Chapter 1: Grim Reaper visits Buckingham.

..."When Victoria began to emerge from her daze, amidst the sound of screams and the scandal in the room, she felt something crushing her, and to her surprise was the body of Lord Melbourne that was above her, but not the way she had imagined in her dreams or in her most daring and sinful fantasies... but almost immediately she realized that it was not like her dreams, beacuse Melbourne was slumped, like a dead weight, and she saw in his face, brushing with her face, a strange rictus and his eyes closed... and then she felt something wet in her right hand, and when she raised it, to her horror saw that it was covered with blood..."

On the day that everything changed, Lord Melbourne arrived on time for his appointment with Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace; dating with Victoria had always been the happiest moments in the solitary life of Melbourne since the young woman, almost teenager, had become the monarch of Great Britain. But after their painful meeting at the Melbourne country home, Brocket Hall, things had changed; was the result of having let things go too far...

Victoria declared her love and practically proposed marriage to him, that he be her life partner; and he, feeling that his heart was broken, had to reject her... God knew that he did not want to do it, that inside he only wanted to hug her and kiss her, and to accept her proposal... but he could not, for the sake of her and the country.

Victoria was the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, the monarch of the British Empire, the Head of State of the British nation; he was her Prime Minister, the Head of Government of that parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the true ruler of that incipient democracy. A marriage between the two would be a scandal, create a political crisis, even a constitutional crisis that would shake the bases of the reign of Victoria and of the British monarchy itself...

Although Melbourne would resigned as prime minister and his party leader, and if he would retired from politics, it would seem that his marriage to the young queen would jeopardize the neutrality of the Crown in politics; because it would seem that the queen would be a puppet of his veteran husband, who would be the true power behind the throne. The Conservative Party to cry out, and the Melbourne party itself, the Whig Party, would surely split and many whigs would be against that untimely wedding. No, Parliament would never approve of that wedding...

On the other hand, the reasons of state and the principles of the monarchy dictated that the Queen should marry a member of the royalty, with a prince of a reigning dynasty; he was a "simple" Viscount, a member of the minor nobility, therefore it would be a rather uneven marriage. Finally, there was the question of the age difference, for he was much older than she, and she could perfectly well be his daughter; but this last problem was the least, for in his time it was very common for older men to marry much younger women, especially in the aristocracy, although they were usually marriages of interest rather than love.

No, it would be crazy, nonsense; Melbourne was also mortified to think that he was an "placeman", who by greed put his country at the edge of the cliff, and who was capable of seducing an innocent young lady. But he was more mortified at what they would think of Victoria, who was a girl of doubtful morals, who let herself be seduced by a mature man from whom she must keep her distance, and who knows, she might have tucked him into her bed...

But though he knew it was his duty, though he did his best, that did not prevent his pain; Melbourne loved her, loved her as he had never loved anyone in his life. Before her, he had had many women's affairs, and he had loved another woman... his deceased wife, whom he also loved passionately, but she was unfaithful to him, abandoned him for another, and humbled him before all society; in addition she left in evidence its dementia, and although formally they were reconciled, their marriage was destroyed, until the day that she died. Melbourne thought would never love another woman, but Victoria captivated him; was wrong, dangerous, insane, but he loved her and wants her... and what was worse is that she loved him, to the point of proposing marriage him...

And now they both suffered; Victoria surprised him with his proposal and he had to reject it by saying nonsense about the monogamy in the crows and his late wife... but later, he could not master his sadness and confessed during a costume ball that corresponded to her feelings, although their union was impossible. Now they tried to recover the "normality" in their relationship, they tried to be just good friends again (apart from Queen and Prime Minister, logically) and enjoy the time together, but the sadness had settled between them, the pain for what It could not be, for his impossible love...

On that day Melbourne had set out to use his good humor and refined jokes to cheer Victoria up; but she looked something sad and downcast, he noticed her look of dismay fixed on him, and soon he understood that the pressure to which she was subjected by her mother and her uncle for to marry soon with her cousin only worsened the spite that she felt for the rejection of her dear Melbourne. And that also saddened Melbourne, who knew that when Victoria got married he would lose her forever, and he was distressed thinking that day was getting closer. He tried to concentrate the conversation on state affairs, of government, to distract Victoria and himself. And he seemed to succeed, for she began to become more interested, and after a while she yielded to his charm and began to smile with that wonderful smile by which he was able to descend to hell. For her part Victoria cleared her mind of dark and sad thoughts, and began to revel in the vision of the manly and elegant features of her Prime Minister, those who made her daydream...

Melbourne was getting more and more excited and did not take his eyes off the beautiful angelic face of his Queen, the one who wanted to stroke and kiss; he admired her lips and could not help but imagine what it would be like to kiss them. He was so absorbed that he hardly saw him...

It all happened very quickly... suddenly he looked up and saw that strange man, sinister and dressed in black, standing at the door of the room, a few steps behind the chair where Queen Victoria was, wich she could not realize, because she was talking excitedly and seeing Melbourne sitting in front of her. Melbourne did not have time to question him, because he realized that the man was holding a gun and was raising it to point at Victoria...

Melbourne reacted lightning fast; his mind was nimble and he did not make the mistake of trying to throw himself on the man, for it would have been less possible that he had reached him before he could shoot Victoria... instead he rose like as driven by a spring and threw himself on Victoria, who she opened her mouth with a look of surprise on her face, which on another occasion would have been amusing, and instinctively raised her arms to contain the body of Melbourne that was thrown over her. Melbourne fell upon her, and with her height and weight, far superior to Victoria's, pushed her violently backward, and they both knocked made to fall the chair about back; Melbourne hugged Victoria hard and his hug cushioned the blow for her, but both fell to the ground...

- Long live the Revolution, Death to the Queen! - shouted the man and fired the pistol on the bulk that formed the intertwined bodies of the Prime Minister and the Queen.

Melbourne felt a blow and a heat on one part of his back, and he was aware that the shot had reached him; but he only felt fear for Victoria, and pressed his body over her small body, and he tried of to cover the head her with his arms and hiding it under his chest, while he felt wich she wriggled trying to get away because she was suffocating.

- Help, they want to kill the Queen! - Melbourne shouted.

Outside the room, in a nearby corridor, Lord Alfred Paget, the faithful collaborator and friend of Melbourne, heard the shot and the scream, and ran out into the room; he came just as the attacker threw down the first pistol he had used, and drew out another pistol that he had prepared, cocked it, and was about to shoot... Lord Alfred raised his staff and struck the man, but in spite of the blow the attacker shot, although the trajectory of the shot deviated and it impacted to Melbourne in the hip.

The attacker tried to draw a knife, and Lord Alfred hit him with his cane; at that moment the chief of the servants Penge, who had heard the scandal, threw himself upon the aggressor, struck him on the head with a candelabrum, and then pushed him down to the ground, which Lord Alfred took advantage of to throw himself upon him. The young servant Brodie appeared at that moment...

- Run, call the guards! - Penge shouted as he helped Lord Alfred to dominate the attacker.

Melbourne watched the scene and tried to get up to help in the fight, but suddenly he felt his body fail; he did not have the strength to get up and his sight began to cloud. He felt wet in his clothes, and with his hand he touched his own back, and when he saw his hand, it was red... wet with his blood. He felt his eyelids grow heavy and he was about to faint...

- Your Majesty... Victoria...! - He whispered almost without strength and lost consciousness.

Victoria was stunned, almost lost consciousness, by the accident; she was short of air and only when the body of Melbourne slipped aside a little and she could breathe better, she could start to come back to herself. When Victoria began to emerge from her daze, amidst the sound of screams and the scandal in the room, she felt something crushing her, and to her surprise was the body of Lord Melbourne that was above her, but not the way she had imagined in her dreams or in her most daring and sinful fantasies... but almost immediately she realized that it was not like her dreams, beacuse Melbourne was slumped, like a dead weight, and she saw in his face, brushing with her face, a strange rictus and his eyes closed... and then she felt something wet in her right hand, and when she raised it, to her horror saw that it was covered with blood.

- Lord M, Lord M! - said Victoria frightened, shaking the body of Melbourne - God, Lord M, help... help! - Victoria began to scream in despair.

Lord Alfred and Penge had knocked the assailant unconscious, and then Lord Alfred went to Melbourne and slowly rolled his body away from Victoria, watching with concern to both...

- Majesty... are you okay ?! Are not you hurt? - he asked, looking anguish at the blood on her dress and putting his hand on her shoulder.

- Lord M... what happened ?! - she exclaimed, frightened, with her gaze fixed on Lord Melbourne's face and with one hand on the chest of her Prime Minister.

- Ma'am, you have been shot! Lord Melbourne has had to protect her... we must get her out of here, we must put her safe - said Lord Alfred as he turned to see the attacker, who was still on the floor, while Penge raised the candelabrum ready to give another blow, if it showed signs of moving.

- Lord M... wake up... wake up please... Lord M! - she cried desperately, throwing herself on Melbourne's chest and grabbing head to him with her small hands, and crying in distress.

- Please ma'am, we must get her out of here, it is not safe! I will take care of Lord Melbourne, but we must... - Lord Alfred said, trying to pull of her arm.

- Let me go! - exclaimed Victoria putting her arm away - Lord M... my love, do not do this to me... do not die! - Victoria exclaimed through tears, her face very close to Lord Melbourne's face, as if to kiss him, clinging to his chest with her hands.

Lord Alfred's mouth dropped open, the surprise painted on his face, he paralyzed; after a moment he turned to see Penge, and saw his surprise reflected in the face of the servant, who seemed to have seen a ghost appear... both looked at each other and felt uncomfortable, as if they had surprised for accident a couple making love. Suddenly, the guards arrived with their rifles and pulled Penge violently to catch the attacker.

- That man has tried to kill the Queen and the Prime Minister! - he said pointing at the aggressor - Who's in charge? - asked Lord Alfred.

- I am, Lieutenant Carlyle! I've already sent for the commander of the guard... - answered a young officer.

- Very well, meanwhile order your men to take the Queen to her quarters and not let her leave until we are sure that there is no danger, there may be other attackers... the Queen is very nervous, they must take her... without to listen to what she says... she is out of itself... I take responsibility - said Lord Alfred swallowing, thinking that he did so not only for the Queen's safety, but also to preserve her reputation.

After a moment of hesitation by the lieutenant, who watched the Queen leaning over Lord Melbourne weeping disconsolately and calling him almost shouting, he seemed to read the thought of Lord Alfred... and he called two of her soldiers and whispered an order to both, by the expression of their faces must have not liked much, but they were prepared to comply. Each one grabbed Victoria by the arm, to her surprise, and carefully, but with energy, they took her away almost suspended in midair, out of the room.

- What are you doing?... let me go! No, Lord M! Lord M! Let me go! Lord M! - she shouted hysterically as she twisted, trying to get rid of the soldiers' hands.

Lord Alfred turned and threw himself upon his friend, Lord Melbourne...

- Lord Melbourne... Melbourne! - he called, while taking his pulse...

- Is... dead?! - Penge asked cautiously.

- No! He is alive, but his pulse is weak... please help me to take him to a guest bedroom and have the Queen's doctor come urgently - Lord Alfred replied.

- Of course sir - Penge said, bending down to help pick up Melbourne as the lieutenant called two more soldiers to come and help.

- I must not remind you of the discretion with which to act in such cases - Lord Alfred told Penge almost in whispers.

- Of course, sir - Penge replied with an understanding look.

Between Lord Alfred, Penge, and two soldiers loaded Lord Melbourne to lead him down the hall to a guest bedroom.

- Go to the Queen's doctor, run and tell him it's a matter of life and death, he must come running! - Penge shouted at Brodie, who saw horrified at Melbourne, and then ran out.

"You must live for yourself and for her," Lord Alfred thought as he saw Melbourne's gaunt and pale face, and through much of the palace could hear Victoria's hysterical cries.

- ¡Lord M, Lord M…!