Chapter 15
Three days later all arrangements for their trip and the King's stay at the Monastery had been made. They hadn't yet received news from Henry but Catherine was sure her son would come and visit his brother should he be able to unclue himself from his current obligations. These two had always been so close to each other as children and she strongly believed that Henry would stand by Charles' side in his time of mental distress.
Catherine supervised the last preparations to make sure all luggage was stowed correctly with nothing forgotten. When everything was prepeared to her satisfaction, the royal entourage began to move. Stephane had saddled his black stallion Demon and rode ahead of the carriage she shared with Charles and her grandchild John. She wasn't sure whether she was upset or relieved. Probably both.
For a wonder Charles was more talkative than usual and his gloomy mood had lightened a bit. The prospect of a time out apparently had a positive effect on him. The presence of the small child also helped to lighten the tense atmosphere between mother and son. The boy even managed to get a tiny smile out of her otherwise so serious son. A little shimmer of hope, she thought. Perhaps Charles would actually find his peace in the monastery and thus find new strength for the tasks that still awaited him as king.
They arrived at the monastery around noon. The abbot, a devout and warm-hearted monk, greeted them in his usual pleasing manner. To Catherine's utter delight he invited them to a mutual lunch. An invitation she was more than eager to accept.
But not only Charles, also Stephane seemed at ease and chatted with the clergyman during their light meal. She confined herself to mutely eating up while studying the men at her table.
After a brief and uncommon sincere farewell from her son, the rest of the group - except some men of the royal guard who stayed behind with their king - continued their way. This time, however, her husband climbed into the carriage after Catherine and sat down on the opposite side.
"What exactly are you doing here? I thought you preferred the company of your new horse?" She could not help but point out.
"I should beware of paying more attention to my stallion than my wife. Otherwise he still may end on my plate," Narcisse shot right back at her.
The remaining part of their journey was quite harmonious as they talked about their current government business and surprisingly shared their opinion in most of these cases. But as twilight slowly illuminated the horizon in a beautiful orange-red light, Catherine got restless. Before she could even start complaing about what caused her current unease, Narcisse already knocked against the wall of their carriage and shouted to the coachman:
"We're going to stop by at the next tavern. Send a rider ahead so they can prepare a good meal and ready some rooms for the night." Looking at Catherine, who was facing him with a raised eyebrow, he said, "If I have learned one thing, it's never to come between Catherine de' Midici and her food."
She could only agree to this wisdom.
Half an hour later they had finally reached their destination for the day and Catherine was hungrily wolfing down a plate full of steaming chicken, rice and fresh bread. She tried to ignore her husband's gaze that was directed at her throughout their meal.
After dinner the couple retired to their room while the nursemaid put John to bed. The servants had already brought up some of their luggage. Catherine looked at the small bed with her arms on her hips, then she looked questioning her husband.
"This can only be some kind of a mistake. They brought your luggage to my room as well. Servants!" Stephane just shook his head.
"No, this is not a mistake but our shared room," he informed her.
"Impossible! Just look at this tiny bed," the Queen Mother pointed accusingly at the little annoyance in the middle of the room. Her husband provocatively lay down on it and looked up at her, a big mischievous grin on his face.
"A pretty common marital bed, as ordinary couples share them. Don't you worry, it will be sufficient. If you're exhausted from our journey I'll let them draw you a bath," he offered and sat back into an upright position.
Catherine would have killed for a hot bath but the prospect of even more intimacy in this cramped room did not please her very much. She knew the Lord Chancellor well enough to be aware of the fact that he had not made this proposal out of selflessness. His intentions of the last few days had been of a quite amorous nature and she had her hands full to keep his eager ones at bay during the night. That hadn't been an easy task, as her traitorous body was more than willing to react to his presence and constant touching.
Just as she wanted to reject his offer with a snappy reply, the door opened and one of his servants inquired about their wishes.
"Prepare a hot bath for my wife," the lord chancellor decided over her head.
"No! There is no need. I don't require a bath. Send in my maid, I want to prepare for bed." Her imperious tone did not allow any further discussion. After the man left their room she huffed angrily in Stephane's direction: "I am not an abulic doll. So please stop treating me as one. I am more than capable of making my own decisions."
"Catherine, I just wanted to do you a favor," Stephane said perplexely and rose from the bed.
"If and when I'm going to take a bath is only for me to decide," she informed him matter of factly.
"Do you always have to be so terribly stubborn? What is exactly the problem when a man wants to draw his wife a nice bath after a long day?" Narcisse sounded irritated now.
"This is not difficult to understand! Don't make any decisions for me and we won't have any problem at all."
"We're just talking about a bath, Catherine. I did not incapacitate or deprive you of the right of decision for gods sake. Maybe I just wanted to do you a favor? A small relief after a long and exhausting day. Do you need to make a mountain out of a molehill once again?"
"If you want me to be patronized, then of course," she replied stubbornly.
"Of course. You know, I'm really trying, Catherine. I'm being generous, charming and attentive, but you block all attempts on my part to make this marriage work. I really do not know what's gotten into you." He sounded perplex as well as annoyed.
"Perhaps you should put less effort into this marriage if it annoys you this much."
"You and your defense are annoying me. Not this marriage in general you refuse to accept."
Catherine, who had just been looking for her requirements for the night, stopped dead in her movement.
"So finally we got to the true bottom of your problem. You want sex!" Now Stephane's irritation was clearly written on his face. But Catherine did not pay any attention to his facial expressions and dropped her bed-clothes with a theatrical sigh. "Fine, let's get it over with," she hissed, pulling her skirts up and let herself fall onto the bed on her back.
"Don't be ridiculous, Catherine." She furiously rose again and glared at her husband.
"It's you who's being ridiculous. You don't want to be trapped in this marriage any more than I do. You're just looking forward to having great sex on a regular basis. The only difference are our respective rights. You have all of them, I only have the rights you grant me."
Narcisse, who had begun to walk up and down in front of the bed, looked at his wife with a grim face.
"You – of all women in the world – are the last plausible one to be directed by any man, not even if this man happens to be your husband. I would really like to understand - what's your problem with this arrangement? You've been married to Henry for over 20 years and I'm pretty sure you have claimed your rights. What's so different now?" She could see that he really wanted to understand where her reservations lay, but how was she going to make him understand something she couldn't wrap her mind around either?
"An outrageous difference!", she still gave it a try. "You insist on shared chambers, that we share a bed and you have the illusion of a real marriage. But this means my loss of independence. I..." A knock at the door interrupted the Queen Mother. She called out for her maid in relief. Fortunately Narcisse tropped the subject. At least for the moment.
Her husband adressed her once again the second her maid had left the room.
"Come to bed, Catherine." His demand sounded harsh and toneless while he started to undress. She ignored his order and tried to stare him down. Stephane, however, was not deterred by her angry glare. As if he had all the time in the world he finished undressing, washed away the sweat and dirt from their journey and slowly came towards her. With a quick movement he grabbed her by the arm and dragged his irritated wife to their bed.
"So if you're not interested in a harmonious, amicable marriage, we'll just do it your way. I'm not a very restrained man and you've just pushed my patience to the limit." Catherine was pushed to the bed with pure force. But he left her no time to react but firmly pressed her down into the mattress with his weight. A few seconds later his hard lips claimed hers. Catherine pressed her hands against his chest with all her strength but was unable to push his hard body off of hers.
"Stephane, what the hell are you doing?", she hissed, biting his lip. She tasted his blood on her tongue but her assault didn't stop him. He attacked her breast instead. "Stephane, stop it - immediately!" Her voice sounded less firm than she would have wished for.
"Why? Do you want to deny me what is legally my right as your husband?" He whispered dangerously close into her ear and spread her legs with his knee.
"What happend to your idea of a harmonious marriage? Rape does not add to that!" Catherine cried out breathlessly and tried to get rid of him in vain.
"Rape? Oh putain! Not very likely. You're my wife, Catherine, so I am perfectly entitled to bed you." She felt his fingers glide along her thigh.
"I swear to you if you don't stop right now..." she did not finish her sentence because her husband violently put her arms up over her head and threateningly looked down at her.
"Yes, then I am that kind of husband who simply takes what is supposed to be his. Who does not care about his wife's well-being, who does not respect her, neither honours her." As quickly as he had grabbed her, he also let go of Catherine and gave her the opportunity to get out of his grip.
"But I am not that kind of man. I do not force women to sleep with me. Especially not my own wife. I respect you and I expect the same in return. Yeah, I'm not Henry and maybe you should ask yourself if this isn't actually a good thing. Because unlike him I intend to be a good husband. So think about what you want, ma Belle. Because if it is indifference, a certain lack of respect and disregard, then we should really rethink our agreement. Good night, Catherine."
He did not even give her the chance to react to his fiery speech but jumped out of bed, reached for his clothes and angrily left the room while slamming the door loudly.
So what's going on with these two? Any idea where this will lead to?
at D: thank you, my dear. I'm glad you found the horse / menu part amusing. :-)
at G: Oh thank you, Hon. I'm so sorry to disappoint. I've already written lots of German chapters and there is no such scene like packing and Narcisse requesting special dresses to bring... allthough I like this idea. :-)
at Leryn: yes, yes, I'm sorry but it sometimes takes up to 3 hours to translate one single chapter - my, I am very slow at translating but if I just let google translate this fanfic withou correcting it you would be dealing with a totally diffrent story... ;o)