Out of sorts- Tagatha

Chapter 7: Friendship?

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-and so, my quest to find the future Queen of Camelot will soon come to an end, as I feel Princess Sophie is quite an adequate companion.

That is all I have to update you on.

Should there ever be need to contact me, you are most welcome to.

Sincerely,
-K.T.P.

As soon as Tedros finished writing the letter back to his steward, Fredrick, he grabbed another piece of parchment and switched right to blue ink.

-Chaddick,
Now, before you start to bitch on about whatever useless thing you have to say, you brainless dolt-

Then came the knock on the door, signalling breakfast.

-

"Oh, Teddy, I'm so glad you and Aggie are friends now!"

Tedros cringed. What?

Last night, right before bed when they had walked passed each other in the west tower, they'd exchanged pleasantries, in which Tedros (more out of politeness than anything else) insisted Sophie call him by his name. However, the sudden use of a long dead nickname hadn't been what caught him off guard. It was the 'you and Aggie are friends' part.

He looked around embarrassed, and at a loss of what to say.

Just go along with it.

"Oh, Urm... yeah. She's quite the jokester, isn't she?" He chuckled nervously.

"Oh she is!! I'm so glad you two get on now, it makes things much easier"

Bollocks.

"Yeah, we're starting to get to know each other."

"How splendid." Sophie clapped.

But it wasn't splendid, because in fact, she had got it wrong. Horrendously wrong.

-

Yesterday had been a development, sure. In a really sort of vulgar way.

Firstly, the kingdom council meeting was in Netherwood this month, so you can imagine how that went.

All "oh king tedros, finally getting a grip on a wife?" And "your majesty, I expect a wedding invitation!" And so, so many "this will be sure to return your kingdom to glory again."'s

He couldn't hide his growing grimace by the end of the meeting.

So great start to the morning.

After that was tea with the queen, where they were discussing politics and the such, basically what they'd been doing from the start of the week, while Sophie sidled up to him, successfully making him uncomfortable.

He then took a much needed walk through the castle, stumbled across the ball room, where the decorations were almost complete, and got a glare from this weird never guy. Strange, but okay...

The rest of the day went by relatively fast, he met with a few visitors, had lunch, had dinner, went for a swim.

Then he went for a walk in the gardens.

That was a big mistake.

He had wanted some quiet time for himself before having to go back to Sophie, who he had realised, had a terrible habit of bullying her servants. He didn't particularly like that, or the rambling on and on about whatever fashion she enjoyed or the previous holidays she's been on or that one time she had a pet dog that ran away (I wonder why).

The more time the king spent with her, the more he started to question their engagement, because there was nothing about her that screamed queen or lover, other than that picture perfect smile and being born in royalty.

He couldn't possibly live through the rest of his life like this, but unfortunately, he didn't really have a choice. If royal marriage was governed by good looks and likability alone, many kingdoms wouldn't have survived so long.

So there Tedros was, waking through the rose garden, which was reminding him even more of the growing annoyance towards the princess, thinking it couldn't get any worse, when he ran into none other than Lady Agatha.

God help me, he sighed.

"Anything I can help you with, my lord?" Agatha mocked. "No, I'm quite alright, thank you." Tedros gritted his teeth. "Wouldn't ask for your help anyway."

"Why, because I'm a witch?" She tested. Tedros kissed his teeth, "Im sure you've hexed me or something, it'll all he revealed in due time, won't it?"

Agatha laughed.

"No, that's not me, unfortunately. All your surprising stupidity comes from you and you alone. And sadly there is no cure for lack of intelligence."

Tedros smiled tightly and ran his hand through his hair to try to restrain himself from plunging Excalibur through her heart and calling it a day.

"Oh, you think you're so smart, witch? I think, by the looks of it, you're just jealous of your friend. You want her to yourself because of your unreal abandonment issues, don't you? Ever since dear mummy died?"

He regretted that bite as soon as he said it, bringing up 'mummy issues' is hypocritical, and it seemed Agatha new it, because she suddenly burst out laughing, clutching her sides as she bent over.

"Oh, me? ME with abandonment issues?! This is just getting better and better!" Agatha through her hands up in the air, shaking her head, still chuckling. "Did Sophie tell you that? That I would've been left on the streets if it weren't for her? That I was broken when my mother died? That I have no one but her?"

She in fact, did tell him that. All of that.

Tedros reddened.

But that didn't stop Agatha from making wild gestures in his face and going off again about how funny it was that he thought she was the one with abandonment issues.

"Who was it that ran off with your mother, who, might I add, left you, your majesty? I don't seem to recall." She put her hand on her hip, goading him into lashing back, which, unfortunately, worked, due to his painfully large ego.

"You know, in all Sophie's ever told me about you, she's never mentioned a father once. I wouldn't be surprised if you don't have one, and wouldn't blame the poor fool that probably ran away at the first sight of your face!"

Silence.

Agatha smiled, squinting her eyes, and Tedros knew she was trying her best to look smug, because he had just fallen into a trap that made him look like an over-pompous, self elevating rich snob. But there was an unexplainable sadness behind her eyes. He feared he might have over stepped, if she reacted to that comment at all, because she was (up until now) always unfazed by his cutting remarks.

"I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Save it."

And that was that.

Tedros tried to ignore the guilt. Telling himself that she started it, and that she was being unreasonable, and that she had insulted the king of Camelot!

He blocked it out that night, when he slept.

-

Again, cringing with guilt, Tedros tried to give reason to what he had said, but coloured with shame when he found there was no reason at all. He was just being a flat out jerk.

"Excuse me, I have to go find someone."

He got up and left.

Friends? Maybe we really can be friends if I just give her a chance. Right?

-

[A/N: sorry for the late post, ik it's been over a month :,) getting used to school again has been difficult lol. Anyway, I'll hopefully have another few chapters to publish soon to compensate.]