Page 97 of Ties of Starlight

And to Idonea’s surprise, most of them cheered.

She stepped forward, kneeling in front of him, the crowd’s energy rising as the coronation began. Nyrunn turned from them, taking the crown from Frode, who gave him a wide smile. She bowed her head, breathing deeply and savoring every second of new lifefilling her lungs.

“Lady Idonea, as my wife and consort, do you so pledge to serve Adastra faithfully beside me, ensuring justice and defending her people?”

“I do.”

The crown was settled on her wet hair, Nyrunn taking care to secure it, before he trailed his fingers down to her jaw and gently tilted it up.

“Rise, my love.”

She did so as Nyrunn gestured to the crowd. “People of Adastra, I give you your queen, Queen Idonea. Do you pledge your fealty to her as your ruler alongside King Nyrunn, whom you have already vowed your fealty to?”

The crowd answered, Lady Asa’s and Frode’s voices the loudest as they were the closest, “We do.”

Lady Asa immediately began clapping as the rest quickly joined her. Idonea turned to face Nyrunn, but her husband was already kissing her again.

When she pulled back, she whispered beneath the crowd’s noise, “Heavens, we actually made it. I can’t believe this is real.”

Nyrunn grinned. “All that's left is to go home and start living.”

Idonea looked up at him through her eyelashes. “I hear that's the hard part. I've never gotten this far.”

Nyrunn pressed a kiss to her hand. “Then, it's my honor and duty to embark on this with you.”

“I'm ready.” She nodded. “I'm ready to stop doing this alone.”

He crushed her to himself, and she buried her head against his heart. The weight of six lives that had been attached to her shoulders began to slip away with the comet crossing the sky. The pain, the loneliness, the obsessions all slowly faded as she focused on the heartbeat she would listen to every night for the rest of her one, last life.

As perfect an ending as she had always dreamed of, and with a husband she'd never imagined she could have. This life was better than what she would have chosen for herself.

She didn't need it to be perfect. Perfection was overrated anyway.

Especially when this imperfect love and imperfect life was all hers. Idonea's. Not Inga. Not Idunn. All that was left was just one life. Time to live it.

Epilogue

Idonea didn’t wear necklaces.

She didn’t like the weight of them. Even thin ones with tiny pendants.

It had been two years since she’d worn one. Instead, for birthdays or anniversaries, or even just because they had a ball coming up, Nyrunn always gave her earrings. She didn’t mind showing off her ears anymore.

She sat at her desk in their quarters, fingers idly playing with the edge of her long, dangling earring as she stared out the window that overlooked Novum.

The pages in front of her were completely blank as they had been for the last week since she’d determined to commit to such a project.

This whole project had been Nyrunn’s idea in the first place. Their first year of marriage—once they’d returned to Novum as king and queen, no longer the Cometa Couple—had been a whirlwind as Idonea had been immersed in lessons to equip her for her new role. She’d hardly breathed except for in Nyrunn’s arms at the end of the day when hewould tell her how impressed he was with her and how proud he was.

The emotional bond was long gone after they’d finished the ritual, but Idonea felt more connected to him than ever before.

Once her tutors had deemed her ready, they eased back on the lessons and began introducing some simple duties for her as queen consort.

It was something completely new. Idonea had never done anything quite like it before, and she couldn’t get enough of it.

The last two years had been unlike anything she’d experienced in all her lifetimes.

And now she was staring at a bunch of blank pages, one hand playing with her earrings and the other resting on the tiny swell of her stomach, a stack of journals and history books, including Bror’s account, on the ground beside her desk.

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