Finding Her Magical King novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: The Banquet

The crown was kept in a locked chapel behind the throne room, and that afternoon Lord Thrale let me hold it.

"A rehearsal," he said, and opened the glass case with his own key. "The mate must know its weight."

It was a plain band of dark gold with a ring of tiny thorns around the rim and a lining of red velvet.

It was colder than metal had any right to be.

Thrale walked to the door and stood with his back to me, giving me a moment.

I took the red knot out of my sleeve and pushed it into the seam of the lining, under the velvet, where no one would feel it.

My hands were steady, and that frightened me a little.

"Thank you, my lord," I said, and set the crown back in its case.

He turned and smiled at me, kind and satisfied.

That night there was a banquet in the great hall.

There were two hundred guests, a string quartet, and a long table of food I could not name.

I wore a borrowed grey gown with a neckline that Ivor had politely refused to look at.

"You look dangerous," he said, offering me his arm at the door.

"I look cold."

"That's the dangerous part."

Anselm was waiting at the end of the hall in his dark coat, with the signet ring on his right hand.

He did not say anything when he saw me.

He just stood there a while too long, and his throat moved.

"Miss Briggs," he said at last.

"Your Majesty."

"Will you dance? It's a custom."

"Everything in this country is a custom."

"I know." He held out his hand. "I'd like to have one of them be a good one."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Finding Her Magical King from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.