To Wed a Princess

Eloise first awoke with a clear head eleven days later. She remembered being awake at various points, being spoken at, patted, hugged and mumbling in response, but it all seemed to be a haze. She looked down at her legs and her breath caught in her throat. It had all been real.

“You're awake, your royal highness,” she looked up at the doctor who had spoken and gave a small nod.

“Can you speak, ma'am?”

“Yes,” her voice was raspy.

The doctor sat at the chair to her right and gave her a, what Eloise was sure was supposed to be, comforting smile.

“You're in London now. You were attacked by a great white shark. Your muscles...they were basically severed from the top of your knee up to your, erm, posterior,” she was clearly uncomfortable under Eloise's unflinching gaze “You underwent a five hour surgery involving around 2,000 stitches. Every muscle and tendon had to be sewed back together...but it was a success – alarmingly so, only around two inches of flesh held your leg to your torso when you were brought in.”

Eloise felt sick but gestured for her to continue.

“You were actually incredibly lucky it was a great white shark and not another species – the muscles were severed in a straight line. Most other sharks have more ragged teeth and the muscle would have been shredded. We monitored you closely for four days afterwards, looking for any signs of septicaemia...that was our main worry. However, it appears to be fine....Are you sure you'd like me to continue?”

Eloise nodded again.

“Your sciatic nerve was exposed in the wound – there were even impressions on it where the teeth had grazed it, this was our main worry. Had the shark severed that, you would have lost the use of your leg. You've had an incredibly bout of luck, ma'am.”

“What...How long have I been asleep?”

“Eleven days. We've kept you under the influence of morphine to subdue both mental and physical trauma. We began to lessen your dose last night. This is the first time you've been coherent. Your family have been here most of the time, but I thought you may like to be alone whilst I explained this to you....Do you have any questions?”

“Tell me about the scarring,” she murmured.

“The scarring...will be severe,” she sighed “It's clean for the most part, though.”

“Recovery?”

“I think it's best that you remain off your feet for as long as possible. You will have to use a wheelchair whilst the muscles heal, eventually you can make the transition to crutches...but it will be a slow process.”

“Thank you,” she nodded, still staring down at her legs, wrapped in a light blue blanket “Is....Is my assistant outside?”

“Y-yes, I think so,” the doctor gave her an odd look “Would you like me to send her in?”

“Yes, please. Thank you doctor,” Eloise couldn't bring herself to force any emotion into the words.

The doctor left and her assistant entered unsurely.

“I want a statement released,” she sighed dully, gaze not moving “I don't want any sharks to be harmed because of this – no idiotic revenge hunts, nothing. That shark had more right to be there than me. I want the yacht, surfboard, bikini and security footage destroyed – nobody will profit from this.”

Her assistant stared at her, dumbfounded.

“I also want Brian Haner brought to me.”

“Ma'am, your family is-”

“Brian Haner first.”

“He's outside, ma'am, I'll bring him in.”

Brian entered more casually than the assistant, but only took the chair at her bedside once the assistant had left.

“It seems I owe you my life, Mr Haner,” she sniffed, nodding in thanks as he helped her sit up.

“How are you feeling?” he asked softly.

“I accept your...proposal, for lack of a better term. If the offer is still valid,” she spoke monotonously, closing her eyes.

“You're not exactly in the right frame of mind,” he placed a hand on top of hers and she gave a humourless laugh.

“Who would realistically want me now?” she snorted, gesturing down to her legs “The princess who was mangled by a shark. I've gone from being one to be desired to one to be pitied. No, I have to spin this my way the best I can, whilst I can. I do have one condition, though.”

“...Okay.”

“When you cheat on me, do it discretely, for my dignity's sake at least.”

She drew in a deep breath and gripped the blankets. Just a few more minutes. She needed to hold it together just a little while longer.

“Spare me,” she breathed as he began to splutter a response “I wouldn't blame you. Just remember it goes both ways...If Cardona will still spare me a glance now that...”

She paused and gave a bitter laugh before shaking her head.

“We'll announce our 'relationship' in three weeks, our engagement in three months....and I want to meet your boss at some point. Is there anything you'd like to add to the deal?”

“We do our best to get along,” he shrugged quietly “Now that we're on the same page, ain't no reason we can't or shouldn't.”

She felt a lump in her throat and took a deep breath, nodding as she did so. She needed to get him out of there.

“Agreed,” she choked out, trying to shake off the dizziness that was threatening to consume her.

“Are you okay?” he asked unsurely.

“Just send my family in, would you?” she breathed, clamping her eyes shut and trying to ignore the feeling of the bandage wrapped tightly around her leg “They're probably angry that I asked for you before them.”

“Sure, no problem,” his voice was reluctant but she heard him get up and move towards the door anyway.

“And Brian?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. Seriously.”

The door had barely closed behind her when her brothers literally ran in, followed by the rest of her family – her father, Kate and her grandparents. Alarm hit her when she saw how pale they were – how many of their eyes were red-rimmed.

“Oh my God, El,” William breathed, pullng her into a bone-crushing hug.

That was all it took. She clung to her brother's t-shirt and began to sob.

“I want to go home,” she cried “To Windsor Castle. I need to get out of here.”

“They...they want to keep you in for the night,” her father admitted reluctantly, placing a hand on her shoulder “The second you're deemed fit to leave, you will, I promise. There's no reason they cannot care for you at home.”

The noise she gave at that could only best be described as a wail before she continued to sob, not noticing how William flinched and then only seemed to hug her closer.



Eloise found it difficult to stay awake for long periods of time. She also found it difficult to stave off the nausea. She'd thrown up a few times since waking up, unsure what her stomach was even trying to send up at that point. She'd eaten little since awakening and was fed via tubes whilst they kept her asleep beforehand. The only thing she found more difficult than staying awake was staying asleep. She'd be lying in the bed, eyes fluttering closed when suddenly it felt as though she wasn't in the bed anymore. The surface below her would begin to rock gently, as though bobbing up and down on waves....and then there would be a pressure on her leg. After barely drifting off to sleep, she'd shoot upwards, struggling to breathe.

It got to around 3am and this occurring four times before she accepted that she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. Eloise dragged the bedside tray over to her so that it hovered over her lap before opening her laptop. She avoided news websites – she wasn't quite ready for that just yet – and instead went to Youtube. What were those bands what Brian had recommended, again? The CDs were in a cabinet somewhere in her bedroom, quite forgotten about. After some pondering she remembered one – The 69 Eyes – the name had made her quirk an eyebrow at the time.

She scrolled through the results for a while before settling on one of their songs, Red and pulling the headphones over her ears, lying back. She was surprised at what she heard. Pleasantly surprised. Eloise hadn't expected much – probably some screaming, overly harsh guitar and an excess of vulgarity. There was none of that. It started off quite softly and got heavier, but she liked it, and the singer's deep voice was oddly comforting. It only took half an hour and a few more songs for her to decide she liked the band, even their heavier songs weren't too bad, although she knew she'd be able to appreciate them more at a different time.

That thought threw her out of the escape she'd managed to briefly find. She pushed the tray away and gave a long sigh, trying to fight off the lump forming in her throat. Her life was changed forever. It wasn't just the physical changes she was bothered about – and she was extremely bothered about them. No more short skirts, no more photo-shoots....her outfits would now have to revolve around hiding the scar. Hiding her maimed leg. She no longer sported the supposed best legs in Britain. This all bothered her. It more than bothered her, it devastated her. Eloise had never been shy about her vanity, but now she wasn't sure she had anything to be vain about any more. But no, there was more to it than that. It was the social changes. She would forever be known as the princess who was attacked by a shark.

She could practically picture it in any article written about her in the future - “Eloise, who was attacked by a shark in 2014”. She could picture the sympathy in people's eyes. She was no longer one to be desired, but one to be pitied. The princess would try her best to spin it in her favour, of course, and already she had plans formulating in the back of her mind – her marriage to Brian would aid this – but even so...it would never take the pity out of people's eyes or the questioning gazes towards her legs. Oh, how the press would kill to get a photograph of the scars. She hadn't even seen them yet, she was putting that off as long as she could, having looked in the opposite direction and sent everybody but the nurse from the room when the bandages were being changed.

Eloise buried her face into her pillow and began to cry for what felt like the hundredth time since she'd awoken.