The Scottish Princess

Thirteen

Mary's Point of View
I sat hiding in the back of the library. Whenever I come back here no one ever seems to find me. My Father wants to see me in his office this afternoon. And my cousin, Lola, is still here even though my birthday was a week ago. When I was 14 I liked this boy, so I told Lola. Then the next day she kissed him. I do not like her. "Mary why are you back here?" Francis asked, I almost screamed he scared me so badly. "Oh my God! Don't sneak up on me like that! And get down, I don't want anyone to see us." I said pulling him down next to me. "Would you like to tell me why we're hiding?" He asked "Ugh" I covered my face with my hands. "You were right, my Father deserves a woman like Isla to make them happy. I want him to be happy. But it's just so weird for me to see. And he wants me to go talk to him and I know it's about him and Isla." I said "Come here." He scooped me up in his arms. "It'll be weird, I'm not saying it won't. But you'll be okay." He said, I kissed his cheek. "What else is wrong?" He asked "What? Nothing." I said "No there is something else, I can tell." He said. "It's dumb, it doesn't matter." I said looking up at him. "I promise it's not dumb, just tell me." He stroked my cheek bone with his thumb. "Have you met my cousin Lola?" I asked "Yes we've spoken a few times." He said. Fuck. "When we were younger I liked this boy, so I told Lola. And literally the next day I saw her kissing him in the gardens. She always goes for unavailable men, so her being here with you makes me nervous." I said "Mary, who do I say is the most beautiful girl in the world?" He asked "Me." I smiled "And who do I spend all my time with?" He asked "Me." I smiled "And who's bed do I sleep in every night?" He asked "Mine." I held my hand against his cheek. "And who do I love?" He asked "What?" I sat up. "What do you mean who do you love?" I asked "I mean that I love you Mary." He said "You love me?" I asked, he came over to me and held my face in his hands. "Mary, I love you." He said "I love you." I smiled "You had me on my toes for a second there." He pressed his forehead against mine. "I always have you on your toes, it's why you pursued me so hard. No girl had ever said no to the handsome French prince before." I said "Yes I will admit I liked the chase." He smiled "At first I did not like you at all, but after time I just really liked the attention you'd give me when I turned you down." I laughed "That's terrible! Do you know how bad I wanted your attention?" He smiled "Yes, and now you have it." I pulled him into a kiss. "Yes and I'm the only one that gets it." He smiled kissing me over and over. He kissed my cheek then my jaw then made his way down to my neck. I couldn't help but let out little moans. "Mary? Are you in here?" I heard my Father ask. Francis and I both froze. I could feel his breath on my neck. I held onto him so tight. "It's okay, just stay quiet and we'll be fine." He whispered in my ear. Quickly we heard him leave when the door closed. "See, we're fine." He said "How many times have you almost been caught like that?" I laughed "Shush your pretty mouth." He kissed me "Now, go talk to him." He said "What?" I pouted "You know it's the right thing to do." He kissed my nose "Ugh, fine." I got up "I'll meet you in your room tonight, our usual time?" He smiled "At this point we should call it our room." I laughed "I'll seen you then, I love you." He kissed my hand "I love you." I replied, I made my way to my Fathers office. I saw Conde walking towards me, ugh. "Mary, I've been wanting to speak with you about something." He said, that defiantly peaks my interest. "About what?" I asked "I have to admit this is going to reflect poorly on me as well, but i've seen you getting so close with Francis. I feel it is my duty to tell you." He said "Tell me what?" My heart beat faster. "When Francis and I first met you we both were immediately smitten with you. We've always been competitive my cousin and I, so we made a bet. We bet whoever could get you to fall in love with them first would win. I thought it was wrong but Francis insisted. You know the reputation he has with women, i'm really not surprised he would get you to do fall in love with him for a jape." He said, his words made me want to vomit. "Rumor has it he's been seeing Olivia, I didn't want to believe it but I saw them together, in his rooms." He said "I'm going to be sick." I put my hand against the wall. "Mary I'm sorry, I would never do that to you." He tried to hold my hand. "No, no do not touch me." I swatted him away. I walked to my Father's office trying to hold back my tears. I opened up the door. Only Lady Isla was in there, sitting on the couch. "Mary, are you okay? I haven't seen you cry since you were a little girl." She said "I've just learned something very upsetting." I sat next to her. "Is it about your Father and I? I promise Mary no one was trying to upset you." She said "No, it's not that. I'm okay with you two being together." I said "Oh, then what is it?" She asked "Francis, he told me he loved me. But now I have reason to believe he does not." I said "Oh Mary, I'm so sorry." She said hugging me.