The next day Catherine tried to discretely spy upon St. Maur. The man certainly flirted a lot. It seemed if anybody with a skirt walked by, he approached them. This did not seem to be the manner of the masked gentleman. If anything St. Maur seemed more in line with Henry.
Catherine sagged against the nearest wall in confusion. She was all mixed up. This man reminded her of Henry, which the masked man did as well, but this gentleman did not remind her of the masked gentleman. And it was only Henry's negative traits that reminded her of him, whereas with the masked man, it was the characteristics of Henry that she loved that she noticed. Why was this all so confusing? Was it just the disappointment of figuring out who it was?
She needed to know more of this St. Maur. If indeed he was the masked man, there was definitely a possibility that she could be blackmailed. He seemed like the type that would love to have power over someone in her position.
He glanced in her direction and gave her a knowing smile, the kind that made her skin crawl. She had to know the truth. There was no way that this man could have discovered her. There was no way that this imbecile outsmarted her.
Rising to leave the corridor, Catherine made her way to her study. She needed more information on this man. She certainly couldn't ask about St. Maur, Henry's surprising reaction to her little bit of questioning saw to that. And, now that she thought about it, what was the reason for Henry's reaction? Henry and she'd had several conversations that circled around one individual and he'd never reacted like that.
Perhaps Henry just didn't care for him, but why, they seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Of course maybe that was the reason, Henry just didn't like a rival. A frown graced Catherine's face, but who would pick St. Maur over Henry? Henry should have nothing to worry about, he was infinitely better looking, didn't exude the creepiness that radiated off of St. Maur, and he was much more charming in Catherine's completely unbiased opinion. There was also the fact that he was a king.
She could send any of her flying squadron, but they might only be able to pick up on gossip, and while rumors were always interesting, she needed facts about the man, facts that she definitely could get from Henry's study. In there, there would be documents pertaining to St. Maur's title, property, requests and petitions to Henry, and his marriage, or at least some of this information.
She'd just have to time getting into his office without him being there. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but with the negotiations that recently took place, Henry often had to go over documents. She would just have to look fast and hope that some mistress of his would be able to keep him occupied.
It wasn't fair the way Catherine watched St. Maur. In fact in Henry's opinion it was downright scandalous. Not that her behavior itself was scandalous, it was just apparent to him that Catherine was watching this man quite intently.
She hadn't even put any of her flying squadron on him, which meant whatever she wanted St. Maur for she wanted him to herself. Why would she have any interest in this guy?
As Henry watched Catherine watch St. Maur, he truly couldn't figure it out. The man was a womanizer, he chased after anyone. He also didn't have the best character. Politically speaking, the man had nothing to offer France, his lands didn't produce the most revenue, his coffers weren't the fullest, and he barely contributed during the negotiations. Did Catherine know what she could potentially be getting herself into?
Henry felt his fist instinctively clench when he saw St. Maur send Catherine a lewd smile. The man really had no shame, sending his queen such a lascivious expression. At least Catherine didn't seem comfortable on the receiving end of his invitations. That would make punching St. Maur so much easier.
He watched Catherine promptly leave in the direction of her chambers, and then quickly brought his attention back to St. Maur, who also watched Catherine leave with a smug expression.
This man needed to leave. Now.
As the king Henry could just kick him out and give no explanation, but that would cause a scene. Maybe he would just continue to watch Catherine and try to figure out her motives.
It couldn't be an affair, could it? Catherine didn't seem to encourage the man, she actually appeared rather annoyed with him. It relieved Henry that romance didn't seem to be the driving force behind her curiosity, but if not romance then why on earth would she be interested in him.
He'd have to pay more attention to her actions, maybe then he could try to understand what motivated her. Plus now that the masked woman was gone, he'd need something to keep him occupied. He failed at discerning her identity, but he maybe could help Catherine.
She'd just received word that Henry would probably be holed up in a meeting for the next few hours. That would give her plenty of time to scour his study. It had taken a few more days to finally escape his presence.
It was funny really. She always craved his attention, wished that she had his eye. Except these past few days, which he seemed to always be hovering around. Somehow always on the periphery. Had this not been the direst of circumstances, maybe Catherine would have tried to understand why he was always around, and quick with a smile. But right now she needed to squash St. Maur.
Making her way to Henry's office, Catherine smiled at the posted guard.
"His majesty the King is in conference and not in my Queen." Catherine of course already knew all of this.
"I'm just dropping off some documents, and then discussing outfits with his valet for the upcoming meeting with the ambassador." This was not a lie, she did plan on conversing with his valet, just not right now, but it would excuse her duration in the office.
The guard easily let Catherine in. Looking around the room, Catherine didn't even know where to start. Perhaps she should start with a marital document? The fact that they were both in love with their respective spouses really pulled the masked gentleman and her together.
She immediately went to Henry's desk. She didn't believe that anything of value pertaining to St. Maur would be in there, but this would be a perfect opportunity to also know what Henry could have planned for France's future. Opening the top drawer, Catherine noticed a bunch of quill pens and blank parchment paper. Nothing of interest really caught her eye until she moved the parchment and a miniature of herself fell from beneath the sheets.
Odd, she thought as she picked up the small portrait. It was most definitely her. Why would Henry have a miniature of her tucked away in his desk? While she studied the picture she realized that it had to have been painted fairly recently, at least in the last few years. The painting did not resemble her teenage self but more her more mature adult self.
How did Henry get this? She could not for the life of her recall sitting for a portrait, she hadn't done one in years. In fact, the last portrait she sat for included her oldest four children.
Voices outside the door pulled Catherine back to the reason she was there. Setting the miniature back down in the drawer killed her, she wanted desperately to know why it was there, but she had a more pressing matter to deal with first.
Moving over to one of tall cabinets, Catherine started to rifle through land deeds.
After scouring documents for what felt like hours, it seemed St. Maur held no properties of value, and wasn't married. When Catherine realized he wasn't married she sagged against the wall and slid to the floor. Relief flooded her entire being. Her masked man most definitely was married and talked about true pain, she saw it in his eyes.
It was then she felt a tear run down her cheek. She had been so nervous that the masked gentleman had been St. Maur, and he would spill her secret, but now it looked like fate smiled upon her.
Henry was once again back in the garden. He'd had a fairly heated discussion with some of his military personnel and what was the best way to go about Italy after the treaty. He had hoped to see Catherine walk by, perhaps ask for her opinion, but he hadn't seen her.
She had actually made herself scarce all day. It was almost funny, normally she didn't cease with her opinions. Now that he wanted hers, she was nowhere to be found. He'd even asked one maid who walked by him about Catherine's whereabouts, but she didn't know, or at least wasn't going to tell him. So instead he'd settled for watching her doorway, while trying to muddle over his meeting. From where he was sitting he could see through a window the people who entered and left her apartments, so far no one of significance.
A few more servants walked by, but Henry was able to ignore them until a laundry maid walked by with a red fabric that slipped out from the white sheet that was covering it. Henry perked up and watched the maid. Even though it was just a small piece of fabric that he could see, it gave him plenty. The red was the exact shade of red that the masked lady's gown was. There was no mistaking the color. He had it burned in his memory, almost half expecting the masked lady to wear the gown again at court.
Rising he slowly followed the maid, who made her way through the garden, off to the laundry Henry presumed. He still could only see that one small patch of red, but it had to be same gown.
Then as if fate heard him wishing he could see more, a gardener spooked the maid, making her drop everything to the ground. Henry picked up his pace and quickly took hold of the red fabric and pulled it out from amongst the heap, the red gown.
He stood dumbfounded. This was the dress, the plain red dress worn by the masked lady. There was absolutely no embellishment on the gown at all. Just looking at the gown he could picture the woman wearing it, could still feel her dancing in his arms.
"Forgive me your majesty" the maid stuttered out, too embarrassed to even look in his direction.
Henry still couldn't acknowledge the girl, he was too caught up in the moment. This gown just might answer all of his questions.
"Whose gown is this?" he finally got out. This was the moment, he could feel it. His whole body was brimming with excitement. He had lost all hope once the Venetians left, but somehow this gown stayed. The moment almost felt biblical.
"It is her majesty's".
Once the words hit Henry's ears, he looked up at the maid. Was this a joke?
The maid, picking up on but not understanding Henry's tension continued, "I….I was just bringing her majesty's items to the laundry."
"You are sure that this is the Queen's gown?"
"Yes your majesty, the Queen's items never get mixed with anyone else's." The maid looked scared out of her wits, probably afraid that she had done something wrong.
Realizing the maid probably wanted the gown back, Henry dismissed her, telling the girl that he was keeping the dress.
How could this be Catherine's? He'd never seen her in this gown, not even one of her ladies had worn something this simple. It couldn't be Catherine's, she wasn't even at the masked ball.
Then like lightening it all hit Henry at once. It was Catherine's, and the reason the woman so reminded him of Catherine was because she was in fact Catherine. It was why the masked woman was in Catherine's favorite garden, and why Henry quite literally ran into Catherine chasing the masked woman down.
But how did he feel about this? He spilled his heart out to this woman, did Catherine know the whole time and was playing with him? Or would this revelation be the same kind of shock to her. And then she kissed him! Did she know that was her husband or did she willingly kiss a stranger! Clutching the gown as if it were the holiest of relics, Henry was off to find his wife.
After reassembling Henry's office, Catherine made her way to Henry's closet, while she was already in his unoccupied quarters she might as well pick out an outfit that would complement her own for the upcoming meeting. Normally she and Henry's valet would work together, but since he was not here and she knew her way around, she figured she would just go ahead and pick something.
Rummaging through his wardrobe, nothing really stood out to her, maybe she had time to have something specially made. Frustrated at his lacking wardrobe, Catherine smacked his hanging clothes. It was then something from above fell down and landed at her feet.
Catherine bent over to pick the item up. It was a hat, an unremarkable hat except for the singular red feather that stuck out from the side.
She dropped the hat in surprise, almost as if recognizing the hat burned her. This was the masked gentleman's hat, and it was in Henry's room, tucked away amongst his items! She picked the hat up again to inspect it again, perhaps she just misidentified it.
But she didn't, she recognized that hat, had searched for that hat. She looked back into the wardrobe, probably the rest of the costume was tucked away in there as well. That meant that whole time the masked man was Henry.
Letting that news sink in, Catherine realized she needed a seat, but was so out of focus she couldn't find one. The only thing in her vision was this hat, the hat that sat upon Henry's head while they talked about private issues.
Did he know? Did he have any idea that she was the woman behind the mask? Is that why he had said he loved her, because he knew? Or did he really unburden his soul unknowingly to his wife. The room started to spin, and the air became hot. This was becoming way too much for Catherine.
Except much to her surprise, as she turned toward the door, still holding the hat, the door opened, and in rushed Henry, with a determined look and a plain red dress in hand. And then it did become too much for Catherine and felt her whole world go black.
So sorry for the delay again, it was just I had so many different ideas and scenarios about how this could play out. Hopefully it's a cohesive chapter that you all enjoy!