Lucas.
“Afraid I have to steal the queen away from you,” he told the woman.
She replied, “You treat her well, now!” as we climbed into the waiting carriage. He shut the door.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey, yourself,” I said back.
It was the first time we’d been alone together in days. “You’re too far away,” he said. “Why is that?”
“Come over, then,” I said, patting the seat next to me.
He came over and sat down.
“Thanks,” I said.
“What for?”
I thought about how he’d slain all the insurgents on his own. How he’d been the one pushing to investigate the truth. How he’d helped me to believe in myself. But I just smiled. I was so happy.
He leaned closer and pulled me so that my legs were draped over his, and soon I was sitting on his lap, and there was no time to talk because we were too busy kissing.
***
When we arrivedback at the palace, Ayo and Jinky were already there, both dressed in brand-new white ensembles for the reception. “A lovely ceremony,” Ayo told me.
Jinky nodded emphatically. “It was perfect. Best ever.”
“Have you witnessed any other coronations?” Ayo teased. “You weren’t born when King Vivencio was crowned.”
“I don’t have to to know this is the best one. The most eventful, for sure.”
“They want you out on the balcony,” Nix said, as the crowd roared outside. “Come on.”
We went out to the balcony, all of us, including the Queen Mother. Nix was the most enthusiastic waver.
“I was pretty worried there for a minute,” I admitted to them all.
“I’m sure you were,” Elias said. “But we never doubted.”
***
Before the coronationreception, as I passed through the sitting room that would now be where I read official documents and received councilors, I told Jinky there was something I needed to do first. It couldn’t wait.
Now that I was officially queen, I wrote my first proclamation.
I, Mahalina Jazreel of the Court of Sirena, Queen of Biringan, hereby assert by royal decree: that henceforth, no human creature shall be retained in the realm, by means magical or otherwise, against their will, on fullest penalty of the law.
HRH Queen Mahalina Jazreel
I poured some wax from the candle and stamped my seal beneath my signature. While I waited for it to dry, I looked out the window, to the gardens, the rolling hills, the roads of my new home.Home.I was finally there. After eighteen years of running. This was where I would put down roots, continue one legacy, and begin a new one. I may have given up my human life, but I was ready to lead forever, as an encanto’s daughter.
Epilogue
A month afterthe coronation, when the celebrations finally wound down, I was having tea with Nix when Ayo walked in holding the silver mail tray. Nix came over every day after school to tell me the latest gossip. I hadn’t been back to BANA, now that I was queen. My education consisted of tutors and personalized readings relevant to Biringan history and law. Nix was my lifeline.
I hadn’t seen Lucas in a while, and I missed him. He had been called back to Sigbin, to rout any remaining insurgents there and across the kingdom. Alas, Elowina had had a number of followers around the realm, even in Sirena. The insurgents didn’t come from just one kingdom; they hailed from all over the realm. Elias had advised me to be merciful, and I was trying to be, even though I found it difficult. But I had to unite the kingdom somehow.
