Louis and I laid tangled in each other's arms silently for a few minutes before he suddenly sat up.
"I've forgotten to give you your Christmas present!" he shouted suddenly and rolled out of the bed.
Louis has always gotten me a present. I usually got to open it while I sat at Louis' feet on Christmas morning in the parlor with the rest of the royal family. This year though, things obviously didn't go as planned. I was under the impression that the clothes Louis had gotten tailored for me was my Christmas present. Apparently not.
When Louis returned to the bed he was carrying a rectangular box wrapped in brown paper. He handed the package to me after he came to sit at my side once more. A message was written on the top in an elegant script. I looked up to Louis, waiting for him the translate it, but he only smiled.
"You can read it." He encouraged me, and I looked back down to the paper.
Louis started teaching me to read about a year ago. He was tired of reading his books for his lessons and had insisted I read them to him. I then confessed that I'd never learned how. After that he'd been determined to teach me. I wasn't a very fast learner though, and Louis had become frustrated with my lack of improvement. After only a few months the lessons stopped all together.
I stared at the first word, after a few seconds I started slowly reading aloud.
"Dear Harry;
You pro-prob-ba-bly thought I had for-got-ten my pro-mise to teach you to read. I did not.
Yours truly, Louis"
"Good job Haz! You read it without my help!" he pulled me in and kissed my temple.
I could only smile back. I read it all. The whole note, all by myself. I looked over the note again and smiled brighter.
"Open it now." Louis seemed more excited than I was.
What could this possibly be? I began ripping the paper off and found it was a wooden box. I gently lifted the box open and nearly dropped it when I saw the contents.
It was a book. Blue covers were held together with black binding. I wanted to cry from joy. I'd always wanted to learn to read and to have my own book. Louis was giving me both.
"It's the first book I ever read. It's called Robinson Crusoe." He told me.
I gently picked the book up and stared at it. It was thick, and no doubt had a lot of words I couldn't read.
"But how can I read this myself?" I asked him.
"I'll read it with you. We'll read a chapter every day."
I smiled brightly at this. He was going to teach me again.
As always though, a knock at the door ruined our moment. The knock was followed by a voice.
"Crowned Prince, Princess Eleanor has arrived and is waiting for you in the drawing room." The manly voice called.
Louis sighed and pulled me in for another kiss.
"We'll start tonight. Chapter one." He promised then rolled off the bed once more.
He walked out the door and when I saw it close I brought the book to my chest, hugging it. I'd never treasured anything so much.
After sitting alone for about an hour with my new book I decided it would be in my best interest to stay as far away from Princess Eleanor as possible. I didn't want to get to know her. She could be a lovely person, and it would be hard to hate her if I knew that. I decided I'd stay in Louis' bed chamber while he was with her. Going to eat a meal with the servants was out of the question.
