Savior of the Realms

Chapter 5

The next few days passed quietly, and between tutoring sessions and my meetings with Prince Venustus, I didn't have a lot of time to ponder the study room incident.

I was walking down the hallway, heading over to my room from the garden when the Prince, accompanied by his guards, intercepted me.

I curtsied while saying: "Heading to the garden, your Highness?"

"Where else would I be going?" He smiled.

"With your obsession with nature, I'd have deemed it surprising that you left at all," I teased him.

With every meeting with the prince, I felt like our friendship was growing, all the while lacking any romantic feelings. I can't decide if this is good or bad.

"Well, you must leave that library place and get some s—"

BOOM

The floor rattled with the intensity of the blow, making us all stagger. In the distance, I could hear guards shouting, and maids crying out. Another bang sounded, and I tried to run towards the throne room where mom probably is. But Venustus grabbed my arm. Before I could react, the Captain of the Royal guard was running towards us.

"Quick, to the tunnels!" he bellowed, while more guards appeared in the hallway.

"Stay with Clark and Smith," he said, pointing at the approaching guards.

We didn't hesitate to obey, so we ran toward the throne room. Guards were clustered at the door.

Entering, I heard the Captain ask a guard: "Did you get the queen?"

"Yes sir, but she's injured."

My heart stopped for a second, and everything blurred with my surroundings. I could only hear my heartbeat while racing to enter the tunnel which was open at the back of the room. I've never been that scared in my life. And Tom, I didn't see him all day; hopefully he's okay.

I entered the tunnel first, followed by Venustus and his guards. It was a wide tunnel, lit by candles on the walls, that led to a room in the heart of the palace. I walked and walked, constantly hearing muffled voices and sounds that must've come from behind. I felt nausea rising in my stomach, and I ignored it, trying to press forward. One step. Another step. The silence was so pressing that I couldn't breathe anymore when I finally took a turn and descended stairs into a small, rectangular room.

My eyes quickly flew to my mom, sleeping on a small bed with a bunch of royal healers attending to her wound. Tom sat on a chair a few feet from the bed.

"Mom." I ran there and put my hands on both her cheeks. I didn't stop the tears from falling.

She took my hands and said, "I'm fine dear, and the healers are almost done."

One of the healers shifted and I glimpsed my mom's left forearm. I saw a long, shallow slash that extended from her upper forearm to a few inches below the elbow before one of the healers started bandaging it.

"Mom, what's going on," I asked anxiously.

She sighed heavily. "It seems someone is attacking the palace, even though we saw no sign of outsiders. We barely had enough time to leave before the throne room collapsed. No one knows how they managed to get inside the palace walls. We don't know who they are or what they want."