Royals [Harry Styles AU]

Chapter 3

"Are you done yet?" I lay on my bed sprawled out as my father paces the room before me.

"Bonnie, this is a serious matter and until you can accept that we are not done discussing this." My mother pipes in for the first time since he began his fifteen minute speech about the 'inappropriate and embarrassing relationship with that Styles boy'.

"But I love him, Mother! More then I ever will with Louis." I raise my hands above my head and then left them fall back to the rich fabric duvet.

"Prince Louis." My mother corrects. "Bonnie, this relationship is going to stop now. You are engaged to the Prince and having this fling with that Styles boy is going to ruin that."

"I hope it does." I say and my mother gasps in an overly dramatic way.

"Bonnie Elizabeth!" My father raises his voice now. "That's it! We're taking the Prince's offer."

I sit up on my bed. "What offer?"

"When the Prince and I were first discussing your engagement he offered to also allow you to live in the palace guest quarters until the wedding. Your mother and I turned down the offer because we didn't want to let our little girl go just yet, but your behavior is unacceptable."

"No, you can't do that!"

"We can and we are going to." My mother stands from the chair she had occupied since the beginning of the conversation.

"Why'd you have to set me up with him? Do I not have any say in MY future?" I shout and one of the maids that had come into the room clutching a set of newly cleaned sheets immediately scurries away.

"Because Prince Louis can give a much better future then that lowlife ever could." My father responds.

"Lowlife? He shares the same social status as us. Daddy," I plead pulling the daddy's little girl card, "I love him. I love him more then anything."

"Bonnie, we are done discussing this matter. A guard will stationed outside your door and you are not to leave this room for the rest of the day until supper this evening. The Prince will be dinning with us this evening so be on your best behavior. Margret will be up here before dinner to help you get presentable."

I look down at the torn and bloodstained dress and silently consider sneaking down to dinner dressed like this just to show Louis what I had done. As much as I would have liked to I know another slip up with my parents would send me directly to the castle with Louis this very night and the thought of being so far from Harry terrified me. Especially since I would no longer be around to sneak him food or check to see that he was not beaten again.

As soon as both of my parents leave my room I rush to my closet and begin looking through my dresses for something to change into. No doubt my parents would bring up my most recent visit to Louis at dinner and the last thing I needed was another reason for him to bring me back to the castle with him. I had to go find the man Harry and I were told could help us. When I find the dark colored dress I had worn only once before to a funeral ceremony I quickly slip into it along with a long hooded jacket.

Sneaking out off the grounds is easy enough. Niall and I had done it countless times before when we were younger. Our adventurous expeditions had died out when we became old enough to be separated for private studies of proper manners for myself and military training for him. If I am lucky enough I should be able to speak to the man that the boy in the cell next to Harry's had told us about and sneak back into my room in time for dinner or else I am going to have to try to see if Harry and I can get out tonight.

The walk into town isn't too far, for which I am glad because to get to the edge is directly through a well known criminally active area. Due to my parents' strict nature, mostly my mother's, Niall and I usually weren't allowed into town. It certainly didn't stop us, but I still wasn't all too familiar with the area. When I make it to the edge of town I am unsure of who to ask about Zayn's whereabouts. Depilated houses line the street that is covered in a layer of garbage and rubble from crumbling homes.

I see a hooded figure step out of the shadows and walk along the alley in my direction. Whoever the person is stops just a few feet short of where I am standing. I cannot see a face beneath the hood, but assume they are a male by the broad shoulders and tall frame beneath the long coat.

"What's a pretty little thing like you doing in this part of the village?" A deep voice confirms my assumption.

"I'm looking for someone." I tell the man mirroring his step forwards with my own backwards.

"And that someone is?" The stranger presses moving forward and I step back until I am nearly flat against the rough brick wall of a house behind me.

"His name's Zayn." Although I still cannot see his whole face I notice a flash of recognition in his features. "You know him don't you?"

"Perhaps." The stranger muses leaning on arm above my head. "What are you looking for him for?"

"I have a friend in trouble and I was told he could help us."

"Told by whom?" The man leans forward and I catch a glimpse of a tattoo of some kind of bird on his hand.

"A friend of his in the same situation as my own." I duck under the man's arm and step out of the shadows. "Will you help me find him or not?"

"I will." He pushes off the wall and crosses to the door of the small broken down house across the street. "You coming or not?"

I nod and follow him inside. The small home is only made up of one room with a bed shoved into the far corner and a small kitchen area to my right. The man toes off his worn boots and pushes back his hood. His back is to me and he makes his way to the kitchen and begins pulling things out of the cupboards.

"Tea?" He asks, back still facing me.

"No, thank you." I stand on a worn out rug in the doorway and toe at a few fraying strands with my boot. "Does Zayn live here too?"

"He does." The man replies finally turing around to face me.

His dark hair is pushed up in a quiff and his eyes are nearly the same in color. If I had not been in such a serious relationship with Harry I would have felt no guilt in admitting that the man standing just a few feet in front of me was beautiful.

"W-where is he?" I stumble to speak correctly and feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment as the gorgeous man before me smirks.

"Right here." He replies.

I take a moment to process what he is saying and then it all clicks. "You're Zayn?"

"I am." He nods and begins to tear open a thin tea packet. "What can I help you with?"

It takes just half an hour and a few cups to work out a plan that will not only free Harry, but also change our lives. Even if it wasn't exactly for the better in the long run.