Chapter 24: A Plain Crown

They crowned me in the Convocation hall with the doors open and the whole city on the steps.

The crown was a plain band of oak-brown gold, no wider than my finger.

Hester had made them melt down three of the old king's rings for it, and she had tested it herself with the silver ring.

It stayed bright.

"It does nothing," she said, and put it on my head with her own hands. "It is a hat, girl. Wear it well."

I did not cry.

I cried a little.

Rurik waited at the foot of the dais in black and gold, with the colour back in his face and a hand that would not shake again.

He did not say a speech.

He took my hand in front of the Council, and the city, and the stout woman from the third row, and he said, "My Luna."

The roar went up the avenue and over the rooftops.

That night he locked the door of his chamber and did not use the stair.

"Mate-claim," he said, and he was smiling.

"You talk too much for a king."

"I have been silent for two years."

I pulled him down by the front of his shirt.

He kissed me slowly this time, because we had all the time in the world.

He undressed me a button at a time, with his mouth on every inch he uncovered, and I laughed breathlessly and called him a tease.

"You called me worse once," he said, against my collarbone.

"I called you cold."

"You were right."

"You're not cold now."

"No."

His hands were hot on my hips.

I lay back on the king's bed with my hair spread over his pillow, and he looked at me for a long moment.

When he came into me, we both made a sound.

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