Red & White

fifty one.

King Robin Andrew Styles died two months later.

He was surrounded by his wife, son, and daughter-in-law when he passed peacefully in his sleep. He had said his goodbyes to each family member, and they all held on to him when he decided to let go.

It was silent the moment it all happened. Queen Anne felt her husband's grasp on her hand go limp, and then his palm fell to the bed's side. Leah's lips parted in disbelief. He left them so quickly.

Harry didn't move an inch. He was sat on the other side of the bed, and when Leah cautiously reached out to hold his hand he neither flinched nor accepted. The Prince was numb and cold to his core. The family needn't the confirmation the King was gone, but when the nurse quietly walked forward to lift up the white bedspread over Robin's head, they finally realized what had happened.

The three remaining family members took one last glimpse at the King. He looked sick and thin, his burly, brown beard gone grey. It wasn't how they wanted to remember him last looking, but there was nothing they could do.

"Oh my..my Robin," Queen Anne was the first to speak, and once she said that her eyes welled up and burned with heartbroken tears.

Harry couldn't move his lips to speak. He just stared straight at the concealed body. Leah's mind was racing and she was unsure how to process the events of the past two months. Her eyes cast down to her swollen stomach. Their unborn child would grow up not knowing either of their grandfathers.

Ten, twenty, thirty minutes passed before four men dressed in black arrived to take the body away. That was when they were fully aware this was the last time they would ever see King Robin.

Before the men got closer, Queen Anne wailed out and carefully removed the cloth from over her husband's head. She kissed his cheek, squeezed his hand, and whispered, "Long live the King."

Both Harry and Leah watched the men intervene and stared at they rolled his bed away with the sheet placed back on his head. Once the curtain was removed and the rest of the empty infirmary was revealed, Harry broke down for the first time in two months. And just like the previous time, he fell straight into Leah's neck and held on to her so tightly. She wrapped her arms around him and they cried together. He shook violently and trembled in her hold. His chest heaved up and down, mourning the loss of his father that would never come back to him.

Within the hour, the rest of the kingdom heard about the death of their beloved King Robin.

*****

The funeral was two days later. It was a large and extravagant ceremony, much to Harry's dislike. He understood through his dismay that it was normal for a royal to have a massive service, but he didn't like everyone coming up to him and bidding their respects. Harry was always more of a reserved and private individual, and a stranger bidding their respects to him wasn't something he was comfortable with.

Harry stayed attached to Leah for the entirety of the funeral and the secluded burial. Not only because he needed her support at this time, but because if someone came up to talk to him she would be there to take control of the conversation. Prince Harry had never felt so vulnerable and dependent in his life.

A date was set to crown Harry as King on August 20, 3015; one month from his father's death.

When the day ended, Harry returned to his chambers with Leah somberly trailing behind. He wasn't talking much. Neither was Queen Anne, who had requested her guards to stop any nobles from coming up to her at the funeral to express their sympathy.

"Harry.." Leah quietly spoke up. She stepped out from behind their joint wardrobe and into the main part of their bedroom. The Prince was sat on a loveseat in the far left of the room, staring blankly at the wall. He had something in his hand, but from the distance she couldn't decipher what it was.