My Life As The Dauphin

Affaire Risquée

I DO NOT OWN REIGN. I KNOW THAT PEOPLE DO NOT REALLY CARE FOR LOLA, BUT I NEED YOU TO TRUST ME. FRARY IS ENDGAME AND LOLA WILL NOT HAVE FRANCIS'S BABY.

French Court, Kingdom of France. Later that evening.

Once the castle had calmed down for the night, I made my way down to the wine cellar for my meeting with the Varden. Sure enough, when I arrived, I saw Bash, Lord Castleroy, Claude and Leith Bayard all waiting for me.

"Thank you for coming, my brother has called this meeting, so let's hear what he has to say." I said as I have the floor to Bash.

"During your honeymoon, I was exploring the woods and I have come across something you need to be made aware of." Bash declared.

"It's dangerous to go into the blood wood, Bash. You know that the Pagans use those woods as their hunting grounds." Lord Castleroy said with alarm in his voice.

"That is exactly what I need to make you aware of." Bash insisted as he continued. "I grew close with some people who are also knowledgeable in the Pagan's ways and they told me about something they call The Darkness."

"What is The Darkness?" Leith asked in confusion.

"Sounds like some villain in a children's story." Claude replied, unimpressed.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I do know that it is some sort of supernatural being in the Blood Wood." Bash answered.

"You don't believe in those Pagan fairy tales, do you?" Castleroy asked with a scoff as he clearly felt that the Pagans were full of shit.

"It doesn't matter if I believe it or you believe it or if anyone in this cellar believes it. What matters is that the Pagans believe that The Darkness is real and that is why they are performing blood sacrifices in the woods; to appease it." Bash pointed out, finding Lord Castleroy's lack of faith disturbing.

"Whether or not there is a Darkness isn't the main issues right now." I said, stepping in before an argument could erupt. "The fact of the matter is that the Pagans are using The Darkness as an excuse to butcher innocent people. I'm all for freedom of religion, but murder can not be tolerated."

"I agree, The Darkness needs to be found and slain." Leith remarked.

"We have to move carefully, we don't know for sure who or what it is." I cautioned as i doled out tasks to my spies. "Bash, you need to gather more intel from your contacts in the woods, Leith, some of the servants might be Pagans or Pagan sympathizers, see what you can glean from them. Lord Castleroy...this might be a long shot, but perhaps there are Pagans who fancy pepper; keep your ears open on the spice trade. We will reconvene if any information presents itself, we are dismissed; Claude, please tarry a moment." The others took their leave, leaving me and my sister.

"What do you need me to do?" Claude inquired.

"I need you to befriend my wife, spend as much time with Mary as you can and get close to her." I commanded as I knew that I needed a distraction for Mary while I worked to deal with the Lola situation. She made it clear that she wasn't going to go away and I needed time to pacify her.

"Why do you need me to be Mary's friend, that has nothing to do with The Darkness." Claude complained as she surely felt that she was being sidelined.

"I have personal business to tend to and I would not have Mary know of it; distract her for me, please." I begged as she reluctantly gave in and agreed to what I asked.

Lola's bedchambers. Later that night.

My stomach felt queasy as I slowly knocked on the door to Lola's room. She opened the door and greeted me with the toothy smile that I had always felt was lovely on Anna Popplewell. She motioned me in and I closed the door behind me.

"I've been waiting for you, my prince charming." Lola teased as she leaned in and pressed her lips to mine. I forced myself to take her in my arms as we kissed. I would never have been able to keep up the charade if I had not managed to pretend that I was kissing Mary. The last thing that I needed was for Lola to know that I didn't enjoy this. It might anger her and convince her to fill Mary's head with all sorts of lies.

"I had some royal business to attend to." I replied as she caressed my cheek.

"Well, allow me to offer you some distraction." Lola said with a cheeky tone of voice as she pulled me towards her bed. My heart started beating more rapidly than normal as she began to kiss me feverishly. I tried to return the kiss as best i could, but when she started an attempt on removing my trousers, I quickly grabbed her hands in mine.

"Lola..." I gasped as she looked into my eyes.

"What's wrong Francis?" she asked as I heaved a sigh.

"Lola...do you remember all those talks we had, the time we spent together?" I inquired.

"Of course, I love spending time with you." Lola replied softly.

"I have to ask: did you spend time with me because you wanted to be my friend...or just to hurt my wife?" I asked intently as Lola's smile fell.

"Francis...I spend time with you because I like you." she promised me as she laid her head on my chest. "You're kind and honorable and courageous. I've never met a man like you in my entire life; not even Colin treated me the way you do...hurting Mary is strictly a bonus." I said nothing as I let Lola lay on me. I knew that I had to stop this before it could go any further. I managed to avoid her attempts at love making that night, but i knew that Lola would eventually get impatient.

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