Chapter 26

It felt as though a huge relief was lifted off of my shoulders. Things would be so much easier now. Even the people around me would be happier. We would no longer have to worry about his next move, but now we found out he was truly alive. And he was more violent than ever before. He had learned from his mistakes and was not letting anything by him any longer. One slip up and he wanted you dead immediately. If you said something that was slightly negative toward him, he could watch you constantly.

Watching Henry step in front of us was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I was told he was dead. I even watched him get stabbed right in front of me, so to watch him stand before me yesterday was horrifying. It was as if he was a ghost with unfinished business.

I've never wished harm on anyone, but Henry was an exception.

Francis tried everything he could to help Marceau, but Henry wouldn't allow anything. Henry wanted Marceau to suffer and for what? Henry didn't have any reason to hurt this innocent man and even if there was a reason I'm sure it was something pathetic that Henry didn't like. Now, he's making Marceau suffer, even more than he had already suffered in the past. Henry had already driven him from court and cut off his trade, because of that he was unable to get the proper medicine for his child that was dying. I had heard rumors from the servants that the guards were ordered to torture Marceau. I was hoping from the bottom of my heart that was not true. Henry had denied Francis and me right to see him, so we had no way of knowing for sure what was happening to him. We could only hope that the rumors were fake.

Francis and I walked down the empty hall together, hand in hand. We hadn't left each other's side since we had gotten back. Far too much has happened because we were separated.

The sound of our footsteps merged into one loud clapping sound that echoed throughout the hall. "I can try to sneak in and set him free," Francis whispered to me. We were both attempting to come up with ideas to help Marceau, but neither of us got very far before shutting the other one down. "You wouldn't make it past the guards and even if you did how would Marceau not be seen?" I responded. Francis let out a heavy sigh of frustration. "This is my fault. I brought him here."

"We thought your father was dead," I whispered to Francis just in case anyone was listening to us. I was becoming very paranoid because of Henry and his antics. "I wish he was," Francis murmured. I quickly grabbed onto his right arm sleeve and pulled down on it. "You mustn't say those things, Francis."

Francis paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, then he slowly nodded. "I'm sorry, Mary." He lifted his head and looked at me. He smiled shortly, then he slowly shook his head. "I'm sorry for all of this stress I am causing." He gently placed his hand on my stomach, which made his smile come back. "How are you feeling?" I smiled warmly down at the hand he had placed on my stomach, then I placed my own hand over his. "I'm fine."

Echoing footsteps filled the hall that Francis and I occupied. Francis quickly lowered his hand away from my stomach and turned when he heard the footsteps. When I turned I found Bash and Kenna walking together. It was good to see the two of them together like this. It made me have hope for their relationship. When they got closer they bowed as a greeting then Kenna quickly grabbed my arm. "I bet you were so scared when you were kidnapped!" Kenna said as if it was gossip. She began walking forward, dragging me along with her. I could hear Bash and Francis walking behind us as well. "Thank goodness that man is locked up now," Kenna said with relief. "He is not a bad man," I responded with a hint of irritation. Kenna ignored what I said and started moving onto something else. "Thank goodness Bash wasn't fully legitimized. We all feared Henry was going to pass and Francis wasn't going to be here to take over." Kenna rambled on.

As Kenna and I walked I didn't hear as many footsteps as there was before. I forced Kenna to stop walking and turned around to find Francis staring at Bash. Bash was attempting to explain the full situation before Francis said anything, but Francis was infuriated already.

"What is she talking about- legitimization?" Francis growled at Bash. Kenna and I quickly made our way back to Francis and Bash. "Francis, it did not happen. There is no need to dwell on it." I calmly told him. Francis whipped toward me, his face was covered in anger. "You knew about this and did not tell me?"

I stared at Francis in shock. It wasn't about whether I knew or not. Bash was never going to be legitimized. He never wanted to be king. "It was never going to happen. Bash never wanted it." I thought that by saying that it would help Francis calm down, but he didn't. Francis put his attention and anger back on Bash. "Did you want to be king to take Mary from me?" Bash stared at Francis wide-eyed. "Francis, I-"

"Ever since Mary has arrived in France you have never let her out of your sight! You didn't think anyone noticed, but I did! Every time something happened you were always there." Francis yelled angrily at Bash. At first, Bash was trying to deal with this calmly, but now he was starting to get mad. "She is your wife, Francis. Stop this." Bash shot back. Francis looked away from Bash for a moment as if to collect his thoughts, then he turned back toward Bash. "When did this take place?"

"You and Mary had just gotten back from the battle of Calais." Bash quickly stopped himself as he stared at me. "I meant you, Francis. You picked Mary up-" As Bash tried to explain himself you could tell Francis was not happy. Bash put his hands up and was about to speak again, but Francis spoke first. "How do you know?" Francis asked in a silent fury. Kenna looked back and forth between Francis and Bash. "Know what?" She asked as she attempted to pry herself into the conversation that she knew nothing about.

Suddenly, Francis grabbed onto Bash's shirt and threw him against the wall. Bash winced as his back slammed into the stone wall with a thud. Francis glared into Bash's eyes. "Have you known about this ever since we got back?" Francis asked with a low growl. I watched in terror. I didn't want to pry any further and make Francis snap. Bash could only stare into Francis' wild eyes in shock. "Francis, I haven't told anyone about it. It is not my secret to tell."

"But you have known this whole time! You could have blackmailed Mary. And on top of that, you were trying to get legitimized." Francis shouted in Bash's face. "Francis, stop this!" I begged him. Francis ignored me as he waited for Bash to speak. "I would never hurt Mary, Francis. She already knew. I told her I knew her secret the day Count Vincent arrived." Bash suddenly pushed Francis away from him and straightened out his shirt as he watched Francis carefully for his next move. Francis slowly turned toward me, awaiting some kind of explanation.

"Francis, It is not a problem that Bash knows," I told him. Francis took a step back and shook his head slightly. "It is not a problem that my brother tried to get legitimized so that he could take you away from me? It is not a problem that not only my mother knows what happened in Calais, but Bash too? That my own wife hid these things from me as well?"

A sudden chill swept through my body as I stared at Francis in disbelief. I never meant for these things to hurt Francis. I never thought they would be brought up again and somehow here we were. I did not want Francis to be bothered by silly things like these, but to him, these were no small things.

Bash took a step toward Francis and glared at him. He reached up and placed his hand on Francis' shoulder. "Unfortunately, you just need to get over it." It seemed at first that Bash was being genuine, but at the end he let himself expose his frustration.

Without warning, Francis lifted his arm and formed a fist. He quickly brought it down and threw it into Bash's face. There was so much force to the punch that it forced Bash to the ground with a loud thump.

"Francis!" I screamed as Bash fell to the floor. I quickly kneeled down and put my hand on Bash's back for support. I tried to examine where Francis hit Bash but Bash had his hand covering his cheek and jaw. Bash was trying his best to recover, but it seemed as though Francis had hit him in the jaw, a place not easy to recuperate very quickly from. I whipped toward Francis. "What is wrong with you?" I said angrily. Francis towered over us, but there was nothing to his aura. I couldn't tell if he regretted what he had just done or if he wanted to hit Bash again. He was in a dazed state that was unreadable.

Kenna had taken Bash back to their chambers to tend to his bruise. It wasn't bad, but it was best if Bash stayed away from Francis for a while. Francis didn't say a word when he walked away from us. I had no idea what he was thinking or what possessed him to punch his brother. It was scary to see Francis act that way toward Bash. I had only ever seen Francis look up to Bash. I had seen Francis angry with other people before, but to hurt his own brother seemed to be on a whole different level.

I knew I had to go find Francis and talk to him so that I could fix all of this, or attempt to. I didn't want something like this to pull us apart or create a larger problem. After the Tomas incident, it seemed like Francis had changed a lot. He no longer brought it up, but I could tell it was still something he thought about frequently. It was something I thought about frequently as well. I almost left the love of my life for another man who happened to have an army, but Francis stopped me and saved me from that terrible man. Francis and I have gone through so much that I felt like we could never be torn apart, but at times like this, I started to question that feeling.

I found Francis sitting on the bed in our chambers. His eyes looked clouded as he stared out through the glass window that was next to our bed. The sunlight made it easy to see the small specks of dust that floated through the room. I slowly made my way toward the end of the bed and when I got there I paused and watched Francis. His eyes never wavered from the window even when I got closer to him.

"Francis?" I said silently so I wouldn't startle him. He didn't move even when I spoke. Then suddenly he lowered his head and stared down at the stone floor. "I couldn't control myself. Before I knew it Bash was on the ground." Francis lifted his head and turned toward me. His face finally changed after being expressionless for so long. His lips pressed together tightly and he closed his eyes shut. "I know I should be stronger," Francis paused and turned away from me, hiding his face from me. "But I feel like I have been broken too many times." He paused again but this time he was forced to when a cry escaped his lips. "How many more obstacles must I endure before I cannot put the pieces back together?"

I could only stare at Francis in shock in that moment. Hearing those words and the tone of his voice made my chest tighten and my whole body tense up. Francis always protected me and concealed his true feelings to help me. I never really asked him how he was feeling mentally. So many things have happened that I haven't been able to talk to him properly. Watching Francis like this now reminded me of when I was feeling like this. I felt like nothing mattered anymore and that nothing was going to change. I knew this feeling all too well.

I slowly made my way over to him and sat next to him on the bed. He was still looking away from me, trying to conceal his cries from me. I gently placed my hand on his chin and turned his head toward me. When he was facing me I attempted a smile, but it was hard when Francis was in so much pain. "I am your wife, Francis. That means I am here for you during every obstacle, every small bump. We will get through anything and everything together." I laughed weakly. "We always have. And we will get through this together as well. I promise I will never leave your side. I am here for you until the very end."

I wanted to name the chapter Broken Beans 3