Emmy

CHAPTER SEVEN

Dinner at the Longford House that evening was silent and sombre. Nobody quite knew how to react after the King's accident and tragic consequences. The family ate, but no one really felt like eating.

"Father?" Millie asked.

"Yes?" he replied.

"You know the way the King is sleeping?"

"Millie!" her Mother exclaimed sharply. Millie looked hurt by her Mother's angry expression towards her. She was curious about everything; she didn't mean to cause harm.

"It's alright Millie. Just ask one question," her father said. He had a soft spot for his youngest child.

Millie sat and thought for a moment, choosing her question carefully. "Will the King ever wake up?"

Adelaide laughed. "You know you only had one question, right?" Millie ignored her eldest sister's snide comment and looked at her father for an answer.

Her father pondered the question for a moment. "Well, I'm not sure to be honest. He did hit his head pretty hard. I've seen men walk away from an accident like that before. I just don't know why the King has suffered so greatly."

"Oh," Millie said. "I thought he just fell asleep." The family smirked; they knew not to laugh at a time like this. Millie's thought process was funny, she was only eight after all. She paused for a moment. "So can the physicians make him better again?"

"Didn't Father only say one question," Adelaide teased.

"Adelaide, don't be so rude to your sister!" her Father said, anger in his eyes. Adelaide pushed her lips together and looked down at her dinner. "I'm not sure Millie. They can only do so much, but they'll do all they can."

"I see," Millie said, eating a piece of chicken pie. She thought of another question as she chewed.

The fourth course was brought out on silver platters and offered to each family member. When all had taken what they wanted their Father spoke. "I think that will do us for tonight."

"Perfect, sir," the butler said as the troop of servants walked neatly out of the dining room.

Silence ensured the table as the family began again to pick and eat their food. Millie broke the stillness with another question. "So what happens if the King never wakes up?"

The silence continued, with no-one wanting to explain the dreaded situation to Millie. "Well," her Father began, "the court will oversee everything for the meantime. They will appoint someone to act as their Head and from there they will carry on as usual."

"So if the King wakes up then his kingdom will be running perfectly," Millie said. Her Father lovingly nodded at his daughter's knowledge. "But what if the King di-"

"I think that is enough questions for tonight Millie, don't you," her Mother said, angrily cutting a sliver of beef.

"But I thought Emmy would-"

"Millie!" her Mother exclaimed, disrupting the peaceful atmosphere of the room. Millie looked down at her plate and pushed some broccoli heads around. She didn't like to be told off.

After a brief silence, Adelaide spoke. "What were you going to say about Emmy?"

"Well I thought that Alex and Emmy would..."

The words from the family drifted in one of Emmy's ears and out the other. She was too preoccupied with her own thoughts than to listen to Millie's questions. She couldn't forget Alex's pained and worried looks from the arena, of how scared his voice was, and of how terrified and anxious he looked. Emmy had only known Alex to be kind, cheerful, funny and compassionate, and to see him so upset hurt her deeply.