My Life As The Dauphin

Le Fabricant D'épées Flirte

I DO NOT OWN REIGN.

French Court. Paris, France. The next day.

After Mary's official debut to the French Court, the nobles and servants could talk of little else. Meanwhile, I was planning out my next move. I knew that in the first episode of Reign, Francis had been snagging some squirrel before the Queen of Scots showed up. I couldn't remember her name for the life of me, but I knew I would have to spurn her. It would give me good practice for when I had to deal with the Olivia D'Amencourt situation. Part of me knew that staying faithful to Mary would save us both a shit ton of grief down the road, but another part of me genuinely wanted to be faithful. I wasn't in love with her yet, but I did care about her.

I continued exploring about the castle after breakfast. I knew that I needed to familiarize myself with the castle if I was going to convince anyone that I had lived here for my entire life this far. I tried to be as discreet as possible while I looked through chambers that were not locked. Eventually, I stumbled upon a room that I recognized from the series premier. It was the room in which Francis had conducted his sword making. I went inside and I admired the swords that Francis had hanging around. He had clearly been skilled in the art as the blades were free of any defect. Plus, they looked sharp as Hell. Eventually, my impressed attitude gave way to concern. I had no skill at sword and knife making. I had never attempted it. I knew that I would have to find someone to teach me discreetly or just drop it altogether.

As I was making plans for how to deal with my lack of blacksmith skills, I saw Mary herself standing in the doorway; right on cue.

"Mary, what brings you up here?" I asked, trying to act cool.

"I was exploring." She answered. "These were my old rooms. Don't you remember?"

"Not anymore, no one comes up here." I recited from the script.

"Except you." She shot back as she saw the workbench and immediately took an interest. "What is that? Is all of this yours?"

"I make knives, and swords." I lied as I let out a chuckle at my own expense. "At least, I'm trying to learn.

"To be a blade smith? Is that a requirement for future kings now?" Mary inquired with curiosity.

"When you say it like that, it sounds ridiculous, yes." I admitted sheepishly as kings didn't usually bother with that shit.

"No, no, I think it's fantastic. Did you make all these?" Mary asked as she gave her attention to Francis's creations. "Why?"

"I can't help thinking that every man, even a king, should have some kind of skill." I explained, remembering how Francis wanted to have something to fall back on in case the whole King of France thing didn't pan out for him.

"Well, you're going to be a great ruler someday. Isn't that enough?" She inquired.

"I hope I will be, but I meant a real skill." I elaborated as I let my eyes linger on my sexy as Hell bride to be. "One that I didn't inherit, wasn't given to me and and can't be taken away." I pulled out a stool from the main bench & motioned for Mary to sit down, which she did.

"You shouldn't be ashamed of wanting to better yourself." Mary insisted.

"My brother...my half-brother, Bash...he has so many skills." I continued, pumping some sunshine up his ass. "He wants to learn something, he does, he wants to go somewhere, he goes; with my father's blessing. They don't worry about him dying so much that they don't let him live." I had never really appreciated it in the show because I'd only seen him as a character, but despite his illegitimate status, Bash had it pretty damn good until Mary conspired to make him legit.

"Because he'll never be king." Mary reasoned.

"Exactly, I just feel like we royals should do more than order people around and spend money all day. We should actually know how to do everyday things, no offense." I added as Mary gave me her signature smile.

"None taken...if you want everyday things, I can milk a goat and cut peat for the fire." Mary said, clearly trying to avoid seeming silly. "The nuns, you know."

"I can admit to being impressed." I replied with a chuckle at her expense. "I suppose if there was ever an uprising that sent my line into hiding, I could sneak off to some backwater village and earn a living in the blacksmith business." I cringed inwardly, since unlike Francis, I knew jack shit about being a blacksmith. I made a mental note to learn myself on the subject as soon as possible.

"But I'd save you." She countered with genuine concern. "And we could go to Scotland and rule there." I had to admit that the thought was tempting. It would have made for a good plot twist if Condé's Protestant uprising had panned out. Mary and Francis fleeing to Scotland, ruling there while planning on how to reclaim France. It would have saved Mary some major heart ache later on in the series and definitely kept her away from that shit head Darnley.

"I suppose that being a Scottish King consort could have a certain charm to it." I conceded, earning another smile from Mary. "Plus, I heard that Scotland is very beautiful; as is its queen." My flirting was working as Mary's cheeks turned bright pink.

"Did you pick up flirtation along with sword making?" Mary asked as she stood up from the stool while I moved closer.

"Not really, I have to work hard at blacksmithing, flirting is more of a natural talent." I said softly as our faces came close. I wanted so badly to kiss her right then and there. As embarrassing as it sounds, getting a kiss from Adelaide Kane was on my bucket list, but I knew it was too soon and courtship was different here than in my time. Plus, our engagement was in limbo, especially with Catherine and Nostradamus plotting Mary's downfall. I pulled away before our noses could join in an Eskimo kiss.

"This is a good time to take a break from my swords." I replied, trying to regain my cool. "I trust that we can continue this conversation later?"

"I'd like that." Mary replied as she quickly excused herself from the room, hiding her blush as best she could.

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