Chapter 217

Violet’s POV

I sat on the end of our bed in our assigned room in the royal palace. Theo sat next to me patiently. He didn’t look at me, didn’t touch me, didn’t ask me questions.

He didn’t leave my side.

I looked around the opulently appointed room, each of my breaths loud in my head. I realized this was my last night in this room.

And the first of many in the royal palace.

“How close was it?” I finally asked. For better or for worse, voting had been by hand, meaning it wasn’t anonymous. Everyone knew who voted for Marissa and who voted for me.

Their new queen.

“You carried at least three quarters of the votes,” Theo told me. He watched me intently. I could feel him trying to figure out how best to support me.

“Hold me,” I whispered, more of a plea than a direction.

Theo immediately scooted back on the bed, then enveloped me from behind, his legs around my waist and his arms around my shoulders. He nuzzled his face into my neck where he kissed lightly. “Always.”

I knew. I knew this needed to happen, I knew we needed a new ruler, I knew I would rather take on the burden than ask it of Theo, but to have been selected by the majority of Alphas as our new queen, to breathe in air as the next monarch…

It was taking more adjustment than I had anticipated.

I dug my fingers into Theo’s forearms as he squeezed me affectionately. “That means there’s still a quarter of the country that’s loyal to Owen. They will not accept me as queen easily – or peacefully.”

Theo hesitated. “No. They won’t.”

Our fight wasn’t over yet.

“What have I done?” I breathed.

A strong finger turned by chin to the left where Theo was resting his head on my shoulder. “You have saved our country from enduring another day of a tyrant’s reign. You have saved me from being the one to have to carry the burden of the crown in order to achieve our country’s freedom.”

Guilt glimmered in his eyes as he softly kissed my lips. “That is what you’ve done.”

I leaned my forehead against his, one shattered band pressed against the other – another mystery for us to get to the bottom of. “I lied to them, all of them. What if I just doomed our country by accepting the crown when I’m full of unstable magic that is slowly killing me?”

I hardly ever let these terrified thoughts get the better of me, and certainly never let others know they were impacting me. But even before my formal coronation, I was feeling the weight of the crown, and the words tumbled out in front of the one person I trusted most.

“What if we never find a solution and my death leaves the country in chaos because I was too arrogant to be honest about my condition?”

Theo rubbed his nose against mine, squeezing me from behind once more. “I will not let our country fall into chaos. And I will not let you die.”

“But—”

“Then we will face it together.”

I took a deep breath, leaning back against my mate. Together. It was the only part of life we could control.

It would have to be enough.

We sat like that for a while, Theo holding me, nuzzling into my neck, my hair. I caressed his forearms with my thumbs, dusted his biceps with kisses.

“We’ll need to face your guilt together, too.” He knew I wanted the crown almost as little as he did – but that “almost” made a big difference to me. I didn’t want his guilt that I had done this for our country, for us, for him, to consume him.

He groaned, not wanting to deal with it. Then a knock sounded on our door.

Theo quickly untangled from me, hopping off the bed with a wink in my direction. “Saved by the bell!”

I couldn’t see who was at the door when he opened it just a sliver, but he quickly opened it the rest of the way to allow someone in.

It was Riley who entered. “I volunteered to fetch you both for the Crowning Ceremony. They’re ready for you.”

I stood in my best pant suit, smoothing the wrinkles from where Theo had wrapped around me. Traditionally, we would appear before the country in royal robes, but they would need to be tailored to us individually first, which we had not had time for in the couple hours between the vote and the crowning ceremony. I already intended to contact Master Remy for the job later.

In the meantime, my and Theo’s best suits were acceptable. The royal capes would be lain on our shoulders for the ceremony.

I took a step toward the door.

“Before we go,” I stopped, looking up at Riley’s words as he eyed the door that Theo was still holding open. Understanding, my husband shut the door for the privacy Riley clearly wanted.

Riley was our ally now. I knew that, and yet the newness of his allegiance suddenly felt suspicious as he enclosed himself with the new queen who was his previous employer’s opponent. I subtly bent my knees, readying my muscles to fight.

“Is it true?” Riley asked, looking between Theo and me. Then he looked at my stomach. “You’re pregnant?”

Vulnerable. I suddenly felt so vulnerable.

But I trusted my mate, leaned on his trust in Riley as Theo responded for me. “Yes.”

Riley turned to me, approaching slowly. A couple feet away from me, he kneeled and bowed.

“I pledge allegiance to you, Alpha Violet Donovan, not only as Alpha Nightshade’s mate, but also as my queen. And I pledge to protect your child to my dying breath.”

I was vulnerable, yes. And also protected.

“Rise, Riley Meckles.” He did as instructed, meeting my eyes. I smiled and closed the gap between us to hug him.

He startled a little, clearly not expecting such affection, but he quickly recovered, wrapping his arms around me in return.

“You’re already family,” I told him, silently cursing my concern that he might hurt me. “You do not have to keep pledging yourself to us. You owe us nothing.”

We pulled away as I patted his arm reassuringly.

“You’re wrong,” he replied, eyes wet as he blinked back emotion. “I owe you both everything.”

I glanced at Theo who was blinking back emotion of his own. I didn’t know Riley’s full story like my mate did, hadn’t been there when Riley opened up to him, but I was beginning to understand what kind of life Riley had lived up until now if the mere chance we were giving him meant so much.

I cupped Riley’s face in my hands as I realized how young he was, younger than Bennett even.

“A family’s love is unconditional,” I retorted. “Debts do not exist within them.”

Then I gripped his shoulder to turn him around as I led us to the door.

“All those months ago,” I said to Theo, intentionally letting Riley in on this little piece of history that most of the country would never learn, “when you approached me at the bar for a one-night stand, did you ever think we would end up here?”

Theo laughed, a single tear escaping down his cheek as Riley stood there wide-eyed. “No,” he replied as I wiped his tear away with my thumb. “I never could have imagined the horrors and miracles of what came next.”

I let go of Riley then to embrace my mate with both arms. Theo and I kissed chastely, the memories of all we had endured up to this moment reflecting in our loving gaze. Theo took a knee to kiss my belly, then rose to take my hand.

We glanced back at Riley together. “Come on,” I told him. “It’s time for our country to welcome their first ever High Queen.”