Her Hero

Chapter 11

*Hannah's P.O.V*

Mamrie and I ran as fast as we could down to the docs. When we got there, both of us were completely breathless. Once we..ya know...save the kingdom, I really needed to get back to working out.

"When are the king and queen supposed to be home?"

The sailor looked at me, concern was clear on his face.

"They were supposed to be home yesterday mornin, but we haven't gotten any word from 'em."

This made my stomach turn. I looked at Mamrie. Our worst nightmare had come true. We were too late.

It was not too long after, did we get word that the ship had been lost at sea. I was shaking. All of this was going to destroy Grace.

~~~~~

"What are we going to tell Grace?"
Mamrie asked as we walked back up to the palace.
I sighed.

"Well, we need to tell her that her family is lost at sea. There's no getting around that."

She ran a shaky hand through her deep red hair.

"I mean, how are we going to tell her?"

"We just have to be straight, tell her that her fiance is a  murderous asshole, with intent to take over the kingdom. Simple as that."

I laughed inwardly at myself, knowing that that conversation would be anything but simple.

~~~~~

"My parents are....gone? Chester... Chester killed them? Are you sure we are talking about the same Chester?"

I nodded.

"The same sweet, romantic and protective Chester that I was going to MARRY?"

I nodded again, but tilted my head at the word 'was'. The sound of her voice made it seem, like she had planned on not marrying him before she knew he was a murdering son of a bitch. That meant she didn't love him.
A glimmer of hope began to fill my chest, making me almost beam with happiness.

"Grace, I know that this may be hard for you to believe, but-"

Then without another word, her lips were on mine. I was taken aback . Her lips were just as I had imagined, soft and gentle. Absolutely perfect.

She doesn't mean it. She's just upset and wants a rebound. You are nothing more than an experiment.

With this thought running through my mind, I pushed her away.

"No. You're upset and not thinking straight. Don't do something you'll regret."

I turned on my heels and started walking towards the door.

"I'm sorry for your loss."
That was the last thing I said to her before practically walking out of her life.

*Grace's P.O.V*

I kissed her. I had finally gotten up the guts to kiss her, despite the tragedy of loosing my parents. And she just walked away. Like it meant nothing to her. Maybe that's what it was. The kiss meant nothing because I am mean nothing.I tried to go about my day as if nothing happened, but that proved to be more difficult than I had imagined. I sat in my study, trying to get things squared away for the inevitable funeral that I would have to have for my parents. I didn't want this. I didn't want to be queen, but there was no one else. I mean there was my older brother John, but he gave up his title a long time ago to have a normal life with the girl he loves. I envied him for that. He was now no longer tied to the responsibility of the crown. I on the other hand decided to fuck up so bad that I may have destroyed any possible relationship with Hannah. I understood that she didn't want to take advantage of me and my vulnerable state, but couldn't she also see that I genuinely wanted her?
I decided that these preparations could wait until tonight. I had other things to take care of. One, putting Chester in prison and possibly an execution. Two, finally tell Hannah how I really feel.

As I entered the guards quarters, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. Some were lustful, others angry, most were filled with pity,  but I didn't care.  I needed to have a few words with Chester.

I threw open the door to his office in anger. There was no other emotion I could feel but complete anger.

"You filthy son of a bitch!"
I screamed as I entered. Confusion was plain on his face, but he wasn't fooling me. Not anymore.

"What the- Grace? What are you talking about?"

"Don't you DARE play dumb with me. I know about all of it. I know you killed Josh, I know you did it to get to me, then if that wasn't enough, you tried to make Hannah take the fall for you. And of course your plan needed a finishing touch so you KILLED MY PARENTS!"

His eyes darkened. He knew there was no point in trying to hide it any more.

"Nothing gets past you... Does it... Princess? "

A deep and maniacal laughter escaped his lips.

"You know, I'm surprised at you. I was pretty certain that I could go through with this and you not notice a thing, but of course, that meddling blonde decided to stick her nose where it didn't belong. I'm going to have to fix that of course, but not before I tie up one last loose end."

What the hell was he talking about?

"You know too much. So really, there is no other option, than for me to kill you. Of course, I would make it look like a suicide. Poor princess couldn't handle the death of her parents. Tim would be so distraught over losing both his parents and his dear sister that he would be in no position to run a kingdom. So, naturally it would fall to me. And we all know how much I want that."

This was all so disturbing. He had planned it out in such detail that it made my skin crawl.

"You are sick. H-how could you do this to people? I trusted you."
I was dumbfounded. I couldn't understand how he or anyone for that matter, could take so many innocent lives.

"Easy. I know what I want and I will stop at nothing to get it. That's what a king does. "

"You will never be king."

He laughed and looked at me as if I were a child.

"Don't you see? I'm already halfway there."

I was so angry, that I almost lunged at him, but my arms were caught by two guards I was sure I had never seen before. They were going to forcefully take me out of here.

"Now if you will excuse me.... I have some work to do."

A/N: Oooh we're getting to the good stuff now. Hope y'all enjoy.

-Liz