Chapter 13

They had completely taken over the castle. They had guards patrolling the halls and some of his closest men occupied the dining hall. The men were making a mess of everything and when the servants attempted to clean up after them they were yelled at, some were even locked away. Luckily, they haven't hurt anyone yet. I thought they would have started killing people carelessly. Count Vincent must be using us somehow. Possibly giving us the same punishment his son had gotten from France.

I tried to keep my distance from Count Vincent and his men, but it was difficult when Francis was in the middle of it all. I could tell he was in a lot of pain. Unfortunately, there would be no way he could rest with something like this going on.

While I was trying to find Francis I found some of the Italian men occupying the dining hall. Their weapons were scattered across the wooden table. They were drinking wildly and throwing around some of the priceless artifacts that were placed around the hall as decorations. I had always enjoyed looking at them during meals that were boring or painful to sit through, they were my escape. But now they were being tossed around the room like they were nothing. I wanted to go in there and try to protect the precious artifacts but I knew that wouldn't go well with the men.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kenna appear in the dining hall. I turned and when she noticed me she started heading toward me. One of Count Vincent's men grabbed onto Kenna suddenly and said something to her. She tried to pull away but the man continued to hold onto her, his tight grip on her made her rip the sleeve of her dress. She was outraged and was about to say something to the man but I walked over there quickly and put my hand on Kenna's shoulder. "Kenna, I was looking all over for you." I turned to the man and smiled politely. "Is there a problem?"

The Italian man raised his brow and glared at me. "Mind your own business."

"This is one of my ladies. If she has caused you trouble I truly apologize." I attempted to grab hold of Kenna and direct her away from the man, but he didn't let go of her. I slowly turned toward him. There were so many ideas running through my head of what I can do to harm this man to get Kenna away from him, but they were not practical. "Please, sir." I tried. The man yanked Kenna toward him, forcing a gasp to escape from her lips. "Piss off."

My anger began to rise and my tolerance was lowering. "Let go," I commanded, but the man laughed and began moving his hands around Kenna's body. She groaned in disgust as he wandered her body. I grabbed onto Kenna and yanked her away from the man. Then I threw my hand across his face, creating a loud slapping sound in the hall. The man's face was tilted to the side as he lifted his hand and placed it on his cheek. The rest of the men went silent when they heard the sound. They were all watching, waiting for the man's next move. The man slowly turned toward me, anger in his eyes. He quickly grabbed onto my arms and pulled me toward him. "You dumb bitch." He growled, his temper was only raising every second I denied him Kenna. "You need to learn to stay out of other's business!" He shook my body back and forth. Then he raised his hand and formed it into a fist. He was about to hit me, but he quickly stopped and let his arm fall to his side.

"What were you planning on doing?" I heard from behind me.

The man let go of me and stood up straight. When I turned around I found Count Vincent leaning against one of the pillars. "What is going on here?" He asked. I turned slightly to look at the man, seeing if he was going to respond. "I was just trying to have a bit of fun." He motioned toward Kenna. "That's the king's whore."

Count Vincent smirked at the man. "Do as you please." Suddenly the man grabbed onto Kenna again and laughed. I whipped toward Count Vincent. "She is one of my ladies." Count Vincent raised his brow.

"You are here to negotiate with the French. May I and my Scottish ladies return to my chambers while we wait for this negotiation to pass." I wanted to threaten him but I didn't want to create any more problems. Count Vincent smiled and turned toward the man. "Release Lady Kenna." He paused and looked at me. "In return, I expect to see you and your ladies at the feast tonight."

I nodded gracefully. "Of course, Count Vincent." I smiled at him. "Thank you."

I gently grabbed onto Kenna and began walking away. When we were away from the men and Vincent Kenna spoke, "Thank you, Mary. I didn't know what I would have done." Her voice was a whisper and I could feel her hand shaking in mine. "We need to find a way to get out of here."

Kenna turned to me but continued to walk. "How?"

I bit my lip. "I'll need to talk to Catherine."

I made my way to Catherine's chambers. I was hesitant to talk to her, but this wasn't about me or her. This was about the safety of the people inside the castle. Kenna was almost sexually assaulted. I wasn't going to let my ladies be in that kind of danger.

I knocked on the door and waited for Catherine. When she said to come in I slowly pushed the door open and peered inside, making sure there weren't any Italian guards watching her. When I saw no one but Catherine I walked inside. She rolled her eyes when she saw me come in. "What is it you want?" She said rudely.

I folded my hands together. "We need to find a way out of here," I said bluntly. Catherine put her elbows on the desk and laid her chin on top her hands. "How do you propose we do that?"

"The passageways through the castle. A lot of them haven't been blocked off and there is one way that leads out of the castle." I responded.

Catherine lowered her hands to her desk. "I was hoping you'd have a realistic plan since they plan on taking Francis and my other son's hostage."

I stared at her for a moment. "What?"

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Count Vincent and his men are leaving tomorrow and plan on taking my sons with him."

I took a step back, trying my best to take in this news. "He's going to kill Francis," I whispered.

Catherine slowly nodded. "He wants Henry to pay." She paused and stood up. "And that means killing his firstborn son and selling Charles and Henry."

How could he do something like this? I know it must have been truly awful for Count Vincent to lose his son. Especially because of the way he died. I knew this all made sense to Count Vincent, but I didn't want to understand it.

"Then we need to go through those passageways. That's the only way out of here." I pressed. Catherine walked toward a table that was against the wall. It held all kinds of vials and liquids. It was something I had always stayed away from since Catherine was known to be well-knowledgeable of poisons. "Even if we could find our way out how do you expect we get away from Count Vincent? There are guards patrolling the halls and he expects us to be at his feast."

"He wants you at his feast as well?" I asked. She nodded. "I don't know what his plan is, but he has only invited you, your ladies, and I." She grabbed onto one of the larger vials that was filled with some sort of unknown liquid to me. "We'll follow your plan. I need you to come up with an excuse to leave the hall." She turned toward me. "We'll have Francis, Charles, Henry, and the servants go through the passageway first. Then someone will wait for you girls and open the door for you."

"Who will that be?" I asked. Catherine pondered this for a moment. "I'll show Olivia where the entrance is and tell her of the plan." I nodded slowly. "What about you? Won't they figure out what's going on when my ladies and I are gone?" I never thought I'd ask about something that had to do with Catherine's health, but now wasn't the time to think about our petty differences.

"I will figure it out." She turned back toward the table and stared at the liquid in the vial. "Where is Francis?" I asked.

"He's locked in his chamber along with Charles and Henry."

I made my way to Francis' chamber. When I arrived I found two guards watching over the door. "Excuse me," I said warmly. "I need to say goodbye to Francis."

One of the guards turned to the other and raised his brow. The other guard nodded and opened the door for me. I didn't expect them to actually allow me in, but I wasn't going to question it. When I got inside I quickly shut the door behind me and turned around to find Francis sitting on the end of his bed, he was holding onto his hip. Charles and Henry were playing on the floor with some sort of wooden figure. Francis looked happy to see me, but I just wanted to break down in tears. What if they actually took him? Count Vincent had every intention to hurt King Henry. He didn't want money, he wanted Francis to die.

I ran to Francis and pulled him into a gentle embrace. "Are you okay?" I asked him, quickly pulling away and examining his hip and face. But he pulled me back into an embrace. "I'm so glad you're alright." He said. I should be the one saying that to him. I pulled away and placed my hands on his chest. "Catherine and I have come up with a plan. When you get the chance you need to get Charles, Henry, and the servants out of here. Take them to the secret passageway. You remember it, don't you?"

Francis nodded, but he looked unconvinced. "What about you? How are you getting out?"

"Your mother is going to show Olivia the secret passageway. She'll let us in." I didn't trust Olivia at all but I was hoping she'd follow this simple plan. Francis put his hand on my cheek and stared into my eyes. "Please be careful, Mary."

I laughed. "You be careful too, Francis." Francis didn't smile, he continued to stare into my eyes. "I love you, Mary." My eyes widened. It had been so long since he had said those words to me. Even during this troubled time, it filled me with joy. I leaned up and kissed Francis. When I pulled away I couldn't help but smile. "I love you too, Francis."

I took a step back and before I turned I took a good, long look at Francis. He was the person I fought the hardest for. I would do anything to protect him and to keep him alive. I wasn't going to let a person toy with his life, definitely not a person like Count Vincent.