Runaway Princess Bride novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Runaway
"At my coronation, you stand beside me," I said. "Not behind. And when I ask you a question in front of the whole country, you answer it honestly."
He looked at the ceiling and laughed, low, and then he looked back at me.
"Is that all?"
"It's plenty."
"Yes," Tristan said. "To both."
They crowned me on a bright, bitter morning, on the cathedral steps, with the whole square below.
The crown was lighter than I had expected.
Eli carried the cushion.
He wore a velvet jacket and the dinosaur backpack over it, and he walked with the stiff grave dignity of a boy who has been told not to drop the most expensive thing in the country.
He did not drop it.
When the old councillor lifted the crown from the cushion, Eli whispered, "Don't mess it up, Dee."
"I won't," I whispered back.
The crowd gave one huge roar when it settled on my head.
Then I raised my hand, and the square fell silent.
I had practiced a speech.
I forgot all of it.
"I was sold twice," I said, and my voice carried over the stones. "Everybody here knows that. I'm not going to pretend it didn't happen. But I'm not standing here because of what was paid for me. I'm here because I ran, and then I turned around."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Runaway Princess Bride are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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