Crossed Hearts | h.s

Thirty

To appease his mother, Harry had extended his stay in Crofton for an extra three days. Upon returning to the palace, he handed the horse off to a groom and was greeted by Matthias at the servant's entrance.

"Nice of you to finally return to work," he said unpleasantly. He leaned against the doorframe and caught Harry's arm as he tried to walk by. "Her majesty requests your presence in her study as soon as you've settled back in."

"Thank you, sir," Harry said, trying to hide the excitement he felt at the mentioning of his love.

"She's fond of your company, for whatever reason," Matthias said, narrowing his eyes. "Don't upset her." He slung Harry's arm as he let it go and marched away to the stables.

Harry smoothed out his shirt and adjusted the empty purse on his hip before entering the palace. He smiled happily at a few familiar faces as he walked down the corridors until he came to his room, then quickly changing into fresh clothes and cleaning the grime from his face and hands. He took one last glance in the mirror, fixing a curl gone awry, and then headed for Geneva's study.

Nervous and excited sweat gathered on his palms as he neared the doorway. He nodded to the guards outside of the door and they immediately opened it for him, but instead of him entering the room, a man stormed out with an angry expression and nearly knocked Harry over. With wide eyes, Harry watched the man disappear, muttering profanities of frustration under his breath, and then slowly walked into the room.

Geneva sat in her chair with her elbows on the table, head in her palms, and eyes closed. She felt drained of all energy, and at the sound of another visitor, she wanted to pull her hair out and scream for them to leave. "Who is it?" she asked in a low voice.

"Sir Harry, your grace," he said, announcing himself from the doorway.

She snapped her eyes upward and then looked at Silas. "Leave us," she said to him. When Silas closed the door behind him, she rose from her chair and walked around the table to stand before Harry. Her lips curled into a smile, but it barely reached her tired eyes. He saw this at once.

"Ginny?"

He needn't say anything else. She fell into his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist to cling to him as if he were her source of life. "Oh, Harry, I missed you. It's been so dreadful and so tiring here without your comfort." She pulled back to look at him. "Tell me it isn't true, tell me Crofton isn't in a famine."

He cupped her cheek with his hand and trailed her cool skin with his thumb. "I wish I could bring you good news, but I cannot lie to you, my love."

"I've sent what I can from the palace, but we only have so much here ourselves. Do the people hate me?"

"A queen will always have enemies," he said as gently as he could. He figured it was better than telling her that his own sister had overheard pub gossip and turned into a traitor herself.

"Well, I do have some good news at least," she said, taking his hand and leading him to the table to sit. "King Alastair of Nydale has answered my letter. He and his wife will be attending Caris's party. We have a chance."

He smiled wide. "That's wonderful," he exclaimed.

"To conserve money, the construction of my father's statue has been put on hold, but I believe that after we arrange an alliance of some sort with Nydale, everything will be as it once was."

"And we can rejoice, for you will be the greatest queen of all time."

"And you the greatest king," she said, "But, you must tell me about your family. How do they fare?"