Tu Es Ma Lumière

118 - Alliance

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Prompt - Or maybe one where Henry is the one that wants the alliance with France and Scotland and he has to convince Mary to accept it?

Side Note - Same AU as Part 57!

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"You called?" The Queen of Scotland asked, pushing through the red velvet curtains that held the King of France and his heir and their privy council from her. The men were hunched over a map, turning to her at her grandeur entrance. All of them, including the King of France and the Dauphin, stood to attention at the sight of her. Excluding the King, the Queen of Scotland was bowed to deeply. She grinned at the sight, looking straight to the bald King in black.

"Queen Mary, we did not hear you announced." King Henry started, walking over towards her. Mary rose her chin, staring at him. She met the King's eye, pulling one foot behind the other and lowering herself just an inch. She would never bow to a man such as this, would never show subservience and obedience to a man who had put her through so much.

"Yes, King Henry-" Mary waved a hand, and the curtains opened again. In walked twenty beefy men in grandeur, dark clothing. "I received word that your highness wished to talk in person. So, here I am." she states, accepting the kiss that the King placed upon her left hand. "What couldn't possibly be informed via diplomats?" she asked. 

The young Queen stood in her grandeur Majesty, staring into the eyes of the man who made grown men tremble at the knee. Her long black hair fell in waves, thick and as dark as the raven's wing. She wore black leather breeches, as well as gold embellished boots that held no heel, for she already held a height that rived that of the King of France. Her dark satin corset top held no straps nor embellishments. She wore a necklace with diamonds the size of strawberries, onyx and clear diamonds covering her asseted chest, falling from her ears, covering her wrists and fingers. A grandeur gold diadem was nestled deep into her hair, another large diamond sparkling on top of her head. A gold and pearl girdle belt wrapped around a tiny waist, falling in front of her legs. A cape of black lace trailed for two feet behind her, a baldric wrapped around her body. In the holster, a grandeur silver hilt of a sword. It was covered sparsely in sapphires, an enormous emerald held at the end of it. Her face wore little to no makeup, not that the Queen needed any.

"Shall we wait until you and your-" the King looked behind her. "entourage," he decides. "have bathed, rested and eaten?" he asks.

"No." the Queen replies. "My entourage and I do not plan on staying in France for long. My mother no longer holds the capability to rule in my stead as regent. She ages and she sickens. Shall we?"

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"No! No!" the Queen snaps, throwing the paper literally into the fire. "I will not do such a thing! I will not be tricked." she seethes. The King interjects, because of course he does.

"Queen Mary, see reason!" he pleads. "We lived upon the healthy friendship of your father before he wed your mother. Our sole purpose for his alliance has been to return to the solidarity we once shared. United against England, our mutual enemy."

"No, King Henry. The sole purpose for this alliance has been for myself to deliver England and Scotland and Ireland and Wales to you upon a silver platter. And then, for you to kill me and attain all of my work as your own bloodright rule! This will not do, this will not do!" she snaps. "Yes, in the past, we did rely on your country and this alliance to support a war-torn country. But this goes on no longer. Ever since I returned to my homeland from my English exile, I have told my friends the secrets of our enemies. God gifts us deep harvest and tall trees, I have transformed his gifts into the wettest cough Scotland has ever seen. The working man's belly is full, the army has never been larger and better trained. All of my work in the years in which I have ruled in my rightful place will not be taken away from me!" Mary finished.

"Are we not due repayment for our services to the crown in the past? Feeding your country gold and jewels for years?"

"In one aspect, you are. In another, this was my mother's deal. I have no say in it. You will be repaid in full with interest, that is the deal, yes? My country supports itself, it's rustic hills and harsh beauty has finally became in which my ancestors dreamed of. And you want to add a whole other country to drain resources." she grits her teeth in irritation.

"Your Majesty," the Prince cuts in. "What of the areas of your rule that are sparsely habited? What if they can be used for your dowry, instead of the lands that amount to the crown matrimonial. The highlands near Greenland, for example. Perthshire, Inverness, Mingary." he lists off, looking down at the map of Scotland. "They are deserted, yes? Yet I remember the stories your highness informed me of in our childhood. The castles, Urquhart, Inverlochy. They were also self sufficent, the ground is fruitful, the rivers even more so. Surrounded by the water which no doubt holds prize in and of itself. Should the French Crown hold these lands as payment-"

"Yes, right, fine." she rolls her eyes. "But what happens as the French Population in those areas grows, breeds, spreads? And in other words, what benefit does Scotland get? How could my mother and I possibly sell this to my people?" she asks. "In all of your development since the engagement of Lady Olivia D'amencourt to the Viscount de Maine, which I do freely give, I still see not a king in front of me." the Queen states. "My people are proud people. They will not bow to those who are, so obviously, consumed with vanity of the face and lust of the body."

From behind her, her entourage of nobility grunted in agreement.

"If I could interrupt-" King Henry does do. "Perhaps I could inform your highness of the benefits of a French alliance. If your Majesty gives us space, payment for your hand and the Scottish debts, we can bring a new age to Scotland and France, you and I, both, together. New means of food, new methods of water supplies and conservation. New methods of growing foods and conserving livestock. New medicine, a proud people who are so firmly anti-English. I hate them as you do, Queen Mary-" Henry says passionately. "they have ravaged my country for generations past. They spilled French blood on French soil. They supported my father's kidnapping, my own Spanish imprisonment. They've taken far too much of my lands from me. It is time to take them all back from the Tudor Tyrant and rule a new empire. It's what you were born for! It's what my son was born for! It's what I was meant to accomplish." he says passionately, even more than before. "You provide a safe place for us, we'll give you the might of France upon the battlefield. We can overcome the English, attacking from Scotland in the north, France and Spain from the South. There is nobody to help upon either sides. We will win. If we work together, this alliance could achieve greatness, Queen Mary. And it will."

The Queen of Scotland smirked at the King of France. "I do believe I am starting to understand, King Henry."

Prince Francis smiled at the two rulers before him as they shook hands above the English map. "Not a bad first session. We have more similarities then we have differences. And we will overcome all else."