Reign

30. Fight

A strong wave of desperation and distress overran his whole body, as he was pacing up and down to this awful room for more than twenty minutes, completely ignorant about Roselyn’s state. Was she fighting for her life inside the surgery? Or was she dead and they didn’t know how to tell him? If the latter was happening, he couldn’t even appear at the funeral, since the protocol didn’t allow Kings to attend funerals. The knot inside his throat became tighter and he took a large gulp of air to prevent suffocation. The waiting was unbearable and the reality too hard to handle. Roselyn had sacrificed herself to save him.

“Sir,” Hudson voice made him to blink in response. He hadn’t even realized when the assistant came next to him. “Archduke and duchess Gifford are on their way from Boeotia. Their helicopter will land in exactly thirty-six minutes at the rooftop of the hospital. Your father’s just left Clayton palace.”

“I don’t want them here,” he whispered and closed his eyes exhausted.

“This is not possible and you know it,” Hudson tried to advise him, more like a friend and less than his employee. “They are her parents. Everyone else is also informed. Your sister, Mrs. Penny, called and said she is in Milan and she’s willing to come if she’s needed.   Prime minister called twice. The sniper…”

“Not know,” The King protested. “And tell Penny not to say anything to Claire. The child loves Rose. She will get… upset.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the characteristic sound of the automatic doors and Philip appeared with Jade exactly behind him. They were pale and staring at him like ghosts, surprised and terrified at the same time. Philip walked towards him first and tapped him on the arm.

“She’ll be fine mate. She’s strong and she will make it.”

“I don’t know Phil,” he murmured and his expression was revealing a thousand different emotions. “I hope so.”

“I’m really sorry for the things I’ve said the other night. I couldn’t imagine…”

Alexander simply nodded, unwilling to say more. All the previous things that had happened seemed like a distant memory. All that mattered was her and only her. Jade had come closer now and out of the blue touched his stomach, exactly at the spot where his shirt had imbibed the largest quantity of blood. 

“I couldn’t… I couldn’t,” he whispered in deep grievance, like he had to report to Roselyn’s best friend. “I didn’t see it coming. I wouldn’t let her.”

Jade immediately hugged him as tightly as possible and started crying loudly, till her husband took her slowly from the shoulders and helped her sit on the metallic chairs, leaving Alexander standing statuesque in the middle of the room defeated.

The waiting was excruciating. Frowning nurses were coming out of the surgery wing from time to time, revealing nothing and that made them even more tense and nervous. Hudson was in great turmoil, as he had to organize the whole outside world and to support the King, who seemed at the verge of a breakdown.

When a tall lean figure clad in green scrubs appeared in front of the surgery door, everyone jumped and circled him asking the very same question: if Roselyn was alive. The man took of his surgical mask, revealing a confident handsome man in his late thirties.

“Your Majesty, I am Dr. Mineo, Chief Surgeon of the General Hospital,” the Doctor introduced himself, but Alexander remained unaffected. “The Queen is alive. She’s suffering from a penetrating trauma. Luckily, no organs are hurt, only blood vessels and that’s why the intensive bleeding. The intestine isn't hurt and there isn's any peritonitis danger. We proceeded to a thorough CBC and CT scan and we localized the bullet. We stopped the intensive bleeding and after a mandatory laparotomy, we will clean the wounded area.”