Arranged To Him #Wattys2017

Fourteen

Eliana's POV

I had managed to calm down my sobbing and now I was seated in my room, on my bed while Harry sat in front of me on a stool that he had pulled from the bathroom. He was quiet, as the only sound that could be heard was from my sobbing and occasional hiccups. There were times when I'd glance up at him and he'd give me an encouraging smile.

"Okay," I finally said, rubbing my hands on my skirt. He let out a breath and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees.

"What happened, love?" He murmured. I sighed and tried to formulate the sentences into my mind. He waited for me to speak, and moved two of his fingers to his mouth where he pressed them there, as if he was the one thinking.

"I was walking down the hall," I started, once I had calmed myself down, "and I walked past your father's study. I thought, since I had never really talked to him before, I could just sit down and have a conversation with him."

"Okay," he said, "and then?"

"It was going fine actually. Until he started to call me out for letting the girls eat with us during our meals," he stiffened when I said this," his logic was that since they're not as 'royal' as us, they cannot eat with us. He said I'm ruining the customs of this kingdom!"

"He probably didn't mean it-"

"I won't be surprised if he is the manic behind the possible abuse of the help," I grumbled. There was silence.

"And you know what else he said!? Oh the audacity! He said," I paused taking a breath, "he said that I'm changing you for the worse!"

"What?" He asked, looking flabbergasted.

"Yes! He thinks that you're going soft on the help and that you used to be just like him. You used to think just like him, in fact, he still thinks you think like him!" I exclaimed. I was expecting Harry to disagree with his fathers words and assure me that he didn't think of them that way at all but there was only silence. I looked at him to find him staring gravely down at my hands.

"Harry?" I asked, "you don't think like that anymore right?"

"Not anymore, thanks to you," he replied, "but I used to."

I couldn't help but take in a small breath at that.

"How?" I asked, feeling my eyes fill up with tears with the idea of the fact that Harry could've been just as ruthless as his father.

"It's how I was raised," he replied, shrugging. I sighed and shook my head, looking away and trying to blink away the tears that came up.

"Did you ever hurt them-"

"No!" he cried, looking at me bewildered.

"How could you think that, El?"

"Well how should I know?" I retorted. He rolled his eyes and glared at me.

"If I had hit them before, any of them, do you think I'd be so upset about it right now?" he growled. I narrowed my eyes and scoffed.

"Who knows? Maybe it's an act," I said. I knew I didn't mean any of what I was saying; it's just the thought of the help being tortured and taunted like this was too much for me to bear. I had never seen unfair treatment before so I didn't know how to handle it.