03 | Player One

"𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐃𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 plan on staying at court? It's been weeks." Francis said.

Mary sighed. Her husband was quite mad that Mary didn't inform him that she would bring guests inside the castle to stay. Unlike Mary, Francis had no idea about the supernatural things that were going on. He had heard of the witches and their practice, but never believed in them. Francis had always been a realistic person. He was just not aware of how realistic all this was.

"Just until they find who they're looking for." Mary answered.

"And are they keeping their end of the bargain?" He asked. At least he was made aware of the deal the Mikaelsons made with her. Help find Katerina Petrova in exchange for private information about England. However, Katerina was not exactly someone famous enough for him to be familiar with.

"As of now, England does not have any plans to invade Scotland. Although there are multiple plots starting across the country in my name, wanting me to be their next Queen." She explained.

"That's a good thing, right?" He responded.

"It's the opposite. Those plots will make Elizabeth feel threatened and see me more as an enemy. If she ever thinks that I approve of those, she'll think she'll have no choice but to retaliate." She told him.

"Well then, we'll be prepared."

"We as in the King and Queen of Scotland or as the Dauphin of France and his wife?"

"Both."

"We both know your parents do not honor this alliance like you and I do. But when it comes to it, my love, I will always choose Scotland." Mary said, looking deep into the eyes of her husband.

Francis looked at her with uncertainty. He thought their relationship would be easy since they were both privileged to be born into a royal family and they were a perfect match. He didn't know that the same thing could be the very reason to drive a wedge between them.

The two of them were walking alongside each other as they made their way into the throne room. By the time they arrived, the room was already packed with noblemen and ladies, the commoners in line outside the room, waiting to have King Henry and Queen Catherine as their audience, the ears to their needs.

Included in those numbers of noblemen and ladies were the Mikaelsons, blending in effortlessly with the crowd as they chatted with one another. They fell silent to show respect as the Dauphin of France slash King Consort and Queen of Scotland entered the room. Mary's brown eyes followed the Mikaelsons as she passed them. Elijah and Niklaus were ever-so-polite with their smiles and nods, Rebekah was indifferent towards her, and Kol was irritated, per usual. The mere presence of the Queen vexed him.

Francis and Mary stood beside the throne of the King, their postures perfect, their head held high. It was all they could do at the moment, stand beside the King like decorative ornaments.

During the entire process of hearing out the needs of their people, Mary's gaze wandered to one of her ladies as she caught her flirtingly eyeing the man across from her, who happened to be Kol Mikaelson. Mary arched an eyebrow not in interest but in suspicion.

"Shall we take a break?" King Henry suggested.

The throne room erupted into a series of chatter as Mary excused herself from her husband before making her way down the center of the room where Kol had already approached the lady he too was eyeing earlier.

"Lady Isabella, I'm in dire need of your assistance. My corset seems to be a little too tight, if you could meet me back in my quarters that would be lovely." Mary said, or rather, lied. Her corset was perfectly fine.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Lady Isabella answered, her gaze briefly meeting Kol's before walking away.

"Your Majesty. Perhaps I could be of assistance? However, I might accidentally tighten it even more and unknowingly cut off your air supply." Kol bowed his head slightly, with a mischievous smile playing on his lips. "The Lady Isabella de Praelles seems refreshing, does she not?"

"Lord Kol, if this is your pathetic way of getting back at me for humiliating you, then I really have overestimated you. She can't be compelled." Mary stated, her lips tugging a smile to mask the annoyance that the two of them feel for each other from the people surrounding them to avoid skepticism.

"Lady Isabella is a witch, I'm aware." Kol answered. "She's just for fun. The real game will begin shortly."

Kol took a step back from the Queen and 'respectfully' bowed as he said, "Your Majesty" before moving to join the others in their chitchats.

The meeting with the commoners resumed and Mary found her way back to Francis's side after readjusting her corset with Lady Isabella. A couple of requests and complaints earlier, a middle-aged man all raggedy and seemingly in shock stepped forward and knelt before the king.

His hands covered in traces of dirt trembled and his breathing was almost audible to everyone in the room. His eyes were red and his brown hair with bits of white were disheveled. Something was wrong with this man.

"Y-Your Majesty, I have some very disturbing news." The man croaked, he didn't even bother to say his name.

The King narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, his body slightly shifted to the right as he placed his upper body weight upon his right arm that sat on the arm of his throne.

"The witches have found a way to invade the court undetected." The man claimed.

Before entering the French Court, a special tea was to be given to the new visitors, one concocted by their own court witch loyal to the crown. Those of which will emerge unscathed from the tea were safe to enter the court and will be well-received. Those of which will experience the bad effects of the tea were then exposed as witches.

It was said that the tea reacted upon the magic that coursed through their veins. The absence of magic in one's veins rendered them safe, while one who possessed it shall feel some very undesirable side effects.

And since Mary didn't really have her own magic, she survived the process.

"Here we go again with the witches." Francis whispered to himself.

But unlike the dauphin, the others believed in witches. Francis just didn't get to spend much time outside of the court to truly encounter one. Then again, he's only 15.

"What do you mean?" Said the king, asking for elaboration.

"They've created a new species." Said the unknown man. "They have no magic of their own but can absorb it and use it for a short period of time. That's why they can slip past the assessment. They're called siphoners, Your Majesty."

The crowd erupted into scared gasps and murmurs, looking at one another in either suspicion or concern. Queen Mary, on the other hand, did not so much as show a single emotion on her face. Deep down, she was nervous. Her heart was beating rapidly but she knew this was not the time to panic, especially when the person responsible for it was watching her.

Her eyes diverted away from the unknown man and towards one of the original vampires, Kol, to be exact. He was grinning tight-lipped, looking so proud of himself as he gave a sarcastic head bow towards her.

"Where did you get this information?" Queen Catherine questioned.

"From the Gemini coven. They held me captive for days and only got to escape this morning." The man answered.

"From the witches themselves?" Mary interfered, her tone implying the ridiculousness of the unknown man's claims. She then turned towards the King. "Your Majesty, this could be just some elaborate plan to stir us all up. If he was really captured by the Gemini witches, there is no way he could have possibly escaped."

Instead of answering Mary—either to agree or disagree—he remained silent. He was deep in thought, his eyes narrowed, staring at the man as he came up with a decision.

"Cut the meeting short, I'll be discussing this with the court witch. Inform Cordelia." Commanded the King and with that, he stood up from his throne and left everyone, including Catherine, Francis, and Mary, in the throne room without so much as another word to them.

"Does he really think there's witches in the castle? Has he gone mad?" Mary heard Francis tell his mother. The mother and son proceeded to converse with each other while Mary did nothing but stare down the smug man hidden among the sea of petrified people.

She lifted the skirt of her dress and made her way down—walking past people and ignoring the act of respect towards her by the people around until she reached the original vampire.

"How dare you? Threaten me on my own home, in my own country—" Mary said, her anger caged inside her delicate body, eager to explode.

"Your future country, if we're getting technical." Kol sarcastically replied.

"You'll never succeed." Mary warned.

"Haven't I mentioned I'm a friend to the witches?" Kol reassessed his sentence, seeing as the one before him was a witch too. "Well, at least to most of them anyway. I even help them create dark objects. Powerful, dark objects. Perhaps even one that could expose you."

"You wouldn't dare—" Mary said through her gritted teeth.

"Oh, but I've already dared." Kol answered with smugness that Mary desperately wanted to punch off his face. "I call it the Queen's Crown. I'm funny that way. Its spikes are overflowing with dark magic that the moment a siphoner is pricked, the sudden surge of power will overwhelm them and they'll have no choice but to go off, exposing their true nature."

Mary said nothing. Her hands were balls into fists, her glare possibly enough to drill a hole through Kol's head, her jaw tightened. She was resentful. And she's never been this resentful her entire life. Only Kol could bring out the worst in her.

"I wish there was a less messier way of doing this but siphoners have always been good at hiding so the only way to handle it...is through the loudest way possible." Kol said.

Kol gave her one last bow before turning around to walk out of the room alongside the rest of the noblemen and ladies of the court. Mary felt someone's presence beside her, but she didn't bother to look away from where she last saw Kol. She let whoever it was that stood beside her speak.

"I'll handle my brother." Elijah said.

"No." Mary protested. "If someone's going to handle him, let it be me. You're the oldest vampires in history but it doesn't make me afraid of you."

Elijah slightly tensed beside her, his posture straightening and his head raising a little with a deep sigh that escaped his lips. "You know who we are."

"I've known the second I laid my eyes on all of you." Mary said, turning to meet the gaze of Elijah. "I wish to be introduced to your eldest brother but I see he's quite indisposed."

"He is at the moment." He answered.

"Shame." She replied at the same time she exhaled. "If you'll excuse me, I have a subject I need to whip into submission."

Elijah narrowed his eyes at her with a slight tilt of his head. Mary didn't miss that.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. I don't hurt people. Kol is not people." Mary defended, which Elijah found to be a bit funny, a smile appearing on his lips before the Queen rolled her eyes and walked away.

• ─────────────── •

I miss writing so much, but college keeps getting in the way so part two is moving a bit slow. But I still expect it to be finished by the time I finish publishing all of part one <3 Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it's kinda short.