"Majesty!"
Mary jumps up from her position on the divan, quickly hiking a white cloth that lay on her lap, up to cover her baby and her chest as a portly nanny with red cheeks stumbles in after shoving the door open.
"Susanne, whatever is the matter?" She asks, straightening up and standing as the woman fumbles into a quick bow, before holding her hands together out in front of her.
"Majesty, please forgive me. There's a disturbance in the nursery." She begins, breathing heavily from her run from one side of the castle to the next. "The Dauphin, the Baron de Velay. They have came to blows yet again!"
Mary relaxes, this has happened so many times now that it never seems like an emergency. The young Dauphin and his bastard brother had never gotten along, despite having been brought up as practically twins, the two of them being born no less than six weeks apart. Even as babies, they would scream and cry until one was removed, and as toddlers would regularly throw their little wooden horses at each other. Now, as active and growing nine year olds, Mary was accustomed to this, despite her husbands every attempt to tame this animosity. Besides, James could hold his own, being the elder and already three years deep into swordplay, and Mary had always drilled it into her boy to never start these fights unless defending his siblings, to always let it be known that he was on the defence, so would remain blameless in his father's eyes. And he was, Francis loved him and all their children deeply, it was just this one hurdle he refused to leap over.
Mary sits back to her divan, adjusting the five month old baby Prince Aiden on her chest. He suckles strongly, and Mary loves this beautiful little thing of dark blonde hair and hazel eyes. A pregnancy every year since James, two sets of twins and England closer by the day, her son and stepsons squabbles weren't an emergency as the nanny had made it out to be so.
"This happens at least once a week, Madame. Why the urgency?"
"Because the King, my lady! The King and the Baron de Bois, they've had to call for the physicans!"
"Oh?" Mary raises a brow, sitting up straighter to look at the other woman. "For who?"
"The Baron de Velay, Madame. The Dauphin took offence to his harsh words regarding the Princesses Adelaide and Serephina, he struck him in the eye whilst wearing his gift from the King of Sweeden, the gold ring with a sharp emerald. There's such blood, Majesty."
Mary relaxes in a way she never would in front of Francis or Catherine. When she is alone, and when no children -baby excluded- are here to witness, Mary doesn't have to pretend that Jean-Philippe didn't cause her pain, or the suffering his mere existence causes her. The resentment he has caused since his conception was announced can only be indulged when she's alone, to keep her sane and free of the stress pretending such things cause her. Jean doesn't know the harshness she feels in her blood when she looks at him, the want to scream at him whenever he harms one of her children, the pining to banish him and his mother from her countries so she never had to think of her bastard stepson again. James doesn't know, neither do his brothers and sisters. She's as fair as she can be in front of them all -children and husband included-, gifts him pretty things on his birthday and yuletides, tells off her children when they call him bastard, and allows her husband to bring him to Scotland on their half year visits. It's the best she can do, indulging in the resentment when she is alone can hardly be called unfair.
"And James, is he alright?" Mary asks, running her fingers down the soft hair of her newest child.
"Yes, Majesty. He's fine, barring some scrapes and bruises. Madame, you must come!"
"Must I?" Mary asks. "Why?"
The lady is rendered speechless for a moment, before Mary spares her.
"Have the nannies gather all my children, shepherd them into the grounds, I'll take them all for a walk in the gardens and the orchards, to Sebastian and my husband can tend to Lola's child. She is there, too, I assume?"
"Yes, yes, my lady. She is."
Mary stands, clutching the baby close. He should be finished soon, then she can walk with her children and get them away from their half brother, the same one who faced the same fate as Sebastian once had, scorned and hated for his bastardy. But while Sebastian made himself a friend and brother to his half siblings, Jean made himself an enemy. If only things were different, for everybody.
"Go, madame. Have my children taken to the easten gardens, and a picnic lunch prepared for them all."
"Yes, Majesty," the servant curtseys rushes down the room once again.
Mary sighs as the door closes, licking her lips as she looks down at the baby as he releases her breast. She covers herself and throws the cloth behind her shoulder, moving the baby so she may coax the air from his stomach, his chin touching the cloth.
She closes her eyes, breathing in that smell that all babies have, one of the only things that can calm her down when her husbands bastard tests her nerve and resolve to be different than Catherine.
But she pushes him from her mind, walking towards the door, baby still on her shoulder.
She has children to see, and a picnic to eat.
-
A/N
Hey, everyone. Been a while since i gave a little note. I've been wanting to give a little something so you all know where my head is at.
Cutting to the chase, I've decided to step back from updates for a while. Over the last few updates I've noticed a steep dip in comments and views, to the point where the last few haven't had any. A lack of payoff for hours -sometimes days of for the bigger ones- of work really does make me feel like it's not really worth it anymore. Its such a lovely boost to hear what you think of a chapter, and to spend all that time thinking and writing and editing all for a notification of a vote is super disheartening. I'm not gonna beg for comments anymore, I've done it a few times and that just leads to resentment, and it's pretty clear that giving more updates doesn't solve the problem, so I've decided to step back from it a little more. So, no set schedule for updates, no double or triple updates anymore. Maybe one every month or so, or whenever I get the itch. I've got a couple more ideas, but no prompts or payoff equals no motivation, and I didn't have nearly as much as when I was a frequent writer anyway, so yeah, I just wanted to let you all know how it's gonna be since I can see from the stats that people are still reading, even if they aren't commenting.
I'll still reply to comments or prompts if I get any, but I won't be updating frequently or pushing myself to update for something that has little to no payoff anymore.
If anybody's reading, thanks for the support if you've commented or left me a message on the boards, it means a lot.
Love
me
:)
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You Are My Light Part II
Historical Fiction-Reign Oneshots/Taking Requests- The world can be dark, Mary, and uncertain and cruel. The only thing that matters is that we face it together. No matter what happens, you are my light. Part 2! -Read TEML first!-
