Chapter 212 CORONATION

Chapter 212 CORONATION
The girls, unfortunately, would not be here to witness this day with me the way I had once dreamed. War had scattered us like seeds across the realms, rooting us into duties and titles in each of our sects. They had grown into leaders and commanders, guardians of their people. And though the thought still ached, they had promised me they would be here before the night was over. We had spoken earlier this morning. I clung to that promise like a tether.
Sargis had left before dawn, dragged out by Lupercus, both of them bound by custom and tradition. It demanded we walk into the throne room separately, as if the gods themselves must witness us not as lovers but as sovereigns first. I missed him already, hence why I stood on the balcony long after my bath, wrapped in my robe, staring into the pale horizon reminiscing.
Avaline and Hasmik were supposed to come and dress me, and I waited for them like a child waits for the first light of a festival. I groaned inwardly when I picked up their chatter before they even reached the floor, the elevator carrying their voices upward like a silver bell. Without even seeing them, their excitement was palpable.
I sat before the great vanity, the polished glass catching my reflection in fractured light. The mirror showed me pale skin, tired eyes rimmed in shadows, and the faint scar where the third eye had once burned through. I counted the moments, timed the clatter of the elevator doors, and the brisk cadence of their steps, until the door swung open with all the force of a whirlwind.
"A wonderful and glorious morning to my gorgeous, amazing, and talented friend, soon-to-be-official Queen of Khragnir!" Hasmik sang.
She threw her arms wide as though the entire world were a stage and I her audience.
Avaline cackled behind her. I turned to face her, a grin breaking through my nerves.
"Good morning to my bestest and craziest friend, soon-to-be queen's right hand," I retorted.
She pressed a hand to her heart, swaying her body with mock drama, and I couldn't help the giggle that escaped me.
"All right, you two, cut it out," Avaline mumbled at last, though her lips curved into a warm smile. Then her gaze shifted to me. For a breath, the air thinned, and silence stretched between us.
"Good morning, my dear," she murmured as she stepped forward. Her arms wrapped around me with surprising gentleness for a woman made of iron and tradition. She smelled faintly of lavender and steel, and I leaned into it, closing my eyes for a moment.
"Good morning, Avaline," I whispered back.
Her hold tightened, and when she pulled back, her face shimmered with unshed tears. "Please," she mumbled. "Call me mother from now on, my child."
I froze, staring at her wide-eyed. For all the battles I had faced, all the fire and ruin I had walked through, nothing had prepared me for this. She... Avaline, the Alphamaja, the unyielding councilwoman whose tongue could cut marble, stood before me with tears softening her iron gaze.
A smile cracked through my shock, and I nodded, my own eyes stinging. " Okay, Mother," I whispered. The word was strange yet grounding as it left my lips.
Her tears broke then, glinting as they slipped down her cheeks. I reached up and brushed one away, my heart swelling.
She had been there all through the past four months, unwavering through every trial of training, every stumble, and every flare of the power I barely controlled. Stern, yes. Stubborn to her very bones, sharper even than Sargis at times. But she had been there, more receptive to me than I had ever expected.
And in this moment, more mine than I had ever dared hope.
"This is so cute, we need a picture of the moment!" Hasmik squealed before I could even respond. A flash went off, then another, and another. I groaned, but she was already grinning wickedly at her phone. "Too late. Several shots already secured. I'm sending them to the girls."
I shook my head, laughing despite myself.
"All right, no dilly-dallying," Avaline muttered, her voice brisk but not unkind. She began laying everything out on the long cedar vanity. "We need to get you ready."
They bracketed me, Hasmik to the left, and Avaline to the right, ike guardians. Their presence steadied me, even as the enormity of the day pressed against my ribs. Hasmik hummed under her breath as she dabbed foundation and blush, while Avaline's fingers worked through my hair with care, tugging, braiding, and twisting it into the regal style a queen of Khragnir was expected to bear. Her hands were firm, but gentle. Neither spoke much, as they focused completely on me.
When their work was done, they stepped back, granting me privacy. I slipped into the undergarments and the first silken layer I could manage alone.
And then, there it was.
The robe of state. The fabric caught the light in waves, and every embroidered emblem glinted as if alive. It was less a garment than a history, stitched with the legacy of kings and queens before me.
Avaline lifted the robe with both hands. The fabric spilled between her fingers like liquid shadow, its black-blue depths catching the firelight in soft waves. Hasmik hovered at her side, adjusting the trailing hems and steadying the folds so they wouldn't brush the floor before their time. Together, they guided it onto me.
When the robe settled into place, I gasped. The material was heavy enough to drag at my frame, yet it shimmered each time the firelight kissed it.
I turned toward the tall mirror.
For an instant, I didn't recognize the woman gazing back. She looked carved from midnight, her posture was lengthened by the robe's command, and her face transformed by Hasmik's careful strokes.
Avaline stepped forward and smoothed the collar flat against my throat. "You look... majestic," she breathed, the word carrying both awe and pride.
Behind her, Hasmik blinked hard, her lips trembling around a smile too full to contain. I caught her hand before her emotions could spill over, squeezing until I felt her pulse quicken against my palm. "Thank you," I whispered, my voice thick. "Both of you. For standing when everything else was falling. I would have broken without you."
"You didn't break," Hasmik retorted fiercely, shaking her head even as her lashes glittered with tears. "You led. That's why we're still here."
Avaline crossed to the ivory chest by the window and lifted the bouquet waiting there. Moonlit étoile blooms. The fragrance filled the room like water drawn from a midnight spring. She carried them back with reverence, then placed the bouquet into my hands.
The perfume rose, delicate and silvery, and with it came Sargis. His face unfurled in my mind's eye with startling clarity, the half-crooked grin he wore.
My lips curved into a helpless smile. I could almost hear his voice as I remembered what he told me before he left this morning.
"I'll be waiting for you, im sireli. To finally crown you as queen... and claim you in every sense of the word."
Soon... so soon, I would walk to him.
"The procession will begin soon," Avaline murmured, already fussing with the long train of my robe so it wouldn't snag.
Hasmik swiped a thumb across her cheek, laughed softly through her tears. "Let's make them see the queen you were always meant to be."
I drew a breath and nodded. "Let's go."
Avaline opened the carved doors, and sunlight spilled across the mosaic floor in molten bands. Trumpets pealed from somewhere down the hall, echoing against vaulted ceilings.
I shifted the bouquet, felt the robe drag and whisper behind me as we stepped into the elevator. Hasmik fell in at my left, Avaline gliding a pace ahead, the polished marble mirroring the tremor in my fingers. The entire ride to the ballroom was silent.
The elevator slid open, and we stepped into the grand mezzanine, and the world opened around me.
The ballroom was simply breathtaking. Silk banners, midnight blue and silver, were draped from the cornices. Petals of night-rose and pale aster had been strewn across the aisle, and a river of pale color led directly to the dais.
Hundreds of eyes turned in unison, the weight of their gaze landing on me like a mantle heavier than the robe on my shoulders.
And still, I walked slowly down the red carpet flowing down the staircase.
Sargis stood at the end of the aisle. He wore his ceremonial armor beneath an open mantle of midnight cloth, with a silver clasp at his collar catching the chandelier light. My heart stuttered as our eyes locked, and in that instant, he winked.
My heart fluttered, and warmth spread through my chest. With him at the end of this aisle, I could face anything.
The music changed into a slow-rolling harmony of lyre and drum.
Faces blurred into one another, vampire envoys cloaked in shadowed velvet, fae lords glittering with starlight pinned to their collars, the subtle flash of djinn sigils on bronze cuffs. Sprites shimmered in faint halos of gold-green, demons leaned back with calculating stares, and dragons coiled their luminous hair like woven flame. All the world's factions stood shoulder to shoulder, bound in uneasy truce beneath one roof.
And then, in that sea of strangers, I caught Levon, Ama, and Vargos. Their faces rose from memory like anchors from the deep. A pang speared me, sharp enough to rob my breath, but I could not linger. I let my gaze slide past.
The dais loomed closer, the steps ascending toward the throne were carved from black marble veined with silver. My pulse thundered.
My destiny waited there.
And so did he.
Sargis moved forward the moment I neared. He took the weight of my robe without flinching, guiding me the last few steps.
The press of his palm against mine steadied the quiver in my bones.
"You look absolutely breathtaking, my queen," he whispered.
I tilted my head, lips curving despite the storm around us. "You're not so bad yourself, my king," I teased back.
The herald's voice rang out, interrupting the moment. "By decree of the Lycan Council and the will of the united realms, we gather to witness the coronation of Narine, Luna of the Khragnir Court, sovereign queen and guardian of the pact." A low murmur rippled through the assembly, then silence fell again.