Emerson's POV

It was another hour before Anti appeared in the room. Dark immediately flew out of his chair and approached him.

"Is he okay?" Dark asked. "How is he?"

Anti smiled. "He's fine, Dark. Just sleeping, and in a lot of pain still. That bullet took a while to get out, but I did it, and he's stitched up now." Dark stared at him, and Anti nodded. "Yes, you can go see him." Dark quickly disappeared.

Amanda then ran up to him, jumping into his open arms. Anti caught her easily, spinning her around before placing her back on the ground. "Are you okay, Amanda? Did you get hurt?"

She smiled. "You asked me that earlier."

He smiled back. "Oh, right."

"Anti?" Victoria piped up. He turned to her. "What's going to happen today? I mean, are we still going to have the coronation?"

Anti facepalmed. "The coronation! I completely forgot!"

"We can't." I said. "Not with the town in fear. Not with Wilford hurt."

"She's right." Elaine agreed. "It's not the right time for a crowning."

A servant walked into the room. When he spotted me, he waved me over. I quickly made my way to him.

"Your highness, there are news reporters outside the doors. They wish to speak to you."

I gave him a puzzled look. "Me? Why me?"

"You're the kingdom's soon-to-be-queen. They wish to hear what you have to say."

I bit my lip for a moment before turning around. "Victoria." She turned to me, and I gestured towards the door. She joined us, and we walked out into the hallway.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Press conference." I said. "It's time to put your practice to use."

"P-press conference?" She started messing with her hair- as she does when she gets nervous. "I'm not ready!"

"Yes you are, and you have no choice."

The servant led us to the entrance hall, where a swarm of photographers and people with cameras and microphones swarmed around Victoria and I. "Your highness!" They kept screaming. Questions came our way from left and right.

"Do you have any explanation for what happened today?"

"What are you going to do about the shooters?"

"Is anyone else harmed besides civilians?"

I looked around the crowd. The questions didn't stop, so I held my hand up. They all stopped talking. "Currently, there is no explanation for the shootings. We at the castle have no idea why it happened, or where it started. We're going to leave the decision about the shooters up to the police. If they choose to put them in the dungeon for a life sentence, so be it. There have been at least one death from someone living in the castle, and King Wilford has been harmed from attempting to stop one of the shooters." The crowd piped up again, so I pointed to someone to ask a question.

"Is King Wilford okay?"

I nodded. "Yes. He is in stable condition. He was shot in the leg, and it has already been taken care of." I pointed to another person.

"You know of only one death from the castle- who is it?"

"Rebecca Furgelson, a member of the Royal Guard. She died almost instantly from a shot in the abdomen."

One voice spoke out above them all. "What is going to happen about the coronation tonight?"

I opened my mouth to speak, then immediately closed it, not knowing what to say. I looked at Victoria, who's eyes widened. "Lady Victoria? Would you like to answer that question?" All microphones and cameras immediately turned to her.

She stared at me, then the crowd. She took a deep breath. "We are going to be pushing the coronation back a week, or until King Wilford is fully healed. That way there is enough time for the kingdom's wounds to be healed and for us to recover from this terrible event."

More cameras flashed, and the crowd started asking more questions. The servant stepped in. "That's enough questions for today. Goodbye, and have a safe journey home." He ushered for the two of us to go, and we quickly walked back down the hallway to the Great Hall.

Anti stopped us halfway there, appearing in our faces and grinning. "That was awesome, girls! You both handled the press well."

Victoria smiled at her. "Thank you." She turned to me. "I never realized how nerve-racking that can be."

I grinned back at her. "You'll get used to it. I promise."

Dark appeared down the hallway, looking distraught and exhausted. He saw us and perked up a little bit, trying to hide it. He approached us with a small smile on his face. "Hey, guys. What's going on?"

I shrugged. "Nothing. Victoria and I just met with the press and pushed back the coronation for Wilford's sake. How is he, by the way."

"Better already, thanks to Anti. He's just really tired. I left so he could get some sleep."

Victoria tapped on Anti's shoulder. "Can I talk to you, sir?"

Anti grinned. "Of course. You don't have to call me 'sir,' you know."

Victoria blushed. "Oh, right." She turned to me. "I'll meet up with you guys later, okay."

"Okay." I leaned forwards, kissing her cheek. "See you soon."

As she disappeared down the hallway with Anti, Dark spoke up. "Something's wrong with Victoria."

I spun towards him. "I know. She was in the bathroom throwing up when I went in to wake her up this morning."

He narrowed his eyes. "Anti probably knows what's going on. Well, it doesn't matter." He put his hand on my shoulder. "You said you pushed the coronation back?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Well, technically, Victoria did. We figured a week would be enough time for Wilford to completely heal up and the kingdom to not be in fear."

"Oh, trust me, they'll be scared for longer than a week. But I agree with you- a week is plenty of time. You made a good choice."

I grinned. "See, I'm learning how to be a queen already!"

Dark gave a small chuckle. "There's still much for you to learn to become a real queen. Now come on, let's go back to the Great Hall." He held his arm out, motioning for me to go first. I did so with my head held high, and I could practically feel Dark's smile as he followed right behind me.