The Heir (TV Series 'Reign') #2

Getaway

Bash's POV

The feeling of her warmth between my skin and hers, made me feel strength. The feeling of her lips on mine, and our bodies moving with one another. I couldn't help, but fall more in love.

"I just can't stop thinking about your sister." She whispers.

"Kenna..."

"I know she wasn't well, you were just taking her to her chamber. I don't know why I keep dwelling on it." She says, as I stop and look at her.

"Then don't."

"It's just, Claude is so pretty and so adventurous. She was in your arms..."

"Kenna, please not now." I beg.

"It's so silly of me to be so jealous. She's your sister."

"Half sister." I say, realizing what I said, she gives me an ugly look.

"What? Just being accurate. We have different mothers...Let's not talk about our families." I say.

Getting out of bed, I get dressed, just in time for the guard who enters me chambers.

"An urgent matter, my lord." He says.

I walk to the corridors, where Francis stands near the window.

"Orders were to display the traitors for two weeks, then cut them down. The good thing about this cold, there's barely..." A nobleman says.

"Get to the point." i add, as I stand next to him.

"Well, some of them, their clothes are torn. You know how it is, my lord, the birds come and peck..."

"I know. So we saw it." I say.

"Checked every body, it's the same. It's in the same place on each traitor who stormed the castle."

~

Francis and I make our way down to the entrance, where the bodies of each lifeless man lays.

"Looks like the mark of the Dark Riders." I whisper to Francis.

"Cardinal Perazzo." Francis says.

"Cardinal Vasari told us rumors of these Dark Riders, but he thought it a tale for the credulous. What do you think happened?" He asked.

"The dead men are all Protestant traitors. They all bear a mark." I say.

"Must be some a secret seal, a pledge among their brotherhood." Cardinal Perazzo said.

 "You make a great deal of sense, Your Eminence. They must have made up this story of the Dark Riders to cover their tracks, should anyone spy the brand." Francis says.

"I'll send my Swiss Guard to discover these traitors among us and root them out." Perazzo says.

"Forgive me, Your Eminence, but this is a matter for the king's justice, and as I am the king's deputy, I assure you I will handle it. After I gather evidence." I add.

"My son, these men are religious extremists, answerable to the ecclesiastical courts. You're telling me to step aside?" He questions.

"Speak to your brother, the king. You'll find he has no wish to challenge the Pope." He whispers to me, as Francis has left the conversation.

~

Eliana's POV

Resting on the wall, Talia and Lydia arrange my dress for the day.

"Excuse me." I hear a man whisper.

"Castle is freezing, and, as I suspected, your hearth's gone cold. I'll only be a moment." Francis says, as I turn around, and no longer see Talia and Lydia.