“It’s time,” said my mother.

I stood... and nearly fell, my legs were trembling so much. Caroline grabbed my arm and steadied me.

My mother put her hands on my shoulders. On the surface, she was as controlled as ever, her make-up perfect, but for once I could see the genuine emotion in her eyes. “I know this isn’t the way we wanted it to happen,” she said. “But this is your day. Try to enjoy it.” She squeezed my shoulders. “I’m so proud of you.”

I couldn’t speak. Between the fear of messing this up and the danger I would be in, I was so scared I thought I might throw up. So I just nodded. My mother stepped back and, ahead of me, the doors to the square creaked open.

The sunlight was so bright that I couldn’t see anything. It felt as though I was walking forward into a fiery doorway that would just consume me. Then, as I got outside, my eyes adjusted and—

Thirty thousand people lined the balconies of the historic square: five floors of them, towering above me. Some of them had stood in line for a full day and night to get a spot. My steps faltered. I can’t—

Then my eyes locked on Garrett, standing to attention just beside the throne. For this ceremony, they’d added a peaked cap to his uniform, its polished brim glinting in the sunlight. The shadow it cast made those blue eyes shine even more. He gave me a tiny nod. You can do this.

I walked to the center of the square, where the head of the church was waiting. I sat slowly on the throne, my hands tightening around the golden arms.

“I crown you Queen Kristina,” he said. “May you reign well.”

The crowd started its cheer before he’d finished speaking and the volume only increased as the crown slid onto my head. God, it’s so heavy! I carefully stood, heart thumping, petrified I was going to drop it. The crowd was deafening, now: I had no hope of hearing what they were saying, but the roar lifted me up and carried me. I looked up and waved to them and it got, if possible, even louder.

For a second, the crowd’s joy swept everything else away and my heart swelled. I am Queen.

Then the responsibility hit me again. Please God, don’t let me let them down.

But I was so glad I’d insisted on having the ceremony. Every face in the crowd was joyous. They needed this, after the bombs and the assassination attempts. And I needed to remember what I was fighting to protect. I can’t let all this be destroyed by war again. I can’t.

I walked the short distance to where the royal carriage was waiting. Six well-trained white horses were harnessed and standing patiently, despite the roar of the crowd. Garrett gave me his hand to help me climb up. They’d given him white gloves, too.

“I’ll be right behind you,” he said. And squeezed my hand.

I drew in my breath. God, the temptation to just lean forward and kiss him….

Ten million people are watching on live TV. I gave him a prim little nod and climbed up into the ornate carriage. It was like climbing into a golden jewelry box.

The parade set off. Police motorbikes at the front, two SUVs full of guards, my carriage and then another two SUVs. We crawled along at walking pace through streets lined twenty deep with people, all applauding and cheering. My people. I waved until I felt like my hand was going to drop off. I’m just... me. I don’t deserve this. But feeling that outpouring of love was amazing. I was a mess of emotions: ecstatic and awed and humbled and terrified, all at once.

And then the bomb went off.

It was somewhere off to my left: I saw a flash and then the whole carriage was lifted and tilted to one side. I was sprayed with tiny, hard nuggets of something: they rained down all over me, glinting like jewels. I realized the safety glass in the windows had been blown out. But I was okay. The carriage slammed back down onto its wheels. We were alright—

There was a chorus of terrified whinnys. Oh God, the horses! They were rearing and stamping, terrified. The crowd was in uproar, too, everyone running and screaming, and that was panicking them even more. The driver was frantically trying to calm them. The parade had stopped and I saw guards scrambling out of the SUVs, guns drawn to protect me.

Then the second bomb went off, this time to my right. The horses reared again—

And bolted.

I was thrown back in my seat as the carriage shot forward. Boxed in by the SUVs, the horses picked the one clear path left to them: sideways into the crowd, through the space that had been cleared by the first bomb. We bounced over curbs and flower beds. They were galloping at full speed and all I could do was hang on.

When I glanced behind me, my heart sank. The convoy was in complete disarray: the guards had all jumped out of the SUVs when we stopped, not expecting the carriage to shoot off. There were too many people running and screaming for them to drive after me and we were moving faster than they could run.

I was on my own.

Ahead, the street was blocked by crowds. It was chaos: people had run to try to escape the explosions, but now the horses were bearing down on them. The carriage was jolting and bouncing as we clipped parked cars. We were going far too fast—

And then the horses slewed to the side. The carriage couldn’t turn that sharply. I felt it tilt—

No!

….and roll. I screamed, desperately trying to cling onto something. There were no safety belts. The windows were gone and I was terrified I was going to be thrown out and crushed beneath the carriage when it landed.

We crashed down on our side, spun and slid and then grated to a stop.

I lay there panting for a moment, disoriented. Then I got to my knees and gingerly peeked out through the front window. All I could see was legs: thousands of people running past the carriage in blind panic, so many that it kept jerking and rocking as their bodies banged against it. Another explosion shook the street, then another. Each one whipped the people faster. I saw people falling and being trampled. Oh Jesus….

And then I heard gunfire. No more than fifty yards ahead of me, and getting closer.

The assassins. They were coming for me.

I ducked down, wedging myself into a corner. And then I heard someone climbing up the carriage and clambering onto the side that was now the roof. I shrank back, terrified….

Garrett leaned down through the window and stretched out his hand. His cap was gone and his chest was heaving. He must have sprinted flat out to catch up to me. “Take my hand,” he said.

I’ve never been so glad to see anyone in my entire life. I grabbed his hand and he hauled me off my feet and up, up, up—

I gasped as I saw the scene. The carriage was a tiny island in a sea of rushing people. Everyone was surging down this street to get away from the bombs and we were trapped in the middle of it. And I could hear the gunfire coming closer and closer. “We can’t stay here,” said Garrett.

I looked back the way we’d come. The SUVs couldn’t get any closer, not without mowing down the crowds. And the flow of people was too strong for the guards to force their way through on foot.

“Listen,” said Garrett. “I’ll lower you down first—”

“Into that?” My voice cracked. The crowd was made of normal, rational people, people who’d been cheering me just moments ago. But now they were running for their lives and, with so many of them, the crowd was like a living thing, a surging river that was sucking down and drowning anyone who didn’t keep up.

“I’ll be right behind you,” he told me. “Just stay right beside the carriage. Do not move.”

I nodded breathlessly. He took my hands, then crouched and lowered me over the edge. People tore past me, inches from knocking into me, but I managed to stay in the lee formed by the wheels. Then my feet hit the ground and I pressed myself up against the underside of the carriage.

“Good! Stay there! I’m coming!” He scrambled to the edge and started to jump down—

A man sprinted past me and his elbow caught me. I spun, stumbled in my heels…

“No!” yelled Garrett.

And the crowd swept me away.