23. Cold Morning.

[Narrator]
Megan's mother left her hiding place fuming with anger, she did not know why she was saddled with such an incompetent daughter.
She sent her daughter there to seduce the Prince so that he could take her virginity and then he would be tied to her forever, he would have to take responsibility for her, and then their marriage would be a done deal.
The King had only agreed to support her on this because she promised him that Megan would expose his son's face to the world and now Megan had gone and ruined everything for her.
She wanted to call her on the phone and order her to go back to the Prince's room but she knew that it was impossible, the Prince would not welcome her again and even if he would, the gossip would be too much to handle the next day.
They would say she seduced the Prince and that kind of press was a negative one. Megan was seen as Denmark's sweetheart and everyone supported her relationship with the Prince because of her gentle, cheerful, and innocent character.
If they were to find out that she sneaked into the Prince's room late at night after he dismissed her from dinner, there was going to be a lot of backlashes.
"I'm going to deal with this tomorrow, there might still be a way to salvage this." She told herself as she got ready for bed.
She'd been unable to wed the King during her days because she was not of royal blood and so she failed to be queen, all that she couldn't accomplish, she would make sure that her daughter accomplished that and more.
If she could not be known as the queen, she would be known as the queen's mother.
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[Luke]
Soft knocks on the door woke me up from sleep and I frowned, Franz knew better than to wake me up by this time, it wasn't even light outside yet.
I feigned ignorance and continued sleeping hoping the person behind the door would get the memo and leave.
When the knocks continued, I got up angrily and threw the covers away from the bed.
May God help the person disturbing me this early.
Three long strides later, I opened the door and got the shock of my life.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded rudely.
I watched as the color drained from her face and her smile fell.
"You told me to come back early this morning so that we can pretend that I spent the night here." She said, clutching her shawl tighter around her neck.
I looked around outside and when I saw that there was no one lurking around the hallway, I opened the door wider and allowed her to come in.
"I'm sorry, I'm just not a morning person." I apologized for my rude outbursts and led her to sit on one of the sofas.
"It's fine, I'm sorry for disturbing your morning." She curtsied before she took her seat on the sofa.
"I'm going to get back to bed while you stay here, in a short while the maids will come to clean up, ask them to stay away from the inner bedroom and tell them to clean all of this up," I advised.
"When you hear the door, pretend like you're just coming from the inner bedroom before you allow them in," I added and looked at her for confirmation.
She looked like she was in a daze and so I tapped my foot impatiently on the floor.
"Yes, yes, your highness." She let out hurriedly.
I nodded and turned back inside to continue sleeping.
"He's so cold today." I heard her mumble from the other side as I plopped on the bed.
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[Megan]
I was so excited to see the Prince again that I got up earlier than I should have and carefully made my way to his room.
I smiled outside the door as I waited for him to open up, I was careful that no person saw me and so I was anxious to get in before anyone walked by and saw me trying to get into his room.
The moment he opened the door, I noticed something different about him. He seemed so different from last night, yet it was the same person before me.
He looked at me and frowned before asking me what I was doing at his door rudely.
My stomach dropped and my heart fell. How could I have thought that yesterday was the beginning of something new and good. He didn't like me, he probably was just being polite last night.
He let me in after I explained what we'd agreed upon last night, he looked at me like he didn't understand what I was saying for a minute and then he looked around to see if anyone was outside, after which he let me in.
He led me to a sofa and after giving me some instructions, he went back to bed.
I was convinced now that he had a kind of split personality, if he wasn't standing right in front of me, I would have said that he was switched during the night.
"He's so cold today," I whispered softly remembering how nice and warm he was with me last night.
What could have caused such a big change overnight?
Had he truly wanted me to spend the night yesterday and was upset that I didn't?
My head started to hurt after much thinking, I didn't understand him at all.
The maids knocked at the door after a while and I pretended like I was coming out of the inner room yawning when I let them in.
They brought me some toiletries and a change of clothes so I used the bathroom and tidied myself up.
I considered waking him up to tell him that I was leaving but I didn't want him to scowl at me again so I let him be.
I wanted to go home and so I came out of his room, I was about to go downstairs when a voice stopped me.
"Good morning, Miss Megan." Sir Thomas greeted me warmly.
At least someone was happy to see me.
"Good morning, Sir Tom." I greeted him warmly back and pecked his cheeks.
"I see you spent the night with him?" He questioned looking at me cautiously.
"Yes, I'm on my way home now, he's still sleeping so I—"
"Home?" He interrupted me. "I'm sorry you can't go home now, the King has invited you and the Prince to breakfast, he also invited your mother, she will be here shortly." He continued.
"Breakfast?" No wonder the maids came to help me get ready. "But the Prince is still sleeping."
"Yes, he always wakes up late, it's mostly my job to wake him up daily, but I was hoping you could help me with that today." He said.
"I'll do that." I pulled my lips into a tight smile and turned to go back in. "We'll join the King shortly." I curtsied even though it was not necessary and he repeated the same awkwardly.
I turned back inside the room and braced myself for a very awkward breakfast.
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[King]
"You're saying you saw her coming out of his room, you're sure they spent the night together," I asked Thomas for the hundredth time.
I wanted to be sure that I heard him right.
"Yes, My king." He replied to me patiently.
"You think I did the right thing?" I hesitated, my voice trembling a bit.
Thomas was the only one allowed to see me in a vulnerable state.
Agreed, my relationship with Luke was not the best but I hoped that he would realize one day that I did everything I did for his own good.
"I don't think it was right for the young unmarried lady to spend the night with a man, she's the only injured party here," Thomas spoke honestly.
It was one reason why I cherished him so much, he was loyal to a fault and he was always honest, he didn't care that I was the King and he would always voice out his opinions whenever I asked for them.
"Her mother supported it." I tried to defend myself.
"Surely you know why, she doesn't want to pass up the opportunity of being the queen's mother," Thomas said dryly.
I never understood it, but he never seemed to like the young girl's mother.
"I just want him to take his life more seriously." I voiced my concerns.
"You give him no credit." Thomas sounded upset.
"Explain."I urged him because I knew that he didn't make that statement lightly.
"The boy has been through a lot, did you stop to think about the memories he's been relieving since he has been back, plus all the pressure you've been putting on him."
"I put no pressure on him that he can't handle and he would have to live with the memories, I can do nothing about that, Camille lives on in our minds." I didn't have much time left to be babying Luke, he had to take his place soon.
Thomas was about to reply when the guard came in and announced Megan's mother's arrival.
It was time for breakfast.