BLOODLINES | THE SPANISH PRINCESS

40

____

  At their residence in France, Charlie was running through the castle gardens with his daughter Frances, his eldest child with Kathy. She had been born exactly nine months after the wedding, making her only a few months younger than her cousin, Henry Fitzroy. They had another daughter as well, Eleanor, who was nearly a year old.

Charles held a small wooden sword in his hand. He grabbed Frances up, the two of them acting as though they were fighting an imaginary monster. Frances giggled loudly at her father's actions, causing Charles to laugh as well.

Just then, Charles turned, smiling at the sight of Kathy standing there. She was watching them, holding Eleanor in her arms.

Even at the girl's young age, Eleanor already carried traits that her mother had. She was stubborn, moody, and extremely smart for her age.

While Frances was also smart like her mother, in everything else, she was entirely different. Unlike her younger sister, Frances was quiet, timid, obedient, and was more than willing to obey anything her parents told her to do.

"Are you spying?" Charlie asked Kathy, smiling as she placed Frances back down on the ground.

"A spy would deny being a spy," Kathy replied, playfully smiling back at her husband.

The couple laughed and after grabbing ahold of Frances' hand, the father-daughter duo made their way over to Kathy and Eleanor.

Charlie smiled, taking Eleanor into his arms while Kathy wrapped an arm around her eldest daughter. With that, they began to walk together through the gardens.

"I hear Henry and the whole of the English court will be coming to France soon enough," Charlie commented, causing Kathy to smile and playfully roll her eyes.

"Oh, I know," Kathy replied and Charlie turned to give her a curious look, "King Francis told me this morning. He came by here to see how we were doing."

"It seems the French king only comes to our residence when I am not home," Charlie commented as he rolled his eyes, earning a smile from Kathy, "He fancies you, you know. He wishes to bed you."

"Doesn't mean I'm going to," Kathy reminded him as she placed a hand on her husband's shoulder, "You're the only one for me, Charlie. Now and always."

Charlie looked back at Kathy and smiled. She always spoke the words but it always warmed her heart, just as it warmed Kathy's when he spoke to her about how much he adored her and always would.

"You have a secret dealing going with him, though," Charles commented as he turned to give Kathy a knowing look, "You plan to have our daughter marry his son."

Kathy sighed and nodded her head at Charlie, not daring to speak the words out loud.

"Henry will not be happy," Charlie commented, earning a loud laugh from Kathy as she turned to him.

"Henry has disowned us. It will be years before he forgives us. And even if he wishes to marry his daughter Mary to the dauphin, Francis doesn't want the same. He would prefer to have one of our daughters to his son. He believes Henry is unfit to rule and that his daughter is not a true princess at all," She explained and Charlie sighed, knowing if they were in England, what she spoke of would be considered treason.

Kathy didn't care. She never had, though. And she most likely never would. She could commit the highest of treason and somehow find a way to get away with it. She always had.

"I don't understand how you do it," Charlie confessed, sighing as he looked down at the ground in shame, "How you so easily go about your life, knowing we have been banished from our homes and have been cut off from our friends and family."