“My Princess,” Parlender said softly. “Do you give your free and willing consent to marriage with Prince Zared?”
She smiled, and felt the pressure of Zared’s grip increase in response. “I do hereby give my consent freely and willingly,” she said clearly, “and gladly and unhesitatingly.”
Parlender spoke the vows for her to repeat, but now Leagh was hardly aware even of him. All existence was centred about Zared’s smile, and the warmth and pressure of his hands.
And it was done. The crowds, inside the chamber and outside in the street, cheered and yelled. Music swelled, Zared bent down to kiss her, and now Leagh knew she dared have no doubts at all, for there was no undoing their marriage.
To her surprise, Zared hurried her with almost indecent haste from the Chamber of the Moons to their prepared apartments, where he proceeded to bed her.
“Why?” she gasped as he drew her into his embrace, slipping his hands down to worry at the tiny hooks of her gown.
“Why not? It is two weeks at least since we have bedded, and I hunger for my wife.”
“But this afternoon is the crowning, and I will wear this same gown, and I will have to bathe and dress all over again, and -”
“Oh, do be quiet, Leagh,” and he slid the fine gown from her shoulders and she gave in to his persistence.
Perhaps there was some final legal point that stated a consort crowned beside her husband had to be a formally bedded consort.
Whatever, she spoke no more, and wrapped her now-bare arms about her husband as he slid the rest of her clothes into a puddle about her ankles.
They lay for an hour only, and then servants hurried into their chamber – causing Leagh to blush as they discovered her naked – and began to wash and dress man and wife for the crowning. Abandoned clothes were snatched from the floor, and hurriedly cleaned and pressed. Hair was brushed and dressed, maids re-powdered and rouged Leagh’s face, man-servants shaved and scented Zared’s cheeks and chin.
And so they walked in stately procession back to the Chamber of the Moons.
There a somewhat attenuated crowning took place. In previous years, the Brother-Leader of the Seneschal would have crowned the heir, but the Seneschal and the Brother-Leader were no more. There was no other official with the same stature – neither the Lord Mayor nor the Master of the Guilds was appropriate.
So in the end it was Theod, Duke of Aldeni, as highest-ranked nobleman present, who lowered the golden circlet on Zared’s head, and slipped the amethyst ring of office onto his finger.
And then he dropped to one knee, and bowed his head. “Long live the King!” he cried, and the cry was taken up in the Chamber, as in the streets where again, it seemed, the sixty thousand had gathered to welcome in their monarch.
Then Zared lowered the lesser circlet on to Leagh’s brow. She opened her eyes wide as it settled; it felt cold, and unusually heavy.
The responsibilities of Queen, she thought, and then the thought was driven from her head as the air again rang with the jubilation of the crowds.
“Long live the Queen!”
Oh gods, she thought, what have I done? I have just participated in a ritual that has wiped my brother from his position as Prince of the West!
She’d never thought about that before. What had she done?
Then, as in ancient ceremony, the nobles present came forward to pledge to their king their homage and fealty. Theod first, and then Herme. Baron Marrat of Romsdale was noticeably absent, but several other minor nobles presented themselves. The guild and craft masters again promised their allegiance, and the same procession of people who the day previously had confessed their loyalty now bent before Zared once again.
After the seemingly endless procession had ended, Zared took Leagh’s hand and led her to a balcony where they received the acclaim of the Carlonese.
The swell of joy and sound almost overwhelmed Leagh. Zared smiled and waved, but for some minutes all Leagh could do was stand and stare. Thousands – tens of thousands – stood and cheered, their joy was patently unfeigned and unpurchased.
He was right to chastise me for not walking about the streets of my own city, she thought, for I never knew they hungered this much for their lost king.
Leagh raised her hand and waved, and gradually came to distinguish individual voices among the general hubbub.
“My Lady Queen,” an old woman cried out directly below her. “Rule wisely and well!”
“An Acharite King and a Queen – at last!” another cried.
“A cheer for the King and his Queen,” shouted yet someone else, and the wave of sound swelled into meaningless noise and almost overwhelmed Leagh.
She swayed, and felt Zared slide his arm about her waist and support her against his own body. “It’s what they want,” he whispered. “If it hadn’t been their desire, then I would not have dreamed of claiming my right.”
He kissed her, delighting the crowd, and then Leagh felt a hand on her shoulder.
Whose? she wondered, for Zared had both his clasped about her waist.
And so she raised her head, and looked, and cried aloud with fright.
Axis SunSoar stood behind them, a hand on each of their shoulders.
The crowd screamed, loving it – there was the StarMan! Even the Star Gods blessed the marriage and the crowning!
But Leagh was much, much closer to Axis, and from the expression on his face she wondered that he did not tumble them to their deaths in the crowd below.
Zared stiffened. “What do you here, brother? Have you come to impart your best wishes?”
“Inside!” Axis hissed, and his hands tightened to the point of pain.
Leagh glanced at Zared; his face was white with anger. Without a word they walked back into the Chamber of the Moons.
“Out!” Axis shouted into the crowded chamber, his entire power as God of Song behind his voice, and the chamber emptied within moments.
“You are stupid beyond belief!” Axis seethed, turning back to face Zared and Leagh. “Zared, how could you do this? How could you betray all that I had worked to achieve? How -”
“How could you betray your mother’s people as you did?” Zared shot back.
Leagh looked between the two men, both furiously angry, and retreated a step.
“I always knew you would betray me,” Axis said, quietly now. “Knew it from the moment I heard Rivkah was pregnant again. You have inherited your father’s ‘loyalty’, Zared. Magariz was ever willing to swap masters for expediency’s sake -”
“He followed where his heart told him, Axis. I but do the same!”
“The Kings of Achar deserve to lie forgotten!” “Not according to the Acharites.” “Then damn them! Is all I did in vain? Did I not fight Borneheld to the death in this very chamber,” Axis’ arm swept in a violent arc, “to save this country and all its peoples from utter destruction? Damn you, Zared, am I always to be troubled by disloyal brothers?”
“You were ever prepared to fight for what you thought was right, Axis. I am only doing the same. I claim my rightful heritage back from your destruction of it.”
“You will send – have sent – men to the grave to do it!”
“How many men did you send to the grave in the pursuit of your dream, Axis?”
“You will tear this country apart again, Zared! What will you demand next? The resurrection of the Seneschal?”
Zared’s temper finally broke. He buried his fist in the front of Axis’ tunic and hauled him close. “You are my brother, Axis, not my god! Go strut your fine-sounding phrases and ideals with your immortal companions, but do not tell me what is best for the Acharite people because I don’t believe you have any bloody idea!”
Axis grabbed at Zared’s arm, staring fiercely at him, but before he could speak Leagh stepped forward and spoke calmly.
“My husband speaks wisely, if intemperately, Axis. Can you not hear the cry of the crowd? They believe they need their king as much as the Icarü their Talon, or the Avar their Mage-King.”
“And it is plain to see, Leagh,” Axis said, his eyes not leaving Zared’s face, “that you have not inherited the loyalty of your father. Belial was ever a true friend to me. I had expected the same of you.”
He finally tore himself free from Zared and faced Leagh. “Do you not care that your brother lies crippled due to the actions of your husband?”
“Askam?” Leagh’s face was stricken. “Crippled? Zared, what does he say? What does he mean?”
Axis answered. “Lady, do you not know that Zared caused the death of thousands at Kastaleon? Do you not know that men burned for his ambition? Caelum and Askam were caught in that conflagration. They barely survived.”