Her Grace

30.

They rode as fast as they could to her, it took two hours but they finally made it to her estate

As soon as they arrived, there were servants waiting for them, as soon as they were in the courtyard, both men threw themselves off their horses and immediately ran inside, terrified of what they might find

They were soon met by doctors and some of Chloe's highest ranking servants

"Your grace, your majesty, its good of you to come" the head of her household began but Harry wasn't waiting for any of this

"What happened?! How is she?!" He asked hurriedly, a nervous wreck, Ryan was shocked to see how much he actually did care about his sister

"She had been getting better, she was back out of bed, until a few days ago, she began to deteriorate again and today she was found collapsed in her sitting room" the older gentlemen explained

"Getting better?" Harry repeated to himself before turning to Ryan, looking rather angry "you didn't even tell me she was ill!" He raised his voice in frustration as much as anything else

"I...I didn't know" Ryan admitted remorsefully

"You'll be thankful to hear that however that somehow throughout all of this the baby has remained seemingly in good health" the servant told Ryan who just stood there in shock

"My sister is expecting and you didn't tell me?!" Harry was now rather infuriated by his advisor and friend for not telling him of his sister's condition but Ryan just stood there blankly

"It's a miracle really, but she hasn't bled at all, so the doctors say that there must not be anything wrong" he explained and Ryan finally managed to pull himself together

"When exactly did your mistress inform the household that she was with child?" He enquirer in complete confusion

"Not long after she arrived here, we presumed that was why she came here rather than going withy you to court your grace....except you never visited" the servant had really screwed Ryan over, none of court knew the couple were estranged

"YOU HAVENT SEEN MY PREGNANT SISTER IN OVER A MONTH?!" The look in Harry's eyes made Ryan slightly concerned about how much longer he would have his head

"She implied she didn't want me to visit, I didn't know she was pregnant, she hasn't written to me once, I presumed I was just supposed to take the hint, this marriage had been a disaster from the moment it happened" Ryan tried to defend but he realised how it sounded even worse, the more he said, but then he turned back to the servant "you're sure she's....pregnant?"

"Well we haven't fed her anywhere near enough for that slim figure of hers to have become quite so....unslim" the servant replied, slightly offended by whatever it was he was suggesting

It was all completely insane

And now Ryan felt rather guilty, had he have known this, he probably would've never done what he did, he thought they were as over as could be while still married but this....this changed everything

Just then one of the doctors walked into the hall where they were stood

"The princess is asleep for the moment, she's still very weak, she's not a healthy girl at the moment, but she will be fine very soon, she's over the worst of it" the doctor explained to them and then gestured for them to follow him to her room, presuming correctly that they'd want to see her immediately

He brought them right up to the door before leaving them with one parting note for them

"You were told of this against strict orders on the fear that she may not make it through the night, she requested neither of you be notified unless it was upon her death, I thought you ought to know" he told them and then bowed his head to them quickly before leaving them be

"I've messed everything up" Ryan whispered, angry with himself

"As have I, I pushed her away" Harry replied, not realising what Ryan was referring to, Harry seemed to have genuine remorse about the rift between him and his sister

But Ryan was pure guilt

"You go in first, when you've said what you need to say, is like to see her, alone" Harry told Ryan gently, Ryan nodded and Harry began to head back to the main hall, readying his plans, not that Ryan knew what they were yet

Withy a deep breath, Ryan twisted the handle to her door and opened it

As the door opened, Ryan saw a pair of emerald green eyes stare straight into his as she looked up at him blankly, pale as a ghost, her blonde locks messily plaited to one side

She looked rough, very rough

This was a shadow of the woman he'd last seen, a shell, innocent and afraid, lonely and terrified

Ryan couldn't hate himself any more than he did in that moment

---------------------------------------------

When people thought I meant they weren't ready for this chapter cuz I was gonna kill her 😂😂 I mean I began considering it when it was implied I couldn't but I like my storyline too much to fuck it up to make a point lmao, everyone who's about to die will die as planned 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ Xoxo