Tu Es Ma Lumière

166 - Abandonment *Modern*

"Charles," Catherine de Medici-Valois states firmly, looking at her third born son as he sat upon the kitchen island. The boys schoolwork was discarded a few inches away from him, while the young fifteen year old boy sat staring down at his IPad, barely even blinking at the screen, his green earphones firmly placed within his ears. Catherine pushes at his shoulder, sending a stern glare at her husband, who sat a few feet away at the glass dining table, tapping away at his laptop. Henry ignores her, whilst Charles grunts in irritation, his mother having yanked the little devices from his head. "You must do your schoolwork! Do you have any idea how important this is right now?" she snaps, prepared to scold the boy for his insolence, but his words stop her in her tracks.

"Mother, it's Francis!" he says, leaning away from another strike. Catherine's hand remains in the air, whilst his father looks over at them. Catherine's hazel eyes grow considerably. All of this is fairly dramatic, but the circumstances of the two eldest boys from Henry's lions disownment from the Valois-Medici clan are storied and complicated and still so fresh, even though it was over four years ago. Charles was just eleven when both Sebastian and Francis left the family with their wives, disownment and disowning in their own rights punishment for loyalty to their wives and their circumstances.

"What?" Catherine whispers, lowering her hand to look Charles in the eye. Ever since the then-heir of the Valois dynasty had been disowned -and disowned his parents in their own right- they hadn't heard a peep from him or Sebastian, not one little word. After ageing out of the family home, Elisabeth and Claude had gotten in touch with their elder brothers (or half, in Bash's case) and had been welcomed with open arms. Louis wasn't far off, neither was Charles. He looks just like Henry and Sebastian, that made it hard to look at him at the best of time after the disownment took place. But his words hold weight, so much that they make Henry get up from his chair and walk over to his wife and son. "What did you say?"

"It's Francis, maman." Charles says, showing them both the IPad. Youtube is open, and on the large screen is a picture of the eldest issue of Henry and Catherine, as well as his own wife. Francis' mothers' breath is taken from her as she sees her eldest boy, who held nothing to do with her, just like her eldest girl.

Francis was both changed and unchanged. Ridiculously handsome and pretty, just like he always had been, all golden curls and beautiful blue eyes. He wears an expensive, fitted suit, his curls somewhat tamed, framing his face falling down his neck. A tad bit of makeup is placed upon his face, but it's not much and it's not noticeable at all. He sits professionally, his neck straightened and his back somewhat arched. A band of gold sat upon his left fourth finger, it sends a chill down her spine. He wears a black and gold ring on the other pinky finger. There's a small engravement on the stone, but Catherine cannot make it out. There's an aura about him, she can see. A relaxation caused by a power, an assured power and a confidence that she hadn't seen from the once sickly little boy.

He sits next to a raven haired beauty, the scourge of his disownment and disowning. She wears a long, white lace dress. There are layers and layers of skirts, the white lace running down her arms, wrapping around her middle fingers. The sleeves fall from both shoulders, a V shape exposing a touch of cleavage and her collarbones. Catherine can see expensive heels under the ravenette's feet, as well as a ridiculously large set of rings upon her right hand. Her hair is long and straight, as dark as the night, her face covered in makeup. She's a little different to the fragile eighteen year old orphan Catherine remembers. There's a confidence there, bordering on regality. Diamonds fall from her ears and her neck, and she sits close to the blonde.

It only now registers to Catherine that the two of them are in a public interview online. It is ridiculous to her, seeing how they must be public figures, and yet she never knew.