Page 108 of Crownless King

She quickly put me into the gown of purple velvet so dark, it almost looked black. The top skirt was of sheer silver that made the dress shimmer like a starry sky on a cloudless night.

Brebie dried and styled my hair into a sweeping up-do and pinned a single precious barrette shaped like a crescent moon on the back of my head.

Once it was done, I stared at the elegant lady looking back at me from the mirror. The goal of my outfit was no longer to help me entice or seduce anyone but to convey status and power. I couldn’t say I didn’t like the change.

Alcon arrived to escort me to the council meeting room and gave me an approving look.

“You are magnificent, Your Majesty.”

“Don’t call me that.” I shook my head.

He met my words with a confident smirk. “But that’s what you are. I wish I’d known about your mark sooner. It’d explain a lot of the king’s behavior of late. I just never expected to see Voron in love.”

Despite everything, I still couldn’t believe that was the case. Voron never said he loved me, not once, not even when he was making love to me, his mind lost to lust and pleasure. How could sending me away have changed that?

We entered the council meeting room. Tall-backed armchairs lined the walls, but as comfy as they looked, no one was sitting in them. The councilors congregated in the middle of the room, passionately discussing the situation we all faced.

The discussion immediately ceased when Alcon and I entered.

“What isshedoing here?” A woman snapped impatiently.

The others stared at me with various degrees of curiosity and annoyance.

“Councilor Alcon, care to explain?” a man demanded with poorly disguised suspicion.

I couldn’t blame him. I was responsible for the death of the previous Sky King. And now, the new king had been shot the moment I showed up. At this point, even if they didn’t blame the assassination attempt on me, they surely believed me to be a bad omen.

“Lady Sparrow is King Voron’s bonded mate,” Alcon dropped this piece of info with a gleeful smile, clearly enjoying the shock springing to the councilors’ faces at his words.

“It’s impossible,” someone gasped.

“She’s a human,” another one pointed out. “It’s not so simple with them.”

Alcon tipped his head my way. “Show them, my lady.”

I nodded and slid the priceless fabric of my gown down my shoulder, then lowered my neckline to expose the mark for the fourth time in just two days. Queen Pavline’s breast-revealing dresses made perfect sense now. Leaving the mark on display all the time seemed rather practical to me at this point.

“Is it really there?” the councilors whispered among themselves. “It couldn’t be, though. How?”

They elbowed each other out of the way to take a better look at the golden mark gracing my skin. A man reached out to touch the letters on my breast, and I slapped his hand away. Honestly, I had to set boundaries here.

“It’s real, okay. See?” I rubbed over the lines with a finger to prove the mark was permanent. “It’s not painted on.”

“Lady Sparrow is the king’s bonded mate,” Alcon repeated loudly. “And as such, she wields the magic of Elaros. She’s the one who secured the palace against attack.”

Their expressions turned a little friendlier now. I adjusted my dress back in place as they all watched me in silence. I felt I should say something, to let them know I had no plans to encroach on their authority.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please forgive me for the interruption of your meeting. I’m not here to tell you how to do your job. Just because I love your king doesn’t mean I know how to run the kingdom or even the palace. But in King Voron’s absence, I do have control over the magic of Elaros. If you need me to use it, please let me know.”

They shifted, talking quietly among themselves.

A woman councilor cast a sideways glance at me. “As the king’s bonded mate, she should be able to tell if he was still alive.”

“I can,” I said quickly, touching the mark through my dress. “I can sense him.”

The councilors turned to me again.

“What’s happening with King Voron?” one of them asked.

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