The Queen (Harry Styles)

Chapter 24

Harry stepped back from me his large hands gently touching my tender, stinging cheeks. I hissed as he applies too much pressure where I was struck. My eyes avoided his, I couldn't bear the thought of seeing his face knowing what I had done. I killed someone, I took the life out of a living being.

"Em, let's go inside now," he said softly, his hand pressing against the center of my back.

I glanced down at the water around me. The usually murky green liquid was stained red, pooling around me. I held my hand up to my mouth as I looked up at Harry. Choked sobs began to erupt from my chest as realization overcame me.

"Em. Em!" Harry said quickly. "Calm down. Please just take some deep breaths and calm down, Emerald," he said. "Shut your eyes and listen to my voice, forget about it."

"I can't," I sniffled.

"Let's go have one of the nurses look at you, Em. I will stay with you," he promised. "I'll even see if the Duke will make sure things run smoothly tomorrow."

I nodded silently as Harry took my small hand in his and pulled me with him out of the water. As soon as I stepped on dry land, Harry reached out to Waters to take hold of a large blanket. He wrapped it around my body, his hands moving up and down my arms rubbing heat into me. He held me close to his side as we walked up the beach in silence.

When we hit the town square, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. They got to see their queen at her weakest after being attacked. I couldn't bear to look at any of their faces. I couldn't. I felt so ashamed of myself for what I had done. I couldn't take it back. This burden was mine to bear, not anyone else's.

We got to the nurse's quarters and I was lead to a table. The nurse was with someone else, so we waited. Harry pulled a stool up in front of me and sat down on it. He took my red hands in his and called my name. I looked up at him.

"Em, you know what you did was right."

"I killed someone," I whispered, disgusted with myself.

"Did that man attack you?"

"Yes, but-"

"You acted out of self-defense. He tried to hurt you and you protected yourself."

"But what if he was one of us?"

"He was one of the rebels," Harry said. "Since he's dead, we can't put a trace on where he's from. We think Gaelic country."

"Have you killed anyone?"

"I have," Harry nodded. "I went to war, remember?"

"How do you forget the pain? I just feel all this guilt that I've killed someone's brother, someone's father, someone's son, and that hurts me to think about."

Harry breathed in deeply as he looked at the floor. Just by staring at him, I already knew the answer.

"When I was younger, my father gave me a piece of advice that I didn't think would ever need to be useful, but I was wrong. My father told me that the people you will one day have to face and take their lives, they are not people. They are things that have to be stopped. If we don't take them away from our Earth, then bad things will happen. They will ruin everything we worked for. So by taking his knife, Em, you saved yourself and our country."

"But how does that help forget he had a family? That he was a person? Or the pain I'm feeling?"

"For you, my love, just think about our future. He's just a pile of flesh and bones. The person who he was is gone and now, it's just a body. We don't know who he is, but he was a simple follower of the rebels."