Lucky Charm (Reverse Fairytales Book 2)(40)

“You go in. I’m going to find out what this is all about.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. If there is a threat, let the guards deal with it,” hissed Luca, trying to pull me to the stairway.

“The sirens have gone off over nothing before,” I replied, remembering a couple of times last year when they went off just because there was a demonstration outside the palace. On that occasion, my father had stayed out to find out what was going on. As much as I hated most of what he stood for, I always admired his bravery in times like this and I was damned if I wasn’t going to equal that bravery.

“You don’t know that it’s nothing! Come down, I’ll stay out in your place and let you know.”

“I’m the queen! Let me go.” I pulled my hand from his roughly. He responded by picking me up, putting me over his shoulder, and carrying me down the basement steps. Behind us, the basement door closed.

The others headed past the shelves of antiques to the small living space at the end while Luca finally let me down.

“How dare you!” I hissed, under my breath. “I’m the queen! You’ve completely embarrassed me in front of my family, not to mention the staff.”

“Not to mention Cynder is more like it.”

“What?”

“I didn’t expect you to be spending the whole morning with him.”

“Is that what this is about? You picking me up was your way of showing him that you own me? Some male dominance thing?”

“No. I picked you up because I care about you and don’t want you getting shot or blown up.” He raised his voice. “If you remember, it was only a few days ago that someone tried to assassinate you outside my parents’ castle.”

He didn’t give me time to argue back; he stormed off towards the others who were all watching.

I felt ashamed, but angry at the same time. I needed to get away and find out what was going on, no matter what Luca said.

At the top of the stairs, the guard let me out. I instructed him not to let any of the others follow me. The last thing I needed was Luca pulling me back down the stairs again.

The entrance hall was empty, leaving me unsure of what to do. It hadn’t occurred to me before, but a meeting with the head of the guards was something I should have done a long time ago.

I heard someone barking orders and followed the sound until I found Turner, our current head of the household guards, in the main hall.

“Turner, can you tell me what the siren is going off for?”

“You need to be downstairs Your Majesty. It’s not safe up here for you.”

“You would always speak with my father during an emergency,” I pointed out. “I’m asking you to do the same for me.”

Turner sighed as though I was some stupid little girl, which irritated me further.

“The Magi have turned up outside wanting to be let into the grounds.”

“And?” I waited for him to elaborate. Judging by the rather surprised look on his face, he wasn’t going to. “People are coming onto the grounds to see the show. There are barriers set up. The same ones as yesterday. I don’t understand what the problem is. Has something happened?”

“Your Majesty. We can’t just let them in with the normal people.”

“They are normal people. Do you mean to tell me, that the guards are not letting them in and that the sirens have been set off because of this?”

If I sounded angry, it’s because I was. I was livid. With everything I’d been trying to change, I couldn’t believe that this was happening with my own staff in my own palace.

Ignoring Turner’s protestations, I turned on my heel and headed for the main doors. The walk down the long driveway scared me. I could hear the crowd shouting which only got louder as I got to the front gates.

Behind them, I could see thousands of people. Some were wearing the purple color of the Magi, many were not. All looked angry.

My plan had been to just open the gates, but there were too many people pushing forward with anger in their voices for it to be safe. Instead, I headed to the stage area. The news crews were still setting up in their own section, but Marybelle was on stage, having her make-up retouched by a make-up artist. She seemed quite surprised to see me on stage so early.

“Your Majesty. We don’t go on for half an hour.”

“Where is the sound guy?”

She pointed to a thickset man who was fiddling with a tangle of wires.

I thanked her and walked over to him. He bowed deeply and dropped all the wires on the floor when he saw who it was who had come to speak to him.

“Do you have a microphone I could use that will make my voice loud enough for the people on the other side of the gates to hear me?” I enquired.

“I could run you a microphone to the speakers, yes.” He bowed again appearing nervous.

“Please, could you do that for me, right away?” I asked, trying to sound as pleasant as possible.

He nodded his head and ran to the other side of the stage, where he began sifting through another pile of wires. A minute later, he was back with a microphone.

“Just turn it on and talk,” he said showing me the button on the side.

“Thank you. Do you think you could ask someone to project me onto the screens too, please?”

The screens were set up so that the people in the crowd, as well as people watching on their TV’s back home, could see, but they were currently turned off.