Darkness Rises-Harry Styles

Chapter 11

"It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are."

Rose's POV:

I was horrified by what Harry had just told me. The takeover has already begun?? That means that the darkness that is rising up has already conquered a fourth of Dragmere...and that is not good.

"Harry what are we going to do?" I ask him and he takes a deep breath. "You're going to have to convince your parents to let me stay. If I can't be in the castle, I'll never be able to figure out who is doing this, and I won't be able to end it." he tells me and I nod my head, trying to calm my panic.

"How am I going to do that? They hardly let anyone stay inside the palace, besides the guards, the maids, me, and Luke." I say, standing up and pacing the room. "If they let Luke stay, then they should be able to let me stay." he tries to reason with me but I shake my head at him.

"No no no no no. You don't understand Harry, they only let him stay because they think that he's the perfect person and he's going to be my 'future husband'. He puts up such a good show for them. They don't see what he's really like." I say and Harry grabs my shoulders, making me stop pacing and look at him.

"Tell them something that will make them let me stay here." he says and I blink several times, thinking up of something that was completely insane, but it might do the trick. "Okay. And if they don't believe me?" I ask him and he rolls his eyes.

"We will make them believe you. I don't know what you're planning on telling them, but I will go along with whatever you tell them. Okay?" he asks and I sigh, nodding my head to him. I don't know if he's going to like this or not...

"Now calm down. I have faith in you, you can do this." he encourages me and I give him a smile, hiding my fears behind it. "Alright, I'll do my best." I say and he nods his head to me. "Thank you." he says and we both sigh.

A knock on my door makes us look over at it fearfully, not wanting anyone to think of the wrong thing if they saw us in here alone. "Yes?" I ask and I hear my maid, Debra, calling from the outside. "Your mother has requested that you and Harry come down, we are having an early dinner for a celebration tonight." Debra said, her sweet voice making me smile.

"Alright, thank you Debra. We will be down in a moment." I tell her and I hear her footsteps walking away, so I turn back to Harry, who just shrugs at me. "What celebration?" he asks me and I giggle, taking his hand and leading him to the door.

"You'll see." I say with a wink and he groans, a grin on his face as he looks at me. "You're using my moves against me now, that's not entirely fair, Princess." he teases me and I shrug. "Too bad!" I joke and poke his stomach, making him chuckle.

We walk down the stairs, luckily I didn't fall, and we were about to head into the dining room when an awfully familiar voice rang in our ears. "Aww, how cute, you two are walking together." we both spin around, seeing Luke looking at us with a crooked grin, his arms crossed and his silver eyes gleaming.

"Beat it." Harry snaps and Luke looks at him, anger making his eyes narrow. I took a step back away from the boys, noticing their position. Both of them were tense, and it looked as if they had anger billowing in waves from their bodies, their eyes looking menacingly at each other. They almost looked like two aggressive dogs, about to get into a fight.

Yeah, they definitely hate each other. I think with a wince, rubbing the back of my neck nervously and letting out a nervous laugh. "Umm, Harry, we have to go to dinner." I say to him gently, taking his arm and trying to tug him away.

He finally looks at me and his eyes soften, nodding at me. "Oh? You two are going to dinner now? How convenient. So am I." Luke says with a nasty grin and I close my eyes with a sigh. Of course he is, because that would just make everything worse for me, wouldn't it?

He walks by us, throwing us a dirty smile while Harry glares at him. "See you soon." he taunts, waving at us before walking into the dining room, leaving us staring after him. Harry turns to me with irritated eyes and I try not to laugh at how easily angered he is by Luke.

"Please let me kill him." Harry begs me and I shake my head with a slight laugh. "Harry no! You can't!" I say to him and he pouts at me. "Plus, that definitely would get you kicked out of the palace." I tease him, poking his chest warningly and he smirks at me.

"Fine, I won't kill him." he says with a sigh, looking very disappointed that he wouldn't be able to do something to Luke. I giggled, shaking my head as we walked towards the big doors.

We go into the dining room, avoiding Luke's stare and sitting on the other end of the table, patiently waiting for my parents to arrive. When they did, we all stood up, slightly bowing at them before letting the King and Queen sit down first, followed by the rest of us.

It was just the five of us, and I was feeling extremely awkward. I didn't want Luke to say anything to patronize Harry, but at the same time, Harry couldn't do anything either. Even though, Luke couldn't say anything bad, or it would ruin his reputation that he's built with my parents and they'd end up throwing him out. This dinner could go either way...hold on...

That's it!! What's the one way to get Luke thrown out of the palace? Of course!!! I smiled to myself as I thought up of my genius plan, hoping that Harry would play along with it like he said he would earlier. I just had to wait until the perfect moment, then I would say it. Because Luke just couldn't have his reputation ruined, could he?

"So Luke, how was your day?" King George asks and Luke gives him a dazzling smile, one that makes Harry gag under his breath. I bite my lip to keep from laughing, ignoring the tiny glance I got from Luke.

"My day was marvelous, Sire. I visited the poor people and the sick, seeing if there was anything I could do to help them." Luke says in fake kindness, and Harry coughed on his water. Queen Anna gave him a curious look and he smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness. I choked on my water by accident. I swallowed wrong." he says with a laugh at the end and she giggles at him, a smile now on her face. "Well be careful now, Harry." she teases and he chuckles, nodding to her.

"Yes ma'am." he says and I see Luke giving Harry a glare, not liking the attention he was getting. "So my boy! You seem to be getting better." King George says to Harry and Harry smiles at him brightly, nodding his head.

"Yes sir. It's all thanks to you. Your doctor has helped me a lot." Harry says gratefully and I hear Luke muttering under his breath. He obviously didn't like Harry taking all the attention away from him, but I couldn't help but think that it was hilarious. "That's good, I'm glad we could be of help. When will you be taking off?" my mom asks curiously and Harry laughs a little nervously.

"Actually...about that..." he trails off, not knowing what to say and I take this as my moment to say what I was planning on. Please, Harry. Please go along with it. Don't hate me, just please go with it.

"Actually, mother, I have something to say about him leaving." I say, looking at her with determination in my eyes. Harry smiles at me, obviously hoping that I have something to say about him that would make him be able to stay. Oh, it'll make him stay all right.

"What is it, dear?" Queen Anna asks shocked, knowing that I didn't speak out much at dinner. "I want Harry to stay here in the palace." I say and Luke, my father and my mother look at me with shock. "What?" the three of them chorus and I see a smile growing on Harry's lips. I have a feeling you won't be smiling in a moment. Actually, I KNOW you won't be smiling in a moment.

"I need him to stay, actually. He...he has to." I say, letting my cheeks blush and my mother gasps in realization. "Rose, you can't be serious!" she says happily and I nod my head, smiling up at her. "Yes, mother, I am." I say and Luke looks at us. "What is she serious about?!" he asks and I look at the four of them with a big smile.

My mother smiles at me and nods to me, wanting me to finish the announcement I was already making. "What is she talking about, dear?" my father asks confused and I see the three boys turn to me confused. Yeah, he's really going to hate me.

"I want Harry to be the one I marry."