Chapter 13

"I'm worried about Charles. He may break under his reign. People are already getting suspicious." Her words, softly muttered into the darkness, surprised Narcisse.
"The boy is still traumatized by his kidnapping."
"Yes, and he is way too young. But unfortunately he was declared to be of full-age so we don't stand a chance of intervening or hiding his condition." Stephane felt some movement besides him and assumed that she sat up in their bed.
"Catherine, he needs help. And hiding him does neither help your son, nor France."
He heard another rustle next to him, then the soft echo of her naked soles, moving away from the bed.

"And how in the name of god are we supposed to help him, Stephane? He is still not ready to be king. He doesn't even want to be ready – or be a king to be more precise. His kidnapping and the murder of his friend was terrible, I agree on that and of course I granted him some time to recover. But we cannot forget that he is still king of France. He has to function, period. I can't even remember a time where the hereditary line of the house Valois was more in danger than now. First Henry's madness, then Fancis' untimely passing and now an underaged boy who threatens to drown in melancholy." As soon as the flood of her words had stopped, Stephane crawled out of bed as well to search for his wife in the darkness.
"You need to give him some time to process all this madness. And don't be too hard on him. He was never prepared to become a king like Francis was. Cut him some slack."

He went on his knees next to the chair where Catherine was sitting and searched for her hand. But she immediately freed herself from his grasp.
"We do not have the luxury of time. And even if we did- will we have to worry constantly about the kind of impact the next crisis will have on him from now on? A king has to make hard decisions, he has to send men to their deaths. And he needs a certain severity to demonstrate his power. There will always be enemies who will hate you or be out to destroy or even kill you. Rulership requires not only sacrifices, Stephane, but also remorslessness. Do you seriously think Charles contains this strength within himself? I don't think so, if one single kidnapping puts him into this kind of state."
"You're too hard on him, Catherine. His friend was murdered in cold blood and - as you have said - he is too young for sacrifices of these kind. Experiences like these have the power t otraumatize a sensitive young man. Quite understandably so." What Stephane didn't understand was the harshness of her words. Normally the Queen Mother defended her children like an angry lioness.
"No, bowing to this weakness is precisely the wrong signal! He does not need our protection, he needs to learn how to defy fate. Otherwise fate strikes him down again and again."
"Do you listen to yourself, Catherine? Charles needs your sympathy, the comfort of his mother but certainly no further pressure from your side. Or else this will break him!"

Notwithstanding her refusal he grasped her hands firmly into his and drew her towards him. The vehemence of her resistance surprised him so he involuntarily released her again.
"He has been abducted, Stephane, and released unscathed. I had been held hostage for several years. I've been tortured, ravished, abducted, poisoned, threatened with execution, taken captive, locked into a cage with a tiger. I have carried five of my children to their graves, been accused of murdering one of them... Should I continue? All this a person can bear and carry on without shaddering to pieces." At the end of her emotional speech Catherine's voice got quieter and quieter until Stephane could only hear a faint whisper.
"Catherine," he hesitated and wasn't sure how to react now. He hadn't expected a revelation of this significance. "You can not compare yourself with your boy! You're the strongest person I've ever met."
Suddenly Narcisse stopped. Did she say ravished? This would mean that the terrible rumors that have always been circulating around court about her time as a hostage in Florence were true. This realization gave him chills. She had just been a young, innocent child that time.
"Catherine," he helplessly searched for her in the dark but his hands reached nothing but thin air.

"Oh, please, do not pity me!" Even though her words sounded dismissing, they still expressed something terribly vulnerable. He had only experienced her being ths ivulnerable once before. That time when she had confessed her love to him and served him his beloved horse as a revenge for his treason.
"Did you ever consider, that not everyone is as strong and unbreakable as you seem to be? Perhaps you should not look at Charles with the eyes of this superhuman queen but with those of a mother", he pointed out.
Involuntarily he wondered if there had ever been one single person in her life that had just wrapped Catherine de' Medici into a tight embrace and offered her solace. Had she ever seriously confided in someone and had she ever come undone before?
"Charles must be strong and he can't become a whiny wimp."

Stephane Narcisse spotted his wife in the darkness and slowly walked towards her.
"As I understand it, a mother's love is the greatest power of all, Catherine. Your son needs you, do not refuse this help." He made another attempt to reach out for her and this time she allowed his touch. So he bravely pulled her into his arms. "You didn't have anyone to lean on back then. But Charles got you. And you are strong. And he is your son. It is no shame to be there for one's family, nor is it a shame to accept the help someone you can trust might offer."
He gently started rocking her back and forth. "Let's call it a day, shall we, my dear? Tomorrow we still have more than enough time to worry about Charles and France."
Stephane felt her body tremble slightly in his arms. When he realized that she was nodding, he simply picked her up and carried her to their bed. A faint protest rose from her lips but she remained in his arms without a struggle.

Stephane gently le this wife down on the mattress and slipped in and before she could retreat to her side of the bed he wrapped his arms around her. He knew that she would never voluntary seek his nearness but she tolerated it in her current state by defeating the immediate urge to flee from his embrace. After a few minutes he noticed that the tension had left her body. He even felt her pressing her body closer to his.
"I'm going to speak to Charles tomorrow," she murmured sleepily against his arm. Stephane ran his fingers over her midsection and buried his nose into her neck.
"Sounds like a good plan. And if you need my support, please let me know. Good night, my lovely wife."
"Good night, Stephane."

Wow, you outdid yourself with these amazing reviews. OMG I'm sooo happy right now - but I hope you realize that this puts a lot of preasure on me, right? I will do my very best to not disappoint. Even though you might have wished for another outcome of this night, but it was angst-time I'm afraid.

at Mediciqueen: Yes dear, right at it, right at translating and writing ... :-)

at G: Thank you, let's keep this ship sailing. Welcome on board, Dear. ;o)

at demedicigirl: more conversation - this time serious one. I hope you approve. More hot to come, I actually wrote a nice little smut scene today but there are still lots of chapters in between...

at D: yeah, I want to show and find new sides in both of them - but I love caring Narcisse and strugling Catherine.

at Suzan: I'm very glad you liked this part. And thanks for sharing your thoughts about the whole situation. Yes, he's in lust with her - but he also cares for her. No worries - more chapters and more drama to come...

at callmecordelia1: Oh yes, she is the kind of woman that takes revenge and I had a lot of fun imagining it... hihi

at Leryn: new part - yes ; hot - unfortuntely not - at least not yet. I hope you still like where this is going to.