", not her title but her given name. Obviously the sender felt comfortable with her.
Her first thought would have been Henry, but there was no reason for him to send her flowers. Sure he'd do something like this for a mistress but not his wife, at least not anymore. Plus he was really not interested in her, on more than one occasion this past week alone she'd caught him quite obviously watching the Italian women. Studying the card also puzzled her. Catherine was not written by someone's handwriting that she was familiar with. This definitely left out Henry, she had close to twenty years of reading his secretary's scribbling. It was also not any of her children's, though one would assume they'd use the title of mother. There was no one visiting that could claim such a close acquaintance.
Except, what if?
Catherine felt her heart seize up. There was no way it could be. She quickly looked around, as if that were the moment the sender would reveal themselves. Could they have found out?
She immediately went to her two guards, "Who was it that dropped off the flowers?"
"They didn't say, your majesty" answered one guard.
"So you let a complete stranger into my quarters?" Catherine demanded.
"Begging your pardon your highness, all the young man said was that he had a gift for her majesty and was instructed to drop it off" the guard stuttered out.
"Did they leave a name?" Catherine could feel her patience wearing thin. If this supposed young man worked for the masked man, that meant that he knew who she was, which would only spell disaster for her.
"No, your majesty, I've never seen the young lad before."
So it was a visiting secretary that dropped off the flowers.
"But he did have a Provençal accent."
The guard all but confirmed her fears. If her masked man was from Provence it would make sense that they would be involved with the negotiations, they were right next to the Italian border. This was definitely a disaster.
"From now on, I want identification for anyone that steps foot into my quarters" She reprimanded her guards and stormed back into in chambers.
So he'd discovered her identity it seemed, but how, and more importantly how did she not figure him out first? And what did his gift mean? He didn't sign the card, which could mean he was keeping up their charade, or his lack of name could mean he was taunting her because she still didn't know who he was. If it was the latter it would only be a matter of time before Henry found out that she'd kissed the gentleman.
She didn't even want to get into the hurt she felt as well. Her masked gentleman felt like a real friend, and now some strange noble knew some of her deepest secrets. This was not how she wanted to spend the day.
She was looking forward to having the castle back to normalcy after the Venetian party left. She had scanned the great hall one last time for her masked gentleman, at this point it seemed more habit. Then of course Henry had held her hand during the farewell speeches!
Sighing, Catherine sat down at the table. She had completely forgotten how confused she felt at the time. Then he had actually smiled at her. What on earth had all of that meant?
Catherine caught sight of the flowers again, and let out a laugh, finding out who the masked gentleman was would definitely distract her enough to not worry about Henry's impromptu affection.
Henry couldn't wait to see Catherine. Surely the flowers would have brightened her mood. Maybe during dinner they would be able to have a civil conversation without one getting mad at the other. He wished he could have seen her earlier but appointments kept him away.
Henry took his seat and waited with baited breath. The banquet hall continued to fill with several individuals that were still around from the negotiations, but Henry paid them no mind, instead he just watched the doorway that Catherine should appear from.
And then she did, except she didn't seem pleased. Rather she seemed tenser than she had been at the farewells. Maybe she didn't like the flowers? Henry made up his mind then and there to not mention them. Maybe she didn't want to reconcile and he had been too hopeful since his masked lady had so desperately wanted to reunite with her husband.
"Catherine" he acknowledged as she took her place next to him. He could almost cut the tension with a knife that was rolling off of her. What could possibly have her so stressed?
"Henry" she responded tersely, barely giving him a look, rather continually looking around the room. This was odd behavior Henry noted. She had clearly been looking for someone earlier as well.
"How are you this evening?" It was stupid to continue to pester her, past experiences had taught him that but he couldn't help himself. He just wanted to talk to her about anything, everything.
"I'm fine" she really didn't want to entertain a conversation, but on the bright side she clearly wasn't upset with him, he would have known by now if she was.
Henry allowed silence to reign between them. His goal wasn't to further agitate Catherine. Instead he studied her. She seemed to really study every person in the room. Every so often he would also notice that it looked like she was attempting to eavesdrop on conversations. Of course from their position it was a fruitless attempt, even though he'd been guilty of the same crime several times. Some of her ladies would also come up and whisper in her ear.
Yes, Catherine was clearly looking for someone, but for what purpose?
"How many courtiers were from Provence with these last negotiations?" Her question pulled Henry from his thoughts. Maybe she would clue him into her search.
"Only a handful" He wondered which one had piqued her curiosity and why, but continued to wait to see where the conversation went.
Catherine looked like she was trying to word her next question, the hesitation written all over her face, "How many of them are still here?"
Henry was puzzled. He knew that Catherine personally knew two lords already and could quite easily see them.
"Not too many, I believe you are already acquainted with the Lords Conteville and Meulan, both of which are conversing in the corner. Then there is also the young Baron de Stuteville, though he did not partake much given his age, and in the far right corner is Lord St. Maur. "
He watched Catherine's eyes follow his hands pointing in the direction of Lord St. Maur, and once he eyes settled it seemed like she stopped breathing. Odd.
"What do you know of him?"
"He is a notorious womanizer, loves to bed any woman, not someone a lady should hang around." Henry ignored her sarcastic glance. What could Catherine possibly want with someone like him.
"The women seem to flock to him" she commented, rather unnecessarily in Henry's opinion. Of course though, her observation was correct. Lord St. Maur had several women surrounding him, all vying for his attention, which he was happy to give, until he realized Catherine was looking in his direction.
"It is ridiculous the way he conducts himself, he should act more accordingly to his title."
Catherine couldn't believe her ears. Was Henry really complaining about someone's womanizing ways? Other than this Lord St. Maur, Henry had to be the worst offender. But right now none of that mattered. Was he the masked gentleman?
Catherine couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed if that was the case. The man was similar in age to Henry, maybe a little bit younger. The man also kept his hair shorter. As for his build, it was hard to tell with her distance from him, but if she had to guess it had to be similar to Henry's with Henry being on the leaner side. He even led a similar lifestyle.
It seemed this man checked off almost all of what she knew about her masked friend, but Catherine still couldn't help but feel disappointed. She didn't want this Lord St. Maur to be her masked partner.
"Was he invited for the negotiations?"
"Yes." Henry sounded gruff and unhappy.
"Do you know if he is married?" If he was Catherine knew she had found him.
"I'm not sure, I believe there is a wife but I have never met her." Catherine felt her heart plummet. She didn't want this man to be her masked gentleman. Not that she had an idea of who she wanted it to be, she just knew that it wasn't meant to be him.
The man clearly knew that she was watching him too. Every so often he would look back at her to make eye contact, she was also aware that Henry was aware of this man's behavior. Every time she made eye contact with St. Maur she could feel Henry stiffen.
"When does he depart?"
Henry took a little longer to answer this question, Catherine swore she heard under his breath, "Hopefully soon. "
"I think in the next few days" was Henry's eventual response. "Why the sudden interest?" Henry's tone made Catherine look at him questioningly. It almost sounded as if Henry was jealous. Obviously that couldn't be, he hadn't had interest in her for years. Sure he held her hand this morning and complemented her the other day, but he was probably just in a good mood. And why shouldn't he be? He had a couple of weeks with a whole batch of new women to pick from. On several occasions Catherine caught him eyeing all the women.
Still something in his tone made her look at Henry through a sideways glance.
"One of the rooms for visiting lords was thoroughly trashed, when I questioned the maids they couldn't give a name but said the lord that was occupying the room was from Provence and was only here for the duration of the negotiations. I just wanted to make sure that I had the correct person reprimanded." Catherine allowed the lie to fall easily from her lips. If she didn't stop this man, he might try to blackmail her, clearly knowing her identity, and Henry's summation of his character wasn't putting her worry to rest.
Henry seemed to accept her response but his eyes said like they knew she was lying. It bothered Catherine that after all these years of separation, Henry still had the ability to see right through her. She felt the guilt from lying start to creep up. She wanted desperately to tell Henry the truth, or at least the part where she needed this gentleman gone before it escalated, but that would mean mentioning her little kiss, and Catherine wasn't quite ready to give everything up.
Henry tried hard to hide his disappointment. Catherine lied to him about wanting information on this man.
"I see" was all he could muster out. Why was she so interested in St. Maur? He was nothing special, and he most definitely wouldn't treat Catherine right. Not that he was going to treat Catherine in any way. He wished desperately he could seek out his masked friend, she would be able to give him insight into Catherine's behavior. She had been spot on about everything else.
On the other hand, he could just have St. Maur kicked out of the castle. He was the king, he had the authority to do so. But then Catherine might get upset. She clearly had plans for this gentleman and if he interfered with them the whole castle wouldn't know peace for at least a week.
He could curse the masked woman, if he hadn't conversed with her he never would have believed that he and Catherine had a chance at reconciliation.
Henry sighed, loudly. So loudly in fact that Catherine turned to look at him with a reproachful glance. At least that got her to look his way.