Chapter 21

For the next few days Catherine tried to avoid her husband. She did not even know what annoyed her most about her current situation. That he had humiliated her with his inappropriate sentimentality and reminded her once again that he was only interested in her body and the promises Charles undoubtedly had made in exchange for his willingness to marry her or about her own inability to resist his advances.
She cursed herself and her treacherous body that was stupid enough to react to each of his touches with unwanted desire. Didn't she learn from the mistakes of her past?

She had become accustomed to spending her evenings in the library and did not retire to their shared chambers before midnight. In most cases Stephane had already laid down and her cold and unforgiving attitude towards him killed off every possible attempt to approach her once more on a physical level. Each morning she slipped out of bed before dawn and caught up on the sleep she lacked in the afternoon when she lay down with little John for a short nap.
Her days were filled with taking care of her grandson, going on long rides and planning the remodeling of the chateau and the gardens. She also resumed a lively correspondence with most of her children as well as with Mary and her remaining ladies at court.
In addition she had become familiar with Stephane's daily routine and was meticulously anxious about planning her own day the best possible way to avoid any point of contact.

Their time together where they sat down in the dining room was kept succinct. She also made sure that John was always present, so she could focus fully on the child.
Stephane, who had given up after a few fruitless attempts to have a normal conversation with her during dinner, gave her intense glances every now and then. Glances she tried to ignore.
When she finally got up, her husband started to speak to her once again. She only gave him a scowl whereupon he muttered something incomprehensible and let her go without another word.

Their exhausting marriage was already taking it's toll out of her. How much she missed Henry and his indifference that caused her so much heartache in the past, but now with some distance felt liberating. They had lived together but at the same time admittedly lived complete separate lifes. Far away from each others orbits, as paradox as this may sound.
Stephane's presence on the other hand was omnipresent. Not only because he forced her to share quarters with him. Unlike Henry, he did not ignore her presence. And although she could not rule out that he too sought his sexual fulfillment with other women, Narcisse did not directly rub it in her face.

In order to clear her mind she ordered the stable boy to saddle Liberté to go for a ride. Nothing distracted her more from her present problems than galloping across vast fields and meadows on her favorite mare, leaving her worries behind. Oh, how she wished turning off her unwelcome feelings was as easy as this.

Catherine returned three hours later that day. She detected two men in the distance who were standing in the courtyard in front of the stables, deeply engrossed in conversation. Catherine did not have to come closer to recognize one of the two as her husband. She would have been able to identify him among thousands of people. The second person, however, she did not recognize when approaching. She brought Liberté to a sudden stop just in front of them.
"Ah, Catherine, I would like to introduce you to my younger brother Rafael. Rafael, this is my wife, Catherine de' Medici."

Before she had a chance to rise from the saddle to dismount, Stephane's strong hands wrapped themselves around her waist and he lifted her gently from the mare with a definate expression on his face. For the sake of decency Catherine swallowed down some rude words that were already on her tongue, but resolutely wriggled out of her husband's grasp. She straightened her skirts and offered her hand to welcome her brother-in-law, who greeted her with a perfect kiss on her hand.
"I am pleased to meet you, Rafael."
"The pleasure is all mine."

She threw an angry look over her shoulder towards her husband. How could he not have mentioned his brother's visit?
As if Stephane had guessed her thoughts, he raised en eyebrow and said: "You disappeared so quickly after lunch that I had no chance to inform you about Rafael's visit."
"I see. If the gentlemen would excuse me now, I would like to freshen up. Rafael, I suppose you will stay for dinner. I'm looking forward to it. Husband..." The smile she had forced upon her face for his brother faded as soon as her gaze wandered on to Narcisse.
"I'm glad to get to know you better tonight, Catherine."
She nodded silently and returned to the main building.

However halfway she realized that she had forgotten the letter she had received from Charles. She had placed it in the saddlebag and read his letter during a short break. So she turned on her heels and approached the stables once again. But this time she remained unnoticed by the two men.
"So this was the legendary Medici-witch. I'd never thought..." Before Stephane's brother could talk himself into more trouble, Catherine made use of her own sharp tongue.
"...that said witch rides a horse instead of a broom?" The lovely smile on her face was scary as hell.

Stephane, who spun around first, gave his brother an angry glare. Rafael on the other hand, quickly broke loose from his state of shock and made an apologetic bow in Catherine's direction.
"... that she is so beautiful and does not look as scary as she is commonly described. Excuse my lowbrow words, Catherine. Your reputation precedes you and even though I should not have spoken as disrespectful as this, you can hopefully understand my surprise about the lack of..."
"Please save your breath. Stephane, how come you've never mentioned your dear brother before?", she interrupted her brother-in-law. "Moreover you seem so terribly alike. Gentlemen, I'll leave you with your objective discussions once again."
She did not give any of the men another chance to defend themselves and walked back to the chateau with her head held high.

Catherine had completely forgotten about her letter she originally planned to get. The painful words she overheard unintentionally burned way too deep. Words her husband didn't defend her against. She was accustomed to hostility and insults and Medici-witch was far from the worst insult that has ever been thrown her way.
But the fact that Stephane had just tolerated his own brother offending his wife hurt more than an actual slap in her face. Probably both brothers were just having the thrill of their lifetimes at her expense. Didn't her husband have one spark of decency? No honor?

But why should she expect more of him? Even at the time when she had been suspected of commiting regicide, he didn't make any move to invalidate this suspicion in order to save her skin. Even though he knew better than anyone that she had not put a single finger on her beloved Francis. She doubted that he would have intervened in time in case she would have been unable to prove her innocence and they would have laid her head on the scaffold.

So, here we have a new player on the field. What do you think of Rafael?

at A: Danke dir. Ich liebe sie auch, es macht auch irre viel Spaß, sich in Catherine hinein zu versetzen. Aber ja, bei ihr braucht Narcisse irre viel Gelduld. Mal sehen, wie viel er noch aufbringen kann...

at D: I'm glad, my Dear. Oh you have no idea. While writing I see it all with my inner eyes. And believe me - Megan and Craig are doing a damn fine job there as well... hihi

at G: Thank you, Hon. Right now she isn't even trying to hurt him on purpose. She just feels vulnerable in this mariage and she's just defending herself against him and the growing intimacy between them. Okay, and she's still angry about Lola... :-)

at demedicigirl: OH thank you for the compliment! I'm aiming for realistic but sometimes I got carried away and the characters do as they please... ;o)