Chapter 68 Hel deserves you

Chapter 68 Hel deserves you

My eldest brother set down his fork. "The council has been pressuring me for months. Ever since Father died, I've been ruling as Crown Prince, but I haven't formally taken the throne. They say it's time. They say Hel needs a king."

"And they're right," Maz added. "Eris has been putting it off for years. At first it was grief. Then it was 'waiting for the right time.' Then it was 'Nyx isn't here, I can't do it without Nyx.'"

"Maz," Eris warned.

"It's true. You have been stalling."

"I haven't been stalling. I've been... deliberating."

"For years."

"The right time is important."

I looked between my brothers. "When is the coronation?"

Eris hesitated. "In two days."

"Two days?"

"I was going to send you a letter. But your last letter seemed so happy, you and Cardan, the golden days. I didn't want to interrupt your happiness with a formal summons to Hel."

"Eris." I set down my fork. "You're my brother. You're about to become King of Hel. Of course I want to be there."

"I know. But..." 

"But nothing. I'm here now. I'm staying for the coronation."

Eris stared at me. "You're staying?"

"For the coronation. And... maybe a little longer. I need time to think. Time to clear my head." I met his eyes. "If that's all right."

"It's more than all right. It's..." He stopped. Swallowed. "It's what I hoped you'd say."

Maz grinned. "Excellent. Nyx is staying. Eris is finally getting crowned. Sybil, you'll get to see a proper Hel ceremony. It's very dramatic. Lots of shadows. Possibly some blood."

"Blood?" Sybil raised an eyebrow.

"Only a little. It's symbolic."

"Whose blood?"

"Don't worry about it."

\---

After breakfast, Eris suggested a walk through Nyxara.

"I thought you might want to see the city," he said. "The people have missed you. There's been... talk."

"Talk?"

"Rumors. About your marriage. About the Aurelian Court. Some of it has been unkind." His jaw tightened. "The people need to see their princess. They need to know you're still one of us."

"I am one of them. I've always been one of them."

"Then let's remind them."

We walked through the Obsidian Market together... Eris on my left, Maz on my right, Sybil trailing behind with an expression of scholarly curiosity. The city had changed little since I'd left. The bone-spires still clawed at the violet sky. The witch-fire lanterns still cast their amber glow across the cobblestone streets. The vendors still hawked their wares, shadow-silk and moon-pearls, dream-seeds and memory-crystals, all the strange and beautiful things that only Hel could produce.

But it was the people who made my heart ache.

They came out of their shops and homes when they saw me. At first it was a trickle, a duskling child pointing and tugging at her mother's sleeve, a Stone-Wight pausing in his work to bow. Then the trickle became a flood.

"Princess Nyx!"

"She's back! The Princess is back!"

"Your Highness! Your Highness, over here!"

They surrounded us, pressing close with eager faces and outstretched hands. An old spider-weaver presented me with a shawl of iridescent silk. A Nocturni baker pressed a basket of shadow-cakes into my arms. A young shifter with too many eyes and a nervous stammer offered me a crown woven from night-blooming flowers.

"We heard stories," the shifter said, his many eyes blinking rapidly. "About the golden court. They said you were unhappy. They said the golden king didn't want you."

"The golden king is my husband," I said gently. "And I am not unhappy."

"But you're here. You came home."

"I came home to see you all. And I'm glad to be here."

The crowd cheered. Someone started playing a bone-flute. Someone else began to sing, an old Hel ballad about the Morrigan bloodline, about shadows and dragons and my birth story. 

I stood in the center of the market, surrounded by my people, and felt something loosen in my chest. Something I had been holding tight for months.

These are my people, I thought. This is my home. No matter what happens in Aurelia, no matter what happens with Cardan, I will always have this.

Maz appeared at my elbow. "They love you, you know."

"I know."

"No, I mean really love you. You're not just their princess. You're their hope. The proof that Hel can produce something beautiful."

"I'm not beautiful. I'm terrifying."

"Same thing, in Hel."

I laughed and punched his arm. "You're ridiculous."

"I'm your favorite brother."

The celebration continued for hours. There was singing and dancing, food and wine, gifts pressed into my hands by people who had nothing to give but gave anyway. An old Stone-Wight carved my likeness into a piece of obsidian.  A group of shadow-weavers performed a dance that made the darkness come alive.

By the time we returned to the palace, I was exhausted but lighter. The weight on my chest had not disappeared, but it had shifted. It was no longer crushing me.

It was simply... there. A reminder of what waited for me in Aurelia. But not the only thing in my life.

That evening, Eris and I walked through the palace gardens.

The gardens of the Palace of Ten Thousand Shadows were not like the gardens in Aurelia. There were no golden flowers here. No manicured hedges or gilded fountains. Instead, there were paths of black stone winding through groves of phosphorescent fungi. Pools of liquid shadow that reflected the violet sky. Night-blooming flowers that opened only in complete darkness, their petals glowing with soft, internal light.

"I meant to tell you about the coronation sooner," Eris said. "I should have sent word."

"You were trying to protect me. I understand."

"Protecting you is my job. But so is being honest with you." He stopped walking and turned to face me. "The truth is, I've been putting off the coronation because I didn't want to do it. Father is gone. Mother has been missing. It never really felt right. I didn't think I deserved it.." He paused.

"But you do. Eris you would make the perfect King. You're the best of us." 

"No. It's you. You've always been the steady one, Nyx. The one who keeps us grounded. The one who reminds us who we are."

"I'm not steady. I'm a mess."

"But you're a mess who keeps going, no matter what." He took my hand. "You're the strongest person I know. And I'm glad you're here."

My eyes burned. "Eris..." 

"Don't cry. If you cry, I'll cry, and I'm supposed to be the stoic one."

"You're not stoic. You're emotionally repressed."

"That's the same thing."

I laughed and pulled him into a hug. The first hug from him since I got back home. His arms came around me, stiff and awkward, but he held on.

"I'm proud of you," I said. "You're going to be a great king."

"I hope so. Hel deserves a good king."

"Hel deserves you."

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