The Lost Princess - A 'Selection' spinoff

CHAPTER 47

"No. No. No!" Elora cried, shaking her daughter. "You can't die!".

"She's not dead," Prince Nathaniel said, pushing the other Queens away, roughly, and kneeling near Aurora. 

His long dirty blonde hair covered his face from the view, and he removed his jacket and tie away.

He placed his hand on her wrist and said, "There's a strong pulse. She's just unconscious. And stop shaking her. We don't want the bullet to burst and shift into a major artery".

Elora immediately stopped, and despite not liking the boy's tone, knew that it was exactly what she needed at that point.

"Where are the stretchers and doctors?" she shouted at a nearby guard.

"Elora. I doubt they've reached the hospital wing yet. The hospital wing isn't near to the ballroom," Mei said, anxiously.

Nathaniel stood up, and ran to the food counter.

"Wrong time to eat," Johanna grumbled.

Elora just couldn't believe her daughter - how had she seen the assassin before any of them had? And why on earth did she have to come in the way to save them?

She's saved lives, Elora knew. 

But she couldn't bear the thought of her daughter being in pain, just to save others.

And even when she lay bleeding, she was thinking about other people - of the children who would've been horrified and traumatized after witnessing what had happened, of the prosperity of the Ten kingdoms and what would've happened if the people believed four of the Queens were dead.

"I was wrong," Mei said. "This girl doesn't need any more training. She will be a great Queen".

"Really? You're telling this now?" Elora said, half screaming.

"Elora," Stella said, warningly.

Elora kept her mouth shut. 

Blood oozed out of her daughter's wound.

"I want every damn security camera footage to be combed over. I don't care, but I want to know how the assassin came in, and from where he came from. I want to know every servant or soldier this man contacted," Elora said, her voice cold.

The guards nearby nodded, and saluted before the jogged away.

"And get me Lucian. How on earth did an assassin manage to slip in despite the heavy guards?" Elora asked in the same tone, instructing other soldiers to find her nephew.

"Someone get  Elena," she heard Stella whisper, obviously worried that she may be having a nervous breakdown.

"She called me 'mum' right? I wasn't imagining it, was I?" she asked slowly, as though in a trance.

Mei gave one of her rare smiles. "Yes. Yes she did".

"Your Majesty," Andrea said, nudging her way near Elora, and showing her a screen.

"It says we're dead?" Elora asked, scanning through the text. "When was this released?".

"Before the Princess saved you," she said.

"It was planned," Stella whispered. 

"They didn't expect us to survive, though," Johanna said.

"They were taunting Ella, they wanted to see her witness the bloodshed and do nothing about it," Stella said again.

"Not now," Mei said quietly. "We have an audience".

Elora snapped to attention, and noticed the nobles gathered around them.