Madness

A hand in her long raven hair, the other one in some other part of her body. He didn't need to ask, his curiosity was the guide of that more and more desired exploration. Hard to imagine how that had begun with a shy touch of lips, hard to imagine it now while Catherine's cold bed at The More was hosting such a burning passion. There had been a kiss, another one, while the clothes started to become unbearable and it started to become impossible for one to set eyes and hands off the other.

"it was madness" Catherine didn't say more, sitting on the bed, trying to keep that so far destroyed discretion.

"Wait, Catherine" Thomas exclaimed, sitting too, putting a hand on her knee and feeling her immediately shiver at the contact.

Because it wasn't allowed anymore, not now that the madness was over. Madness, that's what took over them, leading them to break any rules, limit, moral and precept of conscience; there couldn't be any other explanation. Or maybe there was another one, for him it was love… But love wasn't madness after all?

"Thomas…" she started, not even looking at him "It has been…"

A finger slightly touched her lips, preventing her from saying the word that would have condemned for ever their actions. No, it wasn't a mistake, or maybe yes, but in that case he had almost could revise his conception of sin. He replaced the finger with his lips and kissed her again, sweetly, passionately, desperately.

"I love you" he whispered eventually, looking into her eyes.

Catherine refused that contact and looked down astonished, then looked up again with a hinted smile "You really do?"

Thomas appeared probably more confused than her at that question: he had been attracted by her since the first moment he saw her, when she was Arthur's wife; he had loved her when she was Queen of England and now he was still at her side in her fall from grace.

"How can you even doubt that? After all these years?" he asked, caressing her cheek.

The former queen smiled and then looked away again "This doesn't change anything… What happened is wrong!"

Thomas nodded gravely, he perfectly knew what was the allusion beyond that thinking. Too many obstacles divided them, social, moral, concrete, ideal obstacles that could have been voided with a simple detail after all.

"Marry me, Catherine"

nothing more than a whisper, pure madness.

"Yes"

Nothing more than a simple exclamation, the umpteenth madness.

None of them had ever felt so closet to madness as in that moment, but to happiness too.

Erasmus said that even the wise needed madness and he also made him notice that madness was inside his own name and that sooner or later it would have revealed. It was revealing now through her.

Catherine was his madness, his moria.

I wrote this because I needed fluff. And Catherine needs it too. Just a note: moria derives from greek and I took inspiration from the beginning of Erasmus's work when he addresses it to Thomas More. And then I mixed history with fictional imagination (much of it LoL).