The King's Messenger

Chapter 32

The funeral bled straight into the coronation. Eden was whisked away, dressed up in purple and white, his black leather eyepatch switched for a gold one, and generally prettied up. Tailors flurried about him, measuring his robes and tying off lengths of cloth. Gold jewelry clinked against his own- they'd tried to get him to take off his artificed devices, but he refused. Somewhere along the way, someone removed his crown, the prince's circlet.

Kazya hovered outside the frenzy around Eden, leaning forward ever so slightly. When Eden was mostly adorned, he dismissed his attendants, shooing them out of the room.

"Your Highness, the coronation-" one tried to protest.

"I know, I know. I just need a couple minutes," Eden said.

Soon enough, the room was empty but for Kazya and Eden.

She stepped in. "Are you ready?"

Eden tilted his head. "With you by my side? Of course."

"Don't lie," she admonished.

Eden laughed. "Fine. No, but with you by my side, we'll make it work."

Kazya smiled. "That's more like it."

A call came from the door. "Your Highness? It's time!"

"I know!" Eden called back, turning back to Kazya. "Ready to become a queen?"

"I think we have to be wed first, Eden," Kazya said. "But I'm ready to be in love with a king." She pulled him close. "I love you," she whispered, pressing a kiss to his lips.

The earring heated. Eden stiffened as the hotness pricked his ear.

Kazya noticed. "Is something wrong?"

Eden slowly removed the earring as Kazya watched, concerned.

"What is it?" Kazya asked.

Eden had faith in artificing. But he had more faith in Kazya.

"That was true," he said.

Kazya's forehead creased. "Well... of course it was. What's wrong?"

The earring didn't heat. An impossibility, if it were working as designed, which it never had- all along, it was supposed to distort the sound of a lie as well as heat, but Eden had assumed its failure to do that just meant it didn't do that, not that it didn't work at all.

"This... doesn't work. A lie catcher," he said.

"...What does that mean?" Kazya asked.

Eden gazed at the glittering gem. "It doesn't mean anything," he lied, holding a cold gold ring. His fingers tightened around the ring, squishing it beyond recognition. He let it drop to the ground.

"Eden..." Kazya started.

"I... it's time for my coronation," he said distantly. The earring didn't work. How many truths had it called lies? "I'm ready," he called, and his attendants rushed in.

The same priest who oversaw his father's funeral saw to Eden's coronation. The details passed by him; when prompted, he repeated the words he was supposed to repeat, bowed his head when told to bow, and felt the weight of the crown settle on his head. He looked up, newly crowned, to a sea of cheering people- friends, liars, lovers, and enemies. Kazya stood in the crowd, cheering with the rest but with a worried look on her face, separated from him since they hadn't been married yet. Ire stood with Kaeda and a boy Eden didn't recognized, looking happier than he had been in quite some time. Adrian and Janke stood together, Lord Bahk- the former Lord Bahk, technically- looking on with thinly veiled resentment. Captain Torre stood by the throne at Eden's right hand, but separated, not worthy enough to be by the new king's side. Alyssa stood in the crowd with her hopeful father, celebrating the king he thought would become his son.

The only one near him was the priest he'd never met, declaring him new king of Valina.

Eden greeted his kingdom with a dazzling smile plastered over his internal turmoil. He opened his mouth to give words he couldn't remember.

Had his father truly lied?

A single thought echoed in his head, scrambling for attention amidst the clamor of the ceremony.

Blood is easily contaminated.