In the Shadows~zayn au~Completed ✅EDITING

~Chapter 37: Before a King~

Hey everyone! Another update! You'll get to see a bit more of Rulers of Cheshire and their personalities. I'm so excited for all the rest of this! It's only getting better from here, I promise!

Thanks again for reading and #allthelove

"Princess."

The annoying voice didn't go away, no matter how much she tried to ignore it.

"Princess, you have to wake up." This time she identified it as Louis' voice.

"Let the world burn, I just want to sleep," she grumbled angrily, turning away from him.

"You're not one for mornings, I know that," he commented, "but you have to get up. Harry's not a man to be kept waiting."

This stirred her and she sat up, all her dread returning.

"Harry had food sent for breakfast as well, so get up quickly and your meal will still be hot."

"You should have led with that," Kalysta grumbled. "I would have been in a better mood."

"Next time I'll remember to feed the sleeping bear before prodding it," he said wryly, standing straight and going over to the set table.

"Where's the Ambassador?"

"He's getting the clothing you'll wear before the king."

"What do you mean?"

"You can't petition Harry in that and expect to be taken seriously," Louis scoffed. "It's already going to be difficult to attain his trust when he finds out you've been cavorting as a man. If you revealed yourself while still in men's clothing it wouldn't matter what you said; he'd write you off and not even listen. You'll wear your disguise until we're right outside his chambers and then you'll slip your ladylike garb on over the men's clothing and step in as yourself. It will provide an element of surprise and perhaps put him off balance enough that he'll actually be open to discussion."

Kalysta was flabbergasted. All the training from childhood and she still felt incompetent. She would have to rely heavily on this pair to get her through the challenge, to manage her best in her petition to Harry. Their insight and cues would be invaluable in the face of such a ruler.

She steeled herself, getting up to eat. Her breakdown from the night before was still filling her with a bit of embarrassment, but she did feel better. Zayn offering such comfort was a surprise; if she'd thought about her relationship with him a week ago she would have described him as a nuisance, an irritant, not someone she'd have a soul-baring ordeal with regarding duty. She wasn't completely at peace with Zayn, but she began to contemplate the idea that she could trust him.

With that thought, Zayn stepped in carrying a wrapped bundle.

"Sorry I'm late," he sighed. "The Royal seamstress has decided she wants to cause me as many problems as she can. I swore her to such secrecy making this that she assumes it's for my mistress."

Kalysta choked on the air she'd just breathed in and coughed in embarrassment.

Louis laughed at her reaction and Zayn grinned, clearly pleased with himself and the joke at her expense. "I couldn't exactly correct her, so if she left a pin in there, I'm sorry," he continued.

She gave them a disgruntled look, but didn't say anything, knowing how her every retort brought them even more hilarity. Besides, she needn't scold them for a joke simply because she was so dreadfully nervous.

The fresh bread and eggs were delicious, but the more she thought of the coming meeting, the less appetite she had.

"What does 'to the blood' mean?" she asked, attempting to distract herself.