The next few days passed by relatively peacefully.
With everyone in the castle distracted by Kenna's visit, and Francis's time often taken up by phone calls, meetings, conferences and various other royal duties, Mary was able to slip away from the castle unnoticed several times and head into the village.
Sometimes, on her visits to the village, she crept into the local pub, alone and disguised, with her face covered by various hats, where she would secretly listen in on the various meetings that took place there during late afternoons and early evenings, feeling overcome with curiosity to hear more about life outside the castle as several citizens of Scotland voiced their disapproval of the way that the country was run.
At other times, she snuck out of the castle with Bash after he finished work for the day, and the two of them would walk around the outskirts of the village, or by the river where Mary had always spent time with James, back before her older brother had decided that his royal duties had to take priority over anything else.
Of course, filming for the show still had to take place. After the Polo match on the day of Kenna's arrival, the cameras were next invited back into the castle to film a 'small', 'intimate' tea party that a few family friends had been invited to, along with several Scottish politicians.
Mary couldn't distictly remember the faces of many of the guests at the tea party, as events like that were so frequent at the castle, and the royal family had so many visitors, but several of the politicians in attendance suggested to her that she should perhaps pay a visit to the English Houses of Parliament, especially now that her brother was forging an alliance with England through marriage. They seemed to think that it would make for a good episode of the show if she made a speech about Scottish policies in London.
Once, Mary would not have been so keen on the idea of going to Parliament and making a speech, but with everything that had happened recently, and all the conversations she was overhearing in the village, she was now starting to wonder if it would perhaps be a good idea to try too talk about Scottish politics in public.
Filming that day also consisted of a tour around the castle, which Mary and Francis were expected to take the lead on, with the two of them walking around various rooms and up and down corridors and flights of stairs as a camera crew and several guards followed them.
The show's producers had insisted that this would be an excellent opportunity for viewers to learn more about the lives of the royal family, but privately, Mary suspected that they were just using the tour as an excuse to get a good look around the castle for themselves. Even the guards seemed much more interested than usual in viewing the rooms and the antique objects on display.
Although Mary and Francis didn't have the chance to spend much time together at the tea party, due to the fact that they were both expected to walk around the room and make polite conversation with all the guests, as well as all the television crew, Francis was still friendly with her, letting her take the lead with the tour of the castle, and nodding and smiling politely when she talked about the history of various portraits and antique objects for the benefit of the cameras.
Francis even brought several cups of tea over to Mary throughout the afternoon, even though Mary's mother frequently insisted that it was not socially acceptable for a future king to be carrying trays of tea and cake around the room.
It seemed that Francis was keeping to his part of the agreement to try to make this process as easy as possible for the two of them, which allowed Mary to relax a little as the cameras continued to film them throughout the day.
Deep down, Mary had a horrible feeling that the new-found peace wouldn't last. Her theory was proved correct not long after Kenna left the castle to return to her life in London for a little while, before she would next be expected to appear with the royal family as a guest at Greer's wedding.
In the morning, Mary was 'summoned' by her mother to the family's private dining room, where her parents-both of them with grave expressions on their faces-had displayed various magazine and newspaper articles on the table, including digital and print copies of all the latest headlines.
Every single front-page story seemed to focus on Kenna's visit to the castle, although none of them had anything positive to say. Instead, the journalists wrote seemingly endless words about just how expensive the designer pink dress that Kenna had worn had cost, along with the estimated price of all of her jewels, criticising the over-spending of the royal family and highlighting the fact that this was happening at a time when the country was in very serious debt, and many citizens lived in poverty.
Mary might have been used to stories like these-ever since the royal family had been re-established in Scotland, journalists had accused the royals of being 'out of touch' with the rest of the country, especially as the younger members of the family had been educated at exclusive private schools in London, away from Scotland-but still, it didn't stop the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as her mother frowned at a picture of Kenna posing in an expensive dress.
"We must do something to take the focus off this," Mary's mother muttered, almost to herself, as she took a sip of her strong cup of coffee and regarded yet another front page headline, while her father nodded and muttered something about 'damage control'.
For a brief, carefree moment, Mary imagined that she would not have to be involved in this 'damage control', but as usual, her assumptions were wrong.
She found out just how wrong she was when her mother called her in for a meeting in one of the castle's conference rooms right after breakfast.
"You will be expected to give an interview to Lord Castleroy soon," her mother informed her before Mary could even take a seat. "Standard procedure, as part of the matchmaking process..."
"Fine," Mary responded with a very un-princess-like shrug. She already knew that frequent interviews were a requirement of the television show; they were used to mark 'checkpoints' along the journey, letting viewers know how things were going, summarising the dating process for them and catching them up with how she and Francis were feeling about everything.
"And, in light of recent events, I was thinking..." her mother began, in a tone of voice that sounded far too casual for Mary's liking.
Mary frowned at her in suspicion. "You were thinking what?" she asked her mother, her eyes narrowed.
"Perhaps we could use this interview as a way of diverting attention from the negative press about Lady Kenna?" her mother asked.
"And how would 'we' do that?" Mary asked her in return, with her arms folded.
"In the interview," her mother continued, her tone of voice all-business now, "you try your best to appear casual, relaxed, down-to earth. We won't spend too much money on the clothes, or on the setting up of a fancy room for the interview. I'll tell Castleroy to ask questions about normal, every day topics; nothing too heavy, or any questions that might sound too 'out of touch'."
Mary could only shake her head, realising that she was going to be used yet again as a PR tool for the royals.
"And of course, you make sure to mention Francis at every opportunity; try to at least act like a girl falling in love, even if you don't feel that way just yet. Smile and laugh, place your hand over your heart, blush and giggle-do whatever you must to sell the love story and distract everyone from all our other problems..."
Mary felt her heart start to beat faster, with the dread of having to put on a good show and act like a typical teenager-with-a-crush already starting to kick in.
"If we keep giving them a romance to invest in," her mother insisted, "perhaps they will forget about all their plans to riot and protest, if only for a while..."
Mary was not so sure that things were that simple, but still, a few days later, she found herself standing in front of the large mirror that had been moved to the centre of the television room, taking in her reflection as Narcisse paced up and down the room and she waited to be called for her interview with Aloysius Castleroy.
She stared at her reflection, almost unable to recognise the girl who was staring right back at her with a very nervous expression on her face.
For today's interview, the sylists had dressed her in a plain-and-simple outfit: a white, off-the-shoulder shirt, black trousers and black shoes with a small heel. Her hair had been tied into one braid, which hung loosely over her left shoulder. The only piece of jewelery she had been permitted to wear was the small silver key, which hung as usual from its black ribbon around her neck.
It didn't take an expert to work out the kind of image the stylists were going for-as she continued to stare at her reflection, Mary knew that she looked young, innocent, non-threatening. Her clothes were not expensive or extravagant, and her jewelery was minimal. She looked like a typical teenage girl who did not have the means nor the inclination to be overly careless with her words, or overly extravagant with her money.
After a couple more minutes of aimlessly staring into the mirror, Mary noticed that Narcisse had started to walk in circles around her, with a calculating expression on his face.
As she stared at him, Mary felt strangely as though she had stepped into some sort of lion's den, with no armour or weapons to defend herself.
"This could be a very important interview for you," he murmured, as he continued to circle her, his hand on his chin like he was deep in thought.
"This is a very important interview for my mother," Mary corrected him with a sigh. She was under no illusion that the purpose of this interview was for anything other than to provide some good publicity for the Scottish crown.
"Not necessarily," Narcisse replied with a shrug that seemed far too innocent.
Mary knew that she probably shouldn't ask, but she couldn't help herself: "What do you mean?"
"You have been given a platform here; air time, publicity, exposure. This is your chance to show the public who you really are. To talk about your hopes, your dreams, your goals...your political ideas, even. Now that you're a 'television star', people are curious about you. They're listening now, Mary. You are potentially a future queen, and your subjects will be very interested to hear what you have to say..."
"My brother is the heir to the throne," Mary responded automatically. She had been saying this for so long that it had now become second nature to her.
"Not in France," Narcisse whispered with a very significant expression on his face as he took a step closer to her. "You are naive if you think that only Scotland will be watching today."
Mary blinked a few times in quick succession as she stared back at her reflection. She had never even considered the idea that the French public would be watching all of her television appearances, too, or the idea that they might already consider her as their next queen.
"You do not have to blindly follow you mother's orders," Narcisse continued to whisper to her. "This matchmaking process is an opportunity to act in your own best interests, too. Why shouldn't you take advantage of the opportunity?
Mary was about to say something in response, but Narcisse was suddenly called out of the room by one of the television producers. He was scheduled to go downstairs to the room where the interview would be taking place and take his seat among the audience before the cameras started rolling.
With a final nod in her direction, he left the room, leaving Mary alone with her thoughts and with a few remaining members of the Publicity Team as she waited to be called down to the interview room, too.
Trying to ignore her ever-growing nerves as the minutes ticked away, Mary passed the time by going through a couple of the pages of the document her mother and Narcisse had put together for today's interview. Mary read over a few of the pre-planned questions that were going to be asked-she had already gone through her answers with Narcisse for the past couple of days. She also read over a few of the paragraphs which focused on other possible questions that might be asked, and suggestions for possible answers to these questions, but she kept getting distracted by the sound of a clock ticking, and thinking about how the seconds were racing away from her.
She had just gone back to turning the pages of the document when a loud knocking sound made her jump.
It seemed that most of the other people in the room were occupied looking at their phones and standing and talking to each other in small groups, so Mary went to open the door.
When she opened it, she was a bit surprised to see a guard standing on the other side, dressed all in black, with a very serious expression on his face.
"Your highness," he greeted her with a curt nod, before he continued: "Your Publicist has put in a last-minute request that you wear this pin today for your interview." He held out his hand, where the pin was resting on his palm.
Mary stared at it, and she almost gasped in shock-it was in the shape of a bird in flight, with the bird's wings spread wide, its head looking upwards, as though it was staring up at the sky.
Although she felt the usual prickle of curiosity-and the urge to quickly take hold of the pin and display in proudly on her shirt-she couldn't help feeling a little surprised at the last minute request; the plans for today's outfit had seemed to be set in stone, and nobody had mentioned anything about this bird-in-flight pin.
"Narcisse has asked me to wear this?" Mary asked him with a confused frown. The guard's face did not look familiar, but that wasn't exactly unusual-there were many guards who worked at the castle, and Mary's mother had only very recently recruited several new guards in a bid to tighten security.
"Yes, Princess," the guard replied, almost a little too quickly. Yet the almost-bored look on his face suggested that he had simply been sent to the room as a messenger and probably didn't want to be asked too many questions about Narcisse's plans, as he didn't actually know the answers, or care either way.
With a shrug, Mary accepted the pin from the guard, before she thanked him and gently closed the door.
After a few more seconds of hesitation, Mary pinned the bird-in-flight to the left-hand side of her shirt. She stared at it in the mirror for a little while, in barely-disguised fascination-it was a symbol that seemed to be appearing before her everywhere she went lately, although she still had no idea what it was supposed to mean. Sometimes, it felt like the bird was dancing just out of her reach, not yet ready to reveal its secrets-or perhaps it was simply waiting for her to take off after it.
But then Mary snapped out of her daydream about birds soaring into the sky as she started to think more logically. Perhaps Narcisse had simply decided that the bird pin looked sweet-and-innocent; a harmless, inexpensive piece of jewelery that a young girl would buy, and that was why he had probably decided she should wear it on camera today.
There was another knock on the door, and then a member of the television crew was swooping into the room, telling her that it was time to go and give her interview.
The setting for the interview was even more relaxed and informal than Mary could have imagined. Her mother had decided that it should take place in the drawing room, in two comfortable chairs by the fireplace.
Of course, several members of the royal family were there, including Mary's brother, and then there was Francis, who had been seated near the front of the room, at a convenient angle for the cameras to film him and take pictures throughout Mary's interview, no doubt so that they could use the footage for the next episode of the show.
A few members of the public had also been invited, most of them young girls who seemed to be Mary's age or perhaps a couple of years younger, and the rest of the seats were taken up by various members of staff who worked at the castle, who seemed to have been asked to sit in on the interview to make the room look more full, and to make it seem as though Mary had a large, captive audience just waiting to hear what she had to say.
Lord Castleroy's smile was friendly as Mary walked through the audience and towards the chairs at the front of the room, and there seemed to be less tension in the air than there had been during the first television appearance in the Throne Room.
"Mary!" he beamed at her, the second she had sat down, his tone of voice and the more informal setting helping her to relax a little.
She could almost ignore the fact that there were several cameras filming her from every angle, and the fact that a few guards were leaning against the walls with their arms folded, and of course the fact that the journalists and the members of the public in the room were holding their phones, ready to capture every single word and gesture, especially the unguarded ones.
Mary kept her eyes fixed on the audience for a few seconds longer. First she looked at Francis, who was looking very handsome, although he didn't seem to have received the memo about the more informal approach today, as his white, long-sleeved shirt looked very expensive. He was standing close to one of the large windows in the room, and the sunlight shining through the glass seemed to reflect perfectly on his golden hair. Mary imagined that several photographers in the room would want to take advantage of this perfect angle when they took photos of him.
Then she noticed Bash, who was sitting near the back of the room. He gave her the slightest hint of a smirk when she caught his eye, and Mary tried not to smile back at him. She knew that if she and Bash had gone to school together in London, he would have been such a distraction to her-the two of them probably would have sat at the back of the classroom, laughing at all the teachers and their old-fashioned views.
Lola was also sitting in the room, a few rows in front of Bash with a clipboard in her hand.
Narcisse stood in a far corner of the room, surrounded by a few other members of Mary's publicity team. He was standing far away enough that he was out of sight of the cameras, but close enough that he would be able to offer Mary a few silent prompts if she struggled at any point during the interview.
Yet Mary's mother was notably absent. This threw Mary for a second-normally, her mother liked to oversee everything. She realised that by leaving her alone to do this, her mother might actually be trusting her for the first time ever to do this 'damage control' properly without being instructed like a child on how to behave in public.
The interview started gently enough. While Mary made sure to sit correctly and to look sweet and innocent and to smile at all the right moments, Castleroy asked her a few questions that several of the television show's viewers had sent in via various social media pages-the questions were fairly innocent, mainly about things like her favourite colour, and her favourite food, and some of her favourite dresses she'd worn at royal events (Mary made sure not to talk about the more expensive dresses that she'd previously worn at parties and on royal tours).
As she was talking, she glanced discreetly over at Narcisse, who nodded subtletly at her, silenty letting her know that she was on the right track.
Feeling a little more relaxed now that Narcisse had given his seal of approval, Mary continued to answer the social media questions, opening up to the audience about some of her hobbies and interests: she talked about her favourite books, and how she liked to draw and paint in her free time. As she spoke about her pictures, almost unconsciously, she reached a hand up to touch the key that was still hanging from the ribbon around her neck, but then she quickly let her hand fall when she realised she was doing it.
Most of the people in the audience seemed both surprised and impressed that she was so passionate about drawing and painting, which made Mary think that perhaps the members of the royal family should showcase their talents a litte more.
Then, Mary talked about her school days in London. Again, the audience seemed surprised when she mentioned how much she had enjoyed studying history and politics and economics, and there were definitely a few whispers of approval when Mary recited several facts about Scottish history that she'd memorised over the years, along with a few figures that she knew from memory which related to the royal budget. Even Francis looked impressed.
Mary was almost enjoying herself. It was so much easier to do this, she realised, when she was speaking in honesty; when she was just being herself and talking about topics that actually interested her.
Mary even spoke a little French for them, making sure to joke about how her skills in the language were lacking, and how she would definitely need to practice, which drew a laugh from the audience. To Mary's surprise, they even gave her a round of applause when she spoke a few more words in French about French royal policies.
"So, Mary," said Aloysius, his tone of voice suddenly a little more serious, "let's say you were a queen, ruling your own country. What's the first thing you would do?"
It seemed like all the talk of history and politics had encouraged Aloysius to ask a question that attempted to delve a little deeper than the previous questions about her favourite colour and her favourite outfit.
Feeling a little thrown by the question, Mary stopped to think for a few moments before she answered. When she really thought about it, she knew that there were lots of things that she would like to do-or, more accurately a lot of things that she would like to change; things she would do differently. All of the speeches and proposals secretly saved on her computer would back these ideas up.
She had just never allowed herself to put any of these proposals into words before, fixed as she had always been in her position as the second-born royal daughter who always had to do as she was told. But then Narcisse's words in the television room came back to her-about how people were listening to her now, and how she should use the opportunity to show people who she really was.
In the end, Mary decided to answer with something that had been on her mind a lot recently: "I would try my best to negotiate with those who are...dissatisfied with the policies of the royal family," she said seriously, thinking as she spoke about all those people who had to meet in secret in hidden corners of the local pub so they could talk about how they were suffering as a result of current Scottish rules and policies.
A few murmurs seemed to echo through the otherwise silent room the moment Mary finished answering the question.
Feeling a sudden, strange shift in the mood, and an increase in tension in the air, Mary discreetly looked at Narcisse, to see if she had made a mistake in what she had just said.
But still, Narcisse nodded at her, and he even lifted his hands to give her a discreet thumbs-up.
"Interesting," said Aloysius, as Mary continued to talk about the citizens who were perhaps not so happy with the policies of the Scottish royal family, but she couldn't help noticing the rather nervous expression on his face.
Of course, Mary knew that the focus of the interview would soon have to shift to the matchmaking process-there was still a television show to film, after all. Perhaps sooner than she would have liked, the topic of conversation turned to Francis and the royal matchmaking show.
Mary went back to 'autopilot', giving the answers that she had already rehearsed with Narcisse-keeping things vague, but still trying to keep people interested in the show at the same time.
She talked about her walk with Francis in the grounds (making sure not to mention the argument they'd had that day), and also the game of Polo when Kenna had visited, and the royal tea party, and the tour around the castle.
Aloysius asked her several times when she was planning a visit to France to meet with Francis's family-the French royals-as apparently most of the show's viewers had been asking the same question, and it seemed that they thought this visit to France would play a necesary part in the matchmaking process.
Mary wasn't sure what to say in response. She had put all thoughts of a possible visit to France to the back of her mind, as the idea of spending time in Francis's home country, at a place that held such awful memories, where she would be alone with Francis and with only King Henry and Queen Catherine to provide her with other company, absolutely terrified her, especially as she and Francis hadn't really spent much time together yet to get to know each other.
Briefly, Mary considered acting the way that Kenna would act in a situation like this-smiling and waggling her finger and saying, "Now, now, Aloysius! You know that a princess never tells!" but she wasn't sure that she would get away with it the way that Kenna always did.
Instead, Mary had to resort to her default reaction of keeping things vague. "Nothing has been arranged just yet, so we will have to see," she replied, making sure to smile.
In order to compensate for being so vague, Mary continued to talk about the time she had spent with Francis so far, while at the same time deliberately avoiding meeting his eye as he watched her from the front row. She wasn't sure how he was going to react to her apparent reluctance to set a date for a visit to France.
As she continued to talk about the matchmaking process, Mary even used a gesture that she was copying from Kenna, where she deliberately flicked her braided hair over her shoulder as she pretended to giggle, trying to look like a typical young-girl-with-a-crush.
Yet, the moment she turned a little in her seat to try to observe the audience's reaction to this gesture, she noticed Bash staring at her with wide eyes, looking horrified.
Feeling suddenly anxious, Mary looked at other people in the audience, to see if she had done something wrong, or if she had missed something, but nobody else seemed to be looking at her in wide-eyed horror the way that Bash was.
She looked at Bash again; it seemed that his eyes were focused directly on the bird-in-flight pin. Mary felt her heartbeat pick up its pace. She had no idea what was going on, or why he was staring so intently at her pin, but she didn't like his reaction one bit.
Quickly, Mary grabbed hold of her hair and pulled it back over her shoulder, covering up the pin again. She didn't know what had caused Bash's reaction, but something about it made her feel like she had to hide the bird pin on her white shirt.
She was forced to focus on the interview again when Aloysius 'suggested' that Francis come up to the front of the room, so that the audience could 'get a good look at the two of them together'.
Of course, the enthusiastic screaming from the audience made this suggestion impossible to refuse, and so Mary was joined at the front of the room by Francis, who seemed to be struggling to keep a neutral expression on his face as he stood next to Mary so the two of them could pose for the cameras (and the screaming audience) with their arms around one another.
Mary was reminded of all the actors from her favourite television shows; the ones who stood up on stage at events in front of an audience of their fans and performed for the cameras, posing for viewers and photographers alike as they played up to their on-screen love stories.
Yet this was not a television show. She and Francis were not actors. There was no script to follow. This was all real, and there was so much history between the two of them; so much that had not yet been said. And still, they had to pose awkwardly for an audience with their arms around one other, the two of them forcing their smiles and trying to give everyone a glimpse of what they would look like as a couple, and perhaps more importantly, what they would look like as the future king and queen of France.
It was all too much, and again Mary felt that sensation of the room spinning around.
As though he could sense that Mary might lose her balance at any moment, Francis held her a little tighter, placing one hand gently on her arm, as though waiting to catch her if she fell.
As Mary looked into his eyes, the room suddenly stopped spinning around, and the vague outline of another memory started to dance around her mind-most of it just out of reach...
She was walking through a forest, with white petals falling gently onto her head. Francis was standing a few feet ahead of her, but he looked much younger...
Mary was abruptly pulled out of this memory when Aloysius started to laugh and joke about how 'wonderful' the two of them looked together. As Mary blinked rapidly, feeling a little annoyed that this memory had slipped away, he wished them both luck with the rest of the process-it seemed he was getting ready to wrap things up.
Then, just before he could head back to his seat, Francis also seemed to notice the pin that Mary was wearing. He frowned at it, and then for some reason, his eyes narrowed in Narcisse's direction. He glared at Narcisse suspiciously for a few moments, apparently forgetting for a second that there were cameras pointed right at him, before he headed back to his seat.
Instantly, he took out his phone, and he seemed to be searching for something on the screen, a troubled expression on his face. It also seemed that he could no longer look in Mary's direction.
The moment the interview came to a close, and the audience gave Mary a final round of applause, Francis excused himself from the room, a look of concern still on his face and his phone pressed to his ear, as though he was about to take a call.
Following his lead, Mary also excused herself from the room, feeling an ever-increasing sense of panic and confusion.
James frowned at her as she walked out, apparently clueless as to why she looked so worried, but Mary ignored him.
Not really sure where she was going, Mary headed vaguely in the direction of the televison room, deciding that she would wait for Narcisse there and question him as to what had just happened.
She had only taken a few steps however, when she overheard the sound of Francis's voice, coming from the nearest meeting room. He seemed to be in conversation with someone.
Mary crept closer to the meeting room door, taking care not to be noticed.
Francis was standing in the room with his back to her, his phone in his hand. After a few more seconds of eavesdropping, Mary worked out that he was on a video chat with his mother, whose face Mary could just about make out on the screen of Francis's phone.
"Narcisse must really despise her..." Mary heard Catherine tell Francis in a low voice.
Again, Mary frowned in confusion. What were they talking about? Had Narcisse just done something wrong-something to ruin her interview?
As Francis suddenly started to turn back around in the direction of the door, Mary jumped and darted out of sight.
Picking up her pace, she really did run in the direction of the television room this time. When she got there, she stepped inside, closing the door behind her before she took a few deep breaths.
What was going on? What had just happened? Why had both Francis and Bash looked so concerned during the interview?
Suddenly, the door flew open. Mary jumped and turned towards it, fully expecting to see Narcisse. She was therefore more than a little surprised to see Bash, who was taking rapid steps towards her with an expression of fear on his face.
"Bash, what is it? Mary asked him, trying to keep the tone of panic out of her voice.
"Mary, what are you doing, wearing a symbol like that on television?" said Bash in a frantic whisper.
"What do you mean?" Mary asked him, her voice shaking as she placed a hand almost protectively over the bird-in-flight pin.
"That's a rebel symbol, Mary!" Bash exclaimed, and Mary could tell that he was struggling to remain calm and keep his composure. "People who wear bird-in-flight symbols are no friends of the Scottish crown! Regardless of any personal views you might hold, your family won't thank you for wearing something like that in public."
Now starting to feel a little sick, Mary removed her hand from the pin, almost as though it would burn her, if she kept hold of it for too long.
A rebel symbol. So that was what the bird-in-flight meant. For so long, she had wondered; she had read book after book, and scrolled endlessly through websites, trying to find its hidden meaning, and now, finally she had the answer, and the timing of it couldn't have been any worse.
"By wearing something like that, you'll only antagonise the people of Scotland," Bash continued, still looking panicked, "and potential rebels who understand its meaning could take it as encouragement to plot against the crown..."
"Bash," said Mary, her voice still shaking, "how do you know all this?" And why do you care so much? she almost asked him, too.
Before Bash could answer, Narcisse walked into the room.
Quickly, Bash took a step away from her, as though he and Mary had been caught doing something wrong.
"Princess," said Narcisse, his voice silky smooth, without a hint of real worry, "it seems that there's been some...confusion about today's events. Perhaps we should discuss a few things in private?"
Taking this as his cue to leave, Bash hurriedly bowed to Mary and walked out of the room, casting a few worried-looking glances over his shoulder in Mary's direction as he went.
"Did you ask me to wear this pin today?" Mary asked Narcisse immediately, before he could say anything else.
Hurriedly, she removed the pin from her white shirt and held it out for him to see.
"Of course not," Narcisse replied, as though this answer was obvious.
"Did you send a guard to ask me to wear it on your behalf?" Mary continued, desperately needing to know the truth, and quickly.
"No," Narcisse replied, looking at Mary like she was a child who had no clue how the world worked.
"Did you know the meaning behind the symbol, and how it could be linked to Scottish rebels?" she asked, keeping her eyes fixed on him, looking for any hint of deception.
He shook his head.
He actually looked convincing, but still, so many thoughts seemed to whirl around Mary's mind. She thought about Narcisse's reactions during the interview-how he'd encouraged her to keep talking as she wrecklessly made statements that could be seen as pro-rebel. She thought about how the guard had told her that Narcisse had sent him. She thought about Francis, and how much he seemed to hate and mistrust him. She thought about what Catherine had just said to her son, about how Narcisse must despise her...
Narcisse must have seen the look of doubt on her face, because he frowned at her as he continued. "Clearly there has been some kind of misunderstanding, or miscommunication." His tone was firmer now, and Mary felt as though she was being put in her place, or being patronised. "I am employed to help your cause, not to turn Scotland against you."
But still, he said the words with such sincerity, and Mary really wanted to believe him. She had to believe him. She already doubted and mistrusted so many others, and she really needed somebody on her side right now. She needed to not be wrong about this.
Suddenly, she felt afraid; afraid of her own foolish thoughts and actions. A life as a Scottish rebel might have been some childish dream of hers, an unrealistic fantasy, but still, an interview in the Scottish castle had not been the time or the place to wear rebel symbols. She couldn't be seen to promote a cause that she didn't truly understand. Today had been all about positive publicity, and she had no doubt brought the exact opposite to Scotland.
And, even worse, the choice had been taken out of her hands. She had been tricked into wearing something that would antagonise the Scottish people and bring even more negative publicity to the royals. Whether she had been deceived by Narcisse, or a castle guard, or somebody else, Mary wasn't sure. And now she would have to deal with the consequences of today's interview, through no fault of her own.
Mary opened her mouth to say something else to Narcisse, maybe to explain about the guard showing up at the television room just after he had left, or to ask him yet again to promise her that he hadn't played a part in today's debacle, but before she could, the door burst open again.
This time, Francis strode into the room. He took one look at Narcisse, and his expression turned thunderous.
"Leave us!" he demanded, his voice full of anger as he glared at Narcisse. Right now, Mary knew that she was dealing with Francis-the-prince rather than Francis-the-childhood-friend who had promised to help her get through this process.
Narcisse simply shrugged and headed out of the room. Still, he did not look the slightest bit perplexed, and Mary really started to worry that he was enjoying all this drama.
Feeling suddenly irritated at Narcisse's abrupt dimissal from the room, Mary glared at Francis and folded her arms, waiting for him to speak.
Francis's expression changed from a look of anger to one of fear.
"Mary," he said, as he started to pace up and down the room, his hands held out as though in a gesture of surrender, "I'm asking you to please reconsider your decision to use Narcisse as your Publicist."
Francis's voice was shaking, and Mary couldn't tell if he sounded more angry or afraid.
And yet, all she could feel was anger. Anger that Francis believed he had a right to do this-to ask her to dismiss her staff, to question her judgement, and anger at herself for possibly being mistaken in putting her trust in Narcisse in the first place.
"He has done nothing wrong!" Mary insisted, the words leaving her lips before she could think things through. She wanted to believe it; she had to believe it. Otherwise, she would have to face the fact that she had been so easily duped; that she had walked into danger again just like that silly, naive sixteen-year-old girl who had snuck into the French castle.
Francis actually rolled his eyes at Mary's defense of Narcisse, causing Mary's level of anger to increase.
"Mary," he sighed, "even you can't deny that he has placed you in a terrible situation today. I don't know very much about Scottish symbols, but there are already whispers going around that you were wearing a rebel symbol during your interview today. Narcisse allowed you to sit there and to say what you said about helping those who don't support your own family! People were taking photos of you in that room-pictures of you wearing that symbol will already by circulating the Internet. And still he shows no hint of remorse!"
"He has denied all knowledge of it!" Mary protested, feeling another flash of anger. She knew she must sound like a petulant child right now, but she didn't care.
Francis seemed to take a few deep breaths before he spoke again. "Mary, you must at least suspect that Narcisse had something to do with the decision for you to wear that symbol today-"
"He had no idea what the symbol meant!" Mary continued to insist, hoping rather than believing this to be true.
"Mary, he is no friend of yours," Francis responded, a warning tone to his voice now. "He is here in Scotland entirely for his own gain. People much older than you have been fooled by his lies, his deceptions. There are so many other worthy Publicists you could employ, before it's too late. This process will be much easier for you if you dismiss him-"
Mary wasn't sure whether it was anger or fear that was driving her words and her actions right now, but either way, she felt like she was losing control of the situation.
"I am not your subject," Mary told Francis firmly, whose eyes widened in shock at this statement.
She still wasn't sure if she believed Narcisse herself, but she was sick of this; sick of being told what to do by royals like Francis, James, her mother...and by camera crews and Publicity Teams. She was sick of being lied to and deceived. "And your personal grudge against Narcisse has nothing to do with me! Perhaps you are simply jealous of how close he is to Lola!" she couldn't help accusing him, voicing for the first time her deep-rooted anxiety-or maybe it was jealousy-that Francis preferred spending time with Lola to her.
"Mary, this is not about-" Francis started, a bewildered expression on his face, but then he seemed to stop himself. "You know nothing of his history," he finished.
"Regardless of the deal your father has struck up with Scotland, I will not be told what to do by France!" she continued. "And perhaps I would know more about your history with Narcisse if you actually told me, Francis!"
She couldn't hide the hint of sadness in her own voice as she finished her sentence.
You are keeping secrets from me, too, Francis, just like everybody else! she almost added.
Before Francis could say anything else, Mary turned on her heel so that she could storm out of the room.
When she got to the doorway, she turned back and glared at him. "I am only answerable to my own country! To Scotland! Not to France! And," she added, her tone of voice a lot more level now, but no less angry, "you are not to dismiss a member of my staff from a room ever again!"
With that, Mary left the room and slammed the door behind her. She leaned against the closed door for a few seconds, letting out a shout of anger before she sighed and started to move away from the door.
Then, just to make things worse, she walked out into the corridor just in time to see her mother, who had no doubt overheard every word of her argument with Francis. She was leaning against the opposite wall and glaring at her daughter with an expression of pure fury, silently letting Mary know just how badly she had messed things up.