“It has always accepted you, Skadi.” Eldirard offered a sad smile. “I suspect it kept you safe as a child. I am regretful to know how alone you have been in these walls, how misplaced you feel among your own people. But the richest power of elven lives in this land and it bows to you. As I now do.”
Cara drew in a sharp breath when the king lowered to one knee, holding up the circlet.
“Skadi of House Sannhet.”
I swallowed. He did not use Naganeen, he used the house of my birth. I kept my body stiff, unmoving, in truth, I wasn’t certain what I ought to do.
Eldirard lifted his eyes. “I crown you as my heir of Natthaven. Your alliance with royal lines has secured your inheritance and was acceptedby this land.” On the sharpest point of the crown, the king pricked one finger, spilling a drop of his blood down the point. “Willingly given, my blood is yours, as is this throne. None may take it from you. Claim your birthright.”
My palms trembled, but I took the circlet from his hold. The king did not rise as I placed it atop my head. A hiss slid through my teeth when the bronze touched my brow.
“No, leave it.” Eldirard held up his hands before I could take the circlet away. “It aches for only a moment. It is a brand, should anyone take into question if you are to be the queen here, the brand will show through and there will be no doubt.”
In this moment, I realized how little I had tried to learn about stepping into the throne.
Vague memories during lessons talked of the royal brand, but I never asked. I never asked much at all, too intent on being obedient and not a bother.
Eldirard rose to his feet, hands outstretched. “May I?”
He towered over me, so it was no trouble to pluck the crown from my head. The king gestured to the mirror. Cara had her hands in front of her mouth when I bent to see my reflection.
There, shimmering across my brow was a constellation of stars, almost shaped like a dainty crown. I could not look away as the silver glimmer faded into my skin, hidden beneath the surface. I touched the place, but there was no irritation, nothing to hint it was even there.
“You are my heir, Skadi.” Eldirard said. “No alliance with the Ljosalfar is needed. The man you have come to choose, the life you have chosen, it is more than enough to secure your position here.”
Emotion knotted in my chest. I looked back at the king. “You will allow me to return to Jonas?”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation. “I have failed you time and again, but I will not fail you now.”
“I don’t forgive you, not for my mother and father, not for taking me from my husband, the life we had here will never be what it was. But . . . I am grateful for what you have done in this moment.”
Eldirard nodded. He opened an arm to the door. “Come. We’ll getthe key to those wretched things on your wrists and return you to your folk.”
“What of Gerard and Arion?”
“I will handle their tantrums.” Eldirard did not walk in front of me now. He strode down the corridors shoulder to shoulder, as equals. “They will be disgruntled but will need to make their own alliances elsewhere. The fae lands are too vast, so they will not try to stand against them without the Dokkalfar.”
A glimmer of hope took root. I would be with Jonas soon, and as the crowned heir, I could banish Arion from ever stepping foot on this damn isle again.
Ljosalfar guards remained in the throne room where their king and crowned prince sat at a simple meal arranged on the center table. I did not notice any Dokkalfar, but had little time to be discomfited before Gerard drew our attention.
“Ah.” Gerard lifted a drinking horn in a greeting. “Is she feeling better now?”
“I believe amends have been made and Skadi knows her place.”
“Good.” Arion tipped his own horn back. “We’ll do swift vows. I want it done with no more delays.”
“That won’t be possible,” said Eldirard. “The future queen is already vowed with House Eriksson.”
Air grew cold when both Gerard and Arion lifted their luminescent gazes to the Dokkalfar king. Slowly, Gerard rose from his seat. “I grow tired of your hesitations.”
“There is no hesitation.” Eldirard lifted his chin. “I have chosen to stand by the alliance, as I agreed in the beginning. Peace can remain with the Ljosalfar and Dokkalfar. Should it, then you will have powerful allies with fae folk, Gerard.”
The Ljosalfar king swiped his hand over the table, clattering his horn to the ground. “I do not want allies, you old fool. I want our people to sit at the head of all the lands as they once did.”
“What’s done is done.”
“Undo it,” Arion bit out. “You are the king.”
