Owen had woken me before dawn. I’d trained with magic with him for an hour. I healed two trees at the lake when we were done, because if the king already knew I had magic, why not? And then I ran with the wolves. By breakfast I had exerted enough energy that hopefully I could survive the first day of posing as the queen’s proxy for parliament. Despite all of that, I could feel the tension between my shoulder blades, but my magic was calm for now. Calm and waiting.
Silvia was beside herself with excitement as she readied me for the day. After all, no one had served as the queen’s proxy in the ten years since she’d been gone.
I was decidedly less excited. Not because I didn’t want to help and pose a check to the king’s ultimate vote, but because it was the king we were talking about here.
Silvia had me looking queenly in a light blue gown that looked gorgeous but was sure to be itchy by the end of the long session.
She ran her fingers through my loose waves and then took me by the shoulders. It was something my mother always did too. “You, my dear girl, are still a baker,” she began. “You do not need to become anything other than what you are to play the role you’ve just been handed. You are a baker. You may also be a queen. Both are a part of who you are. Both will help you lead with dignity and grace.”
I blinked hard. “Silvia! You are going to mess up all your hard work.”
She laughed. “Worth it. Now go rattle up parliament, would you?”
I gave her a smirk. “I’ll do my best.”
Krew had left early that morning but told me to wait for him to head to the throne room, so I sat on the bench at the end of the bed and took some calming deep breaths.
I didn’t have to hide my magic anymore. I didn’t have to hide that I was now married to Krew. All I needed to do was get through this first parliament session without irritating the king any further and we’d be fine. As I’d been running in the forest that morning, I had decided that if the king was going to play nice, I was going to play nice right back. I would not let him for even a moment think he was getting to me. Just like the night he sent me that ridiculous dress, I was going to walk in there and play my role flawlessly.
I could do this.
Feeling Krew approaching, I stood. I wasn’t ready, just ready to get it over with. But he came in bearing packages.
“Oh no, more gifts?”
He gave his head a shake, smiling. “No. Well, yes, of sorts. Just not from my father anyway.”
He held up the first royal blue box. “This is the crown readjusted for you, so it doesn’t fall off all day.”
Wow.They’d been fast. Just yesterday afternoon I had been fitted for it. I hadn’t realized they’d have it ready for me already this morning. I might have actually preferred if they hadn’t.
But of course, the king would never allow the proxy to the queen to sit there without wearing a crown. He was all about appearances.
“And this,” Krew grinned, holding a smaller blue box. “This is something I have wanted to give you for a long, long time.”
I felt my eyebrows crease. “Well don’t tease me. What is it?”
He turned the small box.
If there is a ruby ring for my thumb in that box, I am going to murder you.
“It’s not a ruby, love. Calm down.”
I laughed.
He opened the box and turned it for me to see, and all the air left my lungs. It was a ring. A wedding ring. Just a ring, but also entirely more. With a round stone which reflected every angle of the light, it had to be one of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry I had ever seen. But the best part was the band that held the massive stone looked like a vine as it wrapped around. The tears I’d been keeping in check were back with a vengeance.
“This was my great-grandmother’s. And I knew from the moment I first kissed you that it should be yours. It’s of course been added to and adjusted over the years by the royal jewelers, but when I used to only fantasize about you becoming my wife, this was always the ring I imagined on your finger.”
I grabbed at my chest, willing my heart not to burst. It was lovely. I’d never seen such perfection in something so small. The vine detail was just...everything.
Seeing that the band was silver, I held up a hand. “Can I wear it with the original ring too?” I paused. “I love it. I love it with every beat of my heart. I just also loved that ring too.”
Krew put up a finger and then pulled my other ring out of his tailcoat. It was usually in the safe, not on his person. “I gave them this ring to ensure the new one would be sized correctly.”
He handed it over and I put the plain band on first.
“Allow me.”
