I DO NOT OWN REIGN.
French Court. Kingdom of France. Later that day.
After Mary went off to start trying to make contact with Clarissa, I stuck around to keep an eye on Catherine. With her and Nostradamus around, it was clear as day that Mary was unsafe. Now that I had changed the course of the show, other things might change as a result. I had to watch my ass. Catherine was nothing if not determined.
Eventually, watching the serpent brood lost its luster. I decided to head back into the castle. If memory served me correctly, it was time for Simon to whip out his poisoned dress scam. I was going to enjoy putting that numb nuts in his place when the time came. After about 5 minutes of wandering near Mary's chambers, she called on cue.
"Guards, someone, help me!" I heard Mary scream. "Somebody help me, please! Guards!" I raced up to her, pretending to be confused as Hell.
"Mary, what's going on?" I asked with concern as I grasped her shoulders.
"There's a servant in my room." Mary said breathlessly. "She was wearing one of my dresses...and it was poisoned." I saw some guards approaching, no doubt tipped off by Mary's screams.
"Guards, with me." I commanded in the most princely voice I could muster. We went into Mary's room and sure enough, the bitch in the poisoned dress was AWOL.
"She was right there on the floor, she was dying!" Mary exclaimed. "Where...where could she have gone?"
"They took the evidence. Whoever did this realized they fucked up and tried to clean the mess." I reasoned, knowing that Simon surely told his skank how to make a clean getaway.
Go, now! An assassin with a dying girl could not have gone far." I commanded the guards as they raced to do my bidding.
"She was right there, how could anyone have escaped with her?" Mary wondered when she realized something. "The passageway. I don't know how far it goes or where, but could they have gone through here?"
"No, they'd echo. We'd hear them." I quoted. "These passages are all stone, nothing in them, but I didn't know one connected to this room."
"You know about them?" Mary inquired.
"I wouldn't call myself an expert but I know that the passageways connect the older parts of the castle to the new." I replied as I looked at Mary. Odds are there isn't anything to them, but i'll have the guards check them anyway." I took Mary in my arms and held her close. I hated seeing her in pain and I wanted to comfort her as best I could.
"I was so afraid..." she whispered as I stroked her hair.
"Mary, where were the guards outside your door?" I asked softly.
"Well, they...they weren't here." Mary admitted tenderly. "I saw the servant, and I thought I thought it was safe."
"They're going to get hear for abandoning their post." I vowed as I squeezed Mary's hands. "In the meantime, that English piece of shit Simon needs to be detained and questioned. I'd wager 100 livres that he's responsible for this.
"Do that, by all means." Mary replied as she tried to calm herself.
Later That Day.
After the poisoned dress plot was begun, I knew that I was going to have to have a conversation with Henry and I was not looking forward to it. He didn't seem to really give too much of a shit about Mary; otherwise, he would have let me put a ring on it. I eventually found him after he'd chatted with Kenna and informed him about the plot and in true Henry form, he drug his feet.
"The English can't do this, not under the laws of diplomacy, not under French law, not in our home." I insisted as I walked with him.
"You can't prove they did anything until the servant's body is found." Henry replied nonchalantly.
"Mary doesn't lie and she isn't mad. If she says this happened, it happened. What we need to do is beat the answers out of that English bastard." I declared.
"Simon's having a glass of Sherry with my advisor." Henry explained. "He's well aware of the consequences if we can prove he's behind this." I threw my hands up in the air. Henry's attitude had been grating in me ever since I got here.
"You're not gonna do a gosh damn thing , are you?" I asked sarcastically.
"I didn't say that." Henry argued.
"You didn't have to, I could see it in your eyes!" I growled as I had lost patience with the prick. "You're just going to keep her here, like some acquisition, a weapon you might never use."
"Alliances are weapons." Henry growled in return.
"Her life is at risk over an alliance that you may never honor." I pointed out.
"Her life is always at risk." Henry countered. "She first came to us when she was six because the English wanted to kill her."
"I'm tired of this argument. Either allow me to marry her as agreed or...send her away." I demanded. I didn't want Mary to leave, but it wasn't fair to lead her on like this.
"Where do you think she's going to go, back to Scotland?" Henry asked with a smirk. "Her mother doesn't want her back, not without a King for a husband."
"Then let's give her one! Bring me a priest, call for Mary and we'll do the job we were meant to!" I pleaded in vain.
"She's here doing her job, and her job is waiting for me to decide when you should marry her." Henry shot back with the air of superiority that he was well versed in. "She is not going anywhere."
"She's not just an alliance; She's a girl, under your care." I argued as his eyes pierced me.
"But that's of no matter to you, is it? I'm intrigued by how much she matters to you. I was under the impression that you didn't want to marry her." Henry teased as I tried to keep myself from decking him.
"I...wasn't sure if she was the right choice for me...but now I am. She will be a good wife and a good Queen." I pointed out, trying to plead her case. "Father...please, let me marry her. I want Mary in my life."
"You will wed the Scottish Queen when and if I allow it Francis." Henry declared as he stared me down. "Control your emotions or they will overwhelm you." I watched the king walk away as I knew that I was just as much a prisoner here as Mary was.
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