A Princess Named Harry: Book 2

Chapter 5

The princess came down the stairs while maintaining eye contact with Harry. It looked like she was levitating down them instead of walking in thick heels.

When she got closer, Harry could see all the details in the princess's appearance. Her hair was fixed into a perfect bun, not a hair out of place. Her earrings dangled from her small pale ears. They were gold with dark red rubies. Her face was small and pale with perfect makeup on it. She didn't have a single blemish. Her black dress glittered in the light. Her sparkly emerald eyes were fixated on Harry's dark brown ones.

Harry, Kahil, and Caroline bowed and said the royal greeting, although, Taram's was a little different than Cardiaire's.

With no expression on her face to tell what she was thinking, the princess gave a slow nod.

Henry nudged her. "Oh, Lianne, don't be so stiff!" He paused. "Then again, you're always this way."

The crown princess named Lianne gracefully bowed to the three guests. "As you have heard, my name is Lianne Alison Taram. I am the crown princess of the Taram kingdom." Her voice was soft and beautiful.

Harry thought that Lianne was kind since she went through the trouble of introducing herself to only two people. But Harry also knew to not jump to conclusions; it was still early.

The king and Kaitlyn came in, and the royal greetings started all over again. However, this time, Lianne stayed quiet as she bowed.

Henry nudged his daughter again. "Why don't you take your cousins up to their rooms, huh?"

Harry still wasn't used to seeing a king act as foolish as Henry did. It made her feel very uncomfortable.

"That's okay," she quickly replied. "I wanted to visit the stables first."

"Nonsense!" barked Henry. "Do you even know where they're at?"

"No."

"See?! You'd leave and get completely lost!" He looked between the kids. "Hmmm . . . I'll tell you what. Lianne will show you to your room, and I'll have the twins take Kahil and Kaitlyn to theirs." He smiled an evil smile. "And naturally, I'll be showing my lovely brother and sister-in-law to theirs."

Harry gave an awkward glance at Lianne.

"Now go on! Lianne can show you your room afterwards!"

With no other choice, Harry agreed to let Lianne guide her to the stables. After all, it didn't matter who took her; she was going there to see Varian anyways.

Along the way, Harry tried making small talk with Lianne.

"Hello, Lianne, I'm Harry."

Lianne gave her a nod in response.

"You can call me Harry!" She decided to try her luck. "Can . . . can I call you Lianne?"

Lianne nodded again.

Harry laughed, "I guess we're step-cousins!"

"Step-cousins?" asked Lianne confused.

Harry was satisfied that she was finally able to get a response out of her rather than the same silent nod.

"Well, Kahil and the princess are my step-siblings, and the king is my stepfather, so that makes you and I step-cousins!"

Lianne suddenly began to laugh, "Ha, yeah, step-cousins." She continued laughing. "Harry, you're really interesting! I don't know anyone else who would come up with something like that!"

Harry grinned and joined in the laughter. It made sense to her, but she guessed it sounded weird to other people.

"Am . . . I wrong?"

"No, you aren't, but it's still funny."

The two continued towards the stables with a lighter mood and lots of laughter.

•••

When they arrived at the stables, it was full of Cardiaire royal knights loading in the horses, feeding them, and loading in their gear. Varian was the first to notice the princesses due to their loud laughter.

"Harry," he called.

"Varian," she called back.

The two girls stopped laughing.

Varian turned his sight on Lianne. He knew better than to insult foreign royalty.

"Varian, let me introduce you. This is-"

"Lianne Allison Taram," said Lianne as she bowed. She left no room for error, an actual perfect princess. Harry knew she had a lot to learn if she wanted to be like her.

Varian smiled and bowed too. "Varian Alchester." His voice sounded hollow.

Lianne held out her hand for him to take. Harry watched as he knelt down on one knee and kissed it. She wasn't bothered by it since he was just showing his respect to the crown princess.

He stared at Lianne with a cruel smile on his face. His bright blue eyes stared at her. They seemed filled with contempt. They matched well with Lianne's now dulled green eyes. They both glared at each other, neither one giving an inch.

"Your eyes are quite beautiful," complimented Lianne. "It's such a shame that they're only filled with darkness."

Varian scoffed, "Darkness, you say?"

Lianne spoke while observing the whole of him. "I don't know why, but you appear to really hate the royal family." Her voice turned cold. "Am I mistaken?"

Varian's smile grew in response. "You tell me, are you?"

Lianne pulled her hand away and cringed. She rubbed the hand Varian kissed on the back of her dress.

"Come on, let's go, Harry." She started to push Harry forward.

"But." She turned to look back at Varian. She took his hand, the one that hadn't touched Lianne's, and asked nervously, "Aren't you coming with us?"

"No," he sighed. "Unfortunately, we knights still have a lot of unpacking to do."

Harry gave Varian a concerned look.

"I'll catch up with you as soon as I can."

"Okay."

She let go of Varian's hand and turned back to Lianne, who had already started walking away, then back at Varian one last time. She watched him wipe off his lips with his hand. She could've sworn she had heard him mutter a curse under his breath, but she couldn't be sure.

She smiled at him and agreed to meet him later and then hurried off to catch up to Lianne. She hadn't understood what had just happened in the stables, but she decided to believe it was because of Lianne, who was known as the monstrous crown princess. It was better to believe that was the case instead of thinking about something else entirely.