My Life As The Dauphin

Un Dernier Plaidoyer

I DO NOT OWN REIGN. IT IS MY SINCEREST HOPE THAT PEOPLE STILL CARE ABOUT THIS STORY.

Veneur Estate. Carrouges, Kingdom of France. 1 week later.

After roughing it in the French countryside, I think that it is safe to say that the 3 of us would never ever take mattresses, pillows, or sheets for granted every again. To be honest, I had missed having servants to tend to all my menial needs. Living at the home of the Veneur's was quite pleasant indeed. It wasn't nearly as luxurious as French court, but it was pleasant enough.

As the next week past, Bash and I often joined Tanneguy in the woods for a hunt. There was plentiful game around his estate and we ended up eating venison rather often. I was content as a guest of the Count of Tilliéres. However, I was still trapped in unhappiness due to the huge wave of separation that I still felt between Mary and myself.

Despite the prophecy, that she had received from the visions Nostradamus and the terror that she had suffered at the hands of the Medici bitch, Mary had agreed to come with me thus far. However, the distance that had been put between was still there; like a stain that had soaked into my shirt that would not come off, even after a thousand washes. Every time that I tried to hold her, to kiss her, to share any form of intimacy...Mary pulled away from me like I had the plague or some shit. It was fucking unbearable and I was utterly sick of it.

On the 7th night of our stay at the Veneur estate, I decided that this shit with Nostradamus and his bullshit prophecy needed to be out to rest once and for all. I went to Mary's chambers and I knocked on the door eagerly. Mary came to answer it after a moment and the look on her face revealed that she did not expect me to be there at all.

"Francis...the hour is late, you shouldn't be here." Mary said softly as she tried to work up the nerve to shut the door in my face, but I put myself in the way of the door before she could close it on me. This conversation was happening whether she wanted it to or not.

"I don't care, this distance between us has gone on for way too long and it ends now." I demanded angrily as I stood in the doorway like a stone statue. Mary could tell that I wasn't going anywhere; so she reluctantly let me come inside her room before closing the door.

"Francis...why do you keep doing this?" Mary asked in frustration as she set her furious eyes upon me. "Can you not appreciate that I am trying to save your life?"

"No, I don't appreciate it because you are condemning me to a fate that is far worse than whatever Nostradamus sees in his vision!" I exclaimed angrily as I glared back at her with equal frustration. "Mary, I love you and I know that you love me too."

"That doesn't matter anymore, it can't!" Mary exclaimed in pain as I saw the heart break on her face.

"I am a grown man who can assess the situation, judge the risks and rewards, and make a decision. If you won't let me make MY own decisions with MY own life, then you don't respect me!" I shot back.

"You think I don't respect you?" Mary asked incredulously.

"Not really, you torment me day in and day out." I argued as I stepped towards the woman I loved. "You shy away from me at every turn as if I've got the Black Death or something worse and worst of all...you have let some lunatic and a vile, wicked she serpent convince you that denying what we have and condemning me to a life of loneliness and misery is the best option."

"Francis, she is your mother!" Mary exclaimed in shock at my bad mouthing Catherine.

"Ha, Catherine de Medici is many things, but a mother is not one of them." I declared with fury as I let loose on the bitch. "A mother teaches her son right from wrong, a mother puts her son's happiness above what she wants, a mother doesn't lie to her son over and over and over and over again. Catherine has done none of that and I refuse to give her credit for something she hasn't done!" I started tearing up as Mary reached out gently and took my hand in hers. It was the first time that she had willingly touched me in a while.

"Francis...you know that I love you, more than I have ever loved anyone in my entire life." Mary said solemnly as I held her cheek in my hand.

"Then tell Nostradamus and my mother to go to Hell. Marry me, love with me, laugh with me, cry with me, raise our children with me." I pleaded as I looked deeply into the eyes that never failed to captivate and enchant me. "I know that whether or not Nostradamus's prophecy is true that there will be risk, but I want to face it with you. Because a short life with you is far better than an long life without you. If I had to choose between a moment with you and an eternity without, I would choose the moment every damn time because you are my life Mary Stuart, do you hear me: You. Are. My. Life."

"You are my life Francis...ever since I stepped out of that carriage and saw the way you looked at me...I knew you were all I wanted." Mary said with tears of her own as our lips met. I kissed her deeply before before I lifted Mary off of her feet and carried her to the bed, where we shared our most intimate embrace.

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