Its before noon the next day, when Yaser and his wife are disturbed from their tea break with loud banging on the door. Yaser is the one to answer it, but King Des pushes him out of the way and barges in with Kimball and Baldoc close behind. Baldoc has an ax.
"Where is Prince Harry?" He roars.
Yaser scrambles to bow before him, and then he stands. "He went up with Zayn to the third floor of the tower last night. He hasn't come down yet, King."
He turns the corner in one swift movement and up the stone steps he goes, his suede robe dragging behind him. "Baldoc, break this door down immediately." he commands.
He follows as ordered and he swings the ax through the wood. Baldoc is very strong and because he's skilled from having been trained on how to use an ax, it only takes four good swings to demolish it and kick it in.
Harry and Zayn sit up, obviously awaken from sleep, and Zayn pulls the covers up to his neck. Harry can feel him trembling with fear.
"Father..."
"How dare you?!" King Des shouts. "How dare you disobey me?! I have given you everything, but you are nothing more than ungrateful! Get away from him now!"
"You cannot control me. I won't let you."
"You think this is all about control? Is that it? No, this is about law! And you've broken so many of them. I swear if you were not my son, by now I would've-"
"Would've what?" he challenges.
The King really wants to tell him how he feels. Instead, he refrains and only stares at him angrily. "Kimball. Seize this boy now. Take him up to one of the holding cells and get him ready for execution. Alert everyone in the kingdom immediately upon your return."
"Wait!" Harry objects. He tries to hold onto Zayn, but Kimball is just as strong as Baldoc and he snatches Zayn with ease from underneath the quilt. Zayn is crying and screaming, even calling out for Harry. "Harry! Help me! They're going to kill me!"
"Don't worry, love!"
"Harry! Please!"
"Its Prince Harry, to you!" Des scolds. "And Harry, he is not your love. Your 'love' will be your future wife. Kimball take him now! Get him out of my sight."
"Yes Sire." he says pulling the boy away.
Harry still sits in the bed, afraid to move as of yet. He listens as Zayn's parents cause clamor downstairs. He knows they are crying hysterically. But he also knows they are overwhelmed with not having the power to stop them. He hates to imagine their faces as they see him being taken away naked. Horrible. "You could have at least let him get dressed." he scowls.
"He wasn't worried about clothing when he was just sleeping in bed with you and breaking the law. So he isn't worthy of clothing now. He deserves all humiliation from now until his death. And you son... You need to get dressed. Because after he dies, you will have no reason not to choose a wife anymore. If you delay longer than 24 hours, I will choose one for you and you will be married to her in two days."
"Father..."
"Do not speak! Get dressed Harry and get back to the palace so you can get cleaned up and into your military coat. You know the Prince must be present for every execution. And I expect you to be there without any complaint."
"You know what, father?"
"No, this ends now. No more of your silly shenanigans. I will not tolerate-"
"-I'm sorry." he interjects.
There is a silence.
"What did you just say?"
"I'm sorry... And you were right." He holds his head down and looks at his hands. "You were right about everything. I tried to make it seem as though you were the one holding me from the things I wanted but I was the one who was wrong all along."
The King looks down at him a little confused, still not understanding how he's all of a sudden realized this. "What?"
"I should have never gotten involved with him. I should have listened to you. I'm sure that what we had was based on lust anyway and I was foolish to think it was anything but that. I was wrong to disobey you at first. But now I think I'm ready to be married. I trust your judgment in that I will fair better."
"Oh...well...yes, yes you will." he says with a wide smile. "I'm glad you have finally listened to me. But that will not change a thing. Zayn will still be executed. He committed two heinous crimes. And he must face the death penalty as a consequence."
"I know." Harry says. "I understand and I won't try to stop you. I will be in my garb and back inside the palace gates before noon. Do not start anything without me. Not even the preamble."
"I will certainly grant that request. You can be sure of it." He smiles even bigger than before, then speaks proudly. "Well done, my son. Welcome back."
He turns on his heels with Baldoc following behind him and Harry curses under his breath. He's got to hurry up and get back to the palace before noon so he can get cleaned up and look presentable. Today is shaping up to be a day the Kingdom will never forget.
He hasn't even dressed all the way when Zayn's parents come barreling up the steps.
When they see him, they try turning away and covering their eyes. But he stops them. "No, no. It's okay. I'm not naked."
They remove their hands and he sees that Patricia's eyes are red and swollen and it's a good indication that she'd been crying since last night when she was worried over Zayn. He feels sorry for her too though, because of course it didn't really help her at all, that they came and snatched her son away before she even found out what was wrong.
"Where are they taking him? Why was he naked?" Then she gasps. "You were naked too, weren't you? What's going on?" She looks at the Prince curiously.
"Well I... I..." he stutters, buttoning up the white shirt and leaving a few at the top open. Then he walks over to them and touches her shoulder consolingly. "I should be honest with you. He's being taken away because he's broken a serious law. Zayn and I together have. So now he's being taken to the middle of the city to be executed."
"What? Executed?" she asks. "Why? What law did he break that merits death?"
Harry doesn't come out and say it, but his next words give them both all they need to know. "I love your son, he loves me and we love each other with everything we have. It may be forbidden, but they cannot stop us from loving or expressing our love to each other. It may look grim now, but I promise you I'm going to make it my mission to take care of it and fix it. And I will."
Her mouth falls and her eyebrows cave. Yaser is actually angry. "You and my son have been in a romantic relationship all this time?!" he says pushing Harry with two hands. The Prince stumbles backwards and falls to the floor.
"Yaser, please..." His wife says grabbing him so he cannot go at him any further, even though he wants to.
"You came to our home bringing your royal treats and all along, you and my son have been breaking the law?! What kind of consultant did you think he was?! A prostitute?! I should have known. You didn't do it because you thought he was smart. People of your rank and position don't come near those like us for things like that. You just needed someone who'd stay quiet, while giving you somewhere to stick your-"
"Yaser! You stop it! That's Prince Harry you are talking to!"
"What is he gonna do? kill me? Then let him do it! He is the cause of our son's life being taken away. Why not be the cause of another?"
"Please listen to me." Harry pleads, although he completely understands his anger. He struggles to get to his feet. "I have a plan to get my father to change his mind. But I need you both to cooperate. I know it will work."
"No, I won't do that. You're the last person I want to cooperate with."
"Yes you will!" Patricia yells and she pokes his chest hard. "He clearly loves our son and will do anything to keep him alive. If you don't cooperate with him, then you are no better than the men who want to kill Zayn. Now, do you really want to live with that hanging over your head?"
Yaser pauses for a moment because he knows she's right. And he doesn't want to hinder any way his son-only child can be saved. "Alright. Fine. What is your plan?"
Harry grabs his sash, pulls it over his head and underneath his right arm. "You two must ride down to the middle of the city as quick as you can. Do not procrastinate as I want you front and center. Everything will go into effect a short time after the introduction to Zayn's execution begins. So don't be anxious for anything to transpire right away. Just be patient and trust me. Zayn will not die today."
Patricia smiles and clasps her hands together in a grateful way. There are tears in her eyes. "I believe you. I do."
"Thank you." he says kissing one of her cheeks and he bows before Yaser. "I'm off. I shall see you later."
"Be careful, Prince Harry."
With that, he scurries down the stairs, out of the open door and onto his horse. "Come on Winter! Back to the palace!" She neighs loudly, standing on her hind legs. And when he yanks her rein, she dashes away from the tower.
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