The Lost Princess - A 'Selection' spinoff

CHAPTER 34

As she walked, she felt her feet stamp the suddenly very damp carpet.

It wasn't unusual for paint spills, but this didn't seem like paint - it was a bit too thin.

Besides, it was still wet.

Which would mean that someone must have been painting here a while back.

Aurora frowned and knelt on the ground and touched the carpet with her fingertips.

It was stained red, and was sticky.

And then Aurora noticed the smell.

Blood.

Aurora ducked her head beneath the easel, and saw the King, lying a pool of his own blood.

For a moment, she froze - this was a nightmare.

Definitely a nightmare.

She pinched herself.

No, this was real.

She could see that he was taking deep, rasping breaths - he was still alive, but not conscious.

Aurora screamed at last.

***

Elora in her office, working, with her sister sitting in a nearby couch, signing documents pertaining to her own kingdom.

Vincenzo had left a few hours back, and Elora was surprised that Elena was still here - this was practically the longest she had stayed in Illea after her marriage.

Not that she was complaining.

Elora looked around at her office - sleek, with coordinated wood furniture, modern lights and marble flooring.

It was her thinking space, where she could do most of her thinking alone.

"I think Aurora is adjusting quite well," Elora said, beginning a conversation with her sister.

Elena looked up, a bit serious.

"What is it?" Elora asked.

"Nothing. I've just increased the prices of the goods we trade with Brazil by about seventy percent," she said.

Elora stared at her.

"I won't just be silent after what she told you, Lo. If Ella hadn't made the waiter pour the wine on Olivia, I would've," she said.

"But do the people of Brazil deserve it? I mean, if you increase the prices, Olivia will increase the taxes," Elora pointed out.

Elena waved a hand dismissively. "They're already broke. The people are rebelling. Our spies tell us they're considering asking Edward and you to overthrow their monarchs".

"I've heard that too, but-".

Elora was interrupted by Ella who staggered into the room, her footprints leaving red imprints on the pure white marble floors.

Her face was white, and she seemed afraid.

"What happened?" Elora asked her, but she began shuddering, as though she couldn't breathe.

"What is it?" Elena asked her, shaking her shoulders.

That seemed to snap her out of it.

"The King. We need someone to come immediately," she said

"What happened?" Elora asked, rushing to her daughter.

"There are no guards outside. He needs a doctor, now," she said, pulling them to the painting room across the hall.

Had Edward fainted or something?

Aurora's contrasting expressions of fear and calmness confused Elora.

But she grew afraid as she entered the painting room and smelled the pungent smell of blood.

She and Elena rushed in, and saw Edward lying on the carpet deathly pale. A thick cloth had been tied around his stomach, but it was staining red too quickly.

From the corner of her eye she could see a knife lying nearby, crusted with drying blood.

Elora and Elena would have remained in the same kneeling position if Aurora hadn't screamed at them.

"Come on! We need to get him to the hospital wing!" she said, struggling to carry Edward's legs.

They quickly got to work, and carried him - they all felt detached from their bodies.

Elora could feel fear, she could feel panic, she could even distantly feel her heart thudding furiously.

But to an outsider, it would've seemed like she was normal, yet robotic in her gestures.

She didn't even notice a few guards assembled helping them as they crossed the royal wing.

She ran alongside the makeshift stretcher they had created with sheets from a nearby room.

She realized something - she could see the love of her life bleed out, almost crossing the threshold of death, she could hear her sister sobbing and crying out her name, she could taste the blood in her mouth as she bit her cheek hard.

She simply couldn't feel.