The king's been gone for almost an hour now. The three of us are out on one of the balconies. William's sitting on the bench with Rose in his arms. Every now and then he tickles her, making her squeal and squirm.

I smile at them for a moment before returning my attention to the book I'm reading about Australia's history.

A knock sounds on the glass doors of the balcony, making me look up from the book. The door slides back and a housemaid brings me my coffee which I asked for.

"Thank you." I say as I lift the cup off the tray that she has balanced on her hand. I remember having to do that numerous times when I was a waitress.

I sigh at the memory and take a sip. Before I can swallow it, William's phone starts to ring.

He balances the phone of his shoulder so that both his arms are free to hold Rose.

"Hey!" He greets whoever's calling.

After listening for a moment or two, he replies and then ends the call.

"I have to go, father needs me." He says, getting up and handing Rose to me.

"Is everything alright?" I ask, looking up at him.

He nods. "Yeah. I need to sign a couple of papers."

"Oh!" I say. "Well, you'd better get going then."

"Yeah." He sighs and then bends down to kiss Rose on the cheek and then giving me a goodbye kiss he leaves.

The moment the doors close after him, Rose starts to cry.

"Aww! Hey! Do you miss daddy already?" I coo, holding her against my shoulder and kissing her head.

She stops crying and then minutes later falls asleep in my arms. I finish my coffee before taking Rose inside. Once I get to my room, I settle her in her crib and then make myself comfortable in an armchair to continue reading the book.

By the time I look up from the book, it's been one whole hour since William left. I fold the page to mark it and then put it on the coffee table before getting up and checking on Rose and then I go into the bathroom to splash some water on my face.

Just as I'm stepping out my phone starts to ring. I pick it up from the bed and check the caller ID. It's William.

"Hi!" I greet him, answering the call.

"Is everything fine at the palace?" He asks and I can hear sirens on his end.

"Yeah. Why? William, is something wrong?" I ask, panicking.

"Thank God." He whispers. "I need you to listen to me, alright."

"Okay." I reply, trembling with fear now.

"There's an escort waiting for you outside, they know where to come. Leave as soon as you can." He explains.

"But what about Rose? Should I bring her too?" I ask him, walking towards her crib.

"No. Leave her at the palace. It's the safest place right now." He says.

A few tears spill out. "William what's going on? I'm scared."

His voice softens at once. "Hey! Listen to me, I need you to calm down, alright? Please for me. I need you right now."

The way he says that makes me panic even more.

"Will?" I whisper into the phone but then I realize that he's ended the call.

I call the only person I can think of right now. She picks up almost at once.

"Hey Cassy!" Anna greets me.

"Anna, where are you?" I ask, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"Umm...In my office. I forgot my jacket. I came to get it before heading home." She replies.

"Meet me in the entrance right now." I tell her, ending the call.

I quickly run into the closet and switch my blue t-shirt for a white silk top. Slipping on my shoes, I lift the sleeping baby out of the crib and put her into her carrier before carrying her down the stairs where I find Anna waiting for me.

"What's going on?" She asks me.

I motion her to follow me into the living room which she does. I set Rose's carrier on a couch.

"Something's happened." I tell her.

"I know. Harrison left to meet William fifteen minutes ago." She tells me.

"Look, I need to go to William. So, I need you to look after her while I'm not here." I explain.

"Of course." She nods.

I tell her everything she needs to know about her food and her sleeping routine. Once I'm done explaining everything, I lean over my sleeping daughter and kiss her lightly on the cheek before leaving the room.

Right in front of the steps is a black land cruiser with blackened windows and instead of just two there are eight escort cars waiting for me. This scares me even more.

Taking a deep breath I get into the back seat of the land cruiser and a guard closes the door after me. We drive out of the gates and towards whatever destination William told me about.

After about fifteen minutes of torture the cars finally slow down and then stop completely. I can't see anything out of the windows which adds to the worry since I can hear commotion outside.

When my door is opened the first thing my eyes and ears register are the hundreds of people gathered. Harrison appears in front of me making me look away from the crowd.

"Come on." He says, motioning with his head.

I jump out of the car but I almost have a heart attack, making me wish I could go back to the palace. We're at the hospital and I don't have any fond memories attached to hospitals.

There are guards, holding back the crowd, clearing a path for me through which Harrison leads me towards the entrance.

The moment we step inside I turn on him. "What's going on?"

"Cassandra!" Helen's voice calls out from behind me.

I turn to her for help next. "Helen, please tell me what's going on?"

Without a single word she takes my arm and marches me towards the elevator is already there with a guard inside. When we step in he presses the close button and we shoot up.

When the doors open the first thing my eyes see is William. But that's not what bothers me. It's the tears in his eyes that do. There are at least a dozen guards lining the walls of the corridor but seeing him in that state I don't care about any of them.

I am thinking this one moment and then the next I've stepped out of the elevator and I'm running towards him. I throw my arms around my neck and bury my face into his shoulder.

I might not know what's wrong. But William's face has told me enough. That something is seriously wrong.

When we pull away after a few minutes, William has his eyes closed. I take his face in my hands.

"Will, look at me." I urge him.

Slowly he opens his eyes and the sorrow and sadness in them hits my heart like a sword being pushed through ice.

"Will." I whisper. "Please talk to me.

But he doesn't say anything. No one says anything until a door opens making William whip around.

There's a doctor standing there, holding a file in his hands.

"Sir, the king's condition is very critical. He's right on the edge." The doctor says.

William sinks down into a chair with his head in his hands. I immediately sit down next to him and place a hand on his arm.

But how am I supposed to comfort him when I have no idea what's going on?!

I look up to find Harrison talking to a guard at the end of the corridor.

I stand up and walk towards him. Stopping a few feet away, I ask. "Now, will you tell me what's going on?!"

He looks at me and then at William before nodding.

"An organization named 'Hell Hounds' set off a bomb at the meeting. William was two minutes away from the building when the bomb went off. There were several other officials injured too but right now the king's our top priority."

I stand there shocked.

They bombed the meeting.

William was supposed to be at that meeting.

But they didn't know that.

If William had been there...

But I don't process anything else, I just turn towards William who's standing some distance behind me. After looking at him for a moment I run to him, throwing my arms around his neck and sobbing into his shoulder.

If there are any grammatical or typing errors then please do ignore them because I just proof read this chapter once.

Two more updates to go! :)

I have a tiny request, if any of you read The Royal & The Housemaid and liked it then can you please go back and vote and comment on the story because it's gaining plenty of reads but I want it to get back into the rankings. It's been out of the rankings for nearly ten days now. So, please do vote if you liked the story and maybe get some friends who might be interested to read it too :)

Anyways, back to this story. Any suggestions for the playlist before the story comes to an end? Please, do let me know if you have any songs in mind! :)

Read, Vote & Comment!

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P.S. I love reading all of your comments! :)