Chapter 36 Lily
THIRTY-SIX
LILY
ONE MONTH LATER
My stomach fluttered as I stared in the mirror at myself. Though I’d already declared myself queen, today was my official coronation—and my wedding.
“You look beautiful.” Rose spoke to me from the corner of my room.
I barely registered her words. “How long have I got left?”
“Not long if you want to be married at the time of the eclipse,” Rose said.
I pushed out a deep breath. An eclipse was the most holy time, and it was important to have the blessing of both the Sun and the Moon, for them both to be present as Keane and I exchanged vows and took our places as King and Queen of Talador.
Nausea spun through me, and I wobbled on my feet. So much had happened in such a short time, and my happiness was now within my grasp.
“Sit down a moment.” Rose’s voice was edged with concern. “Are you feeling well?”
“Can you tell my world’s still spinning after defeating Riala?
” I pushed another pin in to hold my hair in place, conscious they’d all scatter to the floor later on as Keane released my careful construction.
I’d dismissed my maid to elsewhere in the castle, wanting my time with Rose to be undisturbed.
It had been a month since the battle for the throne, and Winton Castle had recovered quickly.
Occasionally, Iris looked a little haunted, like the ghost of a thought had crept into her mind, but then she shrugged it off and launched herself into more magic practice or whatever project captured her attention in that moment.
My other sisters coddled her incessantly and kept her busy, as did Dahlia and Garon.
I still felt guilt over killing her mother, but Iris had assured me many times that she didn’t blame me for what happened.
All of my suitors had recovered from their injuries too, except for Covack who had perished at Keane’s blade, and Hirth who had been killed during the attack.
With luck, my friendships with the remaining men would be the foundations for peace between our kingdoms, and I would only have Korelan to settle with.
Covack’s death was regrettable in that respect, but by far the bigger diplomatic disaster could have been Riala’s.
As it was, the High Queen of Korelan wasn’t happy about the death of her cousin, but she wasn’t making any moves to retaliate against me or Talador either.
I still planned to send Iris to fae school in Korelan. Riala had exposed the faults in Father’s ban on fae magic. Without our Sun and Moon-given gifts, we couldn’t defend ourselves. To deny our true selves made Talador weak.
“You should eat something,” Rose said. “You haven’t touched anything all morning.”
I glanced at the tray of food resting near us and nearly gagged, bile rising to my throat. I swallowed it and shook my head. “No, definitely not. The thought of food makes me sick. Along with the smell, for that matter.”
Rose’s eyebrows jumped. “When did you last have your monthly courses?”
“I… I can’t remember.” My head snapped toward her, and then dropped to her belly, which was just starting to show a faint curve. “Do you think…?”
“Yes, I do,” she said with a huge grin. “You have exactly the same symptoms I had. It seems my little one will soon have a cousin.”
I sank down into the chair before my dresser, my knees suddenly weak and the room spinning around me.
A baby…so soon? I already had so much to deal with as a new queen, and this would only make things more complicated.
Dozens of emotions ran through me, even as did the certainty that Rose was right—I was pregnant. And then all I could feel was joy.
Rose moved close and wrapped her arms around me, and we stared into the mirror at each other as we hugged. Then I laughed and touched my stomach, marveling at the miracle inside there.
“I can’t wait to tell Keane,” I said. “Although he’s going to be more protective than ever now.”
“I know all about that, trust me,” Rose said with a laugh.
We turned at a tap at my bedroom door. Dahlia stepped into my room, her face wreathed in smiles as she approached. “It is time for the Queen to make an appearance.”
Rose gave me a warm nod, and I stood, running my hands down my sparkling white gown. This was it. Somehow, with the new knowledge of my pregnancy, it seemed easier to do this—which made no sense, but there it was.
Dahlia held her arm out and I tucked my hand into her elbow for the short walk down the stairs and across the courtyard to the temple building.
This afternoon was a private moment for quiet celebration and reflection, while tomorrow would be a day for the entire kingdom to come together for a national celebration of their new king and queen.
The sun shone between the columns of the outdoor temple, bathing the spot where Keane and I were to stand in light. We’d be married as the moon crept across the sun, merging the two of them in a cosmic union as the Stars came out to bear witness.
I sucked in a breath as Garon stepped forward to lead me to my new life, taking me from Dahlia.
He smiled as I tucked my hand into his arm, and I gazed down the aisle to where Keane waited for me in his dress uniform.
The man who’d always guarded my life now guarded and held my heart.
Soon he would be a husband, a king…and a father.
A breeze drifted through the temple structure, wafting the perfume of the small white flowers, and the priest stepped out onto the raised dais.
Today wasn’t a day to feel the cold, and although frost clung to the trees and plants, Raith and Rose had created a bubble in which we felt nothing but soft warmth and joy.
As I moved beside Keane, the old priest bowed, his gold and silver robes rustling as the fabric shifted. Then he lifted his arms up to the sky, gesturing to where the Sun and the Moon met in an eclipse, and he began to recite his blessing over us.
I glanced at the crowd of people watching—my sisters were there of course, and also my suitors, the lords from the various kingdoms, who’d once hoped to be standing at my side during this ceremony. None of them seemed to hold it against me that I’d chosen Keane instead, luckily.
Keane touched his fingers against mine, his face lighting with love as I met his gaze. I couldn’t wait to tell him what I’d just learned about our future.
“The time has come for the exchange of ancestral rings,” the priest intoned, his voice solemn.
Keane lifted my hand, his expression a little more pinched as though this moment in particular made him nervous. “I gift you the ring of my mother, Alece of Talador, as a symbol of our marriage.”
He slid a plain silver ring onto my finger, a soft blue stone sparkling in the remaining sunlight. It was small, but it was beautiful and it was perfect. Unassuming and quietly confident, just like Keane.
I pressed his knuckles to my lips before I took the ring I’d selected from the priest. I could have chosen my father’s wedding ring, but that didn’t feel right somehow.
I’d let one of my other sisters use that for their own marriage when the time came.
Instead, I chose my mother’s father, who was also fae like her.
I looked up at Keane, meeting his gaze steadily as I spoke my words. “I gift you the ring of my grandfather, Fellinor of Korelan, as a symbol of our marriage.”
I pressed a silver ring carved with ancient runes foretelling happiness and long life into place on Keane’s finger, then kissed his knuckles again. He looked down at his hand and blinked before he met my gaze again, his eyes wet with emotion.
“Now clasp hands,” the priest said, and we did so as he spoke the final words of the ceremony that would unite us forever. “Blessed by the Sun and Moon, witnessed by the Stars, I hereby pronounce your union sacred and binding. May the celestials watch over you both for all your days.”
Warmth chased up my arm and washed through my body as Keane's fingers remained entwined with mine, each of us reluctant to let the other go.
“Now for the coronation.” The priest bade us both to sit on the chairs that Garon brought to the dais.
Anticipation shimmered through me at the thought of all the rules I planned to rectify and the laws I planned to change.
Magic was the first one. The second would be to make it easier for my sisters to choose who they wished to marry.
No more parades of suitors, unless they desired such a thing.
None of them would be forced to marry for the kingdom, or for anything other than love.
I was officially coronated with a delicate crown of twisted icicles made of glass and crystal, that sent out small raindrops of light every time I moved.
Most importantly, it didn’t hide my pointed ears—something I never planned to do again.
Keane received a similar crown, his icicles larger but his crown smaller, befitting the fact the royal blood in our marriage was mine.
I still had Mother’s crown as well, but it was nestled back in its silk-lined box in my bedroom.
Perhaps I would give it to our child, when the time came.
I glanced at Keane as he turned to me, and I held his gaze, unable to stop the smile on my lips.
“What is it?” he whispered.
I rested my hand on my stomach briefly and smiled even wider. Without words, he understood exactly what I was telling him, and he raised his eyebrows in a question. I nodded, and his mouth fell open in wonderment.
Breaking all the rules of propriety, Keane suddenly stood up and picked me up into his arms, then kissed me in front of everyone. The priest tut-tutted and muttered that he was still doing the ceremony, but the crowd around us cheered.
Happiness like I’d never known filled me, and in that moment, I was glad I’d broken some rules, allowing myself to practice magic and to go after the man I loved, no matter how forbidden both those things were.
I was already planning to break some more rules…
and then replace them with better ones. For my family. For my kingdom.
For love.
Thank you for reading KISS OF SNOW!