Morning Glory-Francis (Reign)

Chapter Forty-Seven

The feast arrived sooner than I expected. I insisted that Elisa put me in a corset, to give the impression of normality, and I held back a grimace as the stays pressed on my side. Several bandages had been stuffed inside my corset in order to provide some barrier between my skin and the rough fabric besides my thin shift.

Elisa, Natasha and I filed into the banquet hall behind Mary and her ladies. I had kept Natasha and Elisa as out of the loop as I could, so that it would be easier for them to play dumb when it came time to act.

Count Vincent had us sit, with me at his right hand, and Mary at his left. Catherine sat on the other side of me. Throughout the meal, he kept giving both Mary and I looks, ones that made me feel like I would rather die than let this plan fail. I could not let this man take Francis.

About halfway through the meal, Mary left the table with her ladies under the pretense of fixing her corset. I almost wished I could take the same excuse. My side was throbbing under my corset. Mary gave me a short nod as she left the room, her ladies following close behind her.

So far the plan was working, but also so far, not much had actually been accomplished. In a few minutes, I would feign an illness, and be rushed from the room by Natasha and Elisa where Olivia would let us into the secret passages.

I was counting down the seconds until I would make my exit when the doors opened, interrupting my countdown. Catherine and I both glanced over confused, and both of our expressions turned to shock and worry when Mary walked back into the room, her ladies following her with a pair of guards.

I was a little concerned about this plan's dependence on Olivia, but I had decided to trust Mary's judgement. I had volunteered for one of my ladies to stand there and wait, but Mary had argued that it would be odd if Natasha wasn't here, and that Olivia could be trusted. That evidently was a mistake.

"Welcome back, Queen Mary." Count Vincent said, with a sickly sweet voice. "We were beginning to wonder where you had wandered off to."

An awkward silence fell over the table. I could tell all three of us were scrambling for another way out of this, but there was no way we would be able to slip away and discuss now. Vincent had caught onto the fact that we were going to try something, and had sent guards after Mary and her ladies. Thank the Lord he had them brought back here to dinner.

Suddenly, Catherine stood up from her seat at the table. She walked to the head of the table where she pulled a heavy chest off the ground and placed at the end. When she pulled the lid open, our Italian company gasped at the large stacks of gold coins piled inside.

"A gift, for you, Count, and all of your men." She smiled, gesturing for the men to take their share before returning to her seat.

"I thought you already tried bribery." I whispered to Catherine as she sat down next to me.

"We're out of cards to play." She hissed back. Her words didn't explain her actions, but before I could question her further, Vincent stood up from the table, slamming his hands down.

"Enough of this!" He yelled, glaring down at the three of us. "I don't know what you're planning, but it's not going to work!" He shouted. "Grab those ones!" The Count shouted to his guards, who jumped up from the table, dropping their gold pieces everywhere, and dragged both Mary and my ladies away from the table and toward the wall.

"Natasha, Elisa!" I shouted, before I heard Mary yelp. Turning to the side, I saw Vincent had pulled Mary out of her seat and pushed her against the table.

"I'm taking the Dauphin and his brothers, and no one is going to stop me." He growled as he drew a knife from his side and poised his arm to strike Mary. The rest of the room had succumbed to chaos as everyone was struggling, and shouting.

"Stop!" I shouted, though no one reacted. Scooping a fork off the table, I slammed it as hard as I could into the Count's shoulder. "Let her go!"

With a loud grunt, Vincent turned around towards me, throwing me off his shoulder, and leaving Mary scrambling on the table.

"You bitch," He spat at me, coming towards me, knife still in hand, though I could see the pain in his expression from the petty wound I had delivered to his shoulder. Panic coursing through me, I backed up, as fast as I could, only to find myself against a wall. "You're going to pay for that, Tsaritsa," the Count hissed in my face, as he stopped right in front of me.

A loud scream broke his concentration, and Vincent looked back over his shoulder. I took the opportunity, to slip out from between him and the wall. The scream had come from one of Mary's ladies, who was staring at the soldier who had been holding her in shock. Blood was pouring out of his nose, down his face and onto his shirt. Nearby another soldier collapsed onto the floor, blood spilling out of his ears and mouth. We all watched in shock, as Count Vincent's men dropped like flies, until it was only our ladies, Mary Catherine and I standing, looking at the shocked Italian count.

His eyes flashed over to the gold that Catherine had gifted his men that now lay scattered on the table, and it clicked in my mind what had happened. Catherine had poisoned the gold. Thank God none of us had touched it.

The four of us were locked in a staredown, unsure of who would make the next move. Catherine, Mary and I were unarmed, and the Count still had his knife, though he was outnumbered three to one. Not to mention, the six ladies standing stone still around the room, among the bodies littering the floor.

Then, everything happened at the same time. The Count raised his knife and lunged for me, but just before he reached me, he was stopped by a sword point that plunged through his chest from the back. Scrambling backwards, I fell to the ground, and the memory of that day in the Swedish village flashing through my brain.

The now slack body of the Count was shoved to the side to reveal Francis standing behind him. A clang echoed through the otherwise silent room as Francis tossed his sword onto the ground, and dashed over to me, kneeling down on the floor.

I couldn't stop the tears from slipping out of my eyes as he pulled me gently to his chest, pressing kisses into my hair and whispering "It's okay," in my ear.