Set during 'Our Undoing'. What happened while Bash and Catherine went to exhume Francis?
She felt like she'd been walking forever. It was dark and she could barely tell if she was even headed in the right direction. Her feet were killing her, the boots she was wearing were too big and she was freezing. But she had to keep moving. Her survival depended on it.
Just when she thought she wouldn't make it another step, she heard hoof beats. Could they have found her so quickly? What if they hadn't found her? Who had? She started running, or at least what could pass for running in her weakened state, but then she caught a familiar face out of the corner of her eye.
"Sebastian. How did you find me?"
"Returning from Saint-Denis, I came across Mary's carriage. She told me of your planned route of escape."
"Did you find Francis' embalmer?"
"He's vanished. Neighbors say he came into a sum of money and fled the day after Francis' funeral."
"He was bribed. He handed off Francis' liver to be tampered with by those who would frame me."
"I've been thinking about it, and I've come up with a different view, that the blackened liver didn't belong to Francis. This is the certificate of immortalization signed by the embalmer. In it is the date that he received Francis' body and the date that Francis' prepared corpse was sealed in his coffin at Saint-Denis, a time span of just two days."
"A royal embalming takes a week."
"Exactly. I believe these dates were carelessly scribbled by a man so eager to take his bribe and flee, he didn't bother embalming Francis at all."
"If Francis' liver is still in his body, it proves he wasn't poisoned...There's only one way to confirm that...Let us visit my son."
Catherine moved toward the horse and Bash helped her up onto it, pausing for a moment to look at her.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing." he said, lifting his eyebrows. "It's just that hat..."
"Oh for God sake, I told Mary I looked ridiculous." she said tearing off her head and shoving it into a pocket. He laughed a bit. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that it was actually sort of cute in an odd way.
"It's not that, it's just I'm not used to seeing you out of your dresses..." wait that sounded bad. "I mean you're usually so...royal?" Catherine gave him an odd look. "I'm going to stop talking now."
"That's probably best." she said and he climbed up on the horse behind her. He turned them around and took off, back to Paris.
They ride in silence for awhile, Catherine deep in thought. After a short time had passed, Bash started to to feel uncomfortable with the dead air between them.
"Are you alright? I'm not crowding you am I?" He asked.
"No. I'm fine." She replied in an even tone.
"Well, you were so quiet. That's not like you." He said, with the smallest bit of concern bleeding through.
"I just keep wondering what happens if your theory is wrong. What if he was poisoned? Not only will it be impossible to prove my innocence, but he will have died for nothing, if I'd known, I could have helped him. Maybe I deserve it. Maybe fate has finally decided to pay me back for all the awful things I've done." She explained. Bash sighed. Now she was blaming herself? He suddenly felt a pang of sadness for her. All she's endured in loosing Francis, and now this on top of it? It didn't seem fair that one person would have to go through so much. How she hadn't broken yet was beyond him.
