Chapter 124

Several weeks later

Dresses had always marked important moments in my life and this one was no different. I stood in the waiting room of the grand nave of Khean, wearing a small fortune of red silk fashioned into a tightly corseted gown with a several foot long train. I'd been prepared to wear a potato sack to get the coronation done, to finally formalise a situation we'd been working hard to convince people of for weeks, but my mates were insistent. This was when I became Queen of Khean and I had to look like one if I was to wear the antlered crown on my head. Several maids stepped forward with a velvet robe trimmed in ermine and then clipped it to my shoulders before stepping away.

"Oh Jessalyn…" Fern sighed. "You look a picture."

I took in Fern's beautiful soft green dress. Her hands were always moving, wanting to pluck at the ornamentation, to tug the bodice up and down, so I stepped in and took her hands in mine.

"As do you, Lady Fern."

I performed a low curtsey which just had her chuckling, right before she started fussing at the state of my train.

"Lady… I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with people bowing and scraping around me. My mates are already growling at everyone left and right."

I watched her cheeks flush bright red. She'd only just accepted her mates' suit, and I would say mated life agreed with her. I knew exactly how she felt. Except for this strange feeling low in my belly, I felt radiant. We both moved towards the full length mirror to make sure we were actually radiant in person as well as in spirit.

"Oh goodness!" The doors to my changing room were flung open and Roan's sisters and their mother came in a great flurry, but they stopped as soon as they saw us. "Your Majesty…" His mother rushed over then took my hands. "You look a picture."

"You look beautiful yourself, Majorie," I replied. "Was my seamstress satisfactory?"

"Satisfactory?" Desi wriggled, trying to find a way to breathe in her corset and failed. "She knows how to make a beautiful dress, that's for certain, but can breathing and beauty occupy the same space? Surely they can."

"It's just until the coronation is over," I told her, reaching up and tweaking the red wig she now wore, making sure it sat straight. "Then you can toss the blasted thing aside."

"Oh, I couldn't." She looked around as if people would come bleeding through the walls to observe us. "The shame…"

"I will if you will," I said with a smile. "I'll toss mine in the fire once it's done if you like. Perhaps we will set a new trend for corset burning at court?"

That set everyone giggling, but before we could discuss anything further, there was a sharp knock at the door. I expected it to be Roan standing there, ready to escort me down the aisle and towards the high priest, but instead we had other visitors, and I went very still at the sight of them.

"Mother…? Grandmother…?"

"Well, I do like this dress," Grandmother said, planting her cane into the ground, then sallying forth. "White always washed you out, but red…" She nodded slowly. "Yes, yes, this suits you very well, don't you think, Alyce?"

Mother nodded, but couldn't seem to say much more, and I knew why. The tension in her jaw, in her lips, I knew it well. Her eyes were too wide, as if by tensing them too, she could stop herself from crying. Tears shone like jewels, but one slipped free, the shock of that breaking whatever spell she was under. I rushed towards her just as she did me, our hands gripping each other's before I did something that would have had my maids in fits and hugged her close.

"Mother—"

"You survived! Of course, you did. My daughter brought down the Beast of Khean. Clever girl!"

"I wish I could say it was because of my cleverness, but…" As I pulled back, Selene slipped into the room from a door inset into the walls that I hadn't noticed before. "I fear my input was rather minimal."

"So ensure it isn't now." Grandmother raised her chin, and I found myself doing the same, our gazes locking. "You have an opportunity here, Granddaughter. You've been elevated to a position farther above any other woman in the continent." Her brow wrinkled. "Apart from those harpies in the south. So, what're you going to do with this power?"

Selene smiled as I scanned the room, staring into the eyes of each woman. What they needed was dizzying.

Roan's mother and sisters needed more resources: food, money, water, but more than a handout. They needed equitable opportunities to get them themselves.

Selene needed everyone to get the hell out of her way. She knew exactly what to do and how she wanted it done. She was more than qualified to run The Guild, but people needed to see past her gender to realise that.

Fern needed to keep her mates, to be able to raise her children together with their fathers. My hand slid low, something every woman noticed, with eyes widening, hands going to their mouths as they decided what that meant. I didn't know officially if I was pregnant, but a woman knows these things.

What would my daughter need when she was born?

Safety, security, people judging her for her actions, not her gender. The freedom to be a woman without her strengths or weaknesses held against her. She needed to be safe, most of all. My nails snagged on the silk as I considered everything that had happened under Magnus' rule. I sucked in a breath, ready to say just that when the door opened.

"Ooh, he does scrub up nice," Verity said as Roan walked in the door. His red hair was scraped back from his face into a neat queue, and he'd been dressed in formalwear that sported a lot of gold embroidery.

"I look bloody stupid," came his grumpy reply. He tugged at his collar, threatening to unbutton it until I stepped forward.

"This is a frock coat fit for a royal consort," I replied, smoothing my hands across his shoulders. "And it makes you look very big and strong."

"Jessalyn…"

The twinkle of those amber eyes told me he knew exactly what I was doing.

"Your Majesty, surely," I replied with a smile, "and as your queen, I am sorry, but I must command you to leave your poor coat alone and just look majestic by my side. You represent your people in this ceremony."

"Speaking of which, I'm to escort you down the aisle," he said, offering me his arm. "You're queen of my heart, but now… you become queen in reality."

"Now?" Fern squeaked. "All right, hold the train and match your steps to the queen. Hold the train and match her steps."

"You'll be fine," Majorie said. "We've got the easy job…"

And I had the hard one.

Trumpets blared the moment I stepped onto the thick red carpet, and the entire congregation stood up and turned to see me approach.

"You're fine," Arik said, stepping in closer and taking my other arm, tucking it in his. "Everything is fine."

"Except I thought we agreed I'd take Jessalyn's arm and you'd walk out front, symbolising the passing of power from the Bastard Prince to his queen," Silas muttered.

"Change of plan," Arik hissed as we stepped forward. I was focused on staying straight-back and regal while they bickered. "You bring up the rear, see who's talking behind their hands about this."

"People are talking about me?" I whispered fiercely.

"If they are, they won't be for long." Creed's growl had my steps faltering and that meant everyone fell out of step slightly. There was a little twitter of consternation from my ladies-in-waiting before I realised I need to lead in earnest here. Arik's decision to make me queen turned out to be a good one and a legal one, so all of the dissenters were forced to shut up, but that only gave me the opportunity to take power, not wield it.

That's when everything I'd learned at my mother and grandmother's knee came back to me. If you appeared calm and in control, people rarely looked beyond that for the truth. I'd been doing that in the weeks since Arik announced my status as Queen Regent to the war council and court, so that's what I needed to do now.

But not alone.

I gripped Arik and Roan's arms way too tightly, but there was a comfort in that. No matter what happened, they would buoy me up. I caught that in their sidelong looks, right before I focused on holding my head high and proceeding down the aisle. I sailed past lords who thought the idea of a queen ruling through war was ridiculous: nobles that had escaped Silas' wrath and were now obsequiously trying to curry favour with me; wolf shifters who were glad someone was finally listening to them during the treaty process; soldiers who just wanted to keep the country safe; and women, so many women. Wives and daughters, grand ladies and women from Cheapside, I'd insisted on a complete representation of our community in the cathedral.

Somehow that had included the envoys from Matteau and Lanzene.

They were seated with the other visiting diplomats, but I noted the space around each man, as if the other envoys were reluctant to let them come too close.

I couldn't focus on other people now because we had reached the steps. I turned and shot my ladies a grateful look as they pulled away, my train spread out across the floor. As they took their seats, I ascended the steps, my mates taking up position on the bottom one.

To me it looked like they were readying themselves for battle, because Creed shook his head and allowed his wolf form to come forth, straining the seams of his uniform. Roan drew his sword with a silvery sound, planting the point of the blade into the carpet. Silas crossed his arms, scanning every single person here, looking for signs of threats before they tried anything and Arik? He pulled the antlered crown from his jacket and then handed it to the high priest. There were murmurs at that, because this was not the usual crown, because we'd melted Magnus' down and used the gold to start to fill the war coffers, because Arik's crown had been polished and gilt, looking like new. But most of all because he was handing his symbol of power to me.

I just had to prove myself worthy.

The high priest shot me a kindly look. He was the one who'd been forced to marry me and I knew he felt somewhat guilty about the process as it was difficult for him to meet my gaze, but he did now. Then his mouth opened as he recited the formal words to make me queen.

I didn't hear them.

I couldn't, not with so many thoughts in my mind. We'd been working hard every moment of the day since Arik had come up with his solution.

The morning after my sprint into the forest, we'd awoken sore, dirty, but grinning from ear to ear before making a mad dash back to the palace. The swiftest of cold baths and then we were all bundled into travelling clothes and hoisting ourselves into the saddle as the Duke of Fallspire and his men joined us. We'd ridden hard, my body starting to ache terribly in the first hour, agony setting in by the second, so that I nearly fell from my saddle when we came upon the contingent of elders. Wren had stepped forward and smiled at the sight of me, then held out her hands, her grip strong, as she pulled me down from the saddle.

"We must talk, Elder Wren," I said in a great rush.

"Yes, we must." She nodded slowly. "Come and have some refreshments with us."

"But the war—" I started to say.

"What humans call the packlands is simply a small part of the whole," she replied, scanning the fields beyond. "Before every part of Khean was considered our land. We would never allow anyone to invade it, but…" Her eyes met mine. "Changes must be made. What happened under that bastard, Magnus' rule, must never happen again. We elders can sign no treaty that would allow other sovereigns to treat us so."

I'd nodded and then allowed myself to be drawn closer, sitting down in the wildflowers that grew by the side of the road.

"Tell me what you need, Elders, and let's see what we can do about forging a new treaty."

I came back to the nave suddenly, in time to watch the high priest raise the antlered crown above my head.

"The queen is the servant of the people. She must protect Khean's borders as fiercely as a wolf but care for her citizens with the gentleness of a mother with her cubs. The country is her pack, and she must strive every day to ensure it is whole, that tensions within it are resolved satisfactorily, that everyone has what they need. This is your duty, Queen Jessalyn of Khean, first of her name."

Had the crown felt this heavy to Arik? I shot him a desperate look as I felt it land on my head. My back wanted to buckle, my neck to bend, but I didn't. I'd been trained to stand perfectly still and straight all my life, so I did so now.

Documents were signed after this, officially recognising me as queen. The Duke of Fallspire was the first to affix his signature to the grand document then swear his fealty. Silas had already ascertained which lords might be a problem, but the work we'd done before, talking to them, trying to determine the coin that would buy their loyalty ensured every member of the aristocracy signed. They'd made a show of loyalty, now I had to earn it.

I wasn't Magnus. I didn't have years and years of relationships to draw upon. I didn't have the endorsement of my father, the previous king. I wasn't raised to be king here, but that hadn't gone so well for him. Instead, I needed to forge a place for myself and that started today.

"I present to you the Queen of all Khean," Arik said, holding out a hand for me to take.

"Some of you will be wondering which of my mates will become king." People started to shift restlessly at this, because this was not how the ceremony was supposed to end. "The answer is none." I found my mother's, my grandmother's, even my father's eyes across the church, because we had been asked this question every day since Arik proposed ratifying me as queen. In the end I was Stormarian, a princess from a country that was only allowed to exist because other countries allowed it, so I knew something about compromise. "Each one of these men are my mates."

Looking at each one of them was all part of my plan, but the pleasure that came from doing so was like a punch to the belly. Suddenly, I didn't want to be anywhere else but with them. This beautiful dress discarded, my insanely complex hairstyle unwound, and then I could just be Jess and they could just be my mates.

But not yet.

We were so very close to getting where we needed to be.

The presence of our enemies' envoys at my coronation was a controversial one that had resulted in a lot of heated conversations in the war room. An uneasy truce had been established on our borders, because rather than finding unmanned garrisons, both armies were met by every soldier in the royal army, every able bodied shifter and many, many of the bannermen of the different lords we'd swayed to our side. An easy victory no longer in sight had stopped each enemy army in its tracks as ravens were sent here and there for further guidance.

But I had a plan.

Stormare couldn't muscle its way through a fight, and to be honest, neither could either of the three bigger countries. Khean stayed independent due to the presence of the wolf shifters and while they remained loyal to us, we would not be beaten. According to Silas' sources, being stationed so close to each other had some parts of the army on the Mattenite and Lanzenian side wanting them to redirect all that battle fever at each other, now that we were not an easy target. It was tempting to pit them against each other. Selene assured me she could send some agents into their midst and stir things up further, but…

Our enemy soldiers had mothers, wives, daughters as well.

Perhaps war wasn't the answer but peace? How to ensure everyone became invested in that idea, though?

"I cannot choose one male to become my king, placing him above the others, because that would mean prioritising one part of my heart rather than another." I shook my head sharply. "That's not possible. Instead, I think each one of my males represents a key part of Khean. Arik is of the king's blood. Through his veins your history, your royal line runs. Silas is the son of the old Raven. He is my link to a source of power kings frequently use but rarely acknowledge."

Some of the new lords we'd raised up into the peerage straightened and smiled. The old Raven had made clear who he thought should take the lands of the members of Magnus court that could not be allowed to stay in their position, but Selene had other ideas. She smiled at me now from her position in the pews sitting next to Rose.

"I do acknowledge the power of The Guild, while also making clear it cannot be allowed to flourish unchecked. Then there is Creed." His eyes found mine, that quiet confidence that always radiated out of him bolstering me. "He represents the interests of the wolf shifters, a force we depend on for our very safety and yet take for granted. While the Elders will always have access to me." I nodded to their contingent in the pews, Saffron and Hazel smiling from where they were sitting next to them. "He will keep me from making that same mistake. And Roan."

If he was uncomfortable before, he was doubly so now. I watched him blink then grip his sword more tightly.

"My protector, but more than that, my link to the people of Khean. Much is made of noble blood, but what of the lifeblood of this country? For far too long, the everyday citizen of Khean has been overlooked, downtrodden, enslaved even, and with him by my side, I swear I will not make the same mistake, so hopefully everyone here sees that by having four consorts of equal standing ensures that all of these important factions have a voice."

And more besides.

Silas had been the first one to support my proposal when I presented it to them. Arik hadn't wanted to explain anything, saying as queen that wasn't my job, but Silas had contradicted him.

"By never actually marrying, by only being consorts, in theory Jessalyn is still able to marry and make a man king."

Creed snarled his distaste for that idea.

"But I never will." I smoothed my hand over his chest. "Never, my mate, but…" My eyes shone as I stared into his. "They don't need to know that. All of these envoys from all of these countries will flock to their court, bringing me marriage offers. Each one will think me too simple to see the political influence they hope to wield. If they bring me a beautiful Lanzenian prince or a big, strong Mattenite duke, I might fall for him and accept his suit, marrying him and making him king."

"Gods…" Arik hissed. "They'll be falling all over themselves trying to impress you—"

"And hopefully have less time to dedicate to war." Roan swept in and kissed me. "It's brilliant. You're brilliant." I laughed as he swung me around in the air.

"No, merely Stormarian," I replied, stroking his face. "When you don't have the means to wage war, you find other ways, more peaceful ways."

If I caught the avaricious gleam in the envoys from Matteau and Lanzene's eyes, then so did Silas, but I merely smiled.

"The Queen of Khean!" Arik shouted.

"The Queen of Khean!" came everyone's reply.