My head swam as the realization sunk deeper. They were gone with no sign of them anywhere. Even the guards were confused about how they could have been gone and where Sandra was.
Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe and I felt as if I was seeing everything through a tiny hole that was blurred. The walls were definitely moving closer. A flood of fear engulfed me and instantly my own knees buckled beneath me. I sank to the floor and leaned my back against the door, my hands pressed to my chest as if it was going to ease the pain.
“Regina!” a voice called out. It sounded like I was underwater and Harriet was a long way off from me, shouting and at the same time there was a humming that filled my head. And then I saw her and Emily running towards me, their faces depicting fear. But I had no heart to pay heed to them, no mind to comprehend anything over and beyond the monstrous fear that locked onto my chest.
I gasped for air; it was as if a steel collar had been fastened round my throat and the same applied to my chest. It was as if that collar kept tightening with each passing second. The breaths I took were forced, labored— I was gasping for air. My brain was dizzying, I saw my children’s faces – happy Charlotte and lively Reginald – and the worst, the idea that I might have lost them forever made everything worse.
“Help! Somebody, help!” Emily finally spoke and her voice was surprisingly loud and tense. There were instances when I could sense her touch on my back, and hear her becoming hysterical calling for help but the best I could do was just sit and watch everything happen in a blur. I was inside my own head, drowning in a sea of panic and inability to do anything.
Harriet knelt beside me; she looked deathly white and deeply shocked. “Regina, breathe." Her voice was calming and it got quiet for a brief moment. “Just breathe,” she choked out. “Help is coming.”
But help – it seemed – was a lifetime away, and the world began to grow more and more fuzzy and the colors dulled. But suddenly I got too scared to open my eyes and look around, too scared to search for something, anything that might return me to the real world.
Slowly, slowly the feeling of an iron clamp around my chest began to ease, and I could breathe in slightly more deeply. The noise which was as loud as a thunder stopped ringing in my ears, instead I heard the whispers of Harriet and Emily’s soothing words. I woke up with my eyes clear to find the both of them even hovering over me with relief and concern.
“Regina, are you okay?” Emily questioned, with the softest voice.
I could only muster a pathetic head nod which even though I was still in some kind of pain, deep down in my mind the fear was still reigning supreme. “My… my children,” I mustered up a voice that came hoarse.
Neither of them was given a chance to reply when the door opened and in walked Uncle Napoleon. Instantly I stopped breathing momentarily and I felt my face pale as I saw him embracing Reginald and Charlotte.
“Uncle,” I said in a very light whisper. My body stiffened with the feelings of relief and fear wrapped all in one.
Napoleon looked as if he didn't have a care in the world and he moved slowly towards us. "I am sorry Regina, for upsetting you and causing you all that anxiety. I had a nursery arranged for Reginald and Charlotte where they could play as much as they liked while you had to get on with your work at court. I went to see them there after court and expected you to come. I forgot I had not told you."
It took me a moment to grasp what he was saying because all my attention was on the children in his embrace. “Reginald… Charlotte…” I followed through and extended my hands, my hands nervously shaking.
Napoleon put them aside carefully and they crawled towards me, smiling as they remembered me. I wrapped them in my embrace huge and tight, feeling their heartbeat, their breathing.
Tears streamed down my face as I hugged them tight, my heart finally beginning to slow its frantic pace.
“They were safe the entire time,” Napoleon reassured, his voice soothing. “I thought it best that they have a place to play and be cared for while you are occupied.”
I nodded, still holding my children close. “Thank you, Uncle. I was so afraid…”
He had to put his hand on my shoulder and calm me down. "I understand your fear, Regina but know that they were never in any danger. They were just in another part of the palace. No harm can befall them within my palace. There is no need to panic."
When the fear subsided and I was left with my children in my arms, I thanked the moon goddess that my children had come back to me in one piece.
Harriet and Emily stood side by side, frowning but looking relieved. “Are you okay, Regina?” Harriet asked softly.
I slowly nodded my head. A small smile appeared on my lips as tears gently rolled down my cheeks. “Yes, I’m okay now. Thank you.”
"I am glad," Emily said softly, touching my arm. "And I am glad that they were just with father."
"The guards must have been switched after they were taken to the nursery," Harriet commented. "That's why they did not know the children were missing and did not also know Sandra was gone."
"I suppose so."
"Let me hold my niece," Harriet said, bending to my level to pick up Charlotte.
I turned to her and smiled. My cousins were the sweetest but the happenings of today had made me question my uncle's true intentions.