The Reign

Chapter 31- Celeste's POV

Jacen says, "I would like my parents up here with me, so that we may welcome the new Princess into the Royal family." When his parents walk up, he turns to us, The Final Four, the girls who made it all the way to the end. We are all standing in a line, Amberly, Carlee, me, and Hayley. 

Amberly and Carlee are squeezing each other hands, Hayley is holding one of my hands captive, and Carlee has the other. We are all, for one moment, in this together. In the most nerve wracking moment of the competition, we are all together, holding hands and hoping, and praying. 

Jacen looks at each of us, his face showing nothing. I can see though, in his eyes, that he is as nervous as we are. From the way his hands are shaking, he is so nervous it is noticeable. Then he clears his throat. 

He turns and faces the camera. He takes a few deep breaths. The hands squeezing mine get tighter, and I, giving in, squeeze back. 

I squeeze my eyes shut, and wait to hear the words I've always known were meant for me. It is going to be me. I believe it. I know it. I can feel it. If this were a regular competition, I would win, hands down. But this is not. It is the Prince of Illea choosing who will be his wife for the rest of his life. 

Jacen begins, "The New Princess of Illea is..."

I suck in a huge breath. He pauses, and looks back at us, the Final Four, again. His dad squeezes his hand, his mom tells him something that makes him laugh. 

"The New Princess of Illea is..." He says again. Geez, get on with it already!

Right as he is about to say the name, a scream comes from the crowd. A girl, no more than 10, is pointing at a small box, no larger than a dinner plate, that is smoking. Jacen yells out, "Everybody, get down!" Everyone ducks, and the girls and I bend down and cover our heads. The royal family does too, and withing seconds, the thing explodes. 

And not just a small explosion, but a huge, loud, smoky explosion. And when the one went off, it seemed like more went off, but we only saw one. Then, through the smoke, I see a few others, hidden. I see Jacen about to step on one, and I scream out, "JACEN!!!" 

He stops and looks at me, and I yell, "WATCH OUT!!!" He turns and sees it, then runs away quickly. It goes off, causing more screams and a louder boom and a bigger cloud of smoke. The room is pandemonium. Jacen is getting people out, but all of the Selected girls are still in the room. So I stand up, and start telling them to move. Almost all of the girls have gone, when I realize that Carlee and Amberly are still there. 

Then I realize why. Amberly has passed out. She is out cold and Carlee is trying to wake her up. I rush over and help Carlee lift up Amberly. We half carry, half drag Amberly out of the path of fire. Once Amberly and Carlee are good, I turn around and go look for more people that need help. I help a few more people out of the room, before I see one more person. The prince consort. Prince Eikko is curled up by a chair trying to stay out of the way. 

I rush over to him, and help him stand up. I see that there is a small hallway close to the spot he is in, and I help him over to the side. I turn around, and can't see. I walk a few steps, then bump into a chair. I feel the pain in my knee, then try again, moving even more chairs. I can't move, so I feel around, and try to sit down in the chair. But when I miss it, I see the ground coming up to meet me. 

Hey guys! More chapters soon!!