The Little Queen

The Little Runaway

Theodore's POV

It was my biweekly duty day.

All males (Royal or not apparently) were required to do four years in the military before they turned twenty-eight. I wasn't like a full blown active duty military person, more like a reservist in the sense that I still had to go in on occasion but I would never be deployed unless our country went to war.

I didn't enjoy it but I will admit it was a nice break from my reality. It was also where I met my best friend and the only place I could hang out with him where it would be acceptable.

Ethan Anatoly. The bane of my existence...

But in a good way.

I was fittingly in the Royal military, I guess it was more like the police but for the royals. We never did dirty work and pretty much just goofed off all night long because no one ever needed anything.

Ethan was a Warrant Officer Class-2, so he was considerably higher in rank than me but he was also fully enlisted so he had more opportunities to climb the ranks. I didn't really care. I just wanted to do my four years and get the hell rid of this annoying responsibility.

Ethan stood up abruptly, his posture becoming stiff after looking at something on his phone. "Theo," he ushered me over and I hesitantly went to him. The stance he was in didn't generally mean anything good. "Warren is at Fairington House right now. I'm going to take you over there," he said in the most deathly serious tone.

"What's going on?"

My mind flew to the absolute worst case scenario of Starlie's dad getting ahold of her and doing God knows what.

"The Princess," there was a long enough pause to send me into a panicked frenzy, "got into a fight with the Count. Now they can't find her." 

"What do you mean they can't find her?"

Starlie's POV

There were a million and one things going on in my life right now so there was no way I was going to be sleeping tonight. How could I? Not only was I completely unable to turn my brain off, but I was also stuck next to a snoring Penelope. I thought she was supposed to be going out with Henry tonight.

I thought about waking her up but my stomach interrupted me.

I was starving.

I rolled out of the bed as quietly as possible and exited the bedroom, entering the dimly lit and disturbingly quiet hallway. It was so quiet, you would have been able to hear a pin drop,  had anyone had a random pin laying around by some miracle. I started to quietly descend the wooden stairs, careful as to not make too much noise. As I reached the landing, I started to hear a faint noise in the distance. It sounded like it could have been coming from Arden's office but I couldn't be sure and I also couldn't think of any good reason why there would be anyone in there right now. I had seen both Arden and Philippa go to bed earlier tonight.

It came as no surprise to me that the noises got louder as I got closer to the office, stopping right outside the French doors. Against my better judgement, I decided to stay and listen for a moment.

When does anything good ever come from snooping though?

Never.

But I wasn't even sure this was entirely my fault. Who sleeps with someone in a house full of people - awake or not, when there's nothing but a glass door separating you from everyone else? Well, Arden apparently.

I was about to turn around and make a mad dash back from the bedroom when Arden made direct eye contact with me, nearly jumping out of his skin. "Starlie!" He moved away from the naked women he was on top of and I came face to face with an angry Arden, whom was also shamefully wearing his birthday suit.

Being completely consumed by the shock of the situation, I was unable to move away from him. "What are you doing awake, Princess?" He said the words in a mocking tone as he pulled the French doors closed behind him. It didn't really matter, all I had to do was look past his obese body and I could see everything going on in the room behind him.

Something in me snapped as I fully processed his question. I wasn't a real Princess, I was just treated like one due to my closeness to the Royal family and everyone knew it. The way he said it made me feel weird, like there was some ulterior meaning behind it.

I didn't like it.

I squinted my eyes at him slightly, tilting my head as I did so. "Stop calling me Princess. Who is that in there? I know it's not Philippa." I could only come to that conclusion because Philippa wasn't a brunette.

"Go back to bed, Starlie. It doesn't concern you," he took a step closer to me and I could smell the sweat on his leathery skin.

"Put some clothes on, Arden," I said as he grabbed ahold of my arm, his clammy fingers digging into my flesh. My eyes darted to the female culprit as she hurriedly got up from the couch in the office and started grabbing her clothes.

That's when I realized who it was.

"Opal?" I muttered under my breath.

Arden went from angry to perturbed in the blink of an eye, his grip on my arm getting tighter as he yanked me into the office.

Opal's eyes widened as she clutched a blanket to her naked body. I never thought I would have to endure seeing this much of her. "Starlie?"

"Why are you here, Opal?" I ripped my arm from Arden's grasp, daring him to touch me again. "Put some fucking clothes on!" I screamed, now completely hysterical.

Arden grabbed a robe that was loosely hanging off the back of the sofa and put it on but didn't bother to tie it closed while Opal kept the blanket around her. "You will keep your mouth closed about this," Arden ordered but I wasn't about to listen to him. I was the one with more power after all. "This family doesn't need a scandal right now."

"You will tell your wife about this or I will."

Arden once again got closer to me, this time snatching my wrist to hold me still, "You're not going to say anything. Do I make myself clear?"

I wanted to know who he thought he was talking to. I might not have had any actual power to do anything myself, but I had the entire royal family on my side and I knew that if the King and Queen wouldn't act against him, Theo for sure would.

He would probably be pissed just to see Arden touching me like this, let alone ordering me around.

"I'm going home tonight and the first thing I'm going to do is talk to the Queen."

Her and Philippa were very close so I'm sure she would love to know about this little tiff. At the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if she did nothing because the only thing she hated more than conflict was a scandal. I'm sure the threat scared him though so it was still a win in my book.

I was so focused on the shit storm brewing in front of me that I didn't realize Opal sneaking around me and leaving the office.

"Let me go!"

I took a step back and grabbed the ugly iron statue of himself that was sitting on top of the end table. I gave him a couple more seconds to drop his act and let me leave but he made one risky move as if he were about to strike me.

Like I wasn't fully prepared to smash a statue of himself over his head.

Before he could take another step closer, I gripped the statue as hard as I could and swung it at him.

The noise it made as it collided with his skull was enough to send a shiver down my spine but there was also a small sense of momentary relief.

Arden fell down and I took that opportunity to run out of the office. I wasn't out of the woods yet though.

Penelope was at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes wide in horror, her phone held to her ear. "Star?"

I said nothing and ran for the back door of the house.