The Cursed Wish

Ch 25: The Queen of Sahar

The dancing in the streets to honor Queen Blythe lasted an entire week. People poured into the capital from all over the country to pave the roads with flowers and let their voices guide the queen's spirit. Estefania wore robes of yellow and orange and joined her people to praise the sun for the glorious life of the queen. 

Nathaniel danced beside her. He thumped the drums and rang the bells alongside her people in tribute. She knew that he wasn't going anywhere. He loved her. 

As Queen Blythe's festival entered its seventh day, Estefania found herself surrounded by advisors and servants, all striving to orchestrate the largest coordination the kingdom had experienced in years. The lords and viziers had voted to have her crowning the night her grandmother's ashes were released to the earth. 

It took almost the whole day to dress for the ceremony at sunset. The servants refused to involve Avangelique's magic in the process, so they spent the time by hand adjusting the rites painted on her skin and plaiting her hair under the gorgeous beaded headdress. 

Right before the ceremony, she finally spotted Nathaniel. He was dressed in white robes, like all the others who'd come to see the crowing of the new queen. His golden hair was brushed back, and he beamed at her. 

"You look beautiful," he said. 

"I feel like if I move a fraction of an inch, this entire headdress will come crumbling down," she gestured to the heavy gold beads that hung across her forehead studded with one diamond in the middle and the gauzy purple material that hung down her back with dozens of strings of onyx and pearls. "And they're going to stack the crown on top of this."

"I trust you," he said. "And I promise you won't be the first queen in history to spill her crown down the steps of the palace."

"I can use magic if that'll make it better," Avangelique appeared at the entrance of the room. 

The younger princess had her hair braided in an upward twist. She wore a dress that was a cross between Sahar's robes and Cyra's heavy-skirted dresses. Her wings were out and fluttered behind her as she walked. Estefania thought she looked every bit the fairy empress despite her age. 

"Bastien is ready on the platform with the ashes," her sister said. "And the Cyrans and the representatives from Nene are here, ready to witness the crowning."

Estefania held her head up high. After all, it was time. She was finally here in Sahar. This was her wish. She'd saved her family. It was all she ever wanted and more.

She followed Avangelique out to the steps of the palace. The cheers and shouts were deafening. There, the nobles and lords all waited for her, along with her people. Fletcher stood at the corner with Lorenzo at his side. Elowen and the delegation from Nene also stood at full attention, waiting. Nathaniel took a place beside his brothers, and Estefania spotted Solomon at the edge of the steps, closer to the crowd of Saharite citizens that had spilled into the city to see their new queen. 

Bastien and her father stepped forward. Bastien held the urn with their grandmother's ashes up before the crowd. He nodded at his sister and then removed the cap. Both father and son tossed the ashes to the wind, spreading the queen to rest and allowing her to return to her people.  

There was no organizer for an event like this. Estefania asked about the ceremony's guide and was advised to let it flow naturally. She waited with bated breath until the last of the ashes faded on the breeze. 

"The queen is dead. Long live the queen. I, Prince Hadrian de Sahar, vizier of the Province of Namu, bow to Estefania, Queen of Sahar," her father announced and then bowed face down before her and didn't rise.