Charlotte pondered nervously, viciously chewing at her bottom lip as she sat in her office, the sun was just rising over the grounds and it could be no later than 4am. She clicked her pen, twirling it in her hand as she mulled her options over. She knew of their relationship, she knew that they were more than close yet; she had never had solid evidence to conclude such notions. She sighed loudly and chewed aggressively on her bottom lip again, how could she possibly, nonchalantly announce to the Queen that her best friend and rumoured lover was in a critical condition? Even in her own head, without being voiced it sounded ludicrous.

She leaned forward and rested her head on the cool wood of the desk, outside of her office she could hear the secretive shuffles of people who had heard what had happened and had set about sorting things. No doubt she would be ordered to control the mayhem that would ensue from such a catastrophe. And it was exactly that, a catastrophe. How was this place going to function without him, how would Charlotte deal without Joe? How would the queen?

She was already in a foul mood; she had yet to even greet the Princess, who seemed in utter bewilderment as to why. And of course, it wasn't top-secret that obviously she and Joseph had words previously, countless people had seen him storming to his car and now, he was near dead. She shook her head and lifted it from the desk, what a catastrophe indeed. She knew of course, she had drawn the short straw in the palace; she was forever embroiled in the on going fight between the two. She had witnessed their most violent arguments, the viciousness of the queen, the almost violent temper that Joseph possessed.

She sighed and went to the door, there was no point on dwelling on the pettiness of two adults who denied themselves exactly what they wanted, and she'd had enough of that with her parents. However, she did have things to dwell over. She had to get security sorted out for a start, then deal with normal things before she told the queen. Already, she knew this coming morning, the approaching weeks too, would be no more pleasant than the weeks before.

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Clarisse woke, tangled in the silk sheets of her bead, sweat clinging to her forehead. For blissful seconds, her mind was closed and cleansed until the events of the previous night, never mind the previous year came back to her. She prised her eyes open, which were already threatening to tear and resolutely sat up, rubbing her forehead with a hand. The maids had been in; she could see and had left breakfast on the table. She felt somewhat embarrassed; they had cleaned up the broken vase and flowers and no doubt had cleaned up the mess on the bathroom floor also. She looked at the clock and realised that it was later than normal for her to rise and immediately, panic rose within her. Always so much to do and never enough time to do it in. She groggily lifted herself up, feeling exceedingly weak as she did. She showered, dressed applied her makeup and was ready an hour later - she didn't eat the breakfast. In her head she made a list of the thousand of things she was intending to do, firstly, was to see Mia who she had rudely, unkindly and no doubt hurtfully avoided since she'd arrived yesterday. Then, no matter how much she didn't want to, she had to talk with him about security arrangements. Then, everything else had to be done.

She sighed at her reflection in the mirror. She was getting old and it did not sit well with her. The lines around her eyes were noticeable so much more and she frowned, which was interesting because they were far more prominent. She huffed slightly and turned from her mirror.

She walked briskly out of the suite, straightening up and gathering dignity as she swept out the door.

She noticed, as she proceeded along the corridor that the palace was eerily empty. No one was humming to themselves while cleaning the overly polished marble floors, in fact there was no one working at all. Again, that horrible sense of unease returned to her and crawled over her skin. She tried to shake it away and continued down the silent corridor.

When she entered her office, only Charlotte was there which was unusual for a Monday morning. Usually half of the parliament and staff were there with the silliest problems or questions. But only charlotte sat in the chair next to the desk and for all of that, she was looking terribly pensive. Clarisse noticed but in all honesty had no time or energy to inquire as to what made Charlotte look so terrible. However, Clarisse had barely closed the door when Charlotte stood up and addressed her, her voice urgent.

"Charlotte?" Clarisse was slightly startled and looked at the young woman with a berating frown.

"Your Majesty!" charlotte stuttered slightly "Your Majesty something- last night - Joseph, was in an accident."

Charlotte's shoulders slumped and Clarisse let out a gasp, feeling considerably faint. She had to grab onto the back of the nearest chair for support. Fear filled her body and she wanted to die, in that moment, more than any time in her life. She could hear Charlotte continuing to say things, things that she could not make out because her hearing seemed to be impaired by pain. She had wished him dead and now, she had the most horrific feeling he was dead. She could barely move but somehow she managed to sit herself down and curl over her own body, hanging her head down. She was aware of Charlotte watching her but she couldn't bring herself to look up, she could simply ask what had happened or she could allow herself to float in this limbo. She finally, after what seemed like an eternity lifted her head, the tears trickling down her cheeks and looked at Charlotte. Charlotte was chewing nervously at her lip, her eyes drowsy and tired looking.

"Is he dead?", Clarisse blurted it out before she could compose herself and it formed as a whimper when it emerged.

Charlotte shook her head and again, Clarisse sagged into the chair, tears flooding her.

"Leave, me", she whispered, not taking her eyes from her lap, "Please Charlotte".

Charlotte nodded slightly, studying the Queen for one last time before she quickly made her way out of the office, feeling slightly relieved, after all the hardest part was over and in her mind, she'd got off lightly.

Clarisse could not control the tears flowing down her face, painful sobs shook her body and she felt uncomfortably breathless. She was relieved, if not terribly guilty, she was relieved. He was not dead, though she did not know what condition he was in. because she had not allowed Charlotte time to explain. Oh, poor Charlotte! How cruel she had been to her, the young girl had looked terribly unwell and Clarisse hadn't cared at all, how unlike this she was. Usually, she would have felt the utmost concern.

She shook her head and stood up, brushing creases from the front of her dress. She was so confused, what should she do now? She didn't have the energy to work, or see Mia. She stood in front of her desk, fingering the bundles of papers absently and decided what she would do, though she didn't know how to escape the palace without security.