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Chapter 2 - Deadly Mission
Earlier that morning
Emma stood slightly to the left of the currently empty thrones, watching the crowd chatter amongst themselves. The King had opened his throne room once a month since the start of his reign, allowing his people a chance to air their grievances and bring any issues to his attention. Emma knew it was the seemingly small things like this that made Leopold such a popular King. The White Kingdom finally had a monarch that cared and was flourishing because of it.
Emma counted herself lucky she'd ended up here and not some other Kingdom. Here she had friends and a great job as joint Captain of the Guard alongside her best friend Graham. Admittedly, it was rather unusual to have two captains, even more so considering one of them was a woman, but the set up seemed to work for them. Emma was in charge of the safety of Queen Regina and the heir to the throne Prince Henry, while Graham was responsible for the safety of the King.
Emma heard the side door behind her open and found herself naturally standing a little taller. The King and Queen stepped into the room, causing a hush to fall over the congregation. Each person fell into a low bow or curtsey and waited until the two royals had taken their seats before standing once more. Leopold called forth the first of his subjects with a smile and business quickly commenced as usual.
She alternated her watch of the crowd with glances towards the Queen. Officially, she was not supposed to speak to her, except to give out instructions in an emergency. All plans for her and her young son were run past the King rather than the woman herself, meaning she had very little opportunity to converse with her, especially when she was only in charge of her public safety. The King had always stationed some of his own guards outside her chambers, rather than allocating the task to Emma.
None of that stopped Emma from soaking up as much information about the brunette as possible through her observations. Emma was always blown away by her beauty, especially her smile, even after 6 years working under her. Today her long hair flowed down her back in loose waves, the sides pulled up and away from her face in an intricate twist that framed the delicate crown atop her head. Her purple gown with its cinched in waist and long embroidered sleeves complimented her olive skin tone, making it seem like she was glowing. Not that many people were actually looking at her. Everyone's attention was focused on the King as he kindly dealt with the issues of those before him.
A shiver running down her spine interrupted her musings. She reluctantly tore her eyes away from the Queen and scanned the room, looking for the source of her unease. She'd learnt a long time ago to trust her gut and right now her gut was telling her that something was very, very wrong. A quick glance at Graham confirmed that he had not seen anything untoward as of yet, he was relaxed and smiling as he stood in position to the right of the King.
The next thirty seconds were easily the longest of her life. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as a short, plain looking man broke free from the crowd and sprinted towards the dais the thrones sat upon, an ornate dagger gripped firmly in his hand. Emma shouted to alert Graham of the threat and flung herself in front of Regina, shielding the Queen's body with her own. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thanked the Gods that Henry was with his tutors and not present, at least she only had to worry about his mother.
Graham's reaction time was much slower than hers, Emma having already been on high alert when the threat emerged. She watched as Graham made it to the throne a split second after the rogue member of the crowd did. That second was all it took for the man to plunge his blade straight into the chest of the King before he was tackled to the ground and quickly subdued by her fellow Captain.
Emma barely heard the commotion that instantly broke out around them and was only vaguely aware of the men under her command ushering the public out of the throne room and back towards the courtyard. Her entire focus was on the quivering body behind her. "Mulan!" Emma shouted, struggling to be heard over the din. It only took a moment for her second in command to appear beside her, ready for her instructions. "Take Her Royal Highness to her chambers, collect the Prince on the way." Mulan nodded her understanding and guided the Queen to her feet gently. "Take August with you," Emma continued, "We don't know for sure this guy was working alone. I'll join you in a few moments." She watched as the pair were joined by August and headed towards the rear door that would lead them to Henry. "And Mulan?" The guard looked back to her captain with her usual serious expression. "If anything happens to them, you'll have to answer to me." With another nod, they were gone from the throne room, leaving just the King, Emma, Graham and the mystery assassin.
Emma finally turned her attention to the fatally wounded Leopold, not feeling at all guilty for prioritising getting Regina to safety. From her very first day on the job Graham had made it clear that the King was his responsibility. Her first and foremost concern should always be to protect the Queen and her child.
The King was slumped in his throne, heavily bleeding from the wound to his chest. His sickly pale skin was covered in beads of sweat and there was a thin stream of blood dripping steadily from his mouth. Graham was beside him, having hogtied the man responsible and left him on his stomach on the floor.
Emma and Graham could do nothing but stare as the King's chest shakily rose for a final time before falling still and silent. The moment the King's death registered in Graham's brain, he lunged for the culprit and picked him up by his hair, landing several hard punches to the man's face before Emma could stop him.
The assassin seemed completely unperturbed, he took the beating with a smug smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"I don't know what you look so happy about," Emma told the man, holding Graham back from landing any further blows. "You'll be executed for this."
"It doesn't matter. I killed him. My mission is complete."
It was obvious from his tone that he was resigned to his fate. He clearly hadn't expected to escape this. Emma guessed that whoever had given him his 'mission' had probably guaranteed his family would be taken care of or some other similarly enticing guarantee. People could be driven to almost anything for the people they loved. They may have caught the hand that wielded the blade, but the brains behind the attack was definitely still at large.
"And who put you up to this?" Emma asked, not particularly expecting a response. It was something they'd get out of him eventually, after some not so gentle coercion. Even though she hated that side of her line of work, she knew sometimes it was a necessary evil.
"Why the Queen of course. And I can prove it."
Emma released Graham and allowed him to get a few more punches in while her mind raced. She knew without a doubt that it couldn't be true. Only one explanation jumped to Emma's racing mind. Regina must have been framed and it was up to her to fix it.
