Trouble Sleeping

Before he could make it too far without her and leave her behind, Katherine quickly pushed out her chair, picked up her bag, and briskly followed him out of the room.

When she caught up to him, she looked over and saw that his face still held the expressionless mask. She had no idea what had happened, but she knew that something that was said in that room must have made him feel a certain kind of way.

A way that he clearly did not want anyone to know about.

Katherine continued to sideways glance at him as they walked in silence before she finally had enough and asked him, "Is everything alright, Charles?"

"Your room is in the east wing of the castle and mine is in the north wing. It's a bit of a distance, but if you need me just call or text and I can be right over. You also have a guard that has been assigned to you for as long as you're here," Charles said. His face slightly twisted at the tail end of his response, and it made Katherine even more confused.

"Thank you, but--" she started before he cut her off.

"His name is Maximus, but he prefers to go by Max."

"Max. Got it. But Charles, are you--"

"Father likes early morning meetings, so you might want to set an alarm that will get you back to the meeting room by eight," he interrupted again when she tried to ask him what was wrong.

Having had enough of his deflection, Katherine grabbed Charles's arm and pulled him to a stop. Even though they still barely knew each other, Katherine could tell that something was bothering Charles, and despite never having given him much thought her whole life, she was growing to enjoy his friendship and wanted to check in with him.

"Charlie, please," she pleaded with him when she yanked him to stop him from walking further.

At hearing the nickname, a softness filled his eyes as he finally looked down at her once he stopped moving. He sighed and brought his hand up to rub the tension out of his forehead.

"What's going on?" she asked with obvious concern in her voice.

"This isn't how I wanted this to happen," he said with despair. Katherine watched as his eyes hardened again as he looked away from her.

"Me neither. I would have rather we all give up our crowns, but at least with shared resources we hopefully stand a chance against the rebels," Katherine said with a nod.

"That's not," Charles started before he let out a frustrated chuckle. He shook his head and said, "Never mind."

He tried to start walking again, but Katherine tightened her grip on his arm in an attempt to keep him still. "No. What?" she demanded. "What's bothering you so much that you're trying to hide your emotions? With how much I've unloaded on you the last couple of days, I want you to be able to do the same. That's what friends are supposed to do, right?"

Her eyes searched his face for a hint at any emotion, and she realized that anger was starting to peek through.

"It's late and I'm tired. I'm sure you probably are too, so let's go," he said as he pulled away from her to continue forward.

Katherine felt a slight sting at his reaction. Charles had never been short or harsh with her before, and he was typically so patient and kind that she was really thrown off by the turn in him.

"Fine," she said as she followed after him again.

They endured the rest of the walk in silence until they reached the room Katherine would stay in. As expected, the guard named Max was waiting for them, and he bowed before them when they approached him.

After a brief introduction, Charles turned on his heels and left Katherine as he made his way to the north wing of the castle.

Katherine, who was still very much confused by his behavior, watched as Charles walked away and rounded the corner, leaving her with Max.

"Please let me know if you need anything, Your Majesty," Max said, causing Katherine to turn her attention to him instead.

"Yes, thank you," she said before she took one more glance down the hall that was now empty. She went into the room she would occupy for the night and closed the door as she immediately plopped her bag onto the floor.

Katherine kicked her shoes off and dug through her bag to find pajamas and her toiletries bag. After she was washed up and ready for bed, she laid down and stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling.

She was never one to easily fall asleep when she was stressed, and the migraine that she had earlier caused her head to have a continuous throb that lingered. Not only that, but she had gotten used to Jasper sleeping next to her again.

She turned her head and looked at the empty pillow next to her, and she sighed as she ran her hand over the part of the bed that was not occupied. She missed Jasper so much and couldn't wait to get home to him.

While she thought about him, she also thought about how she would now have to tell him that not only was she no longer giving up the throne, but now she would have to marry Charles even sooner than expected.

Even though she told Marcus that she would not talk to anyone apart from him and Charles, knowing that tomorrow she would have to announce her engagement, she knew that she wanted to talk to Jasper first so that he could hear it directly from her, and not from a joint broadcast that all of Titanus would see at the same time.

Her stomach turned at the thought of having that discussion with him, but she knew it had to be done. Her heart already hurt from seeing her mom in the distressed state in that video, but somehow the pain worsened when she thought about talking to Jasper tomorrow.

Knowing that there was nothing else that could be done about either situation with how late it was, she closed her eyes and attempted to rest enough to fall asleep.

After tossing and turning for a while, she finally let the tension go from her body as she relaxed into her sleep state. However, the peacefulness she felt abruptly faded as a nightmare took hold of her.