Kote bowed deeply to her, pride in his eyes when he looked at her. “Your Royal Majesty.”
He stood beside a table, guarding a plain metal case that had been hidden away in the crown jeweler’s vault since it was taken out of Amari during the Inferno. The tiara Eimarille had worn when she confronted Bernard—a gift from an Ashionen historical society—was now stored in the vault as well, unneeded for today’s ceremony.
Kote opened the box with a flourish, revealing a crown nestled against black velvet. Golden filigree and flowers were clustered along the band, golden spikes reminiscent of sunbeams rising from it. Diamonds of various sizes and colors were set within the filigree, the largest of which was a deep blue-green prominently set in the forefront of the crown.
She remembered her mother wearing this crown, as had all the rulers of Ashion. It was only fitting Eimarille carried on the tradition.
Innes stepped closer to the table, undoing the cravat around his throat. “I’ll carry it.”
Eimarille nodded and gestured at Kote and Terilyn to follow her out onto the grand balcony. As soon as the curtains were pulled aside by palace servants, a military band immediately started playing. The sound of brass horns and drums echoed through dozens of speakers set around the palace forecourt and down the boulevard.
Eimarille stepped outside to cheers that sounded like a roar in her ears. New Haven in summer bloomed with flowers and bunting hanging from gas lamps, city walls, and railings on buildings. Anything and everything that could carry a decoration was in use. She’d been told businesses had made a run on several printing presses in the last day or so, eager to put up signs of their support for her.
She liked to think their loyalty was true. The shock of Bernard’s death had been alleviated by Eimarille’s control over Daijal’s military and the support she carried with the population whose lives were written in the public genealogies that kept the records for the majority of Maricol’s children.
The nobles who might have pushed back against her claim to the throne had found themselves without the political power they’d held under Bernard’s rule. They could only fall in line, and what schemes they would have attempted to cultivate were poisoned at the roots by the presence of Blades who had shown up in their homes as extended guests.
Eimarille had many pieces in play, Maricol a world of opportunity, as it had been for their distant ancestors. She intended to cement her rule of it all, and today was the grand beginnings of that effort.
She went to stand at the center of the balcony, right in front of the voice amplifier that had been set up that morning. She lifted a hand to wave at her subjects, the cameras of the press stationed below in the forecourt going off like fireworks. Terilyn stood to her right, Lisandro in her arms. He, too, followed Eimarille’s lead and waved at the crowd.
“I was born in Ashion, but I stand here today as one of you,” Eimarille said, the noise of the crowd dying to a hush so they could hear her. “I have been your princess, and I will be your queen, for I am of the Rourke bloodline, and we have a duty to rule. The Twilight Star has ever guided me true, and he has led me here today to fulfill a promise owed to the citizens of Daijal.”
Her voice crackled through the speakers, echoing in the air, drowned out at the end by the crowd’s roar of agreement. Eimarille smiled, lifting her arm to wave once more, the diamond bracelets around her wrist sparkling in the summer sunlight.
“King Bernard broke his oaths to the star gods, and he was judged accordingly. His loyalty was to himself alone, not to you, and I saw that firsthand while growing up in the Daijal court. Here and now, I swear by the stars that I will perform my duty to ensure Daijal’s future and reunification with our sister country in the east.
“We two countries were once undivided, and I pledge all my efforts to guide us down a road that will see our eastern border once more meet the Eastern Spine. Daijal has always been my home, but so was Ashion once, and I promise I will live to serve you for all my days as queen of both,” Eimarille said.
The crowd roared and clapped their approval, the sound rising in a tangled gasp. Eimarille didn’t need to look behind her to know what had caught everyone’s attention—or rather, who.
The heat of starfire kissed the nape of her neck and back, a partner of warmth to the sun that shined above. Eimarille turned so she could face Innes as the Twilight Star stepped to the edge of the balcony.
The gold Viper constellation tattoo curved over his shoulders and pectorals, the lines incandescent with starfire. Streaks of fiery gold blood dripped down his chest in slow rivulets, molten like metal, never to be found running through human veins. Starfire curled around his hands and the crown he carried like a living thing, the heat of it a comfort.
There was no denying who and what he was—a star fallen to earth, meant to guide her true.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Eimarille could see the crowd lower themselves to their knees out of respect for the Twilight Star.
“Every ruler needs a crown, my child,” Innes said, his voice ringing through the air and the speakers for all to hear.
He offered the crown to her, and Eimarille took it, never flinching from the starfire that twisted around her hands and crawled up her arms. The crowd’s awed response echoed in her ears as she raised the crown above her before placing it on her head.
The metal dug into her skin and hair, heavy and warm, but she was otherwise unaffected. Starfire flickered over her vision, leaving colored spots to dance in front of her eyes in the aftermath, but it didn’t bother her. The faint tickle of flames cascaded down around her neck and shoulders like a veil, never burning her.
If she had been born anyone else, it would have.
The weight of the crown was negligible amidst the thunderous roar of approval from the crowd stretched out before her. Eimarille’s name fell like a prayer from countless mouths, and the title they gifted her rang in her ears like a blessing. Beside her, Terilyn slipped her hand into Eimarille’s, lacing their fingers together.
Queen Eimarille Rourke indeed.
Ten
EIMARILLE
High General Kote Akina came to attention in Eimarille’s brand-new office the morning after the coronation. His heels clicked together and shoulders went back in a tight line as he saluted her. “Your Royal Majesty.”
Eimarille inclined her head at a title still new enough that she savored the sound of it. “High General. I know we’re running on a tight schedule, but I promise not to keep you for very long.”
