CHAPTER EIGHT
I strode into the chapel with Ari on one arm and Lao hanging off my other.
The crowd parted before me, gasping and muttering as they realized that yes, the Blood Duchess appeared to have shown up at the coronation escorted by two prostitutes and dressed like one herself.
Shocked whispers followed us down the aisle.
But who cared? If I’d understood one thing over the past day, it was that my reputation as duchess had already hit rock bottom.
I had nothing left to lose. At the very least, I wanted to make Falael taste a fraction of my own pain from all those years ago when he ran off with my former best friend.
Since this was a royal church, each pew had cushions with armrests between them.
A dozen pillars ran down the walls, supporting the domed golden ceiling.
The seats toward the front became wider and were decorated with gemstones.
The front row held a series of thrones, placed on a lower level so they didn’t block the view of those behind them.
The Head Cardinal already stood at a golden podium.
The giant stained-glass window behind him showed Holy Maiden Ava ascending to heaven.
The archway above the stage was decorated with detailed paintings of past saints’ deeds.
Three golden chandeliers lit the room. A dizzying amount of gold gleamed from the statues and decorations around the church.
The room smelled like smoke from the candles, and a large number of people in heavy clothing pressed close together.
The princess and Donya were already on the stage, but I refused to look in that direction.
Donya was going to be furious, but that was a problem for future Bora.
Princess Antonia waved at me before the Head Cardinal jerked her away and covered her eyes.
The front row had one seat still empty. Falael sat to the right of what must be my seat. He looked up with a smile. “You’re here! I brought you a present—” The smile faded as he saw the two men next to me.
“We’re here.” With a malicious smile on my lips, I leaned my head against Lao’s shoulder and tugged Ari’s arm closer.
“I believe you’re sitting in my seat.” Ari fixed Falael with a glare so intense he leapt up without a thought. I wasn’t even the one being glared at, and I was sweating.
“Allow me, Your Grace,” Lao said, helping me step up to the throne in my wobbly high heels. He glanced at Falael with a bored expression. “Oh, you’re still here? Aren’t you too old for this line of work? I see a gray hair.”
Falael turned bright red. I was going to give Lao yet another raise.
“There are only two seats. I guess I’ll have to sit here.” With a wicked grin, Ari planted himself on my lap.
The crowd gasped audibly. Everyone was staring at me.
I felt my cheeks heat. Ari was entirely too close, pine cologne drifting off his neck.
I feared that I must be sweating so hard everyone could smell it.
Thinking about it made it worse. From the podium, the Head Cardinal glared at me exactly like the priest from my village.
That look had featured in my childhood nightmares. Maybe this was a step too far.
Ari gave my arm a small squeeze. It brought me back to myself. I couldn’t back down now, not in front of Falael.
“Why, thank you,” I cooed, putting my arms around Ari. Crap, was I touching his chest? I might be, but I’d gone too far to back down.
“Don’t leave me out!” Lao spoke in a coquettish voice unlike the one he’d used during our interview.
He draped himself over the arm of my throne.
“You look tense, Your Grace.” Nimbly, he massaged my shoulders.
“It must be the stress of looking at that ugly thing.” He cast the shaking Falael a look of pure disdain.
“I don’t know why you kept him around this long …
pity? What’s his name again? Falafel, like the street food?
Oh, now I remember him! His family has been a constant supply of clients for me. ” He winked.
At that precise moment, Falael recognized Lao as the prostitute who’d slept his way through all his immediate female relatives—and now finished by stealing his lover.
Falael’s expression was beautiful. His eyes widened, his mouth tensed, then his entire face turned purple.
I would have liked to remove that moment from time and keep it in a scrapbook.
I was going to make Lao rich. I’d let him take his pick of the duchess’s jewelry. It wasn’t like it was mine anyway.
With a strangled gasp, Falael fled the chapel.
Lao unfolded a blue fan and started fanning me. “Ugh, someone needs to chase the stench of him away.”
Head Cardinal Augustin silenced the whispers and gossip with the sheer force of his presence.
His voice cut through the air like a blade.
“We’re here today for an important moment in history.
” Then he launched into a long lecture that got off topic several times to discuss his real passion: laws to protect farm livestock from animal cruelty.
Princess Antonia’s eyes were clearly drifting shut.
I spent the entire sermon trying very hard to keep my expression stern.
Both Lao and Ari were pressed close to me, an interesting sensation, especially for someone who hadn’t gotten any recently.
It was Ari I felt hyper-aware of … maybe because he’d be the one I’d have to face after this?
Or maybe because he had that irresistible grin and flashing dimples I’d noticed from the moment I’d laid eyes on him?
Every time he brushed me, it gave me goose bumps.
Outside the church, Falael wailed so loudly that he shook the chandeliers: “I’ve been greatly wronged! My love has been trampled upon! My pure heart!”
Cardinal Augustin glared harder, but even his deadly gaze couldn’t penetrate walls.
He spoke more loudly, finally wrapping up with an admonishment about royal duty for the princess.
When he looked at her, she straightened and opened her eyes wide.
That had been shorter than most sermons.
In all fairness, we hadn’t given the Head Cardinal much time to prepare his speech.
Donya draped Antonia with the purple Robe of Royalty, which looked like a blanket on her short frame.
Then she helped the princess climb into the stone Coronation Throne.
It was a solemn moment, and everyone in the room went quiet.
Unfortunately, that made Falael’s wailing sound even louder.
I would have felt guilty toward the princess for ruining her big moment, except she was giggling.
I suspected she hadn’t liked Falael much, just like most people with the misfortune of knowing him.
Next, the Head Cardinal anointed the princess using a silver chalice of holy water.
A choir in the back started singing, finally drowning out Falael’s crying.
Cardinal Augustin presented Antonia with the coronation regalia: an orb, scepter, sword, shield, and too much jewelry for one person to wear.
Then Donya took them away before they crushed the princess with their weight.
Finally, he handed her a written oath. By then, luckily the crying had stopped so she could be heard.
She read it out loud, then signed her name at the bottom.
When called upon, I read the oath of regent. No one asked me to stand up, which was probably for the best because my leg had gone to sleep.
Turning to the crowd, Cardinal Augustin bellowed, “The Sun God blesses the new queen!”
The crowd screamed the traditional response: “May the queen remain true to her oaths, and we will remain true to ours!” I missed my chance to shout, but I mouthed along.
Finally, a crown was placed on Princess Antonia’s head, and she became Queen Antonia.
The spiked golden crown was clearly too large for her, so it had been heavily padded with an entire new layer of fur.
The tips were razor sharp—legend had it a few past kings had used this crown as a weapon.
Antonia looked pale and tired. I tried to smile at her, but the Head Cardinal continued to cover her eyes whenever she glanced in my direction, which was probably for the best.
At this point, everyone was supposed to come up to the stage, swear allegiance, and kiss Antonia’s hand.
Typically there would be a royal parade and a huge ball afterward, but I’d heard it had been canceled for lack of time and money.
The new monarch usually gave a speech, but fortunately no one expected that from six-year-old Antonia.
I tried to stand, but by then both my legs had pins and needles.
Ari supported me as I wobbled. As the new royal regent, I had to go first. I kneeled down.
Cardinal Augustin firmly had his hands over Antonia’s eyes.
Squirming, she complained, “I’ve seen the duchess and her horrible boy toy do all sorts of gross stuff in front of me. ”
“That word is not appropriate for you to speak, Your Majesty,” the Head Cardinal said sternly.
“What word? Toy?” Antonia pouted. “Toy isn’t a bad word!”
Cardinal Augustin had very expressive eyes, and they told me to get my vow over with quickly and then get out of here. I obeyed. A long line of nobles waited to give their own vows. After I stepped off the stage, Ari and Lao fell in step beside me.
Outside the chapel, Falael knelt in front of the door. “So cruel! You can’t treat me like this!” he wailed, grabbing my feet. “How could you claim that you loved me, then humiliate me in public?”