His heart sank. Opal was far too kind for his world, and sadly, it was her world now too. She had far too kind a soul and kind souls tended to get crushed. But, Henry listened and when she finally turned to look at him, finished gathering up all of the gems, he stood and went to her. He took the tied apron of gems from her hands and set them aside. “I have felt suffocated before. It is a feeling I don't wish on anyone, especially not you.” Henry tried to smile a bit, but was feeling a bit down by the revelation of how this had all been making her feel. “We are going to have to figure this all out because whether either of us like it or not, some day we are going to be the ones ruling.”
There was a sigh and Henry rolled up the star chart, just to put it safely out of the way. “I would rather no one had to follow you, but I think my father would win that fight, so... I'm going to see if I can argue him down to one, and I will see if I can have him allow you choose who that will be. Let you decide who your first at hand shall be.” Henry looked over and sadly shrugged before taking the rolled paper and walking it back over to its original home. “If you don't like the current ladies, maybe let you bring someone new in. Though,” and he hated to add this part, “outside of the palace I would really prefer that someone with some skill with a blade be near in case something should happen.” He walked back over to her side and pulled a few things out of the small bag he had then put them back in, as if just checking their location.
“Not because I care about your gift, I would have the fairy remove it if I could, but I don't wish harm to come to you.” Only then did a soft smile reform on his face as he plucked a few of the flowers that had fallen from earlier up and pushed them behind her hair.
“As for coming with me sometimes,” Henry pulled up the bag and the wine sack. “Why do you think I agreed to bring you with me tonight?”