The Crown Protector » h.s {Completed}

four

We were up bright an early the next morning. After eating and thanking Mary and her family, we hit the road to the location Christopher sent us. It was an old abandoned house and he had sent crews there last night to make everything (electricity, plumbing, etc.) work again. We'll be staying there until General William either surrenders or loses this pathetic battle he's trying to fight.

Harry and I's conversation last night was still clouding my brain as we drove through practically desert. The only thing that didn't make it a desert was the fact that it was cold.

What did Harry mean when he said that we're more alike than I know? I've lived in a palace my entire life, I generally can't relate to everyday people. I was never given the chance to be independent up until now, and I still don't know if I'm completely independent considering Harry is doing almost everything he can for me.

"What's on your mind, Olivia? You're awfully quiet over there," Harry glances at me with worry. I've known him for a day and he can already read me so easily.

"I think a better question is what isn't on my mind?"

"I think I could list a few things," he smirks. I roll my eyes at him and attempt to get more comfortable in the passengers seat.

"I'm just confused, I guess. About everything. About how my life changed so quickly."

"Does this have anything to do with what I said to you last night?"

I glance at him and he looks back at me for a short moment before returning his eyes to the road. "It has everything to do with what you said last night."

"Shit. That wasn't the intention, sorry."

I shake my head to dismiss it. "It's fine. It just threw me off. Nobody has ever been able to relate to me, because of the life I've had. So I'm just confused about how exactly you can be similar to me."

"Maybe one day I'll tell you, but I don't like to tell people my entire life story. I like to leave parts out for people to wonder about."

I nod, understanding quite well. "So what made you want to do all of this?"

"What do you mean?"

"You just stopped your life to go into training to protect me. Why?"

"I had a cousin named Tom, who was practically my brother," he starts. "He was killed four years ago by one of General William's men. It happened right in front of me. I watched him fall and take his last breath."

"That's horrible, I'm so sorry."

Harry just shakes his head. "When the King announced he was ill, Chris immediately started his search for young men that could protect you from General William. And because of my absolute hatred for him and his men, I decided to do it. Tom didn't deserve to die. And neither do you. I figured that if I couldn't save him, I could at least try and save the person who can make the order to take down General William for good."

I reach over and rest my hand on his gently. "I'm sorry about your cousin, and I'm very thankful for your dedication to protecting me."

He nods and I move my hand back to my lap. His hand twitches towards me but then he quickly moved it to the wheel, in hopes I wouldn't notice I would assume. This guy causes so much confusion within me.

"How long is this drive? Do you know?"

He taps the screen on the dashboard and it switches to time, speed, temperature, and more. It says it's about three more hours until our destination, so I move the seat back and relax. I watch through the window as we drive through a small town. There's so much of the country I've never seen, and I've never really thought about how much I don't know about it. I know the history, but driving through so much makes me wonder what's changed compared to how it was years ago.

There's things I wish I could've been able to do when I was growing up. I rarely left the palace. I wish I could've experienced more things like others my age. School events, sports games, prom. I wish I would've been able to go on picnics with my parents in the park. I wish I could've been able to go on summertime vacations. But I haven't even seen the towns that surround me.

We arrive at a house in the woods in a little under three hours, just like the screen had said in the car. Harry goes in and checks it out before telling me to grab my bag and head inside. He informs me that Christopher has sent some palace staff (sworn to secrecy with our location) with a truck full of anything Harry and I might be needing.

I settled into the master bedroom, where Harry would also be sleeping (again, safety reasons), and then just wandered around the house for a few minutes to look at all the rooms. There wasn't much to do until the truck arrived. Harry was installing something into the wall and was extremely concentrated, so I let him be. It looked to be an alarm system.

I went back up the room and laid down, and at some point I feel asleep. I was woken up by the rumbling of the truck pulling into the drive outside. I glanced out the window to see Julia climbing out of the passengers side. I run downstairs and out the door, despite Harry yelling at me to stay inside.

I tackle her in a hug, extremely happy to see that she's okay. I hadn't gotten the chance to say goodbye due to how quickly everything happened.

"Oh, thank goodness you're alright," she mumbles in my ear.

"Same to you," I sigh. "How is everything back at home?"

She just shakes her head. "We'll talk once the truck is unloaded. Why don't you head back inside and start some coffee for us? I'm sure Richard is quite tired."

I glance at the man who was in the drivers seat who is now talking with Harry. I nod my head and walk inside, brushing past Harry. I wait for the food to be brought in and then I dig through the boxes to find some coffee. Once I do, I start a pot of it and then start searching for cups of sorts.

Harry helps Julia and Richard bring everything in and then Richard goes out to wait in the truck while Julia speaks with us.

"General William's main goal seems to be finding you," she sighs. "He's nearly shut down every town within a hundred mile radius. However, you two have travelled nearly two hundred. And once Richard and I head out, we aren't going back to the kingdom. It's unsafe for us and for you if we do that."

"But where will you go?"

"Christopher has arranged for us to stay in a rental house about two hours East of here. We'll stay there until he says we can head back."

"Why is General William doing all of this?" I ask quietly.

"That's easy," Harry says. "He wants your power. He wants to be able to take the throne and rule the country."

"Christopher predicts his surrender within a week," Julia informs us. "He's already lost a substantial amount of men and we've barely lost any. As unprepared as we were, and excuse my French, but we're kicking his ass."

I laugh and wrap my arm around Julia. "That's good to hear. I hate all of this. I hate not being able to help my country."

"But you are, darling."

"How so?"

Julia smiles. "By you being safe, that gives the people reassurance that there's going to be a good leader when all of this blows over. And that's what every single person in this country wants and needs."