Kingdom of Betrayal

"You've been in here for a while, Your Grace"

I move my eyes away from the pages in the diary to look at Hayden and say "Someone ripped out the last page of the king's diary"

Hayden raises an eyebrow "That's awfully specific. Why not take the whole diary?"

I stand up and stretch, while hiding my smile when I see his eyes move down my body before saying "Probably not to raise much suspicion, but the last page obviously held something valuable that the king wrote"

"Could be" his voice sounds huskier and he clears his throat "I could hear by the workers if they saw anyone coming into the king's bedchambers after his death"

I nod "I would very much appreciate that, Hayden"

"Sir Hayden"

I frown "Pardon me?"

"You always call me 'Hayden'" he points out "It's 'Sir Hayden'. I don't want people thinking the queen has favourites"

I roll my eyes with a small smile "I'm sure the entire kingdom knows who my favourite knight is"

His eyes narrow "Well they shouldn't know, because they could mistake our friendship for something more"

I raise an eyebrow "Are they?"

"Perhaps"

I stare at him for a moment while he looks blankly at me, his face not giving anything away to what he may be thinking but I know deep down he's afraid that people think something is happening between us. And there's consequences for that. Not only will he lose his job but he may be exiled from the kingdom or even hanged, because I'm a queen and he's a knight.

But in my eyes? He's so much more and I care about him deeply, so that's why I say "Of course, Sir Hayden"

I see his shoulders relax a bit and he nods "You're ready to go? The throne needs your attendance"

"What do you mean?"

"There are a few people from the kingdom who made their way up here to complain and because you are sitting the throne for the time being means you need to give them solutions"

"Right yeah, of course" I frown "What if they throw vegetables at me again?"

"Not on my account" he says without hesitation "The first time was a slip up on me and I apologize, my queen. But no one is hurting you while you're in my presence"

And I believe him.

I give him a grateful smile before grabbing Romero's diary and walking out with him behind me.

Always behind me, never next to me.