Daphne moved slightly to where the rain was falling, fully expecting to feel the rain on her skin. To her absolute surprise, she remained completely dry!
"This..." Her eyes widened in fear and her body trembled. Clearly this wasn’t any ordinary rain shower!
To say Daphne was afraid and confused would be a grave understatent, but she had other priorities at the mont. Normally, Atticus would take charge and give instructions to regain order after such a chaotic incident, but he was nowhere to be found.
Daphne tried to look for the next most powerful person, before realizing that she was that said person. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, but Daphne couldn’t hear anything past the pounding in her ears.
She stared blankly at the streets. There were multiple prone bodies lying on the floor, unmoving. She could hear the outraged screams and wails of pain from the citizens.
Everything was a disaster. How was she going to fix this?
Slowly but surely, Daphne could feel her breaths getting heavier. It began to grow inconsistent, the sound of her heartbeat so loud that it was beginning to ring in her ears. The sensation was all too familiar― was this another fit of her hysteria?
Daphne scrambled for the sachet of herbs that she normally stored in her pockets only to realize that the sides of her dress were empty. As awareness dawned upon her, Daphne could feel her own blood drain from her face.
She didn’t have the herbs with her. She had left them back in her rooms, thinking that she wouldn’t need it on such a happy occasion. Foolish!
"Your Highness!" one of the guards called out, drawing her attention. She shakily turned her head down to look at him, finding it harder by the second to maintain her own balance. "We have to leave!"
At his words, Daphne’s line of sight raised once more to scan her surroundings. Broken floats, scattered debris, and injured folk lined the rain-soaked streets. Daphne gulped, her lips were pale, but she shook her head resolutely.
"No... We..." she stamred, unable to project her voice as loudly as she wanted to. "We need to help the townsfolk first."
"Our direct orders from His Majesty was to keep you safe, My Queen," a different guard said insistently.
"Atticus isn’t here now," Daphne snapped. She tried to keep her tone firm but her voice was still shaky from her lack of air. Her head was starting to grow faint. "I am. I refuse to let my people suffer needlessly." She gestured to a random spot above her head. "As you can see, I am perfectly fine."
While the guards looked at each other hesitantly, Daphne gritted her teeth in irritation. She was the queen, why were they questioning her orders?
Her patience finally ran thin when she heard another scream from a short distance away― a young boy had fallen to the ground with a loud thud, his cry of pain echoing through the streets.
"Mama! Mama!"
"God damn it!"
Ignoring the protests of the guards, Daphne hopped off the float with a little bit of a struggle. She word out of the protective barrier the guards had ford around her, picking up her skirts so that she could quickly run over to the little boy.
"Are you alright?" she asked, helping him to his feet. He had red gashes on his knees, and his hands were red and bruised from the impact. But thankfully it didn’t seem like he broke any bones, and his head wasn’t bleeding.
The little boy only managed a small nod, his tears mixed with the rain. For a mont, Daphne couldn’t even tell how hard he was crying, but the choked sobs and sniffles gave him away.
Besides, since Daphne pretty much hovered over him, he was also sheltered by the mysterious invisible umbrella that kept her dry. She used her fingers to gently wipe away his tears while soothing him with wordless murmurs.
"Go find your parents," Daphne said. Right at that mont, a woman rushed over, pulling the boy into her embrace.
"Henry!" The woman cried out in relief, hugging the boy close. "You scared !"
She then turned her attention to Daphne. The woman’s face lit up with a soft teary smile, her eyes shimring with gratitude and relief.
"Thank you, Your Highness," she said, her words a little choked up. "Thank you. Henry, hurry and thank the queen!" She instructed her child, who looked a little shell-shocked at the realization that the queen was right in front of him.
"There’s no need," Daphne said, but the mother insisted. Young Henry finally stamred a quick thank you before hiding behind his mother, who used a part of her dress to shield him from the rain.
"Get sowhere safe and dry up," Daphne replied, forcing a smile onto her face despite the increasing discomfort in her chest. The sensation was starting to suffocate her.
"Are you alright, Your Highness?" the woman asked, concerned.
"Perfectly fine," Daphne said. "There are a few things I have to check on first. Go."
Given such clear instructions, the woman wasn’t planning to argue any further even for the sake of polite pleasantry. She bowed her head once more in thanks before picking up the boy, making a mad dash for the nearest building that could offer a roof over their heads.
With her gone, Daphne turned to look around. It seed like the guards had finally decided to heed her order and were now spread out across the streets, helping those in need. That allowed Daphne to breathe out in relief.
She was a horrible ruler― Daphne had zero to no experience when it ca to leading her people nor had she ever dread of being a ruler, much less taught to be one. However, now that she was Atticus’s wife, she was the queen of Vramid. She had to learn to rise up to the occasion lest she be replaced by soone more capable.
She knew she wasn’t doing as much as she liked. But every little bit of help was still better than none. She watched over the guards as they cleared the debris in the streets, and instructed them to call for the town healers. Slowly but surely, the town regained a semblance of order in the pouring rain.
Just as Daphne was about to feel slightly more confident about her actions, a bolt of lightning flashed through the skies, bringing with it a clap of thunder that seed to reverberate within the very bones of the world.
Instinctively, Daphne’s hands flew to her ears, clasping tightly around them as she ducked, squatting down onto the ground in an attempt to make herself as small as possible.
With every crack of thunder, her muscles tensed involuntarily, and her breath caught in her throat as if anticipating the next jolt of raw power. Fear gripped her heart like an icy hand, each blinding flash and deafening boom sending tremors of unease through her veins.
Her cald heart rate started to soar again, this ti, with greater intensity than previously. Daphne felt her breath run short and the world was about to grow blurry when suddenly, a pair of boots stood right in front of her.
Ti stood to a still.
The world fell silent.
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