The Serpent Queen

6. Meeting the French II

"Of course. You need not doubt my loyalty to our house." Catherine said softly.

The holy father nodded in satisfaction. "All right, then we'll make our entrance together into the great hall." he said as he stood up. He turned to his chamberlain.  "Fetch the Duke of Florence."

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Catherine looked admiringly through the great hall, decorated for the occasion with tapestries.

She walked beside Alessandro behind the Holy Father.

At the front of the hall, the king stood behind the long table placed on the platform. The king was accompanied by his family who were lined up next to him.

As the Pope and his retinue approached, he dismounted from his seat on the dais and approached them, followed by the two eldest princes, Francis and Henri.

"Your holiness." He bowed deeply and so did the princes. Catherine and Alessandro bowed to the king.

"Majesty." The Pope greeted him with a nod.

"Your holiness, may I introduce my family: My wife, the Queen Eleanor, My daughters, the Princesses Madeleine and Louise, and my youngest son Prince Charles." King Francis introduced his family. Catherine sank in a curtsy again.

The queen stepped from the dais and went to the holy father where she knelt on the floor and kissed the hem of his robe.

Clement looked at the woman with disgust; she was the younger sister of Emperor Charles, the man who had captured him. though she herself had nothing to do with it, Clement couldn't help but feel anger at the sight of the queen. nevertheless he gave his hand to her so that she might have the chance to kiss his ring.

"God bless you, your holiness." said Eleanor as she got up again. she looked past the Holy Father to the Duke of Florence and Catherine, her future stepdaughter-in-law.

The holy father motioned for the two to step forward.

"Your majesty, you look beautiful." said Alessandro, stepping forward to kiss her hand. "You are too kind, Your Grace." She smiled. Alessandro looked at the queen in her dark brown eyes and gave a short grin.

He had to admit that, despite her age of  thirty-five, the Queen still looked beautiful.  although he could see the sadness in her eyes, and much more in fact, her eyes spoke volumes.

She walked over to catherine. "Your portrait did you no good; you are much more beautiful in reality." she said with admiration, looking at her. She had made up her mind to take the young Catherine under her wing; she herself knew very well what it was like to be a stranger in the French court, especially if that same court looked down on you.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. You too are truly beautiful. I hope one day to resemble your beauty and goodness." said Catherine with a smile.

Eleanor nodded in satisfaction and walked back to stand next to the king.

"please, take a seat." said the king, gesturing to the table on the platform. He had ordered the servants to set up two thrones: one for the king and one for the pope.

The king had devised a sharp plan to make sure nothing could break his alliance with the pope. No one from posing parties would interfere with the other party. He couldn't bear them making an alliance among themselves.

Next to the king would sit the queen and next to her the princesses and the youngest prince. Next to the Pope would sit the Duke of Florence next to whom would sit his sister and his two eldest sons.

The holy father nodded and took his seat to which the rest of the group also took their seats. Both the guests who were still in the hall took their seats and the food was served.

While they all enjoyed their meal, the king and the holy father discussed the most important matrimonial matters.

"The dowry will be 100,000 gold ecus, as your ambassadors told me?" King Francis asked the Holy Father who was cutting the piece of meat on his plate.

Clement narrowed his eyes briefly. "Indeed. You will receive the first 50,000 ecus after the wedding ceremony and the next 50,000 ecus in installments. I hope my ambassador has also explained the conditions under which the dowry falls?"

"What conditions, holiness? I believe your ambassador forgot to share that with me." Francis said, the ambassador hadn't said anything about terms.

"That's no problem, I'd like to tell you. Should the marriage of Caterina and your zion be annulled for any reason, Caterina will get her entire dowry back, this also applies to her claim on Italian land, you can keep her French titles for yourself. Also Caterina will always, whatever the situation is, may petition me, the Pope, to annul her marriage. Do you agree with the conditions? Because if that isn't the case, I'm afraid the marriage could not go on." Clement looked at the king with a questioning look.

He had seen for himself what had happened to Henry Tudor and his wife Catherine d'aragon. He wouldn't see Caterina ever in the same situation and losing everything she had. God knew how much Clement had to do to collect the dowry, he wouldn't just lose it.

The king sniffed his nose. Looks like Clement had already thought through everything. He would do anything he could not to lose his wealth and that of his family. "Well, I'm sure they won't get to the point where they get divorced, so I accept the terms and the marriage can continue as planned."

Clement smiled with satisfaction. "Then the marriage can indeed continue."