the Son of a Monarch » Zarry ✔

Part 4

King Des and Queen Anne wake up to the sound of banging on their door.

King Des is the one to answer and he is immensely furious to be awaken out of his sleep. But none more when he sees Arthur bending over and panting in front of him.

"Master... I tried to stop Prince Harry... but he went anyway against your will... Pardon me."

King Des let's out a hearty scream and he hits the side of his fist on one of the double doors. "You are relieved of your duty for the night Arthur. Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a day you'll want to be wide awake for."

"Yes, Master. Goodnight." he says bowing.

"There is nothing good about it." he mumbles and slams the door in Arthur's face. Queen Anne is up and she is looking at him.

"Des? What's going on darling?"

"It's your son Harry. He is the most ungrateful prince I have ever seen. He is not worthy of taking my place as King."

Queen Anne raises her eyebrows and stands from underneath the covers. "What?"

"Harry has been doing things forbidden by law. Things deserving of death!"

Anne panics. "Not our son, no. What has he been doing?"

It angers him to even have to say it. "Your son has been vanishing from his room many nights and sometimes he does not appear until the next morning. So I had Baldoc and Kimball, my two best army men, wait at the palace gates at night to watch him as he leaves. They were to follow him a distance behind to see where he was going. It turns out that he was going to one of the homes of a peasant boy. Kimball saw them kiss one night. And Baldoc is convinced he's seen Harry touch him in places he knows I'd never allow. They are no longer on that duty to follow him but I have everything I need. He's committed crimes punishable by law. He's having a romantic relationship with another boy and he's had intercourse outside of marriage. Now he refuses to marry any of the women he danced with because he's fallen in love with this boy. How disgraceful."

Queen Anne holds her hand over her chest. She is a bit shocked and surprised. "I cannot believe this. Harry is in love? Our boy is actually in love?"

"Are you listening to me?! He is in love with another boy! And he hid from us all this time! He will not get away with embarrassing us this way."

The Queen has anger flash in her eyes. "How about you shut it for one moment! You knew this... and you kept it from me, his own mother? You knew what our boy was doing, yet you still are trying to force him into marriage in three days?! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"I am not the one who should be ashamed! Your son is. He is bringing shame upon the kingdom."

"Why do you keep saying my son? What? Have you disowned him now, simply because he loves another boy?"

"I have not disowned him, no. But I am highly disappointed! Nothing is fine about him purposely disregarding the law that he knows very well! Therefore, there are certain things that will have to happen in order for me to trust him again. And I know just where to start." He huffs and goes over to the bed, plopping down in it. "Tomorrow will be a big day. One all of us will remember."

Queen Anne looks at him with scared eyes. "You're going to kill him aren't you? You're going to kill the boy that Harry loves."

"Whatever I do, I  make that decision, and you  can do nothing about it." He turns over in his bed and closes his eyes as if nothing had ever happened. Queen Anne stands there with tears in her eyes and a hand placed over her heart.

*****

FunFact: Baldoc and Kimball are both English names that mean "warrior". Very fitting for army men.