MEDICI

TWO

"How dare he call me out like that!" Catherine slammed the door of her room shut. "'May their children be many?' That's none of his business! And it was so embarrassing, everyone was looking at me!" She covered her face with her hands as she sat down. "Ughh."

Nicole patted her back gently. "I'm sorry, my lady. I'm sure no one thinks poorly of you."

"Not only that," she looked up at her ladies, "but I need to plan my whole wedding. Sure they say they'll help, but it's going to all be on me! What am I going to do?" She was shaking a bit.

"We'll help you, my lady." Adriana knelt in front of Catherine. "You're not alone."

"Well, of course not, but how can I not feel like it?" She tugged Adrianna and Nicole to her and held her in a loose embrace, wearing an aggrieved expression. "Oh, you ladies are my only comfort."

Cadenza pulled the two girls away from their lady and helped her up with a hidden smile. "Alright, my lady. I'm sure you'd feel better with a good night's rest." She took out the pearl circlet and started unpinning the braids from her head. "And that doesn't mean more studying on French culture, it means actual rest. It's our first night at French Court, I'm sure it will only get more hectic from here, so you must rest as much as you can before then."

She sighed. "Yes, I suppose you're correct, but I can't afford to slip up Cadenza. My marriage will only be secured when I am actually married."

"At least His Majesty set the date," Geovanna peeped out in Italian.

"Yes, exactly," Nicole agreed, switching back to French.

Catherine ran her fingers through her now loose hair, sighing at the painlessness in her head. "Yes, but this marriage...it only truly benefits my side really. The French get 'the assurance of a Catholic country with the Pope's support and military,' but I get the power grip of marrying into the royal family."

Cadenza undid the corset with skilled fingers as Nicole pulled out a nightgown similar to the one from earlier. "Which is exactly why it's so good that the marriage is in a few months."

"It's in three, and alliances can shift in such little time." Catherine slipped into the nightgown, sighing at the tightness in her chest caused by the fabric. "Ah, how I miss Italian fashion."

"We can have some shipped in, my lady." Adriana folded the dress Catherine was wearing just moments before to be taken down and washed tomorrow.

"What a long list of things to be shipped in," she laughed a little, unfastening her earrings. "And ever growing."

"There's no harm in it, and it's not like we don't have the money to spare." Nicole helped her take off the rest of the jewelry then makeup. "Your dowry is enough to rival a queen's, my lady."

"Ah, and I'm well aware of it." She flung off her slippers and climbed into her bed, sheets already pulled back by Adriana and Geovanna. "And I'm glad of it. At least that's one thing that helps my position here at court."

"Of course." They blew out the rest of the candles and moved towards the door. Cadenza opened it and ushered the rest of the ladies out. "Straight to sleep, my lady."

- - - - - - - - -

The week passed quickly, and soon it was Friday, bringing with it the Feast of Saint James. Always one to rise early, Catherine was already having breakfast in her chambers at seven in the morning when there was a knock at the door, then an announcement of Queen Eleanor. Catherine's lady's maid, Babbette, opened the door quickly with a bunched-up expression of restlessness.