Chapter 113

SIX MONTHS LATER

"Are you ready?" I asked, looking to Darcy in her flowing dark blue gown, rhinestones embedded in its bodice and a cape of spun silver hung from her shoulders which would trail out like a veil behind her as she walked.

My outfit matched hers, though my dress was black - which had become something of a theme with our wardrobes when we made these kinds of appearances. Geraldine claimed it was because the people needed continuity after the years of uncertainty and the trials of war, but I had the feeling that it was to make it easier for people to tell us apart.

"I think that some part of me will forever be a broke ass girl wearing old bunny pyjamas while curled up on the corner of a couch which doubles as our bed," she replied with a wry smile. "But apart from that – yeah."

"Yeah," I echoed, glancing in the huge, gilded mirror which stood across from us in the entrance hall to the Palace of Souls. Geraldine had worked her ass off to scrub this place entirely clean of the taint of Lionel's presence, but some ghosts still lingered. There was pain etched into these walls, the likes of which we were never likely to forget. But we couldn't allow it to remain sullied by Lionel's memory forever. So here we were, back again, if only for official occasions. And I wasn't sure what got more official than a coronation.

I was unrecognisable from the girl who used to roam the streets of Chicago stealing superbikes for quick cash and drinking tequila in questionable bars, yet that same spark of rebellion still flared within my green eyes. I was still me. I was just a whole lot more on top of that now.

There had been months of grieving and reparations, relocation and renewal, and now, after six gruelling months, we finally felt that our kingdom was reunited enough to come together behind us officially. Or at least, Geraldine insisted that if we waited any longer the stars would cast us out and pick a monarch more willing to embrace the role.

I snorted as I lifted my chin and tried to look regal – whatever the hell that meant.

Whether I had achieved it or not was questionable, but I found myself out of time as Geraldine rushed through the room in a bustling cyclone of silver taffeta and threw the double doors open without so much as a word to ask if we were ready.

The blazing summer sun made me squint as I looked out at the endless crowd who had gathered beyond the steps which led up to the balcony surrounding the palace. It looked like every fucker in the whole of Solaria had turned out to see the crowns placed upon our heads.

I swallowed back a lump in my throat and exchanged another look with my twin before giving in to the inevitable and stepping onto the balcony with her at my side.

Our sayer dragons swept out of the palace and flew off over the crowd, taking part in the celebrations for themselves, and I watched their tiny bodies moving through the air with a smile.

The crowd cheered, waving banners and singing songs which I couldn't decipher. Flowers were hurled at our feet and Fae shrieked declarations of love and loyalty at us. I spotted a sign begging me to dump the Dragon and marry the guy holding it and snorted a most un-queenly laugh.

"Don't get any ideas," Darius growled as he stepped out from where he'd been waiting and offered me his arm.

"You look like one of those Christmas nutcracker things," I told him as my eyes ran from the black boots on his feet over the fitted blood red suit and ruffly shirt thing all the way up to the perfectly dishevelled black hair which was spilling down into his eyes as always. "You just need a top hat."

"And you look like a toilet paper doily," he retorted, his lips brushing my ear as he leaned in close to speak to me. "I look forward to hunting for skin beneath the many layers of that thing once we're done here."

"Only if you get yourself the hat," I teased, and he smirked at me in that utterly obnoxious way which always got me as infuriated as it did hot.

"Your ideas of roleplay really do take some interesting turns," he said, making my smile widen.

Orion was dressed in red too on the other side of Darcy, just as ruffly in the shirt with his beard so neatly trimmed it looked like someone had used a ruler on it. The two of them were like bookends to us and I threw him a smile as I let Darius lead me away from the doors.

The screams of the crowd grew impossibly loud as we passed them by and I barely even noticed the Hydra throne which had been brought out here and was awaiting us until we were standing right before it.

Darius and Orion turned to face us before falling to one knee in front of us, the first to swear fealty to the new order.

I couldn't help but smirk at Darius as he bowed his head before my feet, and I felt his teeth sink into the skin of my ankle through the swathes of skirt as if he'd known exactly how smug I looked in that moment.

I stifled my flinch of surprise, surreptitiously aiming a kick at him but he'd already withdrawn far enough to make it impossible to strike him without it being obvious to the hundreds of cameras trained our way.

"The True Queens stand before you, ready to take their vow and claim the crown of their bloodline. They will act with one will, one voice and one heart for the good and prosperity of our dear kingdom of Solaria from this day forth until the day the stars come to claim them for the beyond. Do you embrace them as your monarchs?" Geraldine's magically amplified voice boomed out across the crowd and a resounding roar of assent followed her words, making my heart lift with love for the people of our kingdom.

"Then watch as they claim their crowns."

Geraldine turned to us and I took Darcy's hand in mine, and together we sat upon the Hydra throne, claiming it for our own in front of our kingdom and the world.

Geraldine continued to speak the words of the coronation and my sister and I answered her calls and made our vows.

Gabriel stepped forward, placing a crystal ball in Darcy's left hand and a scrying bowl marked with runes in my right as we pledged to care for the past and future of our kingdom.

We made no promises to the stars, but I could feel them watching us, their ire replaced with curiosity now as if we had finally proven ourselves worthy of this fresh slate.

As one, Geraldine placed a crown on Darcy's head and Gabriel placed a crown on mine and the crowd exploded into voracious roars of delight. Then, one by one, they all dropped to their knees before us and pledged their loyalty to our reign.

I looked to my sister with an utterly liberated smile on my face which she returned just as brightly, and I knew that though nothing would ever be the same for us as it had once been, we would forever be at home in Solaria.