04. madam eilidh

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𝖆𝖚𝖗𝖔𝖗𝖆 • the grand palace━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

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𝖆𝖚𝖗𝖔𝖗𝖆 • the grand palace
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Aurora and King Ace began to walk in the direction Dawn had gone in, except they took the spiral stairs to the side down to the second floor.

Each step shot faint pain through her side that throbbed and pulsed up her torso, but she made sure to hide it from her father as best he could, who was already leading her with an arm around her in case-according to him-she tripped and/or collapsed.

In all honesty, that possibility was no longer sounding as absurd as it once had at the start.

Ever since the attack, all sorts of what ifs had drilled themselves into her mind, lingering in a dark cloud of paranoia and ready to strike with their bolts of lightning.

"Thank you for going," King Ace said, placing a kiss on her temple then pulling her closer; she nestled into his side, wishing her mother could have been there, too, to complete the family. "In future, though, please make sure you have your guards with you. While Dawn is more than capable of keeping you both safe, I would much prefer it if you still had extra security."

"You're one to talk," she retorted, "wandering around the palace alone after that attack. I at least had Dawn with me. Like you said, that keeps us safe enough. But you? You had no-one, and now we are two vulnerable royals walking alone. This is the very reckless behaviour you are afraid of."

"I have guards posted where even you cannot tell, dear," he said as he steered her right. "We are safe." Though, she wasn't wrong about being alone. She knew they were around somewhere, but out of sight and out of mind, as well as a good distance away to offer them privacy.

"Dawn is going to teach me to defend myself in the courtyard soon," she told him, just so he could prepare. She knew he would need that. "Maybe in a few days or so. I just wanted to make sure you knew so you didn't think I had gone missing." And then she quickly added, "And it is only for a few days. I might not even like it-I am already sure that I will not."

His eyes widened with alarm. "In this state? You cannot be serious," he said. She sighed-that reaction was exactly what she had been expecting. "Aurora, your stitches could open up, or you could get hurt further. You would be out in the open, where anyone would be able to strike-"

"Just because they managed to hurt me in that attack does not mean someone will again. Those people were taken care of, weren't they?"

At least, she hoped so.

Last she heard, the Royal Guard were still searching for whoever it had been and they hadn't gotten anywhere. She didn't mind if nothing happened again.

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