Page 57 of Crownless King

“Ready to go, my lady?” Alcon offered me his arm.

I threaded my hand into the crook of his elbow with a smile. “Lead the way, my lord.”

We ascended the grand moving staircase. I remembered Voron taking me up here the first time. So much had happened since. We’d grown so much closer, yet somehow, I felt further away from him than ever.

The Throne Room on the very top of the Elaros Palace was filled with people. The highborn nobles congregated close to the wide platform with the royal throne on it between the four columns of twisted vines. The servants kept closer to the walls and the exit.

Alcon led me through the crowd toward the platform. The closer we got, the louder the whispers grew around me. The courtiers turned to look at me. Those who knew me from before explained to the newly arrived who I was.

“The former mistress…”

“The new favorite…”

Yes, I was both, depending on which king they were talking about, the last or the present one.

“She’s a human. So different…”

“So delightfully plain. Short and chubby, like a baby owl…”

“Is it because of her that the king refuses to marry?”

“No, it can’t be. She’s just a pet…”

I tugged on Alcon’s arm about halfway through the room. “Let’s stop here, please.”

I couldn’t move any further through all these whispers and scrutinizing looks.

“As you wish.” He stopped, remaining at my side.

Musicians soared under the high ceiling of the interwoven vines. Music filled the air.

The High Priest moved over to the platform, flanked by several priests and priestesses, each representing a different god or goddess of the many deities of the Sky Kingdom. Their robes shone in the multi-colored glow of the crystals, the light material flowing down their bodies like liquid gold. Longsnakanatails slithered from under the hem of several robes. They climbed up the first step of the platform and formed a line, shoulder to shoulder, facing the entrance.

A group of guards carried in the Sky Crown on a silver cushion. It’d been altered slightly. Voron didn’t make it any higher than it was, keeping it a simple circlet of golden thorns that intertwined together like Elaros’s vines. But he had made it a full circle now. There was no longer an opening at the back to accommodate the antlers of the former king.

The crowd parted like the sea as Voron entered. And I forgot how to breathe.

He was dressed in a dark-blue knee-length coat with a silver sash tied below his waist. Raven-black feathers decorated his wide shoulders and the high collar of the coat. For once, he didn’t have his sword, but a bejeweled sheath with a dagger was attached to the decorated belt that lay over his wide sash. His long, royal-blue cape glowed with silver constellations. It trailed behind him along the entire room, billowing in his wake like a night sky.

As he reached the throne dais, he bowed to the High Priest who held the Sky Crown in his outstretched hands.

Yanking at the cape to make it flutter aside and pool around the throne platform, Voron turned to face the court. His eyes roamed over the crowd as the High Priest recited all the blessings that supposedly came with the crown he was about to bestow on the new king.

Finally, the High Priest placed the crown on Voron’s head, atop his unruly hair.

“Long live the king!” the entire court shouted as the music surged higher.

Voron’s eyes sparked with triumph. He got what he wanted. A long time ago, the kingdom had discarded him, tossing him aside to die in oblivion. Now, they crowned him as their king, to rule them all.

My chest was full of pride for him, my heart soared. His gaze found me in the crowd, and his expression softened. A corner of his mouth twitched up slightly. It looked far from a smile, but I knew him well by now to recognize it as such.

The king smiled, looking at me. He’d played a long and complicated game for decades, and he had won. Now, he clearly wished to share this profound moment of his victory with me.

Our eyes connected across the sea of people. I smiled back at him, happy for him. The world fell away. Only the two of us appeared to remain in this enormous room, connected by the long stare of mutual understanding.

But the court was watching. They saw that at the moment of his greatest triumph, surrounded by a crowd of the finest courtiers and the highest nobility of the highborn, the king chose to turn to his lowly human “pet.”

When the time came for the High Lords to pledge their loyalty to the new monarch, High Lord Pelargos stepped forward.

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