A Princess Named Harry: Book 2

Chapter 34

Any other date plans Harry had would have to wait. She hastily hurried to get ready and decorate the palace so that Joseph could be welcomed in warmly. She had tried to tell her father about his visit before, but now she didn't have time. Joseph's visit would have to be a surprise.

Harry remembered Archambault's color scheme from the fairytale book-blue and purple, and she hurried to put those colors up around the palace.

Even with all the maids' and butlers' help, they were still very behind schedule. She didn't want to sound rude or ungrateful, but they needed to be working five times faster than they were now.

Harry tried to coordinate her outfit with the color theme she had going on, but all she had that was close was a blue dress with pink butterflies all over it. Her other dresses were too stiff and formal to wear for the occasion.

"Is this good, Princess Harry?" asked a butler. He was on a tall ladder, hanging the streamers from the ceiling.

"Yes, that's perfect," she quickly answered.

She had tried to stop by and ask her father to change into an outfit to better match the theme, but the most he said to her was that he would be down shortly, so she had no idea what he would be wearing.

While Joseph wasn't technically a member of the former Archambault kingdom, he definitely acted like he was. Harry knew she didn't have to go out of her way to fix the palace accordingly to that, but she really wanted to get the man on her father's side. Although, any reaction the king would have to her whole plan would be quite a surprise, too.

"He'll be here any minute," she mumbled. She unconsciously began to bite her nails in anticipation of the moment. "He'll be here any minute! He'll be here any minute! He'll be here any minute!" Her repetitive words were interrupted by the king.

"What is going on here?"

"Father," she gasped. "You-you see-"

Before she could tell him, the announcement that her guest had arrived was said sooner.

"A guest?"

"Yes."

"Who is it?"

"That's-"

Harry didn't know how to explain it all in under ten seconds.

"Harry." The one who called her this time was Joseph. He was steadily following the butler's lead.

"Mister Joseph," Harry called back.

"Harry," said the king. "Who is this man?" He came down the stairs to get a closer look at the man.

"Father," Harry said as she began to gesture to the man. "This man is Mister Joseph."

When he came closer, Joseph bowed and said the royal greeting to them.

"Mister Joseph," said the king skeptically.

"That is I, your majesty."

Harry was relieved to see the two of them shake hands.

"I must say, you decorated the palace nicely."

Harry grinned. "Thank you, Mister Joseph." It was worth all the effort.

"It's just like Archambault."

"Archambault?" repeated the king. He turned to Harry annoyed. "Harry, what exactly is going on here?"

Harry looked down at the floor. Her body became tense, and she answered just as tensely, "It's a long story."

"Shall we take it to my office then?"

Harry gave a small nod, and the three slowly began towards the king's office. After they each got seated, the king touched his hand to his temple. He said only one word, "Explain."

"It's a long story, and please, don't get mad."

With an exasperated sigh, the king said, "Go on."

Harry slowly and carefully began to explain the prophecy and the so-called cure Joseph was working on for her mother. She explained almost everything. She decided to omit the parts about the magic and about Joseph's obsession with Archambault. She needed this meeting to go smoothly.

Once she had finished, the king rubbed his head even harder. He would end up with a monster of a headache after all this was over.

"So, you're telling me you have a cure for my wife?"

Harry decided to let Joseph answer that one. She just hoped he'd keep the magic and Archambault to himself.

"Not yet. Like the princess said, I'm still working on it, but it is possible I'm close to a cure for her majesty, the queen."

"And you'll have this done when?"

"Maybe in the next month or two."

Harry glanced at Joseph. She had no idea if that was true or if he was just saying that in order to get on the king's good side. When she looked back at the king, he looked pale.

He took a long breath before speaking, "This whole time, you've been keeping this from me?"

Harry knew his question had been directed at her to answer. "Yes," she answered. For some reason she was ashamed. "I'm sorry, Father; I thought I could stop all of this from happening myself, but." She didn't bother to finish her sentence. The room became filled with silence, leaving Harry feeling very uneasy about the future. She decided she should say something else-to ease his anger. "I'm really sorry, Father. You can be angry with me if you want."

The king answered more quickly than the last time. "Mister Joseph, can you go for now? I'm not in the right state of mind right now to continue this conversation. Can you come back tomorrow?"

"Of course, I can, your majesty."

Harry watched Joseph get up and leave the room. She started to leave too, but the king stopped her.

"Stay. Sit."

Harry sat back down. She was preparing her excuses. She waited for the king to say something, anything, but there was only silence between them once again. This time, she decided to wait for him to say something first.

"Harry," he said in an exhausted voice.

"Yes?" she asked in a nervous one.

"Why did you hide this from me?" He looked up at her, and that was when she finally noticed it. His complexion was terrible. He looked very sickly. Harry could see the dark bags under his eyes. The events from the party had taken an even bigger toll on him than it had on her.

"I didn't hide it from only you; I hid it from everyone."

"Why?"

Why? Harry wanted to ask herself the same thing. She could think of many reasons as to why she did it, but what she said was the simplest one. "Because I didn't think you would believe me." And then, the two were sitting in silence again. "Father, I-"

"We'll talk about this more tomorrow," he interrupted. His voice sounded rough. "For now, just go back to your room or outside; go anywhere just leave me alone for now."

His words hurt Harry, but she knew he had a good reason for acting so harshly.

"O-okay," she said in a barely audible voice.

She walked out of the room. She gave him a sad glance before she completely shut the door. She headed back down to the main hall to tell everyone they could stop putting up the decorations and instead take them down. It was a shame since everyone had worked so hard, and the decorations made the palace look nice.

As she helped them take everything down. She pondered what she would say to the king tomorrow. She hoped his mood would improve by their second meeting. She desperately hoped everything would go smoothly. She couldn't take any more surprises or setbacks.

If she could have one wish come true, then it would be for everything to work out. She needed something to be in her favor.

As she wished and prayed that their meeting would turn out better, she was unaware that even their second one wouldn't end well.