Page 60 of Royal Guard

“I’ll be right behind you,” he said. And squeezed my hand.

I drew in my breath. God, the temptation to just lean forward and kiss him….

Ten million people are watching on live TV.I gave him a prim little nod and climbed up into the ornate carriage. It was like climbing into a golden jewelry box.

The parade set off. Police motorbikes at the front, two SUVs full of guards, my carriage and then another two SUVs. We crawled along at walking pace through streets lined twenty deep with people, all applauding and cheering.My people.I waved until I felt like my hand was going to drop off.I’m just... me. I don’t deserve this.But feeling that outpouring of love was amazing. I was a mess of emotions: ecstatic and awed and humbled and terrified, all at once.

And then the bomb went off.

It was somewhere off to my left: I saw a flash and then the whole carriage was lifted and tilted to one side. I was sprayed with tiny, hard nuggets of something: they rained down all over me, glinting like jewels. I realized the safety glass in the windows had been blown out. But I was okay. The carriage slammed back down onto its wheels. We were alright—

There was a chorus of terrified whinnys.Oh God, the horses!They were rearing and stamping, terrified. The crowd was in uproar, too, everyone running and screaming, and that was panicking them even more. The driver was frantically trying to calm them. Theparade had stopped and I saw guards scrambling out of the SUVs, guns drawn to protect me.

Then the second bomb went off, this time to my right. The horses reared again—

And bolted.

I was thrown back in my seat as the carriage shot forward. Boxed in by the SUVs, the horses picked the one clear path left to them: sideways into the crowd, through the space that had been cleared by the first bomb. We bounced over curbs and flower beds. They were galloping at full speed and all I could do was hang on.

When I glanced behind me, my heart sank. The convoy was in complete disarray: the guards had all jumped out of the SUVs when we stopped, not expecting the carriage to shoot off. There were too many people running and screaming for them to drive after me and we were moving faster than they could run.

I was on my own.

Ahead, the street was blocked by crowds. It was chaos: people had run to try to escape the explosions, but now the horses were bearing down on them. The carriage was jolting and bouncing as we clipped parked cars. We were going far too fast—

And then the horses slewed to the side. The carriage couldn’t turn that sharply. I felt it tilt—

No!

….and roll. I screamed, desperately trying to cling onto something. There were no safety belts. The windows were gone and I was terrified I was going to be thrown out and crushed beneath the carriage when it landed.

We crashed down on our side, spun and slid andthen grated to a stop.

I lay there panting for a moment, disoriented. Then I got to my knees and gingerly peeked out through the front window. All I could see was legs: thousands of people running past the carriage in blind panic, so many that it kept jerking and rocking as their bodies banged against it. Another explosion shook the street, then another. Each one whipped the people faster. I saw people falling and being trampled.Oh Jesus….

And then I heard gunfire. No more than fifty yards ahead of me, and getting closer.

The assassins. They were coming for me.

I ducked down, wedging myself into a corner. And then I heard someone climbing up the carriage and clambering onto the side that was now the roof. I shrank back, terrified….

Garrett leaned down through the window and stretched out his hand. His cap was gone and his chest was heaving. He must have sprinted flat out to catch up to me. “Take my hand,” he said.

I’ve never been so glad to see anyone in my entire life. I grabbed his hand and he hauled me off my feet andup, up, up—

I gasped as I saw the scene. The carriage was a tiny island in a sea of rushing people. Everyone was surging down this street to get away from the bombs and we were trapped in the middle of it. And I could hear the gunfire coming closer and closer. “We can’t stay here,” said Garrett.

I looked back the way we’d come. The SUVs couldn’t get any closer, not without mowing down the crowds. And the flow of people was too strong for the guards to force their way through on foot.

“Listen,” said Garrett. “I’ll lower you down first—”

“Intothat?”My voice cracked. The crowd was made of normal, rational people, people who’d been cheering me just moments ago. But now they were running for their lives and, with so many of them, the crowd was like a living thing, a surging river that was sucking down and drowning anyone who didn’t keep up.

“I’ll be right behind you,” he told me. “Just stay right beside the carriage. Donotmove.”

I nodded breathlessly. He took my hands, then crouched and lowered me over the edge. People tore past me, inches from knocking into me, but I managed to stay in the lee formed by the wheels. Then my feet hit the ground and I pressed myself up against the underside of the carriage.

“Good! Stay there! I’m coming!” He scrambled to the edge and started to jump down—

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