Chapter 12:
The palace was in an uproar the next morning. The maids were so far behind schelduele that there was no hope in them catching up. His Majesty had waited patiently for things to be done when breakfast was late, but when it came to having things cleaned up and lunch prepared on time, he lost his patience.
"What is going on in this place today!" His Majesty roared down the corridor after waiting half an hour for his lunch.
"I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" he bellowed before storming out of the family dining room and down to his office.
Queen Clarisse and the Prince's just sat quietly, waiting to be served.
Joseph stood over by the door, torn between laughing aloud and feeling extremely guilty. He had not thought this prank would have had such a drastic effect. Aparently they had picked on the wrong group of staff.
He stood in silence, waiting for the Royal family to finish eating and to find out from Her Majesty what they were to do for the day. He had been placed in her charge a few weeks prior, so she was now his responsibility. He was to watch over her every day, and follow her round when taking trips both inside and outside the palace.
Joseph was quite glad to get the position. Her Majesty was, in his opinion, the best Royal to be assigned to. She respected all his opinions, even asked for them often. Also, they had developed a good working relationship where Joseph respected the fact that Queen Clarisse enjoyed her privacy. All in all, they had good communication.
"Who helped you this time, Phillippe?" Her Majesty asked suddenly, alerting Joseph to the fact that they had finished eating.
"Pierre did, Mother," Phillippe stated, quite relaxed.
Queen Clarisse raised a surprised eyebrow, looking to Pierre for confirmation.
"Yes, Mother, I did. But Joseph helped us carry it out," Pierre said with a mischievious grin, wanting to share the trouble that they may be in.
"Did he just?" Her Majesty asked, clearly more surprised by this revelation than any of the others as she turned to face Joseph, both eyebrows raised.
Joseph glanced away from her gaze just to catch an amused Carlo's gaze. He was clearly trying to hold back laughter as he shifted uneasily.
Joseph let a smile slip before he even realised it was coming, but quickly disguised it by smoothing down his short beard.
"Pierre, Phillippe, Carlo, you know the drill," Clarisse stated before standing majestically.
She stood in silence, facing away from Joseph as the others filed out of the room.
Joseph stood deathly still as the room grew silent, and Her Majesty stood as if frozen.
Suddenly, the last sound Joseph expected from Her Majesty filled the room.
She was laughing!
"What on earth did they do this time?" Queen Clarisse asked between chuckles.
"They tied all of the maids doors together, Your Majesty. So when they went to emerge this morning, the doors were unable to open. They had to climb out their windows, and by then they were already half an hour behind," Joseph explained, laughing at the mental image this created.
Her Majesty turned to him, disbelief and humour written all over her expression.
"They climbed out the window?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Joseph replied, looking her dead in the eye and smiling broadly.
"And did you really help them? Did you really help my boys tie all those doors together?" Her Majesty asked, her expression daring him to deny it.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I am afraid I did."
"Well this one is definitely the icing on the cake. Rupert can only take so much of his sons' antics and by you helping..." She just shook her head, laughing again.
Carlo entered the room again at this point, and took his place opposite Joseph, just to the left and behind Her Majesty.
"You surprise me, Joseph, you really do. I always thought you were the serious one. You always took your job seriously," Queen Clarisse stated, standing casually.
Carlo couldn't help but snort aloud at this comment.
"Do you have something to share, Carlo? Do enlighten me," Her Majesty asked seriously, but her twinkling eyes betrayed her act.
"Only that Joseph was always the prankster, more than you can imagine," Carlo smirked over at his friend.
"No where near as much as you ever were!" Joseph retorted before thinking, feeling so comfortable in Her Majesties presence that he often forgot whom he was addressing.
"Now, now gentlemen. Perhaps you could explain yourselves and make this clear to me?" Her Majesty commanded, whilst chuckling quietly again.
She looked to Joseph to explain.
"Carlo and I have been good friends since our childhood, Your Majesty. We were both very good pranksters in our time if I do say so myself. But Carlo was always the one to do all the planning. I just made sure they weren't too dangerous or harmful," he explained, his eyes twinkling with the memories.
"Always the security man were you? I guess nothing ever went wrong then?" Queen Clarisse asked, enjoying the thought that Joseph was quite the mischief maker in his time.
Joseph just nodded, not wanting to delve into the painful memory of their greatest mistake. Carlo also fell silent, but Joseph could tell he had still not dealt with it as his jaw clenched.
"Please excuse me, Your Majesty," Carlo bowed stiffly before leaving the room.
"I'm sorry, did I uncover something painful?" Queen Clarisse asked quietly, although very perceptively.
"I'm afraid you did, Your Majesty," Joseph replied, his expression filled with concern as he stared at where his friend had just left.
"I apologise, I will not ask you to share it," Her Majesty spoke compassionately.
"No, it is all right, Your Majesty, I don't mind," Joseph reassured her, looking up to catch her gaze.
He was surprised by the sincerity of her look.
"There were three of us. Carlo, myself, and our friend Diego. We all carried out the pranks together, on anyone we could. Diego was the instigator, Carlo the planner, and I was our security.
"But one night, it all went wrong. Diego decided to put his own ring to the prank, and it backfired. He was killed that night, by his own explosives and Carlo and I were the ones to find him," Joseph explained, falling silent from the horrible memory it produced.
"I am so very sorry," Her Majesty offered her condolences, realising how this would effect someone for the rest of their life.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I have delt with it though, so I am able to talk about it freely. However it appears Carlo has not. He is always avoiding any mention of Diego," Joseph replied quietly and sadly, showing the concern he had for his friend.
"Somehow I feel he may want to talk about it now, or if not, then at least he should," Queen Clarisse said, indicating Joseph follow his friend.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, I will come to your office when I am finished," Joseph bowed gratefully, before turning swiftly to the door.
"Take all the time you need," Joseph heard Her Majesty say from behind him as he left the room.
He strode down the corridor in search of his friend, ready to battle the demons of the past. Joseph was ready to be the light that was needed for his friend. He was ready to guide Carlo to forgiveness of self.
A.N: Please leave me a review to let me know how it was! I found both those chapters extremely difficult to write (serious writers block!) so could you please tell me at least one thing you loved about it? Or hated, either one...Thanks!
Annette-Rose.