The Prince's Heart (Ziall, Niam)

Chapter 10

"Excuse me?" my mother asks.

"Who are you, to speak like that?" my father stood up as well. I watched as Zayn froze, realizing what he just did.

I quickly stood up to Zayn's rescue. I can't just watch him receive the wrath and punishment of my father. I placed the back of my hand against his forehead. He shot me a confused look but I pursed my lips and widened my eyes at him, telling him to shut up and go with the flow.

"He feels a bit warm, father. Maybe I should take him to the hospital wing" I say calmly, my hand still on Zayn's forehead.

"He's probably had a lot to drink in the quarter. You know how knights are" Greg fell for my lie and even agreed. Now he's backing me up without him knowing the truth. I wanted to laugh but remained silent and looked concerned. "Drink here, drink there. Surprised that you actually let them drink, father"

"You let them drink?" my mother questions my father and I watch as father swallows audibly. I wanted to smile despite the situation because my father may be known for being the bravest man to walk on earth but what people don't know is that my father will willingly do what my mother tells him to do.

"Not all the time" Father says. "Just sometimes. They do a great job in protecting the entire kingdom so I think they have the right to celebrate once in a while"

Mum looks like she wanted to nag my father's ear off but thought better of it and just sighed to herself. I coughed and everyone in the room remembered the reason why lunch was interrupted. 

"He does look a bit peachy" Mum says.

"Unicorns" Zayn says out loud like a toddler and I wanted to facepalm myself because god, this is embarrassing. If it's embarrassing for me I can only imagine the humiliation Zayn is feeling right now.

"I'll bring him to the hospital wing" I say as I grab Zayn's arm and put it around my neck. Just the feeling of his arm touching me is sending tingles down my spine but I tried to push back all those silly thoughts at the back of my mind. 

"But we were supposed to have lunch as a family" my mum whined.

"We can have dinner together, dear" My dad comes to the rescue. "Greg and I have the entire day off. Unfortunately, we have to go to the Payne kingdom tomorrow to discuss the security and the safety of both our people"

"At least you'll be here to try this new recipe I've been working on" Despite not wanting to be caught working in a kitchen, my mum has a secret love for mixing ingredients until she makes the perfect meal. It was both a good and a bad habit depending on what she thought was really good and what she thought was good but not. 

"Okay, dear" I can see my dad's wary expression and hear his tone but he still forced himself to smile and I can tell that Greg was trying his best to do so as well.

Silently, I began to lead Zayn away from the table and outside the dining hall. It was awkward for the both of us because all 3 of my family members were watching us and Zayn's trying to put up an act of being dizzy and confused and I know he's still mad at me judging from the way he's little bit tensed.

When we were a few feet away from the dining hall and safe from eavesdroppers, I pulled away from Zayn and turned to face him. I grabbed his wrists with both of my hands and tried to make my eyes as big as they can. "Zayn, please forgive me. That wasn't what I meant. You mean so much to me. What I meant was that it shouldn't be a big deal to Harry because if I'm happy and you're happy then nothing else should matter"

"Yeah? Even Liam? So he doesn't matter now?" Zayn's "sick" act was completely gone. His eyes have gone cold and empty and I shiver as I look at them.