A Princess Named Harry: Book 2

Chapter 2

The next day, everyone was busy packing and preparing to leave. The king and queen were both busy making the arrangements to leave, Kahil was trying to get as much practice in with the knights as he could, Kaitlyn sat and observed her maids pack her stuff for her, and Harry was busy choosing what outfits to bring with her while Varian watched.

She had a ton of dresses laid out on her bed. "Hm, what should I bring?" she asked. She turned to him. "We're going to be spending a whole month in another kingdom."

It all felt exciting to her, but to Varian, it felt like he was being sent away again.

"The Taram Kingdom," she muttered. "I think that's where Gram is from." She smiled at Varian. "I'm glad you're going with me!"

He gave a small nod and moved over to be closer to her. "Are you taking all of these?" he asked motioning to the dresses.

"And some accessories too," Harry added. She stared at them. "I don't know about taking all of them, though."

"Why not?" asked Varian. "You're going to be there for a whole month anyway." Varian picked up one of her lacey dresses. "Most noble girls would need more than this." He laughed grimly, "You can bet that princess will."

Harry ignored Varian's insult towards the first princess; she usually ignored any comments about her.

"Don't you also need to pack?" she asked.

"I already finished."

"So soon?" she asked surprised.

"Well, I don't have a lot of stuff."

"Oh."

Harry wondered if she would have to take Varian out to buy some much-needed accessories.

"I'll just take them all."

There was a sudden knock on her door.

"You may enter," Harry called loudly.

Much to her surprise, the two who entered were Ruby and Melody. She hadn't seen much of either of them since Paula had been the one chosen to become her personal maid.

"Hello, Princess," said Ruby politely.

Melody looked at Harry, then at her messy bed, and gasped, "Ah, see?! I told you!" She gave an angry look at Ruby. "She's doing it all on her own!" She darted towards Harry. "Has a year taught you nothing?! At least the first princess has some dignity to let the maids do this kind of stuff for her!"

Varian gave a low laugh; it made everyone look at him. "What's so great about someone who can't do anything for herself?" He'd asked with a smug look on his face.

Harry wanted to respond to him, but she didn't feel a need to. She was relieved by his words. He hadn't liked her independence before, but now he was okay with it.

Harry looked at her maids and then back at Varian. She sighed and decided to respond to him after all. "Thank you, Varian." He gave her a warm smile back. "No problem, Harry."

Melody gasped as if someone had dared to do the most unthinkable thing in front of her. She pointed her shaky finger at him and stuttered, "Y-you . . . that's another thing! You're just another servant in this palace, yet you dare call Her Highness so disrespectfully?!"

Harry could see how this would upset people, but truthfully, she didn't care. Besides, she knew Varian had done it on purpose.

"Well, if you want to help me, I do need some extra suitcases."

Melody looked over at Harry with an exasperated expression. First, she was upset that Harry didn't want help, but now she was mad that Harry did want help. There was no pleasing this woman.

"I'll go get some, Princess," said an uncomfortable Ruby.

Melody turned to Ruby looking ready to fight, but Ruby ignored her. She swiftly left, and Melody turned back to the two, now looking defeated. They could hear her mutter something rude under her breath, but they didn't engage with her and went back to picking dresses on Harry's bed. She picked up a blue and black one and held it close to her chest. "What about this one?" she asked. Before Varian could answer, Melody, shouted at Harry and ran over to her.

"For goodness sake!" She ripped the dress out of Harry's hands and picked up a gold satin dress instead. "This is in right now." Melody may not be the best person, but she did always know about everything that was trending in the nobles' fashion.

After eyeing Harry's face and the dress, she quickly turned her sight on Varian. "And you!" She let go of the dress, causing Harry to quickly scramble to catch it before it hit the floor.

"It'll do you some good to wear a satin suit to match!" She put her hands all over Varian's face. "And you must do something about this messy hair of yours. Slick it back! Girls do not find this sort of thing attractive!"

Neither Harry nor Varian thought they would look good in what Melody had just described. Somehow, Melody sensed this and aggressively threw her hands up.

"Fine, don't listen to me! You can look like fools, the both of you!"

She hurried to leave, but not before Ruby returned, tugging along two large suitcases.

"I've brought them, Princess," she huffed.

Harry energetically clapped and turned to Varian with a cheerful grin. "Let's finish packing!"

After half a day's work of packing and preparing, the butlers all loaded the luggage into two different carriages. Harry and her mother would ride in one, and the king, Kahil, and Kaitlyn would ride in the other. The knights didn't get the luxury of riding in a carriage; they would have to take horses.

Harry stood outside beside of Varian. She watched everyone hastily preparing for the departure. She'd heard that it would take at least eight hours to reach Taram. Riding in carriages was rough, but riding for eight hours on a horse was even worse.

Harry hesitantly turned to Varian. "Will you be okay?" she asked nervously.

"I'll be fine," he quickly answered.

Harry looked down. "But still . . . eight hours . . . that's . . . "

"I'll be fine; I'm used to these kinds of things."

Harry flinched; she didn't want to hear him say something like that. She wanted to tell him not to push himself too hard, but he was suddenly called away to help load the rest of the luggage into the carriages.

"I've got to go; I'll see you later when we get there." He patted her on the shoulder, and she waved him off. "Bye," she sighed. She watched him join the other servants to help them lift a large suitcase into the carriage. She looked down and sighed again when Kaitlyn suddenly emerged from behind her.

"You're so pathetic," she groaned. Harry quickly turned around to look at her. "Since you're like that, I'll tell you something good." She leaned over to Harry and whispered in her ear, "The crown princess is a monster."

Harry's eyes widened. "What- "

"If you think I'm a bad person, the crown princess is far worse. There's not a single person in Taram who doesn't know this."

She walked away, heading in the direction of the carriages, leaving Harry stunned and speechless.