"---and that's when we found Kyle, being chased by a bunch of little girls," I narrated blithely and Emma laughed lightly. I told her each and every possible detail I could gather about my time in the small town

I turned around and the maid helped me pull the strings of the dress. It was quite old-fashioned, but matched perfectly for the rally. The material was hard to give me the stiff posture and it was dull, yet it looked elegant. The dress had golden, thin, thread like design branching out in random directions on the bodice while the rest of the dress was a plain, pale cream colour. The necklace I wore added more beauty and glamour to it like it belonged to the gown. Everything was perfect except for the strings. Couldn't Miss Willa put a zipper instead of strings?

"Mia?" Emma called out and I looked at her. Her eyes sparkled in admiration and I smiled amusingly. She lifted her index finger, gesturing me to wait for a second as she reached behind her wheelchair and retrieved a box. Her delicate hands slowly opened it and my eyes widened in awe when I saw my great grandmother's beautiful tiara.

It was made out of white gold and studded with diamonds. I still remembered those childhood days when Emma and I used to linger around our ancestor's large framed pictures and admired the jewellery they wore. It was always our fantasy to be like one of them.

As I grew up, these materials didn't affect me and neither did it affect Emma. We believed to put most part of our wealth for the service of the people. It gave us more joy, rather than wearing it themselves. How much ever I disliked my parents, but one thing I was sure of that they too believed in charity.

However this tiara was something different, it was tempting, it's diamonds glimmering as if inviting us to feel it. It had been passed down till my mother and it was a tradition for the queen to wear it. I never even thought of touching this, let alone wearing it.

"Emma, this isn't right . . . I-I shouldn't be the one wearing this, you should," I said, my forehead creasing in conflict.

"You're the next queen, Mia, you deserve all of this. Besides, mother sent this for you. She wanted you to wear it," she explained and my eyebrows rise high up.

"Really? That's ridiculous. She would never want me--- "

"Mother loves you too. We are both her daughters. She couldn't see any of her daughters get hurt. She still needs to get over the tragedy, she is old and frail."

"But you too wanted to be the next queen, right Emma?" I asked in guilt, my eyes averting at her shoes.

"Yeah, I did, but I don't think I'm capable of this responsibility, however, my younger sister is. Not because I can't walk, but you have better qualities--- " She starting coughing and the maids rushed towards her with a glass of water. I gently patted her back as she still couldn't talk properly. With her right hand, she lifted the crown with great difficulty. I quickly knelt down and she dropped it on my head.

"Are you sure?" I asked dubiously while adjusting the crown. It was quite heavy and had already started giving me a headache.

"It adds to your beauty," Emma said in wonder as she gazed at me and passed me the necklace. I looked into the mirror and took a deep breath. Finally, I was going to meet the people of England. Would they accept me as their queen?

* * *

I was standing on top of a large open bus and it was moving slowly. There were guards and police controlling the massive crowd. The people were cheering and waving the flags enthusiastically. Their gesture of kindness made my heart flutter in hope and joy. I waved back and smiled widely, looking at every possible person I could set my eyes on.

The media was everywhere, noticing my attire and the magnificent tiara sitting proudly on my head. People already expected me as their next queen since my sister was sadly vanished from everybody's minds. All still believed that she was at my grandparents place. Life was unfair because we always looked upon Emma being the queen.

Zen was constantly around me like my own shadow. This gave media little hints and their hopes were high on shipping Zen and me. Dad planned on announcing the engagement in the evening, right after the rally. No delay was supposed to happen this time. I had pleaded and begged dad, but he remained adamant about it.

Zen lightly and teasingly ran his hands over the strings of my dress. I elbowed him harshly while still smiling at the people. Then quickly turned to the next direction, casually stepping away from him without drawing any attention. However, he shamelessly decided to get closer to me and I moved away again.

"Don't you dare do this, Zen. We're being watched by the entire country,"
I hissed and he chuckled, infuriating me further. The nerve of him! I ignored him and continued to wave and smile warmly at thousands of people gathered.

I truly wished Noah was present here instead of Zen. I couldn't convince him because he was mad at me and I had already hurt him a lot.

I spotted a familiar figure in the crowd, pushing forward. The girl was struggling and was gasping for breath as she tried to emerge in the front row. I watched the girl successfully shove people away roughly who threw verbal abuses and dirty looks at her as she made her way to the front.

I strained my eyes and noticed that she was the notorious tomboy back from our small town where I was hidden. Then I remembered her name, it was Georgia, but as a typical tomboy she preferred to be called George.

We didn't have a proper conversation before, but because of her popularity, everybody knew her. She was free spirited, likable, lively and fun to be around with, but what didn't struck to me was why she was here in London?

I smiled brightly towards her and waved at her direction. At first, I thought she was waving the flag, but when I noticed the movement of her hand carefully, it was moving rapidly in the left direction. She stretched her hand as wide as she could and nearly climbed over the guards, screaming certain words that I couldn't comprehend.

I turned my head towards the direction where Georgia was pointing and that was when my heart skipped a beat. I clutched my dress tightly and my breathing became ragged because I saw Ethan, right there, smirking at me. I noticed him late, too late. For the next moment, a sharp pain erupted from my right shoulder. My head was spinning as I yelped in pain. I brought my hand towards my shoulder and saw red, blood. People started screaming and running everywhere, it was absolute mayhem. The guards bolted towards me in alarm and I blinked rapidly.

I realized it much later that I was shot. Just like Jack, Noah, Uncle John, my sister and numerous other guards, I was shot too.

My vision turned obscure and everything went by a blur. From the corner of my eye, I could see Georgia clasping her mouth in shock and she froze, the people brushing past her. There was a loud thud and I could see the tiara rolling towards a corner. I bent down, to reach for it, it was a stupid move, but I couldn't fathom what was happening. My legs wobbled as I shrank and fell forward.

Zen quickly caught me in his arms and crushed me to his chest. He lifted me up as I lay there subconscious. I could feel a drop of water land on my forehead. I looked up, squinting my eyes and saw a tear escaping Zen's stormy grey eyes.

* * *

A/N :

Georgia aka George is the main lead of my next book of the Secrets Hidden Series called 'Saving Brownie.' However guys, I haven't explained in that book how she suddenly appears here because I want it to be a separate book and don't want to link it. If you guys have read Saving Brownie, then just assume that this incident occurs when she's touring around London with Clark and Ian.