A Princess Named Harry: Book 2

Chapter 48

Harry explained to Sia and Jaan her reason for coming to the hills in the first place. They seemed understanding. Sia even made Jaan, and a few others go get all the flowers they had.

They brought them back, kneeling and holding the flowers up for Harry to pick.

The closest one that resembled what she needed was a glowing purple flower, but even then, it was still wrong. Harry was saddened; the flower was nowhere to be seen.

"Is the flower that important to you?" Sia asked. She paused. "Well, of course, it is. Your mom needs it to survive."

Harry gave a solemn nod. Everyone was silent for a moment while they pondered where else the mythical flower could be.

"Tell you what," Sia said, lost in thought. "I'll have my people keep looking, and if we find it, we'll send it to you. What do you say?"

"That's a good idea," Harry replied.

Sia nodded, "Where do you live?"

"You can see my house from here."

"Really?"

Sia turned around to look for her house. "Where is it?"

"That one right there."

Harry pointed to the large palace far off in the distance.

"Right there?" Sia repeated. She and Jaan stared at the palace for a moment before realizing who Harry was.

"The Princess of the Cardiaire Kingdom?!" she shouted. "That's you?!"

Harry smiled, "Well, I'm one of them."

"One of them?!"

Suddenly Jaan fell to his knees. "I have been rude to the princess of a whole kingdom." He seemed mentally unstable.

"Jaan!" shouted Sia. "Pull yourself together! Get up!" Sia sighed at the disgrace for a man and turned back to Harry. "So which one are you? I don't know any of the royals' names."

"I'm the second one," Harry replied. She thought about being formal with Sia now that they both knew each other's identities.

"Ah, you're number two."

"Yes."

Sia crossed her arms. "Then I guess that first princess is still around. Seeing as you still have the second title."

"Yes, she's alive and well."

"Names?"

"Pardon?"

"Names."

It took Harry a moment to understand what Sia was demanding to know.

"Ah, um, well . . . the crown prince is Kahil, the first princess is Kaitlyn, my mother's name is Caroline, and the king-" She paused. She didn't know if she should say his name so openly. Sia raised a snowy brow. "The king?"

"His-his-his name is Edmund!" Harry shouted.

"Edmund, huh?" Sia seemed to be doing a great level of thinking on the matter. "Perhaps I'll visit him someday."

Harry realized that despite her looks, Sia wasn't very ladylike at all.

"Well, anyway, I'll have Jaan take you back down the mountains."

"I'm fine," Harry replied. "I can make it back on my own."

"Nonsense," Sia responded. She turned back to the broken man. "Viya! You have to escort Harry back. Get up!" When the man did not budge, she added, "This is your chance to make amends with her."

Jaan looked at her with teary eyes. "Zoy, Babblese." He awkwardly got up and began to stumble down the hills.

"Wil-will he be okay?" Harry asked.

"He's fine; he'll get over it." Sia stared at him disappointedly. "This is why I warn everyone not to judge a person too quickly based on their looks."

Harry wondered if that was meant to be an insult or a compliment. Sia hugged Harry, and she began her descent down the hills. She tried her best to catch up to the broken man and talk to him, but he had other things on his mind. He seemed set on the idea that his death was approaching.

When he led her back to the village and to the broken carriage, Harry knew what she had to do to get through to him. She cleared her throat and tried to mimic Kahil's tone. "You-you know, I won't execute you today, just don't do that next time."

Her words and tone sounded awkward. She didn't think she'd made a believable performance, but the man's face lit up, and he bowed to her. "Oh, thank you," he said in an even more awkward tone than hers. "Thank you, Babblese!"

Harry was put off by the foreign word. She had heard it multiple times, but she never thought she'd be called by it.

"You . . . you are welcome."

"If you ever need anything, anything at all, let us know."

Harry thought the flower was enough, but she decided to accept his offer anyway. She thought she may require his assistance later even if she didn't know it yet. Having these people as friends might bring some fortune to the unfortunate kingdom.

Harry watched the man's figure disappear into the snowy wind. It was only a few seconds after that that a carriage showed up for her. The coachman had returned like he said he would.

"Get in, Princess!" he shouted. "Hurry up while there's a break in the storm!"

Harry hurried inside, and the coachman hurried their horses along. When they returned, Harry expected to be reprimanded by the king for going out during a storm, but luckily, he had been too busy with his work to notice she had left.

Harry went back to her room, taking off her extra layers. Paula came in and told her that her body felt as cold as ice. She immediately started a fire in her fireplace, bundled her up in tons of covers, and even brought her warm cocoa.

Harry asked Paula to teach her how to start a fire, but Paula insisted someone else would teach her better than she ever could. Harry doubted that, but she couldn't force Paula to teach her.

•••

A couple of days passed, and Harry became bored again. She was restless to go back to the battlefield. The king must have noticed it because he ordered her maids to make her pick out one of her many invitations to go to.

Harry sat and looked through them all. None of them particularly interested her. They were all too fancy for her tastes.

"None of them interested you?" Paula asked.

With a small sympathetic smile, Harry shook her head no.

Paula sighed, "He thought this might happen. That's why he told me to show you this one last."

Paula handed Harry a green envelope. All she needed to see was who the sender was to be convinced to go. Even if Paula didn't keep the letter hidden for last, Harry was certain she wouldn't have been able to decline. The Crown Princess of Taram was requesting Harry to join her for tea.