so i've just seen mary queen of scots and honestly it's so good. i was expecting something wholly inaccurate (mainly bc she has a scottish accent instead of a french) but they've actually done the whole french thing really well & have stuck close to the history. the film was super fast paced but it was so good - wish we'd seen the babbington plot though!! it just kinda ended on mary's exile and then went straight to her execution so if u didn't know what happened it wasn't really explanined apart from a 1 liner (also i know it's a 15 but there was a lot more sex than i was expecting)
also they failed to mention the fact mary had been styling herself as the english queen since 1559 to make her a more amicable protagonist but ok
anyway, hope u enjoy this new chapter!! trying to write a lot so i can get this finished (..also is it just me or has wattpad gone quiet with the TLK fandom?? like come back we miss u x)
ALSO
just to add on, i don't think there will be any updates next weekend (25th) due to the fact medici season 2 is coming to netflix and i intend to consume myself in that so forgive me, thank u and, as ever my lieblings,
enjoy
word count; 1641
Rosamund
I let out a scream when I saw his head on my table. I crouched over and felt a sickness take over me. I ignored all occurrences and felt sick, nausea exiting me like no other.
"My God, my God, my God," I repeated, loud sobs erupting from my mouth. Edward rushed in and saw what was going on. He wrapped his arms around me and took me into the corridor as Uhtred approached. He peeked in the room and nodded,
"Guards!"
He, too, was shocked by this revelation. This event. This death. This loss.
"My boy, my poor, poor Finan, my poor," I sobbed, unable to make a coherent sentence. "Oh, my poor, poor boy," I cried, feeling utterly faint.
It was then I woke with sweat dripping down my forehead as I panted like never before and a fear instilled within me. Owain lay next to me, clean and sleeping peacefully. He had taken my bed that night, claiming that no matter our differences we still had to do our duty and provide an heir. I agreed but I did not enjoy such a matter; no child could replace the hole Aethelwulf had left.
Nonetheless, Owain claimed his comment about Finan was ill-advised and that he meant little by it. I doubted it. He was not one to make a false commentary — far from it.
Alas, I wandered the corridors of the Palace soon after I woke and felt a listlessness. A depression. A feeling in the pit of my stomach that I could not shake.
I could not believe he had returned. It was as if someone had taken a knife to my stomach and twisted it for all to see; him and his whore. He had taken her to shame me. To give her a child to prove that I was a failure in my role. We had been married not yet a year and already we were wholly indifferent to each other. Angered by one another. I'd been a fool to think we would be alright.
"Are you alright?"
I glanced back and saw a tired Edward. It seemed Kingship was taking a toll on him — much to his dismay. He wanted to be too much like his Father, too fast.
"I'm fine," I nodded, smiling weakly at him. "And you?"
"I think we both know the answer to that." He chuckled. I shared a similar sentiment,
"Yes, it would be foolish to deny it," I paused, eyeing him. "I am glad you need not to send men to Gwynedd."
"Though I think not so glad of the reasoning why," Edward commented, eyebrows arched. "You do not find your husband all too pleasing, it seems."
"No," I shook my head. "He is... changed."
"He is whoring." Edward scoffed, finding Owain's actions to be that of a petulant child. "You deserve better."
"So everyone keeps saying," I muttered.
"I mean it. If I was your husband, I would not do it."
"As you are so fond of reminding me," I snarked. "Edward, please. I am not in the mood for politics."
"Politics?" Edward scoffed again, "This is far from it."
"Really? Then, pray tell, what is this?"
He met my eyes and smiled softly, "Friendship. Love, perhaps— the friendly kind."
"Ah, yes, love," I responded with a sigh. "What a foolish notion.
It was not that I believed my words but that love was a growing enemy. It caused problems in my marriage and made me resent my husband for one simple thing; he wasn't Finan. I knew that, nevertheless, when I married him and I had only myself to blame but, of course, I would not admit such a thing publicly. That would show weakness. And I was not weak.
"I seem to remember a flirty girl gracing the halls of Winchester a few years ago," Edward teased. "She was all for the notion of love, as I recall."
"She was,"
"What happened to her?"
I looked at him with a frown and met his eyes. "She grew up."
Edward rolled his eyes and lacked belief in my words. "You are far too stubborn for that."
"I am not!" I exclaimed. He arched a brow and I chuckled, nodding slowly. "Perhaps a little."
"Finan tells me you are planning to widow yourself." He spoke. My heart panted; that was no longer an option. And Finan, alas, did not know. No one knew of Owain's return but those of us who had met with him in the throne room — the presence of Iwan caused great difficulty for such a revelation.
"Why have you been talking to Finan? Doesn't the King of Wessex have better things to do?"
"We have a shared commonality," Edward spoke in a teasing tone as a smirk formed on his pink lips. I giggled a little,
"And what might that be? Lustful manhoods?"
"Perhaps, but it is not the commonality I was thinking of," Edward paused, his eyes fixated on me. "It was you."
"Me?" I whispered. "I-I don't quite understand-"
"All is well, Rosamund," Edward approached me with a smile and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Half the court knows of your affection for him."
"That explains Owain's comments," I admitted. "But, who told you?"
"I'm sworn to secrecy," He winked — infuriating me. "Now, widowhood?"
"Yes, well, that is not an option now as my husband isn't dead," I seethed. "And Finan does not even know it."
"Then tell him!" Edward exclaimed with bereft energy that I had not anticipated. "It sounds better coming from you, does it not?"
I huffed, "Yes."
"Then go! Do it! You have no time to waste!"
"Calm down, Edward," I chuckled. "You do not even know if Finan is awake."
Edward arched a brow, "If you're awake then I have no doubt that your Irishman is too. He's too devoted to sleep when you are in such a mood."
"Devoted?" I scoffed. "He is not a monk."
"If you were the Lord himself, I have no doubt Finan would be a devoted servant."
"Vulgar," I muttered. "Since when were you so... transparent?"
Edward winked cheekily as he said his swift reply, "Marriage has taught me many things, Rosamund, I assured you."
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Finan smiled at me softly. And he would've spoken such sweet words, given the chance, but he was prevented from going so. But his mouth formed an 'O' shape and he let out a groan. It was an odd sound, something I had not heard before. Something that, no doubt, warriors had heard all too many times-- Finan had heard it too many times.
"Finan?" I giggled awkwardly. It was then I saw the blood rush to stain his shirt, with permanency that I would never be able to unsee, nor to remove from his shirt. "Finan!"
Finan fell forward, face down, and I saw the arrow in his back. It stuck out like a sword that had been driven into weak flesh, sitting straight up and visible but, alas, too far deep into Finan's back to even hope he would survive such a wound.
"No, no, no, please, Finan," I felt my emotions unleashed in the form of tears running down my skin. "Finan, please!"
I heard running footsteps and hands grab me but I refused to leave him; I could not do so. I would not.
"Rosamund, you have to go," Edward's voice spoke. It seemed that the King of Wessex was my ever-present saviour, despite his wife and mother's discontentment in such a regard.
"No, no I won't leave him, he's my-" I cut myself off before I proclaimed him my husband. That was, as I realised then, what I had always seen Finan as; my husband. He may not hold such a title in name but I felt that we were together in such ways that only a man and wife could be. Only a true marriage could hold such intimacy and it was what we had shared-- I felt God would see it too; an unspoken matriomony between the two of us, a bond that would never be broken."
"And Finan would want you to live," Edward spoke, as he pulled me back behind the column. Another arrow whizzed passed, likely targeted at my own, weak body. I breathed rapidly and continued to sob, my eyes fixated on Finan's lifeless body. Grief continued to plague my life in the most unexpected, but the most obvious, ways.