Chapter 2

The date was set. On the day Marie de Guise was set to marry James V of Scotland, Anne would wed Allistor. Already, Francis was speaking with a seamstress and measurements were being taken, although the wedding would not be for another year. After a heavy scolding from her father, and much arguing, Anne had locked herself in her chambers and refused to come out.

Francis was furious, calling her ungrateful and saying all sorts of things that a father should never say to his child. Eventually though, after they both had a chance to calm down, they came upon an agreement; Anne would wed Allistor without complaint if she were allowed time alone with him to get to know him. She refused to let her maidenhood be sacrificed on the altar of political alliance. So, Francis agreed.

Right away, anything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Allistor tried to give his fiancé flowers, which she turned out to be allergic to. Anne tried to sew her future husband a jacket, which proved to be too small and had to be put away in hopes that she could give it to her son if she ever had one. Eventually, the two settled into a muted silence and forced one-word exchanges after Francis was forced to return to France and leave his daughter there when he left on urgent business.

Anne wrote daily to her father, and when he asked her in a letter how she was being treated, she wrote "Do not misunderstand and think that I am being mistreated, Papa. I am fed well, housed well, and treated well by all except my soon-to-be husband. It is not that he is cruel to me and beats me, but that he treats me with a mild neglect, as if I were a stray dog or an unwelcomed guest."

It wasn't until they moved to the Edinburgh Castle that things truly changed between the two. The weather was bitter cold and rainy, and the soon-to-be-newlyweds needed to get used to being alone together. So, James V saw it fitting to send his charges off for a bit with the usual pack of servants, grooms, and the like. Anne brought three handmaidens of her own, who spoke French and comforted her when her fiancé ignored her; Lyanna Thompson, Evangeline Barter, and Selena Gill.

The day the group set out for Edinburgh castle from Stirling Castle was a cold day, and the four day journey wasn't easy.

Anne rode in a litter piled with cushions and blankets and hung with thick curtains to fight off the chill. The whole way there, Allistor ignored his bride save to ask her how she was. Anne would peek at him through the curtains, pale faced and looking rather weak, but she would nod and say she was fine before ducking back into the warmth. Allistor soon learned when they got to Edinburgh that she had been lying to him.

When they arrived, it had begun to snow, a late winter snow, and Allistor wondered if his bride had had the sense to go inside and not wait to be helped out of the litter. What he saw, after he realized she had not gone inside, was Selena, Lyanna and Evangeline hovering around the litter, looking rather worried and frightened.

"What's happened?" he asked Lyanna, the one who spoke the best and most English.

She turned her dark eyes up at him, lips pressed tight in a line. "Her ladyship is ill, we fear. We cannot get her to come out."

Allister looked inside the litter to see that Anne had wrapped herself tightly in the blankets and she was still shivering, her lips pale and blue. The poor girl. France was warmer and she wasn't yet used to the cold. He should've actually spoken to her, made sure she was warm enough. With well-practiced ease, Allistor carried his bride indoors and set her down by the roaring fire in the main room.

"Speak to me, lass. Can you breathe?" he asked her, his own larger hands rubbing her small tightly clenched ones.

Anne's eyes cracked open slightly, then wider as she nodded softly, trying to sit up. The color began to return to her lips, and she smiled softly at him, muttering something softly in French.

"Come again?" Allistor asked.

"She says she's sorry for troubling you." Lyanna translated as she handed her mistress a cup full of steaming liquid, tea no doubt.

"Troubling me?"

Anne spoke again, her hands shaking so bad that Allistor had to steady the cup on her hands. Allistor looked to Lyanna, who sighed softly. "She says that she did not want you to think you were marrying a weak woman."

Allistor sighed. "Lass, complaining is one thing but letting yourself freeze to death is another."

Anne nodded, at least he thought she did. It was too hard to tell with how shaky she was. "Th-thank you…"

From that night on, things were easier between to two. Anne spoke more English as she came to trust the man she would marry, Allistor made more of an effort to speak to her. Soon, the two were having long conversations well into the night, usually over the chessboard, and the wedding was looked upon as a happy day to come.

When Francis came to Stirling to see Anne, and was told by James V that he had sent her and Allistor to Edinburgh, the French nation was outraged. But once he arrived at Edinburgh to see Anne and Allistor out riding together, his anger melted.

Anne looked happy. Not miserable. And her handmaidens attested to it. With a smile on his face, he simply rode on to the castle and pretended he hadn't seen the two of them.

A/N: Aww aren't' they sweet? Y'know I never noticed how hard it was to write Scotland until I did and now I'm struggling to keep him in character. But I think I can pull this off. Fingers crossed everyone!

I do not own any of the characters except for Anne, Lyanna, Selena, and Evangeline. They're my OCs. Review please! Thank you!