Somber

Chapter 60: Politics.

Dedicated to ChocolateSauceMalik for the awesome poster that she made for the story (above).

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Chapter 60: Politics.

Zayn's POV

From all the things that Harry could have done, asking for Lucian's help might have been in my list of top worst three. And that's putting it objectively, because in theory, he could've done worse. He could have done what Liam did. But still, he knew my half brother and I had a strained relationship and nothing good would ever come from anything he gets involved with. I knew this little "favor"would cost me and Lucian knew it too. The smug smile on his face made it pretty clear.

I gave Harry a pointed look as we followed Lucian and the fey guards. They were leading us to meet with the Queen. An audience would be present. It wasn't exactly a trial, because I still am the Council Leader and publicly going against me would be treason, but what I had done would still have consequences. Especially since I was never suppose to be in Winter Garden. My father signed a treaty a long time ago that gave fey people freedom over their land and how things would be handled here. When I asked the Fey Queen permission to come so I could see Skye, I vowed I would not intervene in any way.

I had broken that vow. And I had to pay, some how. The Queen would make sure I did.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts by Harry sticking his elbow on my side, as if to get my attention. I glance at him with eyes narrowed, still nowhere near content with what he had done. The emotion behind my annoyed stare went unnoticed, because Harry's attention was on something else. Something that he wanted me to notice.

I follow the direction his eyes are looking at and straighten my posture as the Queen comes into view.

"Mr. Malik," the queen nodded in my direction with a stern expression, "Mr. Styles," then she gave Harry a once over.

"Celestine," I said with a quick vow of my head, my way of showing my respect. I wanted her to at least see that I was in no way trying to undermine her power and authority here in Winter Garden.

She rolled her eyes ever so slightly at my actions. I knew then that nothing I could ever say would help recover the little trust there used to be between us. That was lost. As I realized this, I knew there was no point in doing the civilized thing. I didn't have time to waste in proper etiquette. There are two sides in politics: keeping up appearances, or showing who has more power. It was time for me to do the latter.

I waited until she began speaking. "Gentlemen, I would like to start with-" and there I cut her off.

"Ah, Celestine. You know what I would like?"

The Queen's eyes widened at my interruption. Her mouth parted slightly, but no sound ever came out again.

I took her silence as a sign that I could proceed.

"I would like to go home. It's been a string of long and difficult days and God knows worse days are coming. I don't have time for all this, pardon my crudeness, bullshit. I apologize if my being here, along as my people, has caused you any problems, and if you would like, we could have a hearing with my father so that he determines if punishment for me is in order. But to be frank, I'm not gonna stand here and let you consider ways of punishing me for my indiscretions. I am after all, the council leader and I have more important business to attend too in place of being judged by your court just for the sake of your hurt pride".

Murmurs broke out in the room. Tension was rising through the crowd as every one of my words hit home. The Queen herself was standing rigidly a few feet away from me. Her usual pale complexion was tinted by a red blush in her cheeks. Her eyes were locked on me with a fierce intensity. I knew she wanted to kill me right then and there, but she couldn't and we both knew it.

"I'm willing to forgive being locked up by your people. And I'm also willing to let slide the fact that my friend Frederick was assaulted and gravelly wounded by a group of fey. Now, if you can forgive our behavior as well then we can forget about all of this and go about more important issues. We're about to go to war, Celestine, and it's clear that I need you as much as you need me. So, what do you say?".

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A/N: First off, I'm sorry. I know it's been over a month. I'm not gonna go into details as to what has been going on in the past couple of weeks. But I do want to tell you guys that I'm sorry. Second of all, I know the chapter is short. I was having trouble writing it, because I needed this chapter to be just about Zayn, but I also didn't want to add anything about what's going to happen next. But good news is, I'm gonna start updating weekly again so that I can finish the story as quickly as possible and I can start my Harry fanfic "Daredevil" (the prologue has been posted if you're interested). So now the wait for chapters will be shorter and I hope that makes up for me being gone for a while. Again, I want to say thank you to all my faithful supporters. I wouldn't know how to keep doing this without you.

Stay Awesome,

Liz.x