Render Me Starless

♛ | Chapter 39 - "love from above and within"

Orion had been crowned king yesterday. The coronation was beautiful, sparkling purple decorating the grand hall. Everyone had been invited but understandably, they all didn't come. I wasn't crowned princess or queen with my mate. The offer had been there but I didn't want to. I wasn't ready as stupid as that sounded. I would have my own coronation.

Elias, Orion's father, had committed suicide an hour ago. The moon had been high in the sky. When we found out, I had taken one look at my mate and knew he had to get out of the castle. So I took him to the cliff that we had made our own, the one his father had shown him.

"I should've seen this coming," he murmurs, looking up. His pain was my own as my heart mourned for the loss of my mate's father. We sat on a mat that I had brought, away from the edge. I wrap my arms around my grieving mate, knowing he didn't want meaningless words. "Maybe if I didn't lock him up or just spent more time with him, he would still be here."
I pull back, cupping his face and tilting his head up to meet my eyes. His brimmed with restrained tears, bringing forth my own tears. "Your father had lost his mate, Orion. There is nothing you or anyone could have done to stop him from following her, not even death."

If there was one thing I truly admire about the fallen mage was that he had stayed this long to take care of my mate. Most mates followed almost right after but Elias had waited years. And that in itself was a show of his will. But everyone has a breaking point.

I don't know what I would do if my mate were to die. The sheer panic I had felt when he had left me to fight with Thorin... I never wanted to feel that again.

Orion pulls me into his lap as he chokes back a sob, holding me tight to him. My own tears fall as my heart breaks as I hold my mate, his body shaking. The wind stood still, the night quieted as the king cried into my neck. I run my hand through his hair in attempts to soothe him. We held each other quietly for Lord's knew how long. I would have held him all night and day if he needed me to.

But he pulls away and I look over his face, wiping away the tears softly. Orion's breaths were laboured. "Maybe your father is up there with your mum. Together now and looking down at us," I murmur, looking up at the stars. He looks up with me. "Maybe."

A month passed and I found myself on the day of our wedding and Bonding Ceremony. Elias had been buried a week after his death with a public ceremony, letting the people say goodbye to their former king. Orion was coping as well as he could but I often found him staring up at the stars, just waiting for something to happen. He had struggled with the load of being king but he had adjusted like I knew he would. He was destined to be King and my mate was the strongest person I knew. I had suggested moving the date of our ceremony further but my mate didn't want to wait anymore and honestly, neither did I. We decided we wanted to combine the Bonding Ceremony with the wedding.

I stare at myself in the mirror that runs along the whole wall. I had bargained with Linda and she had made the dress a purity white with hints of purple throughout. Thankfully, there was no orange in sight. It was the wedding dress I had always dreamed about. It hugged my upper body but flowed at the waist, creating a small lace train at the back. It had lace off the shoulder sleeves that sat perfectly with a sweetheart neckline that showed off the symbol that had started all of this. The dress had lace trimmings that crawl up the skirt of it. All in all, it was my perfect dress. Nothing too flashy but something that actually made me feel like a princess.

My hair was styled in a half up-half down updo and we had magically made my hair hold curls. When I say magically, I mean with literal magic. The curls would stay till I washed it. I wore my Lady Starlight crown and a simple pair of earrings that dangle down. I wore my necklace but had used the magic to make it invisible the way Gray had shown me to. My make up was simple. My eyes were rimmed with kohl that people of high status wore in The Night Throne. My cheeks had a subtle blush and my lips a natural pink.