The Little Queen

The Royal Visit

"I spend half of my life waiting for you," Theodore said while pushing himself away from the wall he was leaning on, "Not acceptable, Starlie."

I decided that I wasn't even going to acknowledge his comment, but rather his choice of clothing. "Are we not going to meet your Aunt?" I made sure it was noticeable that I was looking him up and down.

He had on a pair of dark blue jeans, a white button up shirt and then a black, wool pea coat that still had some snow on it. His dark brown hair was also in a mess, going in all sorts of directions. That wasn't how I left him at breakfast this morning. His hair looked nice like it usually did.

My mind decided to play against me in that moment and the thought of Opal doing that to his hair came to me. What if he snuck away with her?

"You are. I'm not staying long," he said while extending his arm to me. It was one of his mothers rules - I was always to be escorted by him if he was around to do so.

I linked my arm in his and we stared walking down the stairs. "Why not?" I asked before swallowing hard.

"Because I got overbooked again and have to have dinner with the Prince and Princess of Promisia while they're here visiting."

"They're more important than your own Aunt?" I asked quietly after looking around to make sure nobody was watching us. I was in the King and Queen's favor, but that didn't mean I could ask any question I wanted to concerning them.

"They're our allies, Starlie. They come before family right now."

Oh yes, how could I have forgotten? Our country's found itself in a bit of a rut with the people of Ohslo. We had a powerful military and an even stronger government but they've always had trouble accepting that, and so their King finally snapped and declared what I was calling a "mini" war, on us. And like I said before, our military was strong, but the only thing Ohslo really had going for them were their soldiers, so yes they were a tad stronger hence the reason why we needed Promisia's help.

I probably should have been absolutely terrified of the thought of us going to war, but I just wasn't. I had faith in the King and faith in our military.

I glanced up at Theo for the briefest of seconds to see him heavily focused on the double doors we were quickly approaching.

I stopped, my arm slipping from his as he kept going a couple steps before realizing that I was no longer with him. He turned to face me with a strong look of frustration, "What now?" He asked.

"Well..." I started slowly as I folded my hands in front of me in proper princess fashion, "As your unofficial official significant other....I have a question for you. And before I ask it, I want you to know that not many things bother me, but I can't stop thinking about this for some reason."

Theodore slouched a bit and crossed his arms over his chest, "Go on."

"What is Opal Hathorne to you? I've seen you with her a couple times and I know other people who have told me they've seen the same."

In an instant he had dropped his arms back to his sides, and a scoff left his mouth, "Really, Starlie? You're going to ask me about her right now? Do you know how easily I can point this back at you? What's Henry Fray to you? Do you know how much trouble you'd get in if the media caught wind that you two were becoming best "friends"? It wouldn't be long before the Old King found out and had your head for going behind his beloved grandson's back," he spat the words out as if he was truly disgusted. "Are we done now?"

He knew just what to say to scare the actual hell out of me and he knew it. It wasn't going to be as easy for him this time though. I refused to let myself back down and so I shook my head and took a step closer to him, "No, we're not done. You didn't answer my question, you just threatened me so that I'd stop talking about it. It's not fair, Theodore."

He took one long stride towards me, prompting me to back up and run right into the wall, completely trapped, "Don't tell me what is and isn't fair, Starlie. If I'm fucking Opal, that's my business, not yours. And if I'm not, it doesn't really matter anyways because you have this little idea in your head about what I'm doing and I just don't see you budging on that. So...just spare yourself the extra headache and stop thinking about it altogether, alright?"

I didn't do anything but look right into his eyes.

One of the heavy wooden doors creaked open slowly and heels clanked out into the hall. Theodore looked over his shoulder briefly, just to see who it was, before looking back at me angrily.

It was Noor, and it was obvious that she knew she had just walked into something. She wasn't the type of person to care in the least though.

"Hey Theodore, how about you stop being such a whiney little princess and come in to see your family before you go off? Oh and act like you two are ok now, because literally the entire castle just heard this whole conversation. You two are more entertaining than those Kardashian's."

I watched as she walked back into the dining hall, leaving the door open behind her.

"Yes or no, Theodore," I whispered, now knowing that everyone in the room was listening to us.

"No."