Her Grace

33.

It was a few weeks later, Chloe was now recovered and well enough to travel back to court, to return to the place that was truly her home, no matter how foreign to her it had become

She found herself not expecting much, after her last welcome back to court she found herself decided that she would be lucky if she was greeted by her brother

It was much to her surprise when this was not what happened

She was in fact greeted by the entire court, and all the common people who could find their way to court in time for the celebrations to begin with the arrival of the princess

Chloe was met by a massive crowd of adoring people, the court welcoming her with open arms, Harry stood with Ryan at the head of it, as her carriage came to a stop outside the castle gates

Ryan immediately stepped foreword to open the door of her carriage and help her out

Cheering erupted around her as she appeared from the carriage, the people clearly happy to see their princess return, she had always been popular among them, being known to truly care for them

"Chloe" Ryan whispered gently in her ear to greet her as he held her tight in his arms, taking a moment before letting her be swept up in everything that was about to unfold

"Ryan" she whispered back just as simple a greeting, hugging him back with equal happiness, their marriage had healed very well in such a short space of time, he had spent four day with her, repairing the foundations which their marriage had once been based on before being recalled to court to prepare for her return

"I was going to warn you about all this but I didn't get a chance, Harry has had everyone busy ever since he returned to court last week, everyone is so excited to see you come back permanently, but no one as much as Harry" Ryan told her as he began to lead her towards her brother and all his lords

"Sister!" Harry exclaimed happily as he moved forward to greet her with a hug, she hugged him back, slightly reluctantly, but careful to not let her reluctance show

"It's good to see you again brother" she replied as though she was following a script, she was doing what was expected of her but little more, until she was more sure of his motives, that would be how it remained

It was then Harry turned from his sister to the people around him to announce to them the good news as though they couldn't see Chloe with their own eyes

"Good people of England! Your princess has returned to court, returned to the side of her brother, your king! May we all once again hail her highness, the princess of England!" He yelled out to his people, it annoyed Chloe to be spoken of as if she was just being out into court to replace her niece, Anne was in Catherine's place but his daughter had still left an absence which Anne had so far failed to fill

But all the same she remained quiet, smiled at the people and did her job, everything she'd been taught to do since the day she was born

The day was full of celebrations of her return to court, there had been a joust during the afternoon, during which she had been the guest of honour, displacing the queen herself to sit beside the king, leaving Anne to sit beside her husband still but on the throne which should imply less importance than Chloe, something which she found rather insulting

It only got worse when Harry went to ride and Chloe was given pride of place, and then even worse still when Harry rode towards the royal box to ask for the favour of Chloe to ride with over that of his own wife, it may have been Chloe's event, but Anne did not do well with not taking pride of place

The final straw for her came that evening when there was a banquet in Chloe's honour, everyone who had come to grace the court with their presence and to be graced with that of their princess acknowledged Chloe as though she were the queen herself and ignoring the king's own wife

Chloe was much loved at court where Anne still was not, she was feared by those who knew enough to know of how infatuated the king was with her and how the king's temper would turn upon anyone who spoke unfavourably about her

But Chloe's sudden return to court signified a shift of the power surrounding Harry's rule, his queen was losing favour as the princess was returned to it and in turn a Duke who was already very close to the crown and suspected to share his wife's opinions of the current queen

Anne knew that the lack of Chloe's presence at her wedding and at court ever since she had arrived was meant to cause her offence and now she was being brought back to court and clearly in high favour, proving Anne's place was at risk

"Harry, why is she back at court?" Anne asked her husband discontentedly, making it very clear how little she enjoyed Chloe's presence at court

"Because she's my sister and the princess of England, and considering you convinced me to have my daughter sent away from court I thought there needed to be someone here who could keep favour with the people here and clearly that couldn't be you" he replied quite abruptly, making it equally clear that she was dangerously close to making him rather angry

Not that she ever cared

"She refused to come to our wedding, she openly declared her loyalty to Catherine and Mary by having them visits her at Christmas, and now everyone is bowing to her as though SHE is the queen not ME!" Anne complained in a rather agitated manner, the same way she had about Catherine until she was gone, unfortunately for her though, Chloe was not Catherine by any means

"In case you haven't happened to notice, she is higher born than you, a royal in her own right, and you may be my queen but if you are not careful I can destroy you as fast as I pulled you up to where you are now, so do what every other queen in your position has done, shut up, smile and look like you're happy, no one cares if you're not" he snapped back at her rather quickly, hushing her complaints

"You should care" she hissed at him angrily

"Dear god Anne, you're my wife, I don't want you to be uncomfortable at court but she's my sister and considering you were the one who convinced me to send my own daughter away from court and take her out of the line of succession, can you at the very least TRY to get along with her, she's winning favour with the people just by being here, you could learn a few things" he replied rather dryly, trying to get her to shut up so he could watch the dancing going on in front of him

Meanwhile Chloe and Ryan seemed completely oblivious of the queens complaints, Chloe, being quite won over by the days events, was now quite pleased she had chosen to return to court after all

"Did you enjoy today? I wasn't sure you would" Ryan asked, not quite sure what she'd thought of the festivities, he himself found that sometimes all these different celebrations seemed a bit trivial to him, forgetting that she in fact had been raised around all this so it was quite natural to her

"I loved it, it was perfect, I'm glad I came back" she told him with a smile, smiling even more as he slipped his hand in hers

"I am too, court might finally feel like home" he told her, she turned to look at him, her smile fading as she did

"I haven't decided whether I'm intending to stay permanently or not yet, I might still decide I don't want to stay here" she warned him, making sure he knew she might not stay

"I know, but you're here which means you're going to give it a chance, and that's enough" he told her simply, smiling at her still, she smiled back and then turned back towards the dancing just in time for the current dance to end, she clapped contently as the next dance started and let her mind get lost in happier and less troubling thoughts

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Well someone doesn't like Chloe getting all the attention, will Anne and Chloe be able to find common ground or will things become even less friendly between the queen and the princess? Xoxo