Early Morning Heart-to-Heart

Much like her guards at home, Max insisted he walk with Katherine at least until she reached Charles down by the water. She knew better than to argue with him, and let him trail behind her as she made her way out the castle and down the hill to the beach.

Thankfully, she did not have to trek too far down the hill before another guard on a golf cart came to pick her and Max up. He drove them down to the sand, and then Max waited at the spot where the concrete and grass met the sand, while Katherine made her way over to where Charles was now stretching by the water's edge.

She kicked her sandals off and felt the cool sand wiggle in between her toes with each step she took. The smell of salt filled the air, and the sounds of waves crashing made her feel an ease she never felt back at her home.

Charles seemed to be fixated on the sun that was making its way into the sky, so he did not notice Katherine as she approached him.

"Hey," she said when she got close to him.

He quickly turned his head and gave her a small smile when he saw who it was. "You're up earlier than I thought you would be," he said as she got closer.

"I had a bad dream that woke me up," she answered with a shrug. "Why are you up so early?"

"I always run in the morning. It's the one time throughout the entire day that I can just be by myself and enjoy the beach."

"And now I've come down to ruin your alone time," she said with a sad laugh.

"I never mind your company Kit-Kat," he said assuredly as he continued to smile at her.

Katherine watched as Charles wiped sweat from his brow and squinted when the strong sun reached his eyes. His whole tanned body was glistening, and for the first time, she noticed his abs and muscular arms, and how attractive he was.

Suddenly, she felt the need to look away and out at the ocean. She cleared her throat and responded, "Well good, because I wanted to talk to you."

She could feel his eyes on her, but she paused as she was wary about bringing up what happened last night since he had a bad reaction to it the first time.

After a moment to think of how she should approach it, she turned back towards him and said, "I know a lot happened yesterday." She watched as concern washed over his face as she continued, "So, I just wanted to check in to see how you were feeling about all of it. You seemed upset about something."

Charles swallowed hard and ran his hand through his curly hair. He looked down at the sand and said in a soft voice, "I'm sorry if I was short with you, but you're right, I was upset."

Katherine continued to look up at his face, and she patiently waited to see if he would explain. She wanted to know, but she also did not want to push and have him shut down again. "You can talk to me about it, you know. I think at this point you've seen me cry and break down more than anyone else in my life has, so it's not like I'm going to judge you for having emotions as well."

At that, Charles let out a small laugh. "Kit I think we both know that you've judged me before for not being as stoic or emotionless as one would probably expect of a future King."

Katherine immediately felt embarrassed by him knowing that about her; apparently she was not good at hiding her feelings either. "I'm not going to lie and say that I did not think that, but I see now that passion and heart are strengths in a person. You helped me realize that, actually," she sincerely told him.

Emotion filled Charles's eyes and he looked back up at her as a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Thank you for saying that," he said to her.

"So what made you upset?" she directly asked. She could tell that he was more himself today, and that he was not going to shut her down like he had done the night before.

His smile instantly dropped, and he looked back down at the sand. Katherine kept her eyes on him and watched as his face twisted in dismay.

"I don't really know how to talk about it with you," he forced himself to say.

Confusion riddled Katherine's mind and expression, and she started to ask, "What do you me--" before she was interrupted by Max approaching the pair on the sand.

"Pardon the interruption, but breakfast is ready!" he shouted when he was within hearing range of them.

"Can you give us a--" Katherine started to loudly say before she was interrupted again, this time by Charles.

"Thank you, Max," Charles said as he breezed past Katherine and back towards the path to the castle. "Come on, Kit, I'm hungry," he said as he turned his head over his shoulder to look towards her.

Katherine let out a long sigh before she started to take long steps to catch up to Charles. Whatever was bothering him, it was clear to Katherine that he did not trust her enough to open up about it yet.