A Princess Named Harry: Book 2

Chapter 24

The king rushed to his wife's side. He ordered an immediate lockdown of the palace.

Everyone was frantic, the guests were all screaming and fighting to escape, and the disguised knights made themselves known. They began to capture the escaping nobles.

Among all the chaos stood Harry. She was still glued to her spot. Her eyes darted from place to place to person to person. Her mind was thinking of a thousand different reasons as to why this was all happening. She was thinking of what she could've done differently to prevent it.

She was looking for a familiar face, anyone at all who could give her some piece of mind. That's when she saw Varian. He was walking out of the ballroom. She wondered if he had found Nathaniel.

She hurried through the crowd of panicking people after him. When she exited the ballroom, it was dark. The only light was the moon's as it shined in through the windows.

Varian kept his steady pace even as Harry was calling out to him. She hurried to catch up to him; she was practically running.

"Varian," she called, reaching out her hand to touch his shoulder. "Varian, what's-"

It was as if time slowed down. Harry was dazed when Varian slapped her hand away from him. At that moment, he had a look of utter disgust.

"Don't touch me!" he shouted.

Harry lowered her hand. Did he not recognize her in the darkness? Had he not recognized her voice? The one that was desperately calling out to him?

"Varian," she said scorned. "It's me, Harry."

"I know," he replied.

Harry had wished she had heard wrong, but the feeling in her heart told her otherwise.

"What's wrong?" she asked meekly. "Are you mad at me? Have I done something to offend you? My mother just collapsed. I'm worried about her condition. I saw you leaving. Aren't you heading to stop the person responsible?"

"How could I capture the person responsible when that person is me?"

Harry's eyes widened. She wanted to cry and scream and ask him a thousand questions. However, what left her lips was only a fool's question. "You . . . you're joking . . . aren't you?" She could see that he was not joking. She lowered her head. She was unable to cry due to the shock. "Why . . . why would you do such a thing?"

She was hoping if she asked him, he might still say it was all a joke or tell her that this was all a dream. She felt like an idiot still trying to convince herself that this wasn't real.

"Why?" he repeated. "Isn't it obvious?"

Harry slowly looked up at him with tears welling up. She thought his words before had hurt her, but what he was about to say went beyond her comprehension of what she believed to be sad.

"I hate you."

His expression made it appear that he was seeing a disgusting bug in front of him, one he had just stomped with his shoes. His eyes were filled with contempt.

"I hate you." He sputtered the words again so easily. "Not just you. I hate everyone in the Cardiaire royal family. First, I'll destroy your family and then your precious little kingdom."

He began to walk away. Harry watched him. She wanted to stop him. She found her feet running towards him. "Varian!" she shouted. She had a million tears trying to force their way out. She grabbed onto his arm because he didn't push her away, she thought there was still hope.

"Why are you saying such things?" she cried. She bit her lip hard. Part of her had always been aware of this feeling inside of her. Although she hadn't known when she started to feel that way, she knew what it was without a doubt. "Haven't you realized it yet? I thought you felt the same way too."

Her voice began to sound desperate. "I love you!"

Varian's movements came to a halt. Harry thought she had gotten him to return back to normal.

"Love?" he asked.

Harry stood still in anticipation of his response.

"I . . . have never once thought of you that way. You disgust me. I hate you and your family so much." When he smiled, it was a smile twisted around with so much hatred and sadness. "And I'll make sure none of you will live to see the light of day ever again."

Suddenly, the servant boy from before appeared from behind Varian.

"You're late," Varian called mercilessly.

"It's not my fault," retorted the boy. "I forgot what you looked like without your cloak."

Varian glared daggers at the boy. "You messed up."

"Again," replied the boy. "I didn't know which one was the poisoned cup."

"Perhaps you did that on purpose."

"You doubting me hurts a lot, you know," said the boy without a hint of remorse.

Varian laughed a devilish laugh. "You should count yourself lucky. If you ended up poisoning the king, then I would've killed you right where you stand."

Harry couldn't make sense of what was happening. Her mind was blank. She wanted to refuse to accept everything that was happening in front of her.

"You were supposed to poison the second princess." Varian's voice sounded even crueler than before. "Or do you have a little crush on her? Is that what led you to switch the glasses?"

The boy glared at Varian angrily.

"Well, you made the king suffer, maybe a little more than he would have if it had been his daughter." Varian held his arms out in applause. "So, I'll commend you on a job well done."

"Whatever," scoffed the boy. "Let's get going."

Harry instinctively tightened her grip around Varian's arm. She didn't want him to go. Not yet, not ever.

"Oh, yeah, Harry," said Varian in a voice of false kindness. "Let me introduce you to my little partner. I just picked him up from prison last night. This is Nathaniel. You remember him, don't you?"

Harry lifted her eyes to meet Nathaniel's, but she couldn't care less. She couldn't even recognize the boy in front of her anymore.

"Hey!" Nathaniel shouted. "Let's get going; this place is swarming with knights."

"Yes, we should be on our way now."

Varian began to move, but Harry still held onto him tightly.

"Let go, Princess," he said in a dangerous voice.

"No!" Harry cried. "I won't!"

Varian sighed, "How troublesome." With a wave of his hand, he magically forced Harry's hands off him.

"Varian," she called. "Where are you going?"

Varian turned to her. He caressed a strand of her hair.

"Don't worry, we'll be meeting again soon," he paused and leaned closer to her face. "On the battlefield, that is."

Without another word, he dropped her hair and began to walk away from her. He began to walk with Nathaniel, barking out orders. He spoke about regrouping with the others.

Harry suddenly realized that this had been Varian's plan all along.

Varian's figure soon disappeared, and along with it, her strength. Harry collapsed onto the ground. The million tears finally made their way out and down onto her cheeks and then onto the carpeted floor. She didn't know if she would ever wake up from this nightmare.

One thing was certain: this was Varian's declaration of war.