"My compassion is for you." the Queen of France and Scots snaps, feeling the anger rise within her at Lola's words. How dare she speak to her like that, especially not with the current situation they found themselves in. "As it is yours that rules you in this moment." she snaps, placing a hand on her non-existent bump, as if trying to settle the tiny life within her as the anger grew and grew into something she didn't know if she could control or not. "Your cage is invisible, but you feel it just the same." the young Queen clarifies angrily, irritated by the blatant defiance of a girl such as this one. "And has it ever occurred to you that your cage is of your own making?" the Queen cries out, unable to stop the fire that spits from her lips. How could a girl be so oblivious yet so entitled at the same time? Was she really this foolish? "That the bars formed the minute you decided to sleep with the man that I love, knowing that I loved him still?" she exclaims, full of anger and resentment for the Scotswoman who was now angrily standing over her at this moment. "You trap yourself in Court, you trap yourself into a life as this, you knowingly do so that morning in which you lay upon your back and spread your legs, yet you complain when you face the consequences of your own actions? And now, you blame me for not bending the knee to your wishes? Are you that deluded or are you just that idiotic?!" Mary snaps furiously.
"There it is." Lola angrily states, shoving herself up onto her feet. Mary looks up at her as she opens her mouth to speak again. "The anger I knew you bore me." she says it like it's a revelation of the highest order. She says it as if she knew it before her own Queen did. Good God, why was she so infuriating? Had she always been this way? Was Mary blind or was the mask now taken off?
"How long have you been waiting for it to come out?" the Queen lowers herself to Lola's level, standing up, meeting her on the floor. "For me to lash out at you, so I would feel as guilty as you should?" she asks, her tone rising in astonishment that the girl did not find herself pleading upon her knees for forgiveness of a betrayal not just of their friendship, but for a treason so great it could cost them both their heads and lives. "You should be on your knees every single day, begging for my mercy and my forgiveness for what you did that morning in Paris! You should kiss my feet as way of humility and subservience! But you-" she says, her brows highering in astonishment that a woman such as this could even exist in the first place. "you have the gaul, the audacity to try and demand things from me?" she asks. "But I don't feel that way! I do not feel as guilty as you ought to be crippled with! You only want me to lash out at you so you can play the victim, as you do each and every time we speak and you talk out of turn!" Mary snaps, finding herself relishing in the fact that she spoke in loud tones towards this little harlot who thought she had the world figured out, had it at her feet. Hell, the woman had gone so far as to think she -Lola Fleming, the King's bastards' mother- of all people was feared by men at Court. Jeered? Absolutely. Feared? In no way. "Instead, you wait until my womb catches with my husbands' child, after so long, I admit, to try and spark anger within me?! Are you kidding?! You are fully aware that if you distress the mother, the child within may die? Or maybe that if your plan all along, rip my child from my body and try your tricks upon my husband once more." she snaps louder than before. "How could you? How could you do that to me?! Why would you throw away everything, my love, my trust, all away just for a few moments of empty ecstasy that lead to nothing but misery for everyone!"
"You would really think that of me? You would think that I could do that again? Who on earth do you take me for, Mary?!" Lola snaps loudly. "I will admit, he and I share a mutual understanding as parents, but-" Lola cut herself off as Mary scoffed, starting to pace the royal chambers. "I swear to you, nothing more. If I could take back that night, I would! My son would be Julian's, this wouldn't have happened and you would be happy!"
"Happy? Please," Mary chuckled. "Happiness is the one thing that Queens can never have. As a woman who's seen years of Courtly life, you should know that!" Mary replied. "The correct form of address is your Majesty." the Queen of France reminds her, hissing the words, stepping closer to tower over the girl. "And I damn sure wouldn't put it past you, you did it with no reserves the last time you and he were in a room alone together! And on that topic, who do you take yourself for? You think you're feared? You, of all people? Men cower as I walk past, men mock you behind your back thinking you cannot hear! You're nothing but a whore, Lola! You're nothing!" Mary yells furiously. "You want it all, don't you?" she asks. "You had Francis' son, now you wish to rip the one I have within me, out, and have his love, as well as his body." Mary laughs. "Don't you?" she asks. "I kept your secret all those months ago." the Queen hisses angrily. "I protected you. I didn't have to, you know. I didn't have to do such a thing. I could have told Francis the afternoon I found out, but I did not. Why? For you. I have been a good and loyal friend and what were you?" she shakes her head at her, wondering how she could find herself in a position so stupid that she found herself feeling sorry for this little harlot in the first place. In disgust, contempt for the whore who had ruined herself and blamed everybody else. "You betrayed me! You betrayed me, you whore! What on earth were you thinking!" she yelled. "That's not even the worst of it! You got pregnant with my husband's bastard! You and he will know nothing but lives of scorn and neglect because of one night of foolishness and pathetic intimacy!" Mary yelled. "You had a choice! A choice to respect me and yourself! But no, you took advantage of his pain and weakness and whored yourself out for a few moments of relief!" she yelled. Mary noticed tears slipping down Lola's face, it gave her savage pleasure to watch it. "Was it forth it? Those few moments of repulsive ecstasy, was it worth it?! The moment your bastard is claimed as Francis' son, the world will know and you will be imprisoned in a cage of your own making!" Mary finally screamed. "You will be labelled his whore, which honestly isn't too far off the mark, you will know nothing but scorn and neglect and you deserve it! Imagine my humiliation to know that my husband slept with my friend, my lady, and got her pregnant!" she screamed out, pulling at her hair in complete contempt for this whore who had the audacity to blame her for her own mistakes.
