Her Grace

32.

"Can we talk...alone?" Harry asked from the doorway

He could see in her eyes that she was still mad at him for a while kid of different reasons and to some extent he understood why, he could see just far enough past the expectations of a woman to the privileges given to her throughout her life and understand why she couldn't just be what the world expected

"Chloe?" Ryan looked to her for her answer, she sighed and then nodded so Ryan kissed her cheek and then stood up and left the room

"I hear you have some exciting news" Harry began as she turned her head to look away from him

"You heard as well?" She spoke rhetorically, not Patti wanting to discuss this with him

"I did, how far along are you?" He asked her, she rolled her eyes while her face was hidden from his view

"Somewhere between three and four months, I lost track, I just let the doctor tell me what I'm supposed to be doing" she replied honestly

"Well that's good to hear, you're doing well?" He asked her gently, she couldn't quite decide if she believed he was genuinely asking about her or if it was all just about him

"I'm as well as you can expect given the circumstances, what about you? How are you? How are things at court?" She tried to seem interested

"God I hate court, I always hated court, you know that, all the people are so fake, they all have an agenda, except Ryan, he's the only one I can trust there, everyone else would try have my head if it suited them, replace me with whoever they thought was better for the job, it's getting to me, it's driving me mad, I mean I basically sold off my own sister to what end? I was never supposed to be King, they all tell me I'll be remembered, but for what? What about me is worth remembering now?" Chloe was surprised by her brother's words and the sincerity which he said then with, she knew he hated court once, long ago when he first became king, but she never knew those feelings were still there

"I didn't know you still felt so alone in your own court" court she spoke carefully, watching as he seemed to wrap more and more around her finger without her even trying

"Chloe please, come back to court, you'd be one of the few things that could keep in tact what little sanity I have left" he quite literally was begging her, tears in his eyes, her brother was slowly breaking down in front of her and she had no idea what was going on

"Harry...what happened?" She asked him, quite nervous for the answer

"Anne lost the baby, I don't think I'll ever have a son who will survive long enough to take my crown" he admitted to her, his deepest fear spoken aloud

But then Chloe realised what this plea really was....or at least, what she thought it was

"Harry I will not come to court only for you to send me away if I have a girl, my baby will not be a pawn in your little power game, and you're not marrying him or her off either, I'm not going to court" she was adamant that she wouldn't be used to make his succession should he not be able to

"No Chloe, I don't care who takes my throne when I'm dead anymore! Mary can have it! Catherine can be damned for the cold woman she is but Mary can have the throne, please Chloe, please just come back, there are better doctors and more servants and you can have whichever chambers you want! Please" the desperation Harry was showing shocked her, he was more vulnerable than she'd ever seen him

"Harry, you wouldn't feel so alone at court if you didn't keep sending everyone away and turning them against you, you threatened to have Ryan beheaded, YOUR BEST FRIEND, purely to teach ME a lesson, you've sent your daughter away and stopped her seeing or even writing to her own mother, you slowly make enemies of us all, where does it end?" She was really pushing her luck now but she was willing to trust that she had at least a little more rope before she hung herself with it

"I can't let Catherine poison my own daughter against me! And Mary had to go to her own home eventually, she's a princess" he tried to defend his actions but he wasn't doing a very good job

"No she isn't, not anymore, she's Lady Mary, you declared her a bastard remember? Your only legitimate child and you declared her a bastard" she was playing a dangerous game but she wanted to know if before her was truly the brother she once knew and loved or just a shadow of his former self

"I know what I did Chloe! You don't have to remind me! What would you have me do?!" He exclaimed with remorse, being reminded of the hinges he'd done clearly hadn't gone down well

"Harry, I won't go back to court while SHE's there" she spoke very carefully now, having heard how infatuated with his new queen he was

But now that she's lost his son, he was significantly less infatuated

"Please just give her a chance Chloe, I know you and Catherine were close, but I had to divorce her, we were damned! I married my brother's wife and god punished me by not giving me an heir! I swear they must have consummated the marriage, she betrayed me, she lied to me, Chloe, please just try and get to know Anne, you might like her" he tried to explain everything and plea with her once again, trying to catch her eye but she had looked away from him

"Harry....I haven't lived at court in so long....I don't think..." she tried to avoid what he was asking of her again but he cut her off in a final desperate attempt

"Chloe, I need you, please" he now caught her eye and she knew what she had to do

"Okay, I'll come back to court, but I'm only visiting for now, if I settle in well then I'll stay, if not I'm going back home to wherever I'm going to end up calling home after this" she told him and he nodded as a huge smile spread on his face

"Thank you Chloe!" He exclaimed, he quickly kissed her forehead and got up "I'll make arrangements for the best chambers at court to be made ready!" He told her and then charged out of the room

Moments later Ryan was at her doorway

"You're coming back to court?" He asked her, rather surprised after how stubborn she'd been when he'd tried to convince her

"I guess I am" she replied, still slightly unsure about what she'd just agreed to, but it was too late to do anything now

Maybe it was for the best?

Or maybe it was completely the opposite

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SO SHES GOING BACK TO COURT! What do we think of Harry now? I mean, he seems to convincingly be sorry & he's kinda just saved their marriage by convincing her to come back to court where they can be together rather than separated still so yanno 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ any theories about what's gonna happennn? Xoxo