Princess Adeline of Wales

Chapter Twenty-One: Harry's Punishment

3rd of September 1999 - York House, London

Staring down at the cast on her arm, Adeline was silent as she sat in the back of the car with her father; he was silent as they returned home and had not said a word since they had left the hospital. 

She still could not quite wrap her head around the fact that this had happened, she hated what her brother had become and she was a little worried about what was waiting for them back home. 

Slowly they reached York House and Adeline stared up at the place that she called home, nerves getting the better of her as she thought about seeing Harry again; she was not quite sure that she was ready to face him again. 

Charles looked back at her as he climbed from the car but she did not move, he frowned knowing that she probably did not want to see Harry; he still could not believe that things had escalated like this. 

Never had he thought that Harry would lash out and hurt one of his siblings, if Charles had known that was a possibility then he would have made sure that they were not home when he spoke with him. 

"Adeline?" Charles asked, this was not the time nor the place for them to have a serious talk; there were far too many prying eyes and ears to discuss what they needed to. 

People would hear about what had happened to Adeline and the Palace was already resolved to keep it quiet about the altercation between the siblings that had resulted in Adeline's trip to hospital. 

There was no need to bring more trouble into the children's lives, they would likely have enough of that when they were older and right now, they could be protected. 

"Come along... there is much for us to discuss," Charles encouraged offering her a reassuring smile, he was certain that his plans for Harry would turn him around before it was too late. 

The last thing that he wanted was another incident like this, it did not matter that it may have been an accident he was not going to allow the children to fight between them. 

Adeline nodded and slowly climbed from the car, she mumbled a thank you to the driver who had opened her door for her before she slowly followed her father into the house.

Neither of them spoke as they did so, both knowing that the conversation that they were about to have was going to be far from pleasant for either of them; no one could have predicted how Harry would have reacted to the news that he would speak to a therapist like this. 

Charles was almost relieved when there was no sign of either of his sons, he was certain that the nanny was doing as she was told and keeping them both out of sight. 

He very much needed to get his thoughts together before moving forward, there could be no room for mistakes here nor could he ignore just how serious this was. 

Once they reached his office, Charles moved to look out of the window with a frown on his face while Adeline took a seat; he dreaded to think what he would do when she reached her teenage years. 

William had been his easy child, he was seventeen and Charles could not be prouder of the way that he had handled things since Diana had passed; though there were times he worried for his son. 

Harry seemed to be his problem child, he was fifteen and things only seemed to be getting worse; he was going to have to toughen up on him if he did not want him to go off the rails. 

"I would like to hear what happened," Charles said turning to look at Adeline, he could not believe that in less than a year he would be dealing with a teenager and the last of his children would no longer be children.