Free Reign: The Haunting by Lily Blake Page B

immediately. Catherine never asked twice. “From the look on your face and the creases in your attire, I can only assume you have raced over to interrupt my morning with the most wonderful of news.”
    â€œIt’s Francis,” Mary replied in a tight voice, brushing down her skirts. “Something’s wrong.”
    The alliance between the two queens was precarious at very best, but they were, as always, tied together by one golden thread: their love for Mary’s husband, Catherine’s son, Francis.
    â€œHas something happened?” Catherine was alert at once. “Where is he? What have you done to him?”
    â€œIt’s nothing like that.” Wringing her hands, Mary paced the former queen’s chambers. She had spent most of the night awake, pretending to sleep while her husband did the same, and it was only after many hours of contemplation that she had decided to come to her mother-in-law for help. “He isn’t sleeping. Every night he has these…dreams. Every night he wakes screaming and it’s not right. He’s so tired, Catherine, he could barely get out of bed this morning.”
    â€œSo let him lie in for the morning, he’s the king of France,” Catherine replied with feigned carelessness. “He has only just taken the crown, Mary, and born to it or not, the title of king carries weights and burdens you and I can never dream of. As much as you and I bear as queens, it isn’t the same.”
    â€œIt’s not just that,” Mary replied, her dark eyes narrowing slightly. She hated when Catherine compared herself to Mary, it was a mirror she didn’t care to look into. “He talks about his father, about blood. And day by day, his temper is suffering. Francis isn’t a man who thrives without his rest. I’m worried for him.”
    â€œHis father was the same,” Catherine said with a sigh. “Highly strung at the best of times and unmanageable without his sleep. I used a sleeping draught when things got difficult, knocked him right out. Let me see if I can’t find a batch.”
    â€œI don’t wish to drug my husband,” Mary said, still pacing. “Francis and I are not you and Henry. I know he would feel better if he would talk to me, but…for whatever reason, he cannot.”
    Catherine rolled her eyes at the young woman before her. From time to time, her heart softened toward her daughter-in-law, they had loved each other when Mary was a young girl, after all, but she had little time for indirect requests and the refusal to deal with a problem using the simplest solution available.
    â€œMary.” She sat tall in her pale yellow robes, the silk echoing the color of her carefully pinned hair. “Would you like me to speak to Francis?”
    â€œI would,” Mary said, taking a deep breath.
    â€œYou believe he might be more comfortable speaking to me about whatever it is that is troubling him, than to you?”
    Reluctantly, Mary nodded.
    â€œPerhaps the lack of a legitimate heir is what keeps him awake at night?”
    Mary stood stock-still, stunned by Catherine’s bluntness.
    â€œI understand, Mary,” she continued, turning her back to her visitor and carefully tracing her eyebrows with her ring finger. “Although it was never Henry who worried himself out of dreams over his illegitimate son and mistress. Are you sure you aren’t the one who is losing sleep?”
    â€œI came to you out of concern for your son,” Mary said in a low and dangerous voice. She was not in the mood to be tested.
    Although she knew she had crossed the line, Catherine couldn’t help but smile, it was always fun to rattle the royal cage. “The country is in a weakened state, Elizabeth sends spies to infiltrate our household and our own court is being poisoned against us by Lord Narcisse’s mere presence. All while you are planning parties for your cousins. I would worry less