aristocrat · heartbreak · betrayal · elegant · vulnerable · tragic romance · emotional · suit · sorrowful · french
The castle corridors of France, 1500, thrummed with a silent, cutting tension. Francis, seventeen, watched Mary, his sixteen-year-old queen, turn to leave after swearing she would come back. But then he saw it—a Scotsman’s hand, and in its palm, the unmistakable sheen of English gold. Treason. All hesitation drained from him. ‘Guards, surround the queen,’ he declared, his voice carrying down the stone passage. The guards obeyed, forming a wall of steel around Mary, while inside Francis, a storm raged—duty strangling love.