The next morning, Mary stood outside the castle, on the old stone steps that led to the main front doors, surrounded by family members and several teams of royal staff as they waited for Kenna's arrival.
Various photographers lined the long driveway leading up to the castle's entrance, ready to take pictures of Kenna's 'happy reunion' with James after a few weeks spent apart, along with members of the camera crew from the television show, who also lingered around the driveway and the front doors, ready to capture any footage that they could use for the next episode of the show.
Mary kept her eyes fixed on the floor, not feeling ready to face the world or the cameras today. She remained lost in her thoughts, thinking over and over about the conversation she had overheard at the pub yesterday evening, along with all of the grievances of the people who had been there for the meeting in the back of the room. Again, she couldn't help thinking that there were even more secrets being kept from her, or worse, that there were things going on that she didn't yet understand.
Mary knew she probably looked a mess, as she'd only thrown on a pair of dark jeans and an old black jumper when she'd been getting dressed about an hour ago. She wasn't even sure that the designer, high-heeled boots she'd also put on compensated for the general lack of care when it came to the rest of her outfit, or the dark circles under her eyes, or her frequent yawns.
Her mother's reproachful glare seemed to confirm this.
Her mother also glared over at Narcisse, who was standing at the back of the crowd, just out of sight of the camera lens. It was as though her mother thought that Mary's current disheveled appearance was somehow his fault.
Narcisse simply shrugged back at the queen, as though silently trying to tell her he could only do so much when it came to making Mary look presentable.
Her mother then waved back over in Mary's direction, as though trying to get her attention.
Turning away from them both, Mary sighed to herself. She wasn't even sure what was wrong, exactly-she'd thought that spending an evening at a party with Bash would have cheered her up a little, but she couldn't help feeling even more miserable than she had felt yesterday morning, if that was even possible.
To her own surprise, spending some time with Bash had done nothing to ease her fears over filming the television show with Francis. In fact, now she felt like she had been left with even more unanswered questions.
Not far from Mary, Francis also stood on the stairs, with his team of French staff gathered around him. He looked just as exhausted as Mary felt, and she wondered what had been keeping him up all night.
Mary had been trying to ignore her mother's silent instructions for as long as possible, but in the end, she was forced to look back at her, just in time to see her mother making some sort of over-the-top hand gesture that seemed to be indicating that Mary should be standing a little closer to Francis.
With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Mary looked at Francis with an apologetic expression on her face, trying to ask him without words whether it would be okay to do as her mother asked.
Francis simply nodded, before he took a few steps closer to her.
Noticing that his expression was a lot less guarded than it was yesterday, Mary discreetly whispered, "Are you angry?", just loud enough for him to hear the question.
"No," Francis responded, his tone of voice soft, gentle now. He even managed a sort-of smile.
Mary nodded, relieved that at the very least, he was not holding a grudge after yesterday's argument. As a result, she felt some of the tension easing between them-for now, anyway.
Suddenly, the sight of an expensive black car pulling into the main gates announced Kenna's arrival. An excited chatter seemed to spread among the crowd, especially among the photographers.
As soon as the car came to a halt, the driver got out to open the door for Kenna.
Kenna emerged gracefully from the car with a smile already on her face, not at all phased by all the cameras. Mary noticed that she was wearing a long, light pink dress, along with sparkling silver jewels in her hair and around her wrists and her neck, and the jewels seemed to glimmer in the sunlight. It was the kind of extravagant outfit that Mary would never have felt comfortable wearing.
Kenna smiled and waved at all of the photographers, taking all of the attention in her stride. In fact, Mary could tell that she was enjoying it. She span around several times so that the press could get a photo of her designer dress from every possible angle, along with all her expensive jewels as they caught the light of the camera flashes.
"Kenna!" Mary could hear several photographers call out enthusiastically to her, all of them trying to get the best shot. "Kenna, over here!"
Mary might as well have been invisible. Every single journalist and photographer was entirely focused on Kenna, who smiled and pouted for them all while she skillfully answered their questions, saying just enough, but not giving too much away as they all hung on to her every word.
Well, Mary thought to herself, unable to keep the bitterness out of her thoughts, what is a second-born princess to a future queen, after all?
Mary remembered a school visit to Buckingham Palace in London three or four years ago, when Kenna had happened to be there too, on a visit with her own school. She remembered how Kenna had stood outside the palace gates, posing for photographs with her classmates and bragging to them all about how she would marry a prince or a king one day, and live in a palace of her own.
At the time, Mary and Greer had found her predictions hilarious. They had discreetly smirked at each other and rolled their eyes as they stood at a distance from Kenna and the rest of the students from her school, amused at how unlikely Kenna's ambitions were.
Now, Mary had a feeling that on Kenna and James's wedding day, Kenna would be the one laughing at them.
"James!" Kenna suddenly called out, snapping Mary out of her memory, and Mary looked behind her, just in time to see her older brother run down the steps and towards the path where Kenna was standing.
"Kenna!" James called out to her in reply as he got closer. To everyone listening, he must have sounded like a young lover who had been pining for his absent love for weeks on end, and now he was overjoyed that they were finally reunited.
Kenna was smiling back at him, playing along just as well in front of the cameras. "James!" she called out to him for the second time, her voice apparently full of emotion as she held out her arms to him.
When James got close to her, he picked her up and span her around, and then, when James had put her back down, he dipped her, so low that Kenna's long, light brown hair skimmed the ground, and then he kissed her on the lips while all of the photographers eagerly took photos, trying to capture this 'perfect' moment, no doubt so that it could be displayed on websites and on the front pages of newspapers and magazines.
Out of the corner of her eye, Mary noticed that Franics's eyes had widened the moment James span Kenna around, and then he seemed to jump a little when James and Kenna kissed, as though he was a bit shocked, or overwhelmed, by the over-the-top display of affection.
"They rehearse it in advance," Mary explained to him in a whisper, taking pity on Francis as she nodded her head at a still-kissing James and Kenna; "they rehearse all of it repeatedly."
Francis looked kind of relieved at her words, and for a few seconds, he and Mary shared a look of what was almost amusement at James and Kenna's antics.
Mary couldn't help feeling relieved that Francis probably wouldn't expect her to take part in any of these public displays of affection in front of the cameras.
The shared moment of amusement was interrupted however, when Kenna started walking up the stone steps towards them, with James trailing behind her.
"Oh, it's you," said Kenna, the moment she caught sight of Mary. She looked less than enthusiastic to see her.
"Nice to see you, too, Kenna," Mary replied with a curt nod of her head, trying to keep the biting sarcasm out of her voice.
Kenna looked like she had a few sarcastic comments ready to say in reply, but she was cut off by Francis, who moved a little closer to introduce himself to her.
Mary noticed that the press seemed to be focused on the four of them at the moment, and she imagined that the pictures of James and Kenna talking to Mary and Francis would be rather lucrative-to the public, it would seem like a shot of two future kings and two future queens standing together.
For his part, Francis was very polite, and he smiled at Kenna as he shook her hand, ignoring the cameras.
Kenna seemed to find him a lot more interesting than she found Mary. "How are you finding cold, rainy Scotland?" she asked Francis with a smirk.
This time, Mary shared a look of exasperation with James. She was sure her brother would agree with her that the weather in England, where Kenna's family was from, was not much better.
"It's not so bad," Francis responded cryptically to Kenna's question, a polite smile still on his face.
"It must be rather strange for a future king like you," Kenna pressed on, in the bossy voice she always liked to use, "to be taking part in a television show, and dating a girl who is not even the heir to her country's throne-"
"Kenna!" said Mary in an angry whisper, but Kenna ignored her.
"It's no great sacrifice," Francis responded with a shrug, still as cryptic as ever.
"Mary must really be worth it," Kenna went on, as tactless as she always was as she paid no attention to Mary's warning glare.
"She is," Francis replied.
Before Kenna could say anything else, a member of Francis's Publicity Team ushered him away to take a phone call from a member of the Italian royal family.
"Mary, he is in love with you," Kenna suddenly declared, the moment Francis walked away.
"Kenna!" Mary snapped at her, feeling her cheeks colouring at such a bold statement.
How could you possibly know that after one minute of interaction?! Mary really wanted to demand of her, but before she could get over her shock or collect her thoughts and put them into words, Kenna turned away and headed towards the castle doors, leaving Mary to stand at the top of the steps, almost in a daze as she puzzled over the responses that Francis had just given to Kenna's questions, as well as the bizarre conclusion that Kenna had drawn from the conversation.
Eventually, Mary had to make a move, as people were jostling to get past her on their way back into the castle, and Kenna and James were already making their way through the main doors that led back inside to the entrance hall.
Mary lagged a few steps behind James and Kenna. The moment they were safely back inside and out of sight of the photographers, Mary noticed that the two of them gave each other a high-five, as though congratulating each other on a job well done outside.
"Hello, Kenna," James told her, as though this was their first real greeting to one another, unlike their public display of affection outside.
"Hello to you, too, James," Kenna replied, her smile slightly more sincere now.
In spite of the friendly words exchanged between them, Mary couldn't help but shudder. Kenna and James had agreed to an arranged marriage that would help to strengthen an alliance between Scotland and England, and Mary had suspected for a long time that there were no real romantic feelings between the two of them. They shared a friendship, at best, but still, it wasn't always easy to watch them as they manipulated the media with their 'young lovers' act.
Mary dreaded the very thought of her own life ending up this way; she couldn't imagine being married to somebody who she was not in love with; she couldn't imagine always having to perform for the cameras the way that Kenna did.
Trying to distract herself, Mary glanced around the entrance hall. She spotted Lola and Narcisse, apparently hiding away in a corner as they conversed in low voices. It seemed that they weren't in the mood for socialising with everyone this morning, and instead preferred each other's company.
Trying not to think too much just yet about what Narcisse had told her yesterday about his son, Mary looked back at Kenna, who also seemed to be looking all around the entrance hall, as though taking it all in. She looked from the floor to the ceiling, glancing at all of the portraits of royal ancestors along the way as she smiled and let out a happy-sounding sigh.
Mary could easily guess what she was thinking-that some day soon, all of this would be hers.
Mary couldn't help feeling the all-too-familiar twist of resentment. When that day came, she knew that she would no longer be as welcome at the castle; she knew that all the major decisions focusing on the day-to-day life of the royals would eventually fall into Kenna's hands. James was so laid-back, and he would hardly put up a fight to all of Kenna's demands.
Unable to look at that ambitious glint in Kenna's eyes anymore, Mary turned away from her, just in time to see Bash, who happened to be walking through the entrance hall at that very moment.
Mary felt slightly awkward as she recalled how she'd fallen into his arms when they were dancing last night, probably looking like an idiot the whole time; how she had lost herself again in her memories of the past, in spite of the happy atmosphere at the pub; and also how that woman had told Bash he shouldn't have even brought Mary to the pub in the first place, as though they were both hiding something.
She really hoped that Bash wouldn't mention any of that, especially now that a large crowd had gathered in the entrance hall due to Kenna's arrival.
Apparently though, Bash knew how to be discreet when it was necessary. He nodded politely at Mary as he crossed the entrance hall and moved closer to her.
"Princess," he greeted her with a quick bow the moment he was within earshot. Right now, he sounded like a staff member who was simply being polite to the daughter of his employer.
Mary was about to say hello, or make small-talk about the weather, or maybe ask him how work had been so far for him today, when she heard the sound of someone approaching. She glanced over her shoulder in time to see Kenna walking over to her. She looked like she had been sent over to fetch Mary for something, probably on the current queen's behalf.
"Mary, your mother wants you to-" she started to say in a bored tone of voice, but then she paused midsentence, apparently distracted by something. "Oh, hello," she said suddenly, looking right at Bash as a smile crept to her face. This smile looked a lot more genuine than before.
"Hello," Bash responded, and Mary noticed that a smile crept to his face, too, as he looked at Kenna. It was not his usual confident, flirtatious smile that Mary had grown used to over the past couple of days, either. Instead, his smile was softer, almost shy.
"I'm Kenna," Kenna told Bash as she held out her hand for him to shake. Mary noted that she hadn't even made a point of introducing herself as 'Lady Kenna'.
"I'm Sebastian," said Bash in response, keeping hold of Kenna's hand for a few seconds longer than what would probably be considered socially acceptable.
"That ring you're wearing, it's very beautiful," Kenna continued, as she nodded at the ring on Bash's finger, looking genuinely intrigued by it.
Mary frowned in confusion. Normally, Kenna was only ever interested in the most expensive and the most exquisite of jewels, or even those rare jewels belonging to the royal family which were priceless. Mary was sure that the plain ring meant something to Bash, but she wasn't sure why Kenna was suddenly so fascinated by it.
"Thank you," said Bash as he smiled at Kenna. He spoke to her like she was shy and nervous; as though he needed to stay calm and speak softly to her to help her feel at ease. And yet Mary had never seen Kenna act shy or nervous. Ever. "It was a gift from my mother, she bought it from the village here."
Kenna nodded, hanging on to Bash's every word. Usually, whenever Mary or James spoke about the local village, Kenna launched into a long rant about how boring it was there, and how there was never enough to do, but she didn't seem to want to say anything like that now.
As Kenna continued to admire the ring, somehow deciding that it was necessary to take hold of Bash's hand so she could see it up close, Mary wondered again if Bash's mother, who had apparently bought the ring for him, really was the woman who they had encountered at the village pub last night.
After a few more minutes of conversation between Bash and Kenna, with Mary standing awkwardly next to them, Bash bowed to the two of them before he left to head back to work.
"He's gorgeous!" Kenna declared the moment Bash walked away, with an almost mischievous grin on her face.
"Kenna!" Mary snapped at her. After all, Kenna was engaged to be married to Mary's brother, and Mary felt like Kenna was being rather disloyal at the moment by saying something like that about Bash.
Kenna didn't seem to agree. She made a point of sighing loudly and rolling her eyes. "It doesn't hurt to look, Mary!" she snapped, making Mary feel clueless and completely out of her depth when it came to men, the way she always did. "There's nothing wrong with admiring from a distance! We didn't all go to school in a convent, you know!"
Mary glared at her. This was Kenna's favourite insult to use about her, and she always ignored Mary's constant insistence that going to a school where a lot of the teachers were nuns was not the same as living in a convent.
Even worse, Kenna had often implied that she believed Mary to be very similar to the nuns who had educated her.
Kenna also liked to brag loudly to anyone who would listen about all the boys she'd already kissed before she met James, often leaving Mary feeling young and inexperienced in comparison.
Refusing to be drawn into an argument, Mary walked away from her, already planning on sitting as far away as possible from Kenna and James in the dining hall.
As the morning turned into afternoon, Mary and her family, along with Kenna and several other guests, ended up outside in the grounds, watching a game of Polo that had hastily been arranged by Mary's father and several staff members.
The players had divided up into two teams, with Francis and James playing on one side with two other team members, and Mary's father and Bash playing against them on the other team, along with a couple of others. Francis had really seemed to want Bash to play this particular game, confirming Mary's belief that the two of them were becoming friends.
As the players rode around on their horses, Mary stood watching them in the distance, with the rest of the spectators.
A few photographers swarmed around, enthusiastically snapping photos of the players and the spectators. Mary knew that games of Polo were seen as being very typical of royal families, and she imagined that the general public would be amused when they saw the photos and the footage of this game.
"Which team are you supporting?" a woman standing next to her asked in a seemingly casual voice.
Mary glanced over at her. It was very clear that the woman was a journalist, and that she would use whatever answer Mary gave to build some kind of article out of it.
"Francis's team, of course," Mary replied with a polite smile. It was the answer she was expected to give, after all. The journalist would have to look for controversy elsewhere. While the cameras were here, Mary would play by the rules.
She turned away from the woman and focused her attention on the crowd around her. Kenna's parents had arrived at the castle a couple of hours ago, and they were now standing on either side of her, only half-watching the game in the distance as they went on and on about how wonderful Kenna looked in her light pink dress.
Mary's mother sat on a chair a little way back from the rest of the crowd, and Mary couldn't help noticing that she looked a bit tired at the moment; Mary really hoped that she was feeling okay. Lola stood behind the queen's chair, occasionally fetching glasses of water for her, and for the first time, Mary realised that Lola was becoming a rather valuable assistant to Queen Marie.
As a photographer took another picture of the spectators, Mary's mind drifted back to yesterday, when she'd been outside in the same garden walking with Francis as the cameras filmed their interaction. With a sigh, she thought about how the events of yesterday had quickly unravelled into an argument, with a little help from Narcisse.
Almost unconsciously, Mary looked up in the direction of the large window where Narcisse had stood yesterday. She jumped, startled, as she saw that somebody else was currently looking down from the large window, dressed all in black. But then her heartbeat returned to its normal rate again when she realised that it was just one of the castle guards, probably on a routine patrol of the corridors.
With an involuntary shudder, Mary tore her eyes away from the window and tried to focus on the game of Polo. As she'd expected, Francis was a very skilled Polo player, and he'd already scored several goals for his team.
Bash however, was a worthy opponent, and Mary wondered when and where Bash had learned to play Polo. Although she imagined he'd probably picked up his horse-riding skills through previous work in various stables. Perhaps he had worked somewhere like this before, riding horses in vast grounds of stately homes or playing games against royals.
For a little while, the scores were almost equal, until Francis scored yet another goal.
As the crowd applauded, Francis caught Mary's eye, and he smiled at her.
As surprised as she was by this gesture, Mary couldn't help smiling back at him. Perhaps Francis had only done it for the cameras, but still, his smile was friendly enough. At the very least, perhaps it meant that he had fully put yesterday's argument behind him.
Only a few minutes later, Bash was the one to score a goal, and he moved a little closer to the spectators as he rode in a circle in celebration.
As he got closer, Kenna leaned forward, staring at Bash as though mesmerised.
"No, Kenna," Kenna's mother whispered to her, shaking her head almost warningly until Kenna turned her gaze away from Bash.
"That boy's got 'rebel' written all over him," Kenna's father added in a tone of obvious disapproval.
Mary listened to this interaction with a frown on her face. She wondered what Kenna's father had meant by his comment.
For all that Kenna was pretending to ignore Bash for her parents' sake, she noticed that Bash smiled at her as he rode past, and Kenna managed to smile back at him.
Mary was distracted however, when Bash rode past her and smiled at her, too. Mary nodded at him, but she also managed a half-smile when she was sure the other spectators weren't looking. When it came to Bash, Mary always felt that the two of them were in on some sort of secret together, although she wasn't sure what that secret was supposed to be.
The moment Bash left them to re-join the game, Mary noticed Kenna look over her shoulder to stare at her, with a very curious expression on her face.
There are already too many secrets, Mary thought to herself, as she ignored Kenna and focused on the game again, just in time to see Francis score the winning goal.