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Inexplicably the silhouette shattered before her in a fountain of embers, flames and wildfire.
She felt an incredible loss. Tears flowed as she lost consciousness, slipping further away from the flaming, dying inferno.
Darkness took over.
She woke, choking at the splash of water on her face.
‘Undersecretary Selene?’
Hovering above her prostrate form was a woman. Looking down at her from reddened eyes inset in a furrowed brow. Higher still was a set of powerful sprinklers dripping with water. Selene watched, perplexed, as they receded into the roofline.
She flailed to a seated position, disoriented. ‘Where am I?’
‘At Prince Occaro’s home. On the terrace. There’s been a terrible fire,’ the woman said.
Selene noted the terror on the young woman’s face. Followed by a vague recollection of who she was - one of the royal assistants who’d checked her name on the guest list at the front doors earlier that evening.
‘When the blaze started, the Queen asked us to look around for any stragglers,’ the woman continued, visibly frazzled. ‘We found you here on the floor, unconscious, just outside the banquet hall. I’ve sent for medics.’
Selene looked down at herself, checking for any signs of damage. Apart from a slight scorch mark on her favourite ball gown, she seemed unharmed.
‘I don’t need a medic,’ she said. ‘I’m OK.’
‘We have a duty of care to our guests,’ the Rhesian woman implored, wringing her hands. ‘I’ve comm’d for an air ambulance, and they’re on their way.’
Selene surrendered to the urging, sinking back to lean against the stone wall, casting furtive glances at the smoke still billowing from the mezzanine beyond.
Soon a team of efficient-looking emergency caregivers were at the scene.
Selene stated again that she was fine.
But they insisted harder on checking her over. And declared she was, indeed, fine.
‘You probably fainted after the fiery explosion and resulting blaze,’ one of the medics told her. ‘You can leave, but please seek medical help should you feel dizzy or slightly nauseous. You could have a concussion.’
They helped her to her feet and escorted her through the now-empty banquet room.
‘Where’s everyone else?’ Selene asked, still slightly dazed and barefoot, her sensible shoes clutched in one hand.
‘The banquet ended abruptly once the fire alarms sounded,’ the assistant said by Selene’s side. ‘All the royals left in armoured flyers, except for Princess Ameli who was rushed to hospital - because she fainted - but her husband, the Prince -!’
Unable to finish her words, the assistant’s lip trembled, and she placed a shaking hand over her mouth. Then, she turned and fled out of the banquet hall.
Selene wasn’t far behind. She stumbled out into the night to join the other horrified guests.
They congregated outside, around the bioluminescent gold ginkgo tree, clutching shawls and hot drinks as they all stared and whispered, pointing to the charred remains of the Prince’s office balcony. Where firefighters were directing flame-detecting drones through the badly burnt and smoking rooms.
A few investigators milled about asking each of the guests pointed questions. They soon came to Selene seated at the back of an air ambulance, sipping a hot kahawa to calm her nerves. She was still processing the night’s events and remained mostly speechless while they tried to probe her memory of the night. Once they heard from the medics, the investigators concluded she’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time and was too frazzled to help any further. Eventually, they cleared Selene to leave.
She extracted herself from the melee, rushing into a fly-cab back to her hotel room.
There she lay on her bed for hours, pondering the high-octane events of the night.
Had she imagined the mysterious figure? Would anyone believe her if she told them she’d seen a man who’d turned into an otherworldly creature enter Prince Occaro’s study? Or that the burning silhouette had carried her out of harm’s way? If she told anyone, what level of sensation would her announcement cause, given her position in the Dunian government?
After much tossing and turning, she kept the strange encounter to herself.
Besides, not one of Rhesia’s investigators reached out to her again.
