Author's Notes: Ok, now that you've read it from Joe's POV and are thinking to yourself, "What the hell is wrong with her?" Here it is. Hope it helps to explain her major 'mood swing'.

Chapter 6

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"Clarisse." Rupert said firmly and Clarisse sigh into the phone.

"Everything was fine this morning, we walked through the gardens and talked about some of his ideas and then I came to my room for lunch and then..."

Flashback

Clarisse noticed that her lunch had not arrived yet when she entered her suite, "Might as well pick out which riding suit I'll wear." She thought and headed through the bedroom towards her closet, but then stopped when she heard the suite door open.

"No! Really?"

"I'm telling you, she was ORDERED to."

"I just never thought that she would let anyone order her, she is the Queen." Clarisse realized that the 2 maids were bringing her lunch, and that they obviously didn't realize she was there yet. She was about to make her presence known when they started to talk again and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"But he's King. Apparently, from what I've heard, he ordered her to basically play hostess to this security guy, but the security guard is the one making the decisions, and she has no say in the matter."

"Really! The Queen taking orders from some security guard, I would have never guessed, I always thought she had more power than that."

"Well, obviously you were wrong. I mean, really, didn't you see them this morning? He decided they should go to the gardens, so they went to the gardens, and he wants to ride to see the ground this afternoon, so that's what they're doing. It doesn't take much to see who's actually in charge. Plus I hear that he's going to be her new bodyguard while this security thing is being done, probably keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't do anything he or the King doesn't approve of."

Clarisse was dumbstruck, "is that what everyone thinks? That I'm some child who has no power and needs to be watched?" She thought to herself furiously.

"Ahem," She cleared her throat as she entered the sitting room where the 2 maid were, trying not to let them how angry she really was.

"Your Majesty!" The one maid who had apparently 'heard' these things, almost jumped when she saw Clarisse, "I wasn't aware that you had returned yet." The other maid, Clarisse recognized her as one of the maids that had just been hired this past month, was standing frozen to the spot, looking terrified.

"Obviously." Clarisse said shortly, "Take that back to the kitchens, I have no time for lunch." She moved to her side table and picked up some mail that was there, "I have work to do, unlike some other people in this palace it seems." Saying it such a way to show that she is Queen, which demanded respect, and they would do best to remember it if they wanted to keep their jobs.

"Yes, Your Majesty" They curtsied, took the tray and quickly left.

She was furious, confused, angered, hurt...so many emotions she didn't even know how to deal with it. She felt like screaming at the entire staff. How many years had she been Queen, and in how many of those years did anyone ever question her? Never!...that she knew of.

"Oh, God, is this what they've thought of me the whole time and I just haven't realized it?" Clarisse thought and nearly collapsed on the couch. She thought back to her years as Queen, she had always tried to be nice and polite with the staff, never demeaning them or treating them as if they weren't fit to be near her. True, she always did keep them at arms length emotionally, but it wasn't really fitting for a Queen to be friends with her staff, friendly, yes, actual friends, no. Maybe that was the problem, she was to nice. She never criticized any of the staff, if someone had made a mistake they were either corrected by the head of whatever area they were in, or Rupert took care of it. But he had always consulted her about everything. "But they don't know that" a little voice said to her. "All they see is Rupert as King, and you as his wife and mother to the princes."

She had to stop this, she had letters to answer and that afternoon to get ready for. That afternoon...no, she decided that they would go riding, she approved it, if she hadn't they wouldn't be going. She was in charge, not him.

Goodness, did he think that he was in charge? Did he think of her like everyone else did? Well, if he did he's wrong, and she'd just have to prove it to him.

At 1 o'clock one of her ladies maids, Sara, arrived to help her get ready for this afternoon and if she needed anything else. Clarisse noted the change in her maid, slightly on guard, obviously she had heard about what happened with the 2 maids. "Well, news travels fast here doesn't it." Clarisse thought to herself.

Clarisse was dressed and ready when Sara came in to tell her that Joseph was waiting for her in the sitting room and asked if she needed anything else.

"Tell him to wait, I will be out in a minute." Clarisse said, "Your excused, just make sure to have them prepare dinner on time tonight, I have no more time to waist today."

"Yes, your Majesty." She curtsied and left the room quickly.

Clarisse felt slightly guilty for being so strict, but then recalled what the maids were saying about her and quickly the guilt went away.

She checked her appearance once again in the mirror. She sighed, she looked every bit the Queen she was every other day and yet she felt worse than she had ever remembered feeling. She just hoped this afternoon would pass quickly, she was still uneasy about the feeling of ease and calmness she had when she was with Joseph that morning, but she didn't want to be that way now. She had to show him, as well as the rest of the staff, that she was the one in charge, not him. If anyone should feel uncomfortable or question themselves it was him, not her. She does not fall apart, she doesn't 'loose it', everyone else can 'loose it' but she's the one who is supposed to 'find it'.

She put on a stern face, opened her bedroom door and entered the sitting room to see Joseph standing in the middle of the room. She noticed him take a brief glance at her outfit and then stare at her face. When he didn't say anything but continued to stare she said shortly, "Is there anything specific you are staring at?"

"No, your Majesty. Are you ready, ma'am?" He said professionally and she saw him straitened himself up a little.

"Yes," She said firmly and walked passed him, she whispered to herself "Let's get this over with."

She walked regally ahead of him, whenever she passed one of the staff she'd give them a curt 'hello' back when they bowed and greeted her, or even just walked passed them if they just bowed or curtsied to her.

She was pleased to find that the stable hand had the horses ready and quickly mounted her horse, waiting for him to mount his. "Really," She thought to herself, "Can he take any longer?" As soon as he got mounted she raced off, "I have better things to do than to spend the entire afternoon waiting for him." He finally caught up with her and she slowed her horse down to a trot.

"Your Majesty, if you do not wish to ride today we could go back and continue at a more convenient time for you."

"If I did not wish to be here I would not be here." She said firmly, "how dare he think that I'm here because he wanted to ride this afternoon" She thought. "I am Queen, and I decide what I do." She then turned her horse sharply, "The lake is this way and marks the edge of the forest." "He should see the boundaries of the palace grounds, that is the reason for this afternoon ride after all."

She continued to show him the grounds, occasionally snapping at him when he pointed out things that were quite obvious, "Does he not think that I can see that for myself? Of course there are ways for outsiders to get onto the palace grounds through the forest, we've known that for decades, but we do have patrol guards."

Finally they made it back to the stables, where she dismounted and headed quickly out the doors, but then realized that he hadn't been as fast to dismount, so she waited outside the door for him. Despite hating being watched and wanting to get this afternoon over with, she knew Rupert would be upset if she went off without Joseph, or at least someone, to watch her.

When he came out, rather hurriedly, she headed off to her office, she still had work to do. When they reached her office she quickly turned around and faced him, "I'll expect you here at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning to discuss your ideas now that you've seen the grounds. Goodnight." She said simply and entered the office, closing the door behind her.

When she entered her office she released a sigh. "Finally alone" she whispered. Sitting on the couch she took off her riding boots and walked to her desk, picking up some papers. She had a feeling that Joseph's report the next morning would take awhile and she wanted to get as much work as possible done. She was still upset about that afternoon, so she also wanted to reassure herself that she was more important than just being married to the King and mother to the Princes. It was almost midnight before she finished her work and went back to her suite to called Rupert, and by that time she was regretting many of her actions that day.

After finishing telling Rupert what happened that day she sighed into the phone, "I don't know what's wrong with me. A few words from the maids and I'm a complete wreck, it's not like I haven't heard worse from the press, parliament or their wives for that matter."

"But they've never questioned your ability to rule or make decisions." Rupert said comforting, "They know better than that." She smiled as he continued, "And I'm sure Joseph has had experience with people who can be…difficult at times."

"You think I'm difficult?" She asked teasingly.

"Oh, no, you're always a dream. Especially last New Years…" He quipped back

"Alright, alright, that's enough." She stopped him from recapping that disastrous evening. "Thank you." She said quietly.

"Your welcome. Now get some sleep, you must be exhausted."

"Is that an order?"

He laughed, "Only if I wasn't in my right mind. Goodnight, Clarisse."

She smiled, "Goodnight Rupert."

End of Chapter 6

Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll try and get started on the next chapter, but I'm not really sure where this is going, so I can't promise when the next update will be. Let me know what you think, since you guys are the reason I continue writing. THANK YOU!