𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝

𝙁𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙉

The next morning, Colette lay on her bed, reading the letter her sister had wrote for her, before she left France.

Her face dropped as she took in the words 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦, 𝘥𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘴

Colette stared at the words for a minute, thinking that maybe if she read them a few more times, the words would change. But they didn't.

She ran downstairs, trying desperately to find Hal, she knew he must see the letter, as it came as a huge shock when she herself read it. Although she hasn't known her twin sister very long, she feels that she is telling the truth, she would have no reason not to be.

"Hal! Where are you?" Colette's voice boomed throughout the halls of the castle, she continued to run, before she hit someone's chest. She looked up to see her husband staring at her with worry. "What is it?" He asked, cupping her cheek gently.

"Read this" she whispered, her eyes pooling with tears. All the work they had done, was for no reason, hundreds had died, for no reason.

She watched as her husbands face changed form confusion to shock, when he lifted his head to look back down at her, he wiped her tears. But she looked at him and knew, knew that he was just as upset as she was.

"Come with me" he said folding the letter and placing it in his right pocket on his trousers. He continued to walk with her, until they reached the room where William was getting his cloak cleaned by a young boy.

Colette looked to see William, and as soon as she did, she understood why Hal had brought her here.

Hal stared at William before sitting on a nearby seat, placing Colette on his lap, as he stared at the man coldly, who had no idea what was going on

"A crowd has gathered to honour our victory, thee are the rare moments for which a king truly lives for, I would imagine" William said, looking at the two, his eyes lingering on Colette, more like her lower chest.

Hal noticed this and scowled, but said nothing for now, knowing he'd have to question him for much worse events "in all my preoccupations, I have.....neglected to ask after your family" Hal said.

"You have two sons?" Colette asked.

"I do" William replied.

"And, your wife minds your estate in your absence?" Hal asked making William nod his head "she does"

"And yours is sheep, you are a man of wool" Hal smiled forcefully.

"As was my father before me" William answered.

"How many head?" Hal asked.

"At last count, some 4000, mostly Dorset horns" William answered.

"How much land do you have?" Hal questioned him.

"Hmm, to be true I'm not wholly certain but, many hundreds of beautiful acres" William replied.

Hal stared at him for a minute before asking "What lands in France have you now annexed?"

William pulls his cloak from the young boy "stop" he warned making the boy look to Colette in comfort. All the children loved their queen and she acted as a mother as many of them did not have one.

Colette guided the boy to come over to her, which he did "You may go" she said cupping the little boys cheek making him smile widely before running out the room.