Above All Else

Chapter Thirteen

I hear the phone ring loudly beside the bed- Henry's cell phone. The screen lights up the room. The mattress moves beside me.

"Richard?" I ask in curiousity, hoping it it's anyone but him. He's not expected back for another two weeks, since he extended the trip an extra month so he could take a retreat.

"Yes... hello?" Henry utters hoarsely.

I hear a long, loud frantic sentences from here. I turn as Henry starts to sit up.

"Hold- Richard, hold on. Slow down. What is going on?"

When Henry nearly jumps out of the bed, rushing to the door, I push aside the covers, climbing out as well. After putting on my robe, I walk into the hallway, making my way down the steps carefully.

"How could you do this?" Henry shouts. I hear the TV on in the background. "How could you be so fucking idiotic, Richard?!"

I press a hand to the wall at the edge of the hall. Henry has his hand flat against his forehead, he looks like he's barely breathing. He didn't even dress, he's in only briefs. I'm in shock, having never heard him speak to his brother that way.

My eyes flicker to the TV where the screen reads:

QUEEN NICOLE: NEWS OF SCANDALOUS AFFAIR SHOCKS WORLD

I press my hand to my lips, eyes wide. Oh fuck.

"There is no excuse! YOU KNEW! That child is not yours!" Henry shouts, his tone blistering. "You just tried to put a illegitamite child onto the throne!"

Henry drops down onto the couch, growling. "Don't ask me to be behind you on this! Don't! I'm not! ... Oh, so now we're brothers? Now? When it matters to you?"

"You need to get back, as soon as possible and put these goddamn reports to rest. Pay off who you have to. Do whatever you have to!"

He's silent for a while, listening.

"There is no coming back from this, Richard...You've tarnished our family name and your throne is going to be in jeopardy."

"I will only help you because I don't want to take your fucking place!" Henry bellows, hanging up. I don't even know what to do. I don't think I can move from my spot. It's dead silent. Suddenly, he throws the phone at the wall. It sounds like the crack of a whip before it falls to the ground.

He runs his hands through his hair slowly, pressing both of them to the back of his skull as if he's suddenly just gotten a ridiculous throbbing there. I walk out, moving around the couch. His eyes are closed when I bend down in front of him, cautiously.

"Henry..." He doesn't answer me. I touch his thigh, breathing in deeply. "Baby."

"He's given them grounds for abdication, Mia," he says, quietly.

I nod, slowly. "What does that mean?"

"It means," he says, opening his eyes, "that if Richard can't fix this, if I can't fix this, then he will be stripped of the title king and it will be immediately given to me."

Oh my god. I stare at him as my eyes grow wider. "I-Is this really that extreme? I mean, it could be his? Do they have proof?"

"Yes. They have pictures of her and the man in a vacation home. They took the pictures from a boat on a lake or something."

"But they can't prove the baby isn't Richard's without a test."

"Richard paid for her to have the test done. He knew. The test states that he isn't the father... so therefore, the public will know that he pronounced the child his own after he had already learned otherwise. Everyone will know that he manipulated his wife for his own personal gain."