70. Chapter 70

Chapter seventy

H aven finally managed to fall asleep not long before she assumed the sun would be rising. The bags under her eyes on what was likely to be one of the most important days of her life were unfortunate but Haven didn't regret staying up to finish her mothers journal.

Yawning, Haven sat up and stretched. A glance at the clock told her Rea would likely be showing up any minute. While reading her mothers heartbreaking words last night, some detailing the deaths of a few of her friends and her mothers feelings afterwards, Haven had decided to try to forgive her friends. Truly forgive, not just trying not to think about how badly they hurt her for a night. The wounds ran deep but not having her friends by her side would cut deeper .

As if Havens thoughts had summoned her, a light knock sounded from her door. Calling for Astrea to come in, Haven slid her legs over the edge of the bed and her feet into some slippers.

"Good morning" Rea greeted with a slightly nervous smile as she came through the doorway, leaving it open behind her.

"Morning" Haven responded lightly. She took a breath as she told herself to forgive but not forget.

"What have you brought me for the coronation?" She asked cheerily

A wide smile graced Astreas face, "You're going to love it!" she told her before reaching back through the open doorway and picking something up from where it had been resting against the wall. It was her dress. Clearly too large for a normal garment bag, it simply hung on a hook. Astrea was right, it only took one look for Haven to love it.

The dress was made up of so much lace and tulle that Haven had to stand exactly in the middle between the edge of her bed and the wall to avoid brushing up against something and messing up Reas meticulous work. Some layers Rea smoothed down and others she fluffed, Haven didn't know why Rea did different things to different layers but the end result was something that almost brought tears to both Haven and Astreas faces.

The dress was made of mostly all black material with gold accents. The top half was tight with a keyhole opening and seemed more armor than dress thanks to the stiff metal underneath the swath of fabric. As heavy as the top half was, it flowed very well with the ballgown style layered skirt that had a hidden opening Haven could use to reach the dagger currently strapped to her thigh. The dress had stunning black lace sleeves with bead accents at the wrist and a band that went around her middle finger to keep the sleeves from riding up. A sheer cape connected to the shoulders of the dress and trailed far behind Haven. It had fire embroidered along the edge with different shades of red embroidery threads.

"The black represents your shadows and the red represents your fire." Rea told Haven, while twisting front pieces of her hair back and securing them with pins.

"What about the gold?" Haven asked, smoothing her hands down the plush material of her skirt.

"The gold represents your status as Queen." Rea smiled

"Oh" Haven squeaked. This was becoming very real, very fast. Haven might have some nerves about everything but she knew in her heart and in her head that this was exactly where she was meant to be, she just needed to remember that when the anxiety crept in.

Other than the front strands Rea twisted backwards, the rest of her hair was mostly left alone. It simply trailed down her back in wild red strands. She also kept her makeup simple, a little bit of gold eyeshadow to help her eyes pop, some mascara and a deep red lipstick that matched both her hair and her dress. Rea also gave her a few pieces of jewelry to wear, some dangly black stone earrings and a matching black stone ring that Rea told her Roman had given to her for Haven to wear on her thumb.

Haven didn't know where Roman got the ring but it was beautiful and fit perfectly, she needed to remember to thank him when she saw him in a little while. He was supposed to meet up with Haven and Astrea just before the ceremony began. During the ceremony, Haven would be standing on a balcony of the castle alone except for the priest that would be performing the coronation but she wanted her friends just inside the doorway where they could be close to her. She was glad they didn't mind staying behind the scenes rather than being down in the crowd watching her being crowned.

Haven also decided to wear her mothers necklace that Binah had given to her. It didn't quite fit with the opulence of everything but wearing it honored her mother and made Haven happy so nothing else really mattered.

The last thing Haven had to do was step into the tall black heeled boots Astrea brought for her. After having to hold onto Rea for balance, Haven was able to slip both feet into the boots one at a time. Haven took her hands from Reas shoulders and then lifted up the edge of her dress the best she could since it was rather heavy so that Rea could help her lace the boots up.

"I think we are done here." Rea said after standing up. She brushed her hands together and smiled at Haven.

"Yes, I think we are." Haven confirmed with a smile of her own. She took a minute to look over herself in the mirror one last time. She wasn't surprised by what she saw there but it nonetheless made her heart skip a beat. For what Haven saw while looking in the mirror was nothing less than a Queen, a powerful one.