Queen Raeanne

I knock on James' door and wait patiently for him to open it despite my eagerness to get on with my day.

"My Queen?" He asks. "Why, it's not even sunrise yet."

"I know, my apologies for waking you. I just could not wait any longer to do this." I throw my arms around him and squeeze him as tightly as I can.

"Oh?" He asks with a laugh. "This needed to be done before the sun rose in the sky?"

"Well I've just received the results of your blood test. It's a match. I can not believe it is true!" I shout, quickly covering my mouth upon realizing his wife is probably still asleep. He shuts the door behind him to muffle our words.

"I would never lie to you." He states.

"Well with threats coming at me from the left and from the right, I had no choice but to be cautious." I explain. "I am terribly sorry for doubting you."

"But of course you should doubt. One should doubt everyone she comes into contact with. You can never know who to trust. Especially with your role in life." He nods.

"Can I be frank with you, brother?" I ask, internally smiling at the sound of calling someone a bother again.

"Sure."

"And let me be clear. I am coming to you as a sister, not as a Queen. I need advice." I make sure there is no way he can misconstrue my words to mean something other than what I intend.

"Of course. I will offer you advice as a brother then."

I make sure to hush my voice before speaking again. "Well, it does require a little secrecy." I look around to ensure we are alone. Though Michael is no secret, I still feel it necessary to protect his image as much as I can. "I wish to marry a boy who is not a noble. He has a title but it is not nearly high enough to get him anywhere."

"Ah yes, your guard."

"What?" I ask, shocked that he could know such a thing after being here for such a short period of time. "How did you know who?"

"Well, rumors spread around here like wildfires. But I knew long before the rumors reached me." He laughs.

"How?"

"I learned to pay attention to everything around me as a child. They were raising a future king. They wanted to make sure I was well prepared. Shall we take a walk?"

We walk away from his chambers. "I was not given the same training. Even after I was set to become Queen. Father only taught me how to fight. No one taught me how to do any of the actual important stuff about being a leader."

"I can teach you. But first, let me explain how I know what I know." He holds his hands behind his back as we walk aimlessly around the castle.

"The first thing to tip me off was the way you handed your son over to him. No mother would simply hand her baby off to someone she didn't trust with her whole heart. Well, not a good one at least. And from what I hear, you are a great one. Like I said, word flies around this castle pretty quickly."

"I do try to be good for him. Though, I do worry I am ruining him just by being a Queen."

"Nonsense." He stops me.

I shake my head. "No, really!" I begin to explain. "I never asked to be royal. I never wanted to be Queen. My poor Henry will someday be forced into the crown the same way I was, even if he does not want it."

"Hopefully that will not be the minute he turns 18 like it was for you, though. You will live a terribly long life so that he will not bear the burden. Until he is ready for anything."

I nod. I do plan on over preparing my son so that he is not thrown into this life like I was. Though, I do want him to live as much of a normal life as I can manage for him. "Children do not ask to be born and yet as soon as they are, they are forced to live by rules created long before their birth. It is cruel. I was not thinking of him before all of this."

"One can not dwell too much on things they can not change. You must now focus on how to make things better for him than they were for you." James speaks more of his seemingly endless knowledge. How did he become so wise? Why did he not come back into my life sooner? I could have used his help from day one of my reign. He makes me feel at ease. He would have made my transition so much more tolerable than it was if I had him at my side.

"And as far as Michael goes, The second thing was the conversation while you took your son back from him. It was very intimate even though I could tell the words were not."

I smile. Thinking about Michael always puts a smile on my lips. "I love him. I truly do. And I got lucky enough that he decided to love me back. We got tired of hiding it. Well, I got tired of hiding it. He was more than content with being my dirty little secret his whole life just to keep me safe." I explain more of our tricky position.

"That brings me to the third thing that tipped me off to your relationship. was the way he jumped to defend you when he and I spoke." James adds.

"Defend me? Were you rude on my name?" I scoff. I hope he is not giving me reason to throw him out immediately. I truly do like the idea of having him back home.

"No, not even close. I asked if you were well. He immediately refused to comment for fear of possibly incriminating you. He was so worried about your image I could barely get a word out of him."

"So what then? What do I do? I love him. I want to marry him. I won't settle for anyone else. I did it once to appease mother. Never again."

*
Don't forget to vote and comment!!