Or Forever Hold Your Peace - l.s.

Chapter 1

"Father, you look troubled."Prince Louis observed, noticing the wrinkles on King Niall's forehead as Niall pressed his fingers to his temples.

"Look troubled? I am troubled!" Niall exclaimed. "There's a high chance we might get attacked by Vaelle."

Vaelle was a kingdom near Niall's kingdom, Ariak. Vaelle had been eyeing Ariak's resources for a long time now. Rumour has it they are planning a war. Ariak was nowhere near ready for that. For one thing, Vaelle had a very strong military. They have never lost a war since the current king took the throne twenty years ago. Vaelle has had more victories than any other kingdom either Niall or Louis could name.

"Can we negotiate?" Louis asked. "There must be something we can do."

"No, there is not much we could offer them. I already wrote to King Stephen, requesting a mutual agreement to give him half of the mines so that he would leave us alone, but he refused. King Stephen wants all of it. There's no way anything we can offer is going to be any more to him that half our mines." Niall explained.

"We have to go to war, don't we?" Louis asked. "We can't. Vaelle will pulverise us. They have so many troops. We can't match up to them. We can't beat them!"

"Shut up, Louis. I already know that."

"Father, you get unusually snappy when you're stressed."

"Louis, that is not a very helpful observation."

"I can be helpful. Look, they have a princess, Princess Danielle."

"Louis, what are you thinking?" Niall interrupted Louis.

"We could get married."Louis suggested.

"You want to marry someone whom you do not love?"

"For the sake of the kingdom, why not? It's not like I have anyone else to marry." Louis shrugged. When he said that last part, his mind was on Harry. He wanted to marry the boy. He was so disappointed that Harry rejected him when he proposed at first. When Harry finally agreed to marry Louis, everything felt magical. Louis thought his life was perfect. Then, he found out. Harry was not whom Louis thought him to be, nor what. Now, all Louis saw in Harry was not a boy, but a monster.

"Louis, you don't have to do this. I don't want you to do this." Niall insisted.

"But I-" Louis tried to speak but Niall stood his ground, giving Louis a firm, "No."

"Father-" Louis' second attempt was about just as bad as his first.

"Louis, I said, 'No.' No means no. I'm sure you know that very well." Seeing that Louis was displeased, Niall added, "It is getting very late. Why don't we sleep on it and make a decision in the morning?"

"I think you need the rest more than I do." Louis commented.

Instead of going to his bedroom, Louis headed for the tailor's bedroom. Louis knocked on the door and twisted the knob. It was locked. Louis knocked again. The door was open. The tailor stood in his night clothes. He rubbed his eyes and yawned sleepily.

"Sorry to bother you at such a late hour." Louis started.

"Late? It's only three in the morning. It's not late at all!" The tailor remarked sarcastically.

"That was rude." Louis shook his head.

"Sorry, I get very sarcastic when I'm tired. What do you want, your highness?"

"I can come back in the morning if you'd like."

"No, it's fine. You've already disturbed my sleep. At least tell me what's troubling you."

Louis told the tailor about his plan to marry the princess from the neighbouring kingdom. "I'm just saying that they would not attack us this marriage takes place." Louis ended off.

"But an arranged marriage? You want that?" The tailor raised his eyebrows.

"Well, no- yes? I don't know. It's better than war," Louis almost finished but added on, "which is terrible because we know we can't win. It would be suicide to go to war."

"I guess, you're right." The tailor sighed.

"Aren't I always?" Louis smirked.

"Yes, your highness. I don't even know why you would talk to me, considering you never need to have your doubts put aside because you are always right so why would you have doubts, am I right?" The tailor taunted.

"I think I should have let you sleep." Louis uttered. "I'll leave now. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, your majesty." The tailor said to Louis before closing and locking his door.

Louis headed into his bedroom. Larry sat on his bed, licking her paws. "Hey Larry." Louis greeted.

"I'm hungry." Larry whined.

"Then, eat. There's still a lot of food in your bowl." Louis pointed out. He picked up the bowl and shook it so the food on the sides will fall into the empty where Larry had previously eaten out of.

"Hey, do you think an arranged marriage is a good idea?" Louis asked Larry, deciding that he might want a fourth opinion on the matter.

"That's depends on whom you plan to marry." Larry said.

"A princess from Vaelle. Her name is Danielle." Louis said.

"Ooh, that rhymes!" Larry remarked. "But I preferred when you were with Harry."

"Shut up," Louis muttered. "Harry and I are over."

"No. I think you and Harry are soulmates." Larry said.

"That's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard. I'm happy without him! Why can't you accept that?" Louis barked. "Everytime I talk to you, it's Harry this Harry that. I'm done. I don't want to hear about that Harry!"

"For someone who claims to be happy, you don't sound very happy." Larry taunted.

"Of course I'm not happy right now!" Louis cried. "I'm trying to decide whether I should marry Princess Danielle or not and you're here talking about that stupid boy, if I should even call him a boy. Harry is a monster."

"You want my advice. Don't marry her." Larry said. "Get back with Harry."

"Your advice sucks. I'm marrying the girl." Louis commented.

"Fine, but let me know if this goes wrong so I can add it to my list of things I told you not to do but you did it anyways and everything turned into a disaster." Larry responded smugly.

"You sound like Modeste." Louis spat.

"Ugh, don't tell me about her. She used to stroke my fur the wrong way. I hate her so much." Larry cringed at the thought.

Modeste is King Niall's former advisor. She was fired almost a year ago. Shortly after that, Harry was banished.

"I didn't like her either." Louis agreed.