King Of My Heart (mpreg)

CH 19

I stood in front of the mirror wearing my personal set of armor and admiring it; Louis was throwing me a small party tonight to celebrate my promotion. The party would be just the Shadows, Louis and Liam; we couldn't hold a normal party since Shadows were supposed to be secretive.

As I stood in front of the mirror and examined myself I looked over as the door opened, hoping it was Louis, but instead it was Mr Asher, the Knight-Commander of the Shadows. He looked ready to die at any moment; he has been deathly ill since before Hull and this was the first time he's left his bed since falling ill.

"Harry Styles" Mr Asher said, sitting heavily in Louis's favorite chair and taking a cup that Eleanor offered him "I'm sorry but I cannot allow you to become a Shadow". I looked at Eleanor in shock but she had an unreadable expression on her face and didn't say anything.

Mr. Asher went on "Part of being a Shadow is that we are tools for the Prince to use, we are disposable; we are his eyes, ears and fingers...we cannot have any ties anywhere else. If the Prince says you must assassinate the Duchess of Aquitaine, you must do so with no hesitation and no fear". I nodded, this was the same speech we were given when Liam and I joined the Shadows after arriving in Doncaster.

"We must have no ties anywhere else for if we are captured the enemy has no leverage against us. They cannot break us for we have no weaknesses no exploit, your feelings for the Prince will only be used against you and that is unacceptable. Eleanor failed in telling you this so I must step in; I know you went through the Trial and I'm sorry but it was never supposed to get this far" he said before taking a drink of his cup.

"Harry I hope you know this isn't personal-" he said before he started coughing "I'm simply doing my job" he managed to say between coughs and tried to take another drink to calm his throat, he smelled the liquid though and suddenly threw his cup across the room. "Nightshade" he said as he coughed "You traitor" he said to Eleanor as he collapsed into a fit of coughing. Eleanor watched with no emotion as Mr Asher died in front of us.

"Eleanor...why?" I asked horrified, as Mr Asher finally stopped moving. "Do you trust me Harry?" she said instead of answering my question. I gave a slow nod as she picked up the body "Then trust me when I say this was for the best, I was the one that made Asher sick so I could become the Knight Commander of the Shadows. The stubborn old fool refused to die though so more drastic actions had to be taken. I beg of you, to not tell Louis, this is for his best interest". Before I could say anything else Eleanor walked out with the body and before I could even collect my thoughts, I heard her scream down the hall and loudly announce "Someone murdered Mr. Asher!"

-

We all stood in the hallway where Eleanor "found" Mr Asher's body, the royal guard blocked off the hallway where the body was and only Eleanor, myself, Culpepper, Liam and Louis were in the hallway. "How could this happen again? Was the attempt on the Prince's life not enough for you to heighten security?" Culpepper shouted at Eleanor. "Culpepper, enough" Louis finally said, turning to Eleanor "Do we know who did this?"

Eleanor shook her head "No Highness but with your blessing I'd like to start a full scale investigation". Louis sighed and was silent for a moment "So are you the new Knight Commander of the Shadows then? You were second in command if I remember correctly". "No, the reigning monarch chooses the Knight Commander" Eleanor said. Louis was silent for a long while before he turned to me "Harold up for it? I know it's a lot to ask Harry but Eleanor is already the leader of my guard and Liam isn't a Shadow any longer...I have no one else I can trust".

"That's...actually a genius idea" Eleanor said softly, with a surprised look on her face, in a louder voice she said "I'd gladly take Harry under my wing for a while longer and show him the ropes of leadership". Louis turned back to Eleanor "Thank you so much Eleanor I can always count on you". Eleanor walked over to Harry "Let's go, we need to get you ready".

"Was this your plan? Or are you going to murder me as well?" I asked Eleanor as we walked back to Louis's and I room "Harry I promise you, once you learn how everything works, I'll tell you everything you want to know" Eleanor said "You'll be my leader after all".

-

I stood in the large room where all of the Shadows within Doncaster were gathered; along with Louis and Liam. Louis just finished the simple ceremony to name me Knight Commander, everything regarding the Shadows was simple.

Shortly after the ceremony, both Louis and Liam was called away and as the door closed one of the Shadows asked "So Eleanor, how did you finally make the old codger kick the bucket, what poison did you use?" he asked as he sipped on his wine.

"I bet you it was Siren's Lullaby wasn't it?" another asked. "No way, Siren's Lullaby doesn't work until the victim is asleep; maybe Devil's Kiss?" "Can't be, there would have been blood on the lips" a third jumped in. "Not necessarily, Mr Asher was very weak and I don't think he would have had the strength to cough up blood" a fourth said. "It was just Nightshade" Eleanor said. "Nightshade? How did you get your hands on it this time of year? The herbs aren't growing yet and if you bought it then there would be a lot of awkward questions" another shadow asked.

I stood there, stunned as I heard this conversation "You guys knew that Eleanor was poisoning Mr Asher?" I finally asked. They all looked at me and one said "Of course, whenever the Knight Commander is sick Shadows act at his or her nurse to make sure there that mischief isn't the cause of his or her sickness. We were all plotting this together, Eleanor just got the final result".

"If you're worried that we're going to assassinate you as well, don't worry Mr Styles. We've been watching you and we think that you'll make an excellent Knight Commander because you care about the Prince" one of them said. "Cares about him so much that he shares the Prince's bed every night" one said good naturedly which made everyone else laugh.

When I didn't laugh another shadow quickly said "Don't give us that look Harry, it's actually ancient tradition that the Knight Commander is the monarch's Consort. Our order was actually formed when the lover of the Roman governor of the province of Britannia suspected an assassination on her lover's life so she created the Shadows".

"This isn't the time for the history lesson Daniel" another of the Shadows said before turning to me "Harry, Mr Asher had an agenda that directly conflicted with the Prince's and the greater good of Britannia; we had hoped that once the Prince was found that he would stop but he didn't so we fulfilled our duty in protecting the Prince and Britannia. So don't worry alright, we're not going to assassinate you because your goal is simply to help Louis succeed which is exactly what we want".