Scarlett’s gaze lingered on Elestine alone in the car ahead, and she said a quick prayer of thanks to the Goddess that Alastair had stayed home. She was going to avoid seeing him today even if it meant running off into the night.
The citizens of Soleil waved flags and called out to the procession in excitement as the line of cars appeared. Today, Remembrance Day parties would be taking place all over thecity. Many of them would begin right after the motorcade. People waved at their vehicle when they spotted the distinctive Soleil flags on its headlights, and Scarlett and her father smiled and waved back.
Scarlett turned toward her father. “I need space from Alastair for a while. I’m not going to his house today.”
He didn’t look away from the crowds, and his bland, public-facing demeanor didn’t change. “I understand why you don’t want to see him, but it’s better to not let things deteriorate too much. You’ll need to be able to work with him when you both join Parliament.”
Scarlett’s anger bubbled to the surface once more. “Isn’t it okay to put my private life first sometimes? You married Mum for love, didn’t you? Even though it wasn’t advantageous.” He’d once told her the story of how he’d defied his father to marry her mum, and she wanted him to tell her again.
He didn’t hesitate. “I loved your mother completely. It caused a huge falling-out between me and my parents when I told them I wanted to be with her, but I was happy to fight for her. Of course your private life should ultimately come first, but I hardly think it’s a big ask for you to be courteous to Alastair. You don’t have the option of never speaking to him again.”
“Dad,hesaid awful things tome. It’s like he thinks he owns me because he took my—”
“WE LOVE YOU!” a young woman holding a baby shouted at them from behind the barrier. “Lord Heroux!”
Scarlett sighed. Maybe the universe was trying to prevent her from telling her father how she lost her V-card, even if it did illustrate her point.
“Scarlett, we love you too!” called an old woman.
Scarlett turned away from her father to smile brightly at her.
They both continued waving to all their well-wishers. Sweat beaded on Scarlett’s forehead. The breeze had ceased, and herblazer was trapping the heat.
“Dad—”
“We’ll finish this conversation later, okay?”
“Fine,” said Scarlett.But I’m going home—
A whoosh of air sliced through the car, and wet warmth sprayed across the side of her face. Deafening bangs in quick succession assaulted Scarlett’s eardrums as the car veered left and slammed to a stop. Her stomach tightened into a knot as her head whipped around, searching for the source of the sound. She touched her cheek. Red coated her fingertips.
Scarlett’s window went up. The soldier in the passenger seat yelled at them as the driver hit the gas.
“Lord Heroux, Miss Heroux, get on the floor of the car!”
Dread overtook Scarlett as she reached for her father. He was slumped over, his face hidden. Her hands shook. Screams from the crowd grew louder, but Scarlett heard them as if from a distance as she stared at her father. Was he unconscious? She had to help him. They could get him to a doctor who could help. Her heart thudded in her chest. There was so much red covering the back seat of the car. Where had it all come from? Was it blood? It couldn’t be. Was he shot? Her father had been shot. She looked down, and it was like staring at herself from some faraway place. She’d been thoroughly sprayed with red. It was stark across her white skirt.
With trembling hands, Scarlett tried to push her father into a sitting position, but his body was heavy and uncooperative. She pressed her hand into his shoulder, willing him to wake up.
“Dad!” she shouted. Then she burst into tears.
The side of his head was bloodied, but her eyes slid over it, not wanting to see how badly her father had been hurt. She took off her blazer, thinking numbly that she could use it to put pressure on the wound.
The screams and shouts around them continued outside, butScarlett blocked it all out. Nothing existed outside of her father. She took his hand and squeezed it as she held her blazer to the side of his head. His big hand was warm in hers even though he was slumped forward and still. She sobbed as she buried her face in his arm. Why had they been fighting over stupid things? Alastair, going abroad—who cared about any of it, if he would only live? The tightness in her chest made it hard to breathe.
They sped through the streets until the car halted, and then Scarlett finally lifted her head. A flock of people in scrubs and white coats and numerous soldiers in fatigues surrounded the car. Arms pulled her away from her father, and two men carefully lifted him from the vehicle. Scarlett scooted out after him, desperate for someone around them to step in and save him. Her bloodied white blazer fell to the ground as he was moved onto the stretcher, and she let out a gasp that became a sob as she took in her father’s gaping head wound.
The staff’s urgency evaporated as soon as they got a good look at him. The way they stopped rushing. The careful, defeated way they lowered their hands. Scarlett knew before anyone said a word. Her world spun on its axis, her very sense of self crumbling as a hollow void opened up in her chest. She’d spoken her last words to him and not known it. Her dad wasdead.
She didn’t even feel it as she collapsed to the ground, breathing raggedly.
“Shit—is she hurt? Get her onto a stretcher!”
Arms lifted her. She opened her eyes enough to see she was being wheeled in behind her father. Two nurses stood off to the side crying as the stretchers were pushed into the hospital. Scarlett closed her eyes, not wanting to see any more. Unable to take in any more.
When she opened her eyes again, she was in a curtained-off space somewhere inside the hospital.Where did they take Dad?She sobbed and took a couple of jerky breaths.
“Lady Heroux, I know this is hard, but you need to take some deeper breaths,” said a stern female voice. “Can you breathe with me? In for one, two, three, four… We need oxygen here, please—she’s gonna pass out…”
