Elise turned and kissed me on the cheek before stepping out. If I thought it was noisy before, it was nothing compared to the rapturous applause and whistles that Elise’s appearance elicited. The orchestra began to play the wedding march although it had trouble being heard over the crowd.
I stepped forward and breathed deeply. I was marrying a man whom I not only didn’t like, but deep down despised. He stood for everything I hated and yet, the people needed this. They needed to see that the monarchy was still strong. Didn’t they?
The curtains had been placed back after Elise had walked out so I couldn’t see a thing. In just a moment, I was to become someone’s wife. I began to panic and yet feeling the charm bracelet around my wrist was enough to keep me calm. Cynder was with me in spirit, if not in real life. And as the curtains opened to my future, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was somewhere just over the other side of the wall.
The screams of the people elevated, and the orchestra increased their volume once again so I could keep step with the dum dum di dum of the wedding march. It turned out that it was an orchestra after all. I could see them now, to the side of the seated area, playing violins and cellos and all the other instruments that made up a full orchestra. Every seat was full. All the guests, the majority of whom I didn’t know, had made it in time despite the early start. The sun was shining, and my mother had done a magnificent job of organizing everything. If it was anyone else’s wedding, I would have called it perfect. Glancing up at the one screen I could see, I saw a petrified girl staring back. It took me a second to realize that it was me. I was not the brave woman my mother had talked about earlier, but I needed to be. I stood up straight and smiled my widest smile, transforming the scared looking girl on the screen into a happy woman on her wedding day. If I couldn’t be her, I could at least pretend to be, the way I had done for the last few months.
I smiled at everyone, the guests, the cameras, and the priest who would be conducting the ceremony. The only person I didn’t smile at was Xavier. He didn’t deserve my smiles. At the front, I noticed that Luca, Daniel, and Leo were all there. They had been seated together in a prime spot for the cameras. All three beamed at me as I passed. If only things had been different. I would happily have traded Xavier for any of them, but right from the start, the whole thing had been rigged by my father. It didn’t matter who sat in those chairs, I was always going to be walking towards Xavier.
At the front, my father took his seat, and my bouquet was handed to Elise who stood to the side. Xavier took my hand and gave me a sickly smile. As usual, his hand was cold and clammy, and I cringed as I held it. The thought of us producing an heir together someday was enough to make me sick. How had I ever thought him good-looking?
The crowd died down as the priest spoke.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today...”
I zoned out as the reality of my situation finally hit me. Without realizing it, I’d been hoping that something would happen that would stop this moment. First, my proposing to Daniel, then to Luca. Just as late as an hour ago, I was hoping that Cynder would somehow leap over the wall and save me from it. But there was no one left to help me. Daniel was sitting next to Dean, their hands entwined. Leo and Elise were not seated together, but I could almost feel the love radiating between them. It seemed everyone had found their happy-ever-after except me. Actually, there was one person who looked as miserable as I felt. Luca was smiling, but like me, it masked pain. He was hurting. Maybe he really was in love with me. My heart broke a little more at the thought of it. Why had I listened to my father? If I’d have pushed a little harder with Luca, maybe it would have been him standing here instead of Xavier. I didn’t love Luca, but I liked him a lot, and I liked his vision for the future of Silverwood. He was a good man, a man I would be proud to stand beside as his wife, a man I could see making a great leader.
“We are gathered here today to celebrate...”
I wondered what kind of leader Xavier would make. I was honestly surprised he’d managed to turn up in clothes to the wedding, so I wasn’t holding out for much, and yet he’d managed to manipulate the king into marrying his eldest daughter, so I guess I wasn’t giving him the credit he deserved. He was cleverer than he looked, and this terrified me more than the thought of marrying an airhead.
I barely knew the guy at all. Nothing he’d told me in our brief conversations was the truth. I didn’t know who I was marrying at all.
“If anyone can show just cause why this couple cannot lawfully be joined together in matrimony, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”
I held my breath. This is the point where Cynder would jump over the wall or where Luca would stand up and declare his undying love for me. I found that I was hoping for literally anyone to stand up and give the priest a reason, but after a couple of seconds of silence, I realized that there was no one left to speak up. I was up here by myself. There was only one person I could count on to stop this wedding, and that was me.
“Xavier Simon Gallo, do you take Charmaine Elizabeth Mary Annesley to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
“Yes!” Xavier replied impatiently. He couldn’t even be bothered to say I do.
The priest turned to me. I could feel my stomach tying itself in knots.
“And do you, Charmaine Elizabeth Mary Annesley, take Xavier Simon Gallo to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
I held my breath while the world came to a standstill. The once overly exuberant crowd outside had now hushed to complete silence as if the thousands of people were waiting to hear my reply.
“I...”
The seconds dragged out to a minute, and still, I was yet to give an answer. I could feel the eyes of hundreds of thousands of people boring into me and the weight of the decision.
“I...”
“She will,” said Xavier, aware that I was causing a scene.
“She has to answer for herself,” reminded the priest.
“Do you, Charmaine Elizab...”
There was a noise by the gate. One of the guards was shouting and running towards us.
“The Magi...” He toppled forward, and that’s when we all saw the knife in his blood soaked back.
Somewhere, someone screamed. The image that had been on the screen of Xavier and I had panned around to show the toppled guard.
Outside, the rumbles of panic began, and the wedding guests dispersed, running in all directions. The gates that had once been our border to the outside world now had people climbing all over them into the grounds.
I watched in horror as the same could be said for the walls. The grounds were filling from all angles. I could hear the screams of terror from outside the walls, and scarier still, gunshots being fired.
Someone grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowds of people. In the chaos, I was being buffeted around as people crashed into me. I couldn’t tell if they were wedding guests or the Magi. The gunshots were more frequent now, filling the air with a staccato beat, to the chorus of wails and screams.
I was pulled, not towards the house, but to the back part of the garden, but I could see we weren’t safe here either. The Magi had already pulled the back gates down and were swarming through. My savior swerved, pulling me back towards the house. I couldn’t see who it was – I could only see their back, but it was either a wedding guest or someone else in a suit.
I wanted to stop him, to tell him that the Magi were our friends, but, of course, I couldn’t. The Magi were not my friends. Just the handful that I had known knew I’d never hurt them, but how could I expect the rest of them to know that?
I was pulled towards the servant’s entrance. I had thought we would be safe inside, but I could already see people fighting down the long corridor that ran the entire length of the palace. The person holding my hand tried pulling me right, but this time I finally did stop him.
“The safe room is through there,” I said motioning to a door directly in front of us that would take us out to the main h
all.
He turned around to see where I was pointing, and that’s when I saw who had saved me
It was Luca.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Chaos
“Follow me.”
It was my turn to guide him through the maze that was the palace. Screams filled the air, all way too close for comfort. People ran past us in a panic, not knowing which way to go. I didn’t recognize any of them. Bodies littered the floor as the sounds of gunshots whistled past our ears. The way to the main entrance and the safe room below it was blocked, and so we had to run up the nearest flight of stairs to the next floor. From there it was easy enough to run through the empty corridors until we got to the main entrance hall. The doors were open, and people were pouring in. Men in uniform shot bullets almost aimlessly into the throng of people, and there was blood everywhere.
“The safe room entrance is down there.” I pointed down to the doorway, now almost hidden by the sheer number of people in the hallway.
“Is there anywhere else we can hide?” asked Luca, looking along the empty first floor corridors.
“We can go up to the higher floors and hide in one of the rooms,”
“No, there are too many people coming in,” I looked, and he was right. A steady stream of people were pushing their way through the huge front doors. People were already beginning to go up the stairs. Pretty soon, we would be deluged there too.
“What else can we do? The palace is massive. If we go high enough, we can get away,” I said in a panic. Another minute and we were going to be trampled.
“Ok, let’s go,” Luca never let go of my hand as we both ran up the next set of stairs and kept running until we reached the top floor, my parents private quarters.
“This way,” I shouted breathlessly, pointing at a door that would lead to the roof. I could already hear the stampeding feet of hundreds of people following right behind us and the sound of gunshots had not abated as we climbed higher. It felt like a full-scale war was chasing us.
Up one flight of stone stairs and we emerged onto the roof. I’d never been more glad to be wearing sneakers instead of heels. Luca pushed the door closed behind us. Without any way to lock it from the outside, we had to be content with sprinting across the roof and letting the others follow. We were almost to the other side when I looked back and saw a throng of people, also racing for their lives. I could see the panic on their faces. They were not up here to hurt us; they were fleeing just as we were. Gunshots cracked from the gardens below and when I hazarded a peek over the battlements, I could see the true extent of the mess. The whole wedding area including the marquee and the tunnel I’d walked down had been trampled, and thousands of people were still pushing their way into the swollen grounds. The sheer numbers of people astounded me. Not all of them could be Magi. I could see a couple of guards trying fruitlessly to stem the tide, but the people were still coming in.
“Why are they all pushing in?” I asked Luca.
He pointed to a plume of smoke outside the wall, then to another one. The Magi had set fires outside, and the people were coming in here for safety. The problem was, there weren’t enough police in here to make up for the sheer number of people. As I watched, a policeman shot a couple of people trying to climb over the palace walls. The whole thing was a mess.
“Come on, we have to go.” The roof was already beginning to fill with people.
Luca pulled me towards another door at the end of the roof. It led to a spiral staircase that would either take us up to the top of the highest tower or back down to the main part of the palace.
I pulled one way—upwards, as Luca tried pulling me in the opposite direction.
“There’s no one up there,” I cried in panic. The number of people on the roof was swelling, and already, I could hear gun cracks sounding out.
“But there will be soon. We’ll either get crushed or pushed over the edge. We need to go down. The safe room is our only option.”
I had no idea how we were going to manage it, but I followed him down the stairs. We were almost on the ground floor before we saw anyone else. Everyone, it seemed, had used the main stairs and not the servant’s stairway at the back of the palace.
We ran past Jenny’s room and then past Agatha’s old room and down some more stairs until we were back at the main entrance. It was slightly quieter now although bodies littered the floor and the once white marble now shimmered with the blood of the fallen.
I had to step over a number of them until I reached the entrance to the safe room. The guard at the door had been shot, and his body blocked the entrance. Luca barged past me and pushed on the door. It didn’t open.
“Try pulling it!” I cried desperately as a bullet whizzed right past my ear.
Luca had to pull the body of the guard out of the way, but the door still wouldn’t budge.
“We need to put in a code. Do you know it?” he asked. I looked at the keypad. It displayed the numbers 0-9.
“I don’t know. It could be anything.”
“What date did your father ascend to the throne?” asked Luca, keeping much calmer than I felt. A shot rang out and a body hit me as it fell to the floor, smearing my wedding dress with blood and increasing the terror I already felt.
I gave him the date, but it didn’t work. He then tried my mother’s birthday and my father’s. All in all, it took four attempts to get it right. It was Grace’s birthday.
We ran through the door, slamming it shut behind us.
“Hello!” I called out; hoping to hear my mother’s or Elise’s voice, but only silence rang back.
“No one is here,” I cried, trying not to hyperventilate. I could barely breathe from all the running and fear that was coursing through my veins. Somewhere out there were the people I loved, fighting a war I didn’t understand.
“We have to stay by the door. Elise is still out there. The Magi might get her.” I hated to say it. I’d been on their side this whole time, and now they were invading the palace, killing people. The thought made me feel sick.
“It’s not the Magi.”
“Of course, it is. They were demonstrating, and it turned into a riot.”
“Shit!” Luca ran his hand through his hair. “The Magi aren’t here at all. This is my fault. I never knew...”
“What’s going on?” I’d never seen Luca so rattled. “How can it be your fault?”
“I’m so sorry, Charmaine. I never expected this. Really I didn’t.”
I stepped back from him, unsure of what to say.
“Daniel called me last week. He told me everything, how you were being forced to marry Xavier, how Xavier is blackmailing your father. I wondered why I’d been sent home so suddenly. I couldn’t understand it, but when Daniel called, it all made sense. I met up with Daniel, and we got word to Leo too. Between us, we came up with a plan to halt the wedding. We dropped hints that there was going to be a demonstration by the Magi. That’s all, I swear. The truth is, there aren’t enough Magi left in the kingdom to really demonstrate, but we thought it might make them cancel the wedding, or at least postpone it until a later date while we thought of something else.”
“There’s no demonstration?” I asked weakly. “So what happened?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know, but I know magic when I see it, and none was being used here today.”
I was just getting my head around the whole thing when there was a fierce rapping on the door followed by Dean’s voice.
“Open the door, quickly!”
Luca opened the door. Dean ran through it with an injured Daniel in his arms. His right thigh had a plume of red staining his gray suit. Behind them, followed Elise and Leo. Thankfully, they both looked unhurt.”
“Quick, get him over here,” I said to Dean, pointing the way to the seating area. “Luca, can you stay here and listen out for my mother and father?”
“Sure!”
Dean carried Daniel to the sofa and ripped his trousers while I looked for a fi
rst aid kit. I found one quickly, but looking at his leg, it needed more than I could do.
“I’ll clean it up, but you are going to need stitches,” I said to Daniel who nodded.
I did what I could to clean it and wrapped the wound with a bandage. “I think the bullet went through. We’ll get a doctor to see you as soon as we can.”
“Thanks,” said Daniel. “Listen. I have something to tell you.”
“I already know. Luca just told me.”
“We didn’t expect this,” said Leo, butting in.
“What happened?” I asked him “Do you know? I saw people climbing over the walls to attack. If it wasn’t the Magi, who was it?”
Leo shook his head. “People have been lining up for days to be able to see you. By this morning, there were tens of thousands of people out there, all pushing to get closer. The four of us had to get a police escort in. It was madness. People were fainting from the crush. Now I can only speculate, but I think one of the police fired a shot. Maybe it was an accident, maybe he thought he’d seen one of the Magi, but for whatever reason, a shot went off causing panic and a stampede. The people you saw climbing the fences weren’t Magi attacking, they were just normal people trying to get away from the crush. I saw the police firing into the crowd, obviously thinking that the Magi had something to do with this. To my knowledge, there were no Magi out there.”
He put his head in his hands and wept. I’d never seen him look so vulnerable. “I’ll never forgive myself for this.”
Elise pulled him to her and let him weep on her shoulder.
“All you guys did was drop a hint that there might be a demonstration. You didn’t organize one, and you didn’t cause this mess. It would have happened anyway. The police have been in my father’s pocket for years and have been trained to be brutal to the Magi without any thought. If there were too many people out there, it is because it wasn’t planned properly and if someone fired a shot, it was because they were living in fear of what the Magi could do. This is why things need to change. I cannot live in a kingdom where there is so much senseless hate.”
Charm (A Cinderella reverse fairytale) (Reverse Fairytales Book 1) Page 23