"DRAKE!"
India's world fell apart in an instant. All of the bricks that she had been building for the past few months, every redeeming moment, each glimpse of a potential Happy Ever After, crumbled before her eyes. The impact of the bullet sent Drake staggering back, crashing into India and sending them both down to the floor. He stared up at her as she cradled him desperately in her arms, struggling to catch his breath as the blood soaked his green dress shirt.
"You're okay, Drake. You're okay." India said as tears streamed down her face.
The commotion carried on around them, and in the corner of her eye India saw Bastien tackle the armed assassin to the floor. Security guards flooded into the ballroom, several of them crowding around King Liam. He struggled against their grasp as they began to pull him insistently toward an exit, looking back over his shoulder to see Drake bleeding on the marble floor. He called out for his best friend; he called out for the guards to help Drake and India, but his words seemed to disappear into the air. The guards protectively pushed Liam's head down as they ushered him out of the ballroom, refusing to let him turn back and risk his life for his friends.
India fumbled with the lapels of Drake's jacket, feeling around his bloodied torso to try and spot where the bullet had hit. Her hands quickly became covered in thick, red blood as she forced pressure down onto his chest in a frantic attempt to stop the bleeding.
"Waters..." Drake coughed as he spoke. He reached out and placed a gentle hand on India's cheek, guiding her toward him until their faces were only inches apart.
"I love you, Waters." He said, struggling to hold back tears.
"Don't do that, Drake. Don't give me the goodbye speech." India replied through quiet sobs. She held his hand in her own as paramedics and security began to surround them.
"We should have just stayed in your room, huh?" Drake smirked. The thought made India cry even harder. It was only an hour earlier that they lay, naked and entwined in each other's bodies, in India's bedroom. She had felt like she was dreaming - finally being able to call Drake her boyfriend, finally being able to touch him in all the ways she had been thinking about for months, before being jolted harshly back into reality.
Paramedics moved Drake swiftly yet carefully onto a stretcher, removing his blood-soaked shirt and jacket whilst keeping pressure on his bullet wound. India's hand remained locked with Drake's as she stood, walking in step with the paramedics as they wheeled Drake's stretcher outside and toward a waiting ambulance.
"You need to come with me, India." Bastien's voice took her by surprise, although she barely seemed to acknowledge him.
"Duchess India, you're not safe here. You need to come with me." He insisted as he reached out to gently grasp her arm. India immediately pulled away from his touch, her hands reaching up to her already bloodstained face in a vain effort to wipe away her tears.
"Drake just jumped in front of a bullet for me. If you really think I'm going to leave him to go and hide away in my room, then you're crazy." She said, picking up the skirt of her gold and ivory ballgown and running back toward the ambulance. As soon as she jumped up through the large metal doors they swung closed and the sirens began blaring into the night.
The paramedics had already begun working on Drake as the ambulance took off, speeding toward the Cordonian Royal Infirmary. India watched in a shocked silence as they administered pain relief and controlled the bleeding that continued to pour from his wounded chest.
"India?" Drake asked drowsily. In a second she was up and by his side, planting a gentle kiss on his forehead to show her presence.
"I'm here, Drake." She whispered. "I love you."
He smiled as the words left her mouth.
"If I live through this, I wanna' marry you, India." He replied drowsily.
"I'll marry you any day." India squeezed his hand in her own, smiling through her tears.
Drake grinned, and for a moment he stared up at India with total clarity, taking in the vision of the woman he had fallen so deeply in love with. If he died in that moment, he thought, then dying to save the life of the most amazing woman in the world would be more than worth it. He leaned upwards to plant a kiss on her tear-stained lips, before sinking back onto the bed and falling out of consciousness.
King Liam slowly entered the hospital room. He was instantly taken aback at the sight of Drake, lying unconscious and surrounded by machines, with several tubes inserted into different parts of his body. It had been hours before the King's Guard would let Liam out of the palace's panic room, insisting that they sweep the whole palace and grounds for more assassins before he would be allowed to visit Drake. Even when given the all-clear, he travelled to the infirmary in a black SUV with 6 bodyguards, and two more cars full of guards in tow. The door of the private room closed gently behind him, with 4 of his guards behind it to ensure no one else would enter. The only other person in the room was India, sleeping gently in the chair next to Drake's bed, her hand locked with his.
Liam studied them for a moment and felt tears stinging at the back of his eyes. They were his best friends, and any sign of sadness or jealousy that arose from not being with India was immediately replaced with happiness that they had found love in each other. The sight broke his heart. India, sleeping at his bedside in her bloodstained ball gown, refusing to let go of Drake's hand even when she succumbed to her exhaustion; and Drake, his life hanging in the balance mere days after winning the girl of his dreams.
India stirred as Liam approached, and he gently took a seat in the chair next to her.
"Any updates?" Liam asked when he was sure that India was awake.
"It's not good, but he's stable." India replied, turning to glance at Liam, her eyes still red from crying. "He would've died if they hadn't gotten him into surgery so quickly."
"I'm so sorry that all of this happened, India." Liam hung his head as he spoke.
"It's not your fault. I just... I just thought that we were done with all of this." India said, fresh tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, "I thought that now I'd cleared my name and we'd all come back to Cordonia, that we could all be happy." She turned to look at Drake and sighed.
"We will be." Liam placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We're going to find out who did this, and we're not going to let them get away with it. I promise." He said.
"What happens then? We wait for the next load of assassins to turn up and shoot someone else?"
Liam paused, trying to think of the appropriate words to say, but he couldn't. He knew that any rational argument was pointless to someone in India's position.
"I just don't know if I can live like this, Liam. In constant fear of losing him, or any one of you." India said after a few moments.
"You're not going to lose him. Do you know how I know that?" Liam asked.
India shook her head silently, her eyes fixated on Drake. Liam paused for a moment and chose his words carefully.
"You've taught me so much about love, India. About true love. When I first met you all those months ago, back in New York, I wasn't sure it existed. And then as I fell for you I started to believe in it, little by little. When I proposed to you and you turned me down, my faith was shaken again. I thought maybe there were just some of us who weren't meant to find true love, but seeing you with Drake changed all of that. It only takes a couple of minutes of seeing you two together to know you're completely meant for each other, and anyone with half a brain can tell he's head over heels for you." The King and Duchess sat in silence for a moment, watching Drake's chest rise and fall in a slow rhythm. "My point is that there's absolutely no way he'd give up now, not now he's seen how his life could be, with you by his side."
India smiled briefly, resting her head on Liam's shoulder.
"He told me that he wanted to marry me, in the ambulance." She said quietly. "I think part of it was just the morphine, but when he said those words to me it was like our whole future flashed before my eyes. A relationship, a marriage... maybe even kids someday. A couple of cousins for Bartie to play with. I've never felt so desperate for anything in my life."
"You're going to have all that, and more." Liam said, squeezing her hand reassuringly. "Trust me, we're going to have a royal engagement on our hands soon. One that won't get called off." They both laughed, and India allowed herself to feel something other than grief for a small moment. She leaned forward in her chair and carefully held Drake's hand in both of hers, tracing her fingers along the bones of his hands before planting a gentle kiss on his skin.
"Thank you for saving my life, Drake." She whispered to him. "Now please, just come back to me."
