Faint of Heart

05

𝓛𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓡𝓸𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓸

LATE THAT EVENING, WHEN THE RAIN HAD SUBSIDED TO A SIMPLE BORING DRIZZLE

Leone's hands wouldn't stop shaking. Their
sword felt terrible no matter how they held it. Maybe it was nausea finding its way into their hands or something else equally stupid. They sat down, leaning on one of the training dummies.

As Her Majesty's guard, they were to follow her at her whim. That included going to a party for her.

As Her Majesty's favourite, they were to pretend to enjoy it.

This shouldn't be any different yet whenever Leone thought of being alone with the Queen, their guts twisted into knots. "Bleugh." Maybe if someone was there with them, keeping an eye on the Queen, their feeling would subside. Maybe.

"Umm... Romano?" a voice quivered from the entrance of the room.

Great. Another migraine to deal with. They used their sword to pull themself up, looking dull at the guard at the door. They sheathed their weapon. "Yes, Ms. Hao? I thought by this hour you would be eating dinner with the gardener."

"It's already eight?!"

Leone sighed. "Yes, Ms. Hao. It is."

She looked around for a moment. Her black eyes flickered from the mats on the tile floors to the swords, guns and targets leaning against the walls. "I don't see you eating dinner, Romano."

"I don't remember that being of importance to you, Ms. Hao. Now are you going to continue to disturb me or are you going to go out for dinner?" Leone said gruffly, rolling their eyes. Leone didn't ask for her company and they didn't need a reminder on the food they weren't eating.

"Ah yes! Sorry... um," she stuttered out. Her hands went through her hair, down to the bob of lead at the end. A heavy and useless material to use as a hair tie. Alas. "Your friend, um, he needed me to tell you that there is a thief in the palace."

Leone's eyes sharpened and their frown deepened. "A thief?"

A) how

B) Just a thief? A thief would spend their time trying to break in here? Alone?

"That's what he said," Guard Hao trailed off nervously as if saying 'I don't know either okay?'

Leone felt as if their skull had been run over with a migraine and then beaten up several times after. "Alright. Have you contacted my father about this?"

"Well... no. Captain Romano is hard to contact without the proper rank—NOT TO DISRESPECT YOUR FATHER OF COURSE!"

"It's fine," Leone sighed. "I'll inform him soon enough. Till then search any guards deemed suspicious. Oh and question Aloysia as well." That girl was more suspicious than Mr. Loverridge which is a feat of feats.

Guard Hao tilted her head and her eyes squinted. "...the dumb Forsaken guard?"

"I believe she has a name?" Leone snapped subconsciously.

"Yes sorry. I didn't mean—"

"Just get to it, Hao."

Guard Hao struggled a nod, fumbling her hands. "Um, yes Romano sorry." She took another look around as Leone found a place to sit. "Oh and um... Romano?"

Ugh. How many more duties were they going to be bothered with now? "Yes?" They strained.

"Your friend Florin has a spot open at his table you know. I think he'd like an extra guest."

Friend Florin? He has a favour he needs to do for them. That is it. "Guard Hao—" Leone started.

"I'm sorry! It's stupid! I'll get to dinner!" she yelped as she ran out the training room door. One way to avoid a good insulting.

They laid their sword down, staggering to sit back down on the floor. The tile felt cold on their uniform, which didn't help the feeling of spiders crawling through their skin.

Their hands felt sweaty even after they brushed their legs and hair about a thousand times. They couldn't understand why they were suddenly dreading interacting with Katherine. It didn't make them feel like this before.

Well...

Whenever they were with her, their dread seemed to subside. For whatever reason, one look in her eyes and they were nothing. No, their dread was nothing. Maybe they were too? It's hard to tell when everything gets blurry when they're around her.

UGH! They're thinking too much. Maybe Hao was right. A lunch with others, no. But a walk around the castle might clear their head.

Leone walked the hallways slowly. Their eyes gleamed over the walls tiredly. For whatever reason, their hands stayed gripped around their sword. Tense. This walk was doing nothing.

As usual, the palace was quiet. The land vastly outnumbered the people working here, and barely anyone missed lunch. There isn't a need to. Her Majesty is well-liked by her people. The press says that's surprising since she's the youngest Queen to ever be crowned and changes in the line of succession hurt her reputation. Yet that didn't affect Katherine. She was already a precious darling while Odolia was alive.

Whatever though. Like they said, Leone isn't too much into politics.

"Oh? Is that Romano right there?"

Just make Leone eat their sword at this point.

"Florin." Leone turned around slowly. They felt their heart twitch in their ribcage when they saw Aloysia walking with him. They were eating some kind of cookies, maybe? In uniform too, not afraid to soil it. Is that Leone's lost chain around her neck...?

"Heard you needed a favour done, love," Florin cooed, tilting his head and doing that dumb smile. He bowed slightly, the cookie still in his mouth. "How might I serve you?"

𝟫𝟣𝟥 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝒹𝓈