I DO NOT OWN REIGN. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO LAURIE MCCARTHY AND STEPHANIE SENGUPTA. AFTER RE READING THIS STORY, IT HONESTLY MADE ME CRINGE BECAUSE I HADN'T EVEN FINISHED WATCHING THE SERIES WHEN I STARTED WRITING THIS; PLUS, I FEEL LIKE MY WRITING HAS GOTTEN BETTER SINCE THEN AND I FEEL LIKE THIS DESERVES TO BE THE BEST IT CAN BE. A BIG SHOUTOUT TO XMISSWHITNEYBEXX FOR ALL OF HER SUPPORT. IF YOU HAVE NOT CHECKED OUT HER WORK, PLEASE DO SO. ALSO, THIS STORY CONTAINS MENTIONS OF RAPE; READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
French court, Kingdom of France. December 11, 1558.
Empty. If Mary Stuart, the Queen of Scots, had to sum up her state of being in a single word...that's the word she would feel compelled to choose. She looked out on the courtyard as she sat on a bench outside her bedchambers. It had been 3 days since her rape at the hands of Severin and the other Protestant radicals. The view of him on top of her...forcing his way inside her...taking something that she had not given him. The pain was as strong as if the rape had only happened 5 minutes ago. He claimed to have done it to avenge what he believed was the murder of his son at the hands of King Francis de Valois: the protestant Minister who had been used by his comrades as a tool to incite more religious violence. Mary fought the urge to scoff. Even if Francis had killed the Minister, it did not justify her rape; nothing could.
The only slight comfort she had was the knowledge that Severin was dead. Mary had seen to that by flinging a lantern onto him and watching him burn alive. Prince Louis of Condé had cut down the other would have been rapists with his long sword before they burned down their dirty little hovel. They were dead, she had been avenged, no one would ever know that the queen of Scotland and France had been violated. Mary knew that she should feel relief, but it refused to come when called. Who did come was Francis, looking extremely anxious.
"Mary, I've been looking for you everywhere." He said as he walked over to her while keeping a safe distance to avoid setting her off. "We've caught and executed nine of the conspirators whose role in the attack was confirmed, but Severin..."
"He's dead, as are his accomplices. You were wise to use Condé, he helped me find them." She finished for him as Francis got a surprised look on his face.
"You killed them, together?" Francis inquired.
"There wasn't time, I had to act. I didn't want them to escape...but you can release the rest of the prisoners, Francis." Mary said as she felt a stream of tears falling from her lovely brown eyes. 'It's over...it's over."
"Mary, no." the king of France said with pity in his eyes as his wife wept.
"This notion that we could put the pieces back together...I wanted to believe that we could, that we just needed to find these men and punish them; but now I realize I can't change the fact that..." the Queen of Scots wept as Francis finally realized what she was truly saying.
"You blame me for what happened..." He whispered as he had dreaded this moment ever since telling her about having killed his mad king father, about how he had fueled the flames of religious violence at the behest of Lord Stephane Narcisse, who was blackmailing him with the most dangerous secret in France. Francis was already blaming himself for allowing Narcisse's blackmail to go on for as long as it had; it was damn near unbearable for Mary to do the same.
"I know it's irrational, but it feels forever linked to you; and to us." She confirmed as Francis fought the urge to break down in tears himself.
"Mary, I was desperately trying to save your life." He insisted as he tried in vain to defend his actions, horrible as they had been. "What would we have done differently if you'd known the truth? What good would it have done for me to put you in that kind of danger?"
"I'm not sure. I don't know if it would have gone differently or better, but you never gave us a chance...and now we'll never know." Mary replied in exasperation as she remembered how only a fortnight ago, Francis had told her to go back to Scotland and leave him alone. Had she known what was to come, she had no doubt in her mind that she would have. "I've had some time to think: I believe that we should lead separate lives."
"What does that mean?" Francis asked as he felt that the wind had been knocked out of him by those 8 horrid words.
"That we will continue to work together as king and queen, but that I will be your wife in name only." Mary clarified as she stood up and started to walk away from her husband.
"I can't do that, I won't!" Francis declared as the thought of living without Mary was a fate worse than death in his opinion. She was the only woman he had ever truly loved. He had fought so hard to keep her; he couldn't lose her like this, it just wasn't fair.
"We wouldn't be the first people in history to do so." She pointed out.
"If you're talking about my parents, we are nothing like them." He shot back as he looked deeply into those eyes that captivated him so. "I would do anything for you, Mary. I love you and you love me."
"And look where that love has brought us." Mary remarked as she walked away from her husband without a backward glance.
Blood wood, Kingdom of France. Later that day.
Mary walked alone near the woods after informing Francis that their marriage was to be a political alliance and nothing more. She knew that it was dangerous to go near this place, but she didn't care. The castle was filled with memories of Francis pushing her away, of the attack that had killed their love. It was just too much to take in. Mary had never actually gone in the blood wood before and despite reports that the pagans who had once inhabited these woods had gone, the place still reeked of their presence. Mary's tears had dried since that painful conversation on her balcony and now she just strolled silently. The silence was soon broken by the sound of chanting that sounded...otherworldly. Said chanting was being done in a language that Mary did not understand and it frightened her greatly.
"Who is there...I command you to show yourself!" Mary called out, trying to put on a brave face as she still possessed the dagger she had used to cut Severin. If the pagans were still here, she meant to give them a fight before she allowed them to harm her. The chanting only grew louder and her surroundings seemed to grow Mary dark as she tried to flee, but found that she could not see where she was going. The Scottish queen fell to her knees as she was overcome by the chants and the growing darkness.
"GET AWAY!" Mary screamed as loud as she could before her entire world went black as a night with no stars.
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