And that led us here, to the first joint coronation in Selara’s history.
“Tonight, I am honored to wear the crown and fulfill the covenant once more, but I doubt it’s me you’re all here to see.”
There are some laughs but mostly cheers, with quite a few people shouting out that they love him.
“I have introduced you to her before, as your Champion of the Bow. The Hero of Selara. But today, I introduce you to her as my wife, your future God-Queen, Sylvie of House Verran!”
The applause is thunderous, the floors of the arena shaking with it. To them, I am a savior, the woman who defied her family and led their rightful ruler back to his throne. The woman whoshared with him the enormous burden of restoring the land, whose magic helped heal Selara and set right the wrongs of the past.
But even if I still doubt whether I’m worthy of it, I will accept the crown and the responsibility that comes with it. Because I love these people—the people in the royal box, and the people in the stands that I’ve never met.
And because I love him. Ronan, my golden God-King. My husband and the light of my life.
Wherever he goes, there I am.
The priest and priestess direct us to kneel before them. The priestess speaks first. “Your majesties, today we welcome you as children of the gods, to serve Selara in their name. Are you willing to take the oath?”
Ronan takes my hand, and we say together, “We are willing.”
Then the priest takes his turn, each of them alternating their parts of the oath. “Will you solemnly promise to govern the Kingdom of Selara and its Province Nithyria according to their laws and customs?”
“We will.”
“Will you uphold the laws of the land and bestow upon it the mercy of its King and Queen in all of your judgments?”
“We will.”
“Will you defend the church and uphold the sacred covenant that binds the kingdom and its people?”
“We will.”
The priest and priestess are offered a cup of oil, which they use to anoint our heads. “Be you anointed as was Queen Elissa by the first priests of our church, a daughter of Vayla. May the daughter of Vahlo and son of Vayla be blessed and anointed.”
Ronan and I look at each other, having just a few weeks ago met Queen Elissa and traveled to the very spot where her first temple stood.
We keep that to ourselves, along with most of what happened to us out there. It’s too strange for even us to understand, and we were there for all of it.
The priest and priestess take away the oil and return to us with crowns in their hands, both of them simple and delicate: his gold, mine silver.
“Vayla, we ask of you to sanctify this crown and, in doing so, restore to Ronan his royal majesty, crowning him in your name and favor and binding his life to this land forevermore.”
The priestess places the crown upon Ronan’s head, and the crowd roars in exultation. He smiles down privately before turning and meeting my eye, not wanting to miss a moment of the next part.
The priest steps forward and holds the crown of silver over my head. “Vahlo, we ask of you to sanctify this crown and, in doing so, grant to Sylvie her royal majesty, crowning her in your name and favor and binding her life to this land forevermore.”
And then the crown presses down into my hair. I breathe a sigh of relief. The weight of it isn’t as bad as I thought, not with Ronan here beside me.
I look back at him, and he’s smiling with so much pride and tenderness, a tear springs to my eye.
“Rise, God-King Ronan III and God-Queen Sylvie I, and may the gods save our King and Queen!”
Ronan and I stand and face the crowd, their triumphant cheers filling me with joy as they rain flowers down upon us, the wind swirling the petals around us and sweeping us into each other’s arms, where we fall into an embrace.
The cheer for our kiss is even bigger than the coronation, and as I break from it laughing, I look to see even Seth applauding.
We stand hand in hand for a long time, looking out at our kingdom, our people.
The home we’ve made together.
