Heartstopper (Part 1)
Masterlist
This is my entry for King Liam appreciation week 2024. @kingliamappreciationweek
@tessa-liam @sazanes @rafasgirl23415
@lizzybeth1986 @kingliam2019
Klaw Day 2
Character Appreciation/Vanilla
Summary:
It's Coronation night and the unthinkable has happened for the new King of Cordonia as the woman of his dreams gets dragged out of the ballroom.
Cast: the usual TRR gang, with Kate Darling as the MC from New York. In this story the King's name is Nicholas instead of Liam.
Author's note:
Prepare yourself for all the angst and heartbreak as the story is told mostly from the young King's perspective.
Rated: M for Mature - Angst, swearing, violence, bodily harm, car chase, fluff
-__-----_👑_-----__-
The crowded ballroom was filled with a cacophony of sound, but Nicholas tuned it all out. At the back of the room, the love of his life, Kate Darling, was being dragged away by his own security guards. Her face was twisted in a look of shock and betrayal as their eyes met. He mouthed a silent, Kate, as the crowd poured into the space where she had once stood. His eyes frantically searched for her, but she was gone.
Next to him on the stage Madeleine stood with a perfectly crafted fake smile on her face. He was still holding her hand, because he had just named her as his choice as Queen. Her name had left a sour taste in his mouth, and he felt queasy. A cold sweat bloomed on his upper lip, and he lifted his other hand to his mouth to wipe it.
"Nicholas?.. Nicholas?..."she said behind her clenched white teeth, "Say something."
She curled her fingernails into his palm to get his attention and he recoiled, dropping her hand.
He raised his hands up in an attempt to appease the uproar of the people as the wave of sound finally enveloped him like a tide. "Please! Please Everyone! If you could direct your attention this way." He raised his voice and the heads started to turn and the crowd began to still.
"Thank-you." He stepped closer to Madeleine and tucked his forearm stiffly behind her back to draw her to him. He looked at Madeleine and then turned back to the crowd and forced a happy smile onto his face.
"Please allow me to present her Royal Highness, Queen Madeleine Amaranth."
The crowd of strangers erupted into applause, their faces beaming with pride for their new King and Queen.
As he held his smile in place, his stepmother Regina walked over to stand at his other side. She grasped his hand, and he squeezed back tightly, making her wince. "Where are they taking her?"
Regina waved to the crowd and then leaned in to answer. "They're sending that insufferable slut back to New York, where she belongs."
"Over my dead body," he grounded back angrily and dropped her hand. He took a step back and with a quick salute to the crowd he slipped through the curtains and then out the door to the balcony.
The warm Mediterranean air smelled much sweeter than all the sweaty heavily perfumed party goers crowded into the ballroom. Not that he didn't wear cologne himself, but he missed the sweet scent of Kate's vanilla perfume most. He took a deep breath and then pulled out his mobile phone. Below the balcony there was a sea of paparazzi photographers and reporters with news cameras and microphones. When they saw him, their shouted appeals for his attention overlapped like squabbling water fowl. He turned away from the camera flashes and the video spotlights to stand in the sliver of shadow next to the building. He tore a small hanging flower pot off the wall and used it to smash out the bulbs of the light sconces by the doors. This gave him a little more darkness and he heaved a deep sigh to calm himself as he dialed Bastien, his head of security.
Bastien picked up on the second ring, "Yes, Sire? How may I be of service?"
The relative calm in the guards voice made Nicholas lose his own. "..be of service?! What the fuck, Bastien? We never agreed to have her dragged out like a criminal."
"I'm sorry, Sir."
"What happened to quietly escorting her out after the gala was over? And where are Drake and the Beaumont Brothers?"
Bastien broke away to talk to someone else briefly and then returned, "As per your Father's request the Beaumonts and Mr. Walker have also been removed and detained..."
Nicholas interrupted, "Detained? But why? They're hardly threats to anyone."
Bastien calmly replied,"I was just doing as I was told, Sir. But as for Mr. Walker, he is no longer in custody."
Nicholas chuckled, "Of course he isn't. Let me guess, he hit you."
"Not me, Sir. But one of the junior cadets now has a sprained wrist and a broken nose."
"Good, tell him he's fired."
Nicholas hung up and then went to the far corner of the balcony to catch a glimpse of the black line up of fleet vehicles by the gate. Only one had it's engine running. He used his phone to take a picture of it, zooming in on the serial number badge on the back window. 725
He dialed Drake, hoping he was nearby.
A few agonizing seconds of dial tone tone later, Drake answered. He sounded slightly winded as if he was running. "Nic?! ..what the fuck? This is not a good time. .. I'm being chased by one of Bastien's minions."
"Hold on.." Nicholas hung up and then sent an angry text to his head of security.
HRH : Tell your god damned attack dog to stand down and let Drake go.
Nicholas looked back toward the gate. He saw a pair of guards forcefully trying to escort a woman in blue toward the waiting SUV. Kate was putting up the fight of her life. Bless her heart.
His heart sank as he saw one of the guards slap her hard across the face. She went limp in the other guard's arms.
Nicholas's phone started ringing. It was Drake. He kept his eyes on the guards as they shoved her bodily into the back of the SUV. He answered the call.
"Talk to me."
Drake was clearly out of breath, he struggled to put his sentence together. "I ..*huff*..gue..guess ..*huff* I lost him."
"Good, where are you?"
Drake was a little more composed as he replied, "I .. I'm heading toward the service ...entrance by the East Courtyard. I can see a crowd of reporters waiting outside."
Nicholas nodded his approval, "Good, that's right below me. I'll distract them so you can get through."
Drake stopped at the door, "Where do you need me to go?"
Nicholas walked back to the right and closer to the balcony railing. "They're trying to send her back to America, Drake. I just saw some guards shove Kate into the back of an SUV."
"Those bastards! Where, what SUV?" Drake spat back angrily.
"Number 725, over by the gate, and hurry I think they're leaving."
"On it. Just get these paps outta my way. Are you giving me permission to use whatever methods I want."
"Affirmative, BFI is now in effect. Good luck."
Nicholas reached the railing, and as predicted, the reporters followed. A flood of flashing camera light and a chorus of demands met him as he casually leaned on the railing. He ignored their questions and struck up a casual conversation with them instead, determined to take their attention off Drake so he could get away.
"Good Evening everyone. Lovely weather we're having tonight for the Coronation..."
Drake pushed the door open and elbowed his way through the crowd. "Excuse me...pardon me...move! ..Hey, look over that way. The King is doing interviews.."
He stomped through the garden bushes on the edge of the courtyard, taking a short cut to the gate. There were four black SUVs parked by the curb, but none of them had drivers. 725 had already left.
Drake presumed that the airport was the destination, but with the extra traffic in the city tonight clogging the roads because of the gala they shouldn't be too far ahead. On the other side of the gateyard civilian and diplomat cars were parked and waiting. A silver sedan had it's engine running and a chauffeur behind the wheel. Bingo
He looked left and right to check for moving vehicles and then cut across the gravel to the sedan. He knocked on the window and the startled driver looked up from his phone. He buzzed the window down. "Uh, Hello? Is the gala over already?"
Drake shook his head, leaning heavily on the door so he could look the driver in the eye. "No, but I need a ride."
The driver looked over at Drake's large hands as they gripped the door frame. He visibly swallowed. "I'm s..sorry Sir, but I'm here for the ambassador." He glanced down at the phone in his lap and then back at Drake. He started tapping out a message.
"Nope, I wasn't asking."
Drake reached in the window and grabbed the guy's phone out of his hands and threw it like a frisbee off into the bushes. "Go fetch."
The driver protested, "Hey!" And then reached for the door handle to open the door. Drake stepped out of his way and then jumped into the driver's seat. He slammed the door shut and locked it, and then threw the shifter into drive.
Gravel sprayed up from the tires as the Audi dug in deep with its four wheel drive. He tugged the seatbelt across and clicked it into place as he shot through the open gate. He glanced to his left and right quickly to check for impending collisions and then cranked the wheel hard to the left and fishtailed into the line of traffic. He wiped the trickle of sweat off his brow and quickly assessed the road ahead. He eased off the gas and slowed down a little, searching for an opening to weave into. A car up ahead signaled and then changed lanes to turn left. He pulled into the left turning lane and then cut sharply to the right to squeeze into the gap. A chorus of honks protested this move and he shrugged, bite me. As the line of traffic rolled up to a red light, he shifted into Park and struggled his way out of his suit jacket. His phone slipped out of his pocket as his coat got turned inside out and tossed on the passenger seat. His phone rang from where it had landed on the floor as the line of traffic moved again. He shook his head nope and shifted back into Drive.
Nicholas held court with the reporters for about five minutes, just long enough to see the silver sedan exit the gate in a hurry. With a smile he waved goodbye to the reporters and then went back inside the Palace.
The gala was in full swing as if he hadn't left. Music was playing and people were dancing. Everyone else mingled and drank his champagne. He didn't feel like partying. He meandered through the throng of dancers and drinkers. Some of them stopped him long enough to shake his hand. He graciously accepted their congratulations and then moved on. He finally made it to the double doors at the back of the ballroom and the security guards held people back as he passed. He nodded his thanks and then headed for the wood paneled "door" beside the suit of armor in the hallway. It looked like any other carved alcove like all the others, but this one led to his own private elevator. He pressed his thumb print on the scanner hidden inside the shiny button. A vibration signaled that his thumb was read correctly and the panel opened. He stepped in and then pushed the arrow up button. The door slid closed and he sagged back against the wall. He hoped that Drake was successful and got to Kate in time.
Drake crept forward with the traffic, whipping out into the left turning lane to leap frog whenever he could. He wasn't sure how effective this method was, but at least it alleviated the tedium of stop and go traffic. He kept scanning the line of traffic up ahead for the telltale high roofline of the royal fleet SUV. So far no such luck. The exit for the airport was coming up soon, about a kilometre away. Hopefully that route wasn't as crowded as this one.
In the backseat of 725, Kate Darling was lying down with her eyes closed. She wasn't asleep, but listening instead to the two guards arguing in the front seat.
"I told you, we should have taken the turn onto Spencer Avenue. We'd be closer to the airport by now," the guard on the right complained.
"And I told you not to smack the girl around. If that hit gets leaked back at the Palace we're screwed."
The guy on the right shrugged, "Who's she gonna tell? She'll be on a flight back to America within the hour."
Kate touched her sore cheek. There was going to be a big bruise there soon, and it was going to speak for itself. The thought of going back home to America made her want to cry. She had left her old life behind four months ago, and didn't want to go back. She felt the SUV swing hard to the left, and held onto the seat to stop herself from tumbling onto the floor. The vehicle sped forward and Kate's stomach lurched with panic. If they had turned onto another road, it most likely meant that the airport wasn't far away. She had to do something.
Drake saw the turn off for the airport coming up on his left, he signaled and went into the left turning lane. After turning left he took the onramp that swung around to cross over the boulevard that he'd just been on. This road had a faster speed limit and the traffic had thinned out considerably. He leaned into the gas pedal and sped up to make it into the flow of traffic. Now he could definitely catch up. He just hoped he wasn't too far behind.
Kate sat up, and the pain in her head throbbed. He had evidently hit her harder than she thought. She caught the driver's gaze in the rearview mirror and he jumped in surprise. "Oh shit, Cinderella is awake." He smiled uneasily.
She narrowed her eyes at him, "Don't call me that. I have a proper name you know."
The guard on the right turned to look back at her, "It's the color of your dress. It reminds him of Cinderella."
Kate looked down at her dress, "Oh right. I'm Kate by the way. And when Nicholas gets a hold of you two, you'll wish you'd never been born."
The driver scoffed, "We're not afraid of him."
Kate quirked her eyebrow and smirked, she pointed to her swollen cheek. "And when Drake sees this and finds out who you are, you're gonna beg for mercy."
The guy on the right scoffed, "Drake who?"
Kate laughed, but then winced in pain, instantly regretting it, "Oh, He's just the King's best friend and my personal bodyguard. And when I say he takes any harm done to me personally I'm not exaggerating."
The guards up front went quiet, and Kate slid over in her seat and buckled up. This was going to hurt, but it was time to put her plan into action. The doors were all locked because they were traveling forward, but she knew that in the event of an accident that the locks would disengage. She crossed one leg over the other and removed her high heeled shoe. The guards up front weren't paying attention to her anymore. She looked out the darkly tinted window and noticed it was starting to rain. It was go time.
"Hey!" She shouted, and got the startled reaction from the driver that she was expecting. He looked over his shoulder at her and in the process jerked the wheel to the right, at the same time she launched her high heel at his face and it lodged into his eye. He screamed in pain and his hands flew up off the steering wheel, "You Bitch!"
Kate braced herself as the car swung wildly from left to right, and then she heard the tires crunch onto the right hand gravel. A split second later the SUV started to roll and she hugged herself and prayed that the airbags would catch her.
