The King of Stars and Storms

Chapter Fifteen

Hundreds of people gathered in the throne room for the main event. Noblemen, that Luca had known for years, stood with their families in one section of the room. In others stood the kings and queens from neighbouring kingdoms, Diana and her son Max, Mason and his sister Katrina, members of the Master's including the Supreme, Christopher and Alfie, and in front of them all stood Aurora, Mary, Emily and Elizabeth. They patiently waited for Luca to walk through the double doors at the other end of the room. Elizabeth glanced around the room, looking at all the familiar faces, she got a few smiles from the people she knew, even Diana and Mason. She smiled back at them out of politeness. Elizabeth glanced back at the doors, the coronation was supposed to start 10 minutes ago but Luca was nowhere to be found. Elizabeth turned to Mary. "Where is he?" She whispered. "I don't know." Elizabeth placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry I'll go find him." Elizabeth walked to the side doors and slipped out the door, hopefully undetected. She walked round to the main doors hoping to find Luca standing there, but surprised when he wasn't.

Luca paced, dressed in his fine clothing, trying to calm himself down. Make himself come to his senses. The people needed him, they were counting on him, to make the kingdom a better place to live in. Where they didn't have to live in fear of their king. After pacing for a while, he stood still trying to calm his breathing. "You can do this. You are not alone. They are counting on you. All you have to do is walk in there." He told himself, reasoning with the doubtful part of himself. Luca was about to turn around and head to the throne room when he spotted Elizabeth marching towards him. "What's going on? You do realise that you were meant to be in the throne room 15 minutes ago?" Elizabeth whispered at him, trying not to attract the attention of the people around him. Luca held his hands out to stop her. "I know and I'm sorry. I freaked out and I was trying to calm myself down." Elizabeth sighed. "Luca we talked about this. You can do this. You are going to be an amazing king." "Thanks, Lizzie. It's been great having you around." Elizabeth let out a chuckle. "Are you sure about that? Since I've come into your life, I've turned it upside down." "I'm sure." Elizabeth linked her arm with his. "Come on. Your crown awaits." She smiled widely at him before pulling him down the hall.

They reached the throne room and Elizabeth stopped in her tracks. She turned to face him, straightened the collars of his jacket. "This is where I leave you, brother. Just remember you've got this and breathe." Luca's nod of the head was his only response. His nerves started to come back. "I will see you afterwards." Elizabeth backed away and disappeared around the corner. She slipped back into the room the same way she had gotten out and taken her place beside Mary. "Did you find him?" Elizabeth nodded and motioned her head towards the door as it opened and in stepped Luca with his head held high.

Luca took one step at a time, keeping his head held high. He glanced around the room, everyone giving him big smiles, in which he returned. He spotted his family standing at the front of the room with proud looks on their faces. Luca reached the steps that sat in front of the thrones and knelt on one knee. The crown was placed on top of his head. Luca straightened up, walked up the steps until he reached the top and turned to face the crowd. "I now introduce to you, King Luca." A voice spoke from behind him and the crowd erupted into an array of applause. Luca smiled and reassured himself. "You've got this."

The celebrations for Luca's coronation were well underway. Music was playing. People were eating, drinking, dancing or talking the night away. Elizabeth was talking away with Christopher, Luca and Aurora. Christopher telling them stories of her, from back when they had first met. Luca and Aurora were politely laughing at them whilst Elizabeth was whining at him, claiming that he was embarrassing her. A slow song started to play and Luca pulled Aurora onto the dance floor and they started to dance. Elizabeth looked at them in awe, secretly hoping, wishing to have something like that. Christopher noticed her staring and tapped her on the shoulder. She swivelled her head to look at him. He extended his hand out to her. "Would you care to dance?" Elizabeth nodded her head and took his hand. "Sure." They walked out onto the dance floor and started to feel the music, swaying to the melody. "You seem to get along with your brother well." "Yeah. We're twins after all. It's great." Christopher looked at her in the eyes and smiled. "So do you know what you are going to do? Are you going to come back to the masters?" Elizabeth sighed. "I don't know. I want to come back with you to the master's but I also want to stay here and get to know my family a lot more." Christopher placed a hand on her cheek. "Well, whatever you decide I'll always be here." Elizabeth gave him a soft smile. "I know and that is what I love about you."

 The light had faded from outside and was replaced by dark clouds and the sound of rain. But that didn't stop the festivities. People still danced and ate and drank. Elizabeth was still dancing with Christopher, however, Luca was now sitting on the throne, his throne, staring out at the people laughing and having fun. He spotted Elizabeth dancing with her best friend, having the time of her life. She looked happy and carefree, at this moment in time he wouldn't have been able to tell that she was troubled. Luca wondered if Christopher knew the extent of her nightmares if he knew that she was getting daymares and sometimes she didn't know whether they were her memory or something her mind made up. He shifted his attention to Emily, who was dancing by herself in a world of her own. Luca chuckled to himself. 

Rain pelted on the window and the wind seemed to pick up. Elizabeth stood in the middle of the dance floor with Luca, Christopher, Alfie and Aurora, when the doors blew open. Everyone turned to face the door and noticed two hooded figures stroll into the room. Luca, followed by the rest of the group, marched up to them. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?" The two people pulled their hoods back. Elizabeth noticed that there was something oddly familiar about them. Once they had removed their hoods, she pushed past Luca and just stared at them. When she got a good look at them she froze in shock. "Mother? Father?" Alfie ran up next to her. "Oh my." He breathed out. Luca and Christopher just looked between them all confused.