Chapter 359 - Adaline, The Queen - I
Chapter 359 – Adaline, The Queen – I
It was the complete opposite to the soft and cozy wedding they have back at her house. Everything was much grander, shinier, and luxurious.
But it also suited the king that was standing at the end of the aisle.
The change in the same colored clothes as her. His color was blue and green just as his crown was emerald and so was hers. The only difference between them was Xavier wearing his crown.
Slowly, she neared him which was quite difficult in the heavy dress step she was wearing.
There was the same old priest standing with Geetika on their side but she was not able to look away from Xavier for much longer and once again returned her eyes on him.
The moment she was below the stairs, the king walked down to help her up. She focused on the dressmaking show that none of it came underneath her shoe, while he held her hand for support.
By the looks of it, the king was ready to grab the soon-to-be queen in case she fell or stumbled. The moment they reached the stage after the five steps, where the king and the queen sat, they turned to each other.
"Ready?" He whispered to her and she nodded.
She was as ready as she could ever be.
"Once again the goddess has bestowed the chance to have a king and queen with us," the priest said quite loudly, "we once again will have our Luna queen."
The entire crowd went up in cheers and roars and she could even hear summer from outside the walls. It was obvious that many were listening outside the palace walls too.
"Palms please,"
Xavier was the first one to leave her hand and face his right palm upwards and hold it out to the priest. The latter had a dagger in his hand and made a long cut in his hand before he looked at Adaline.
She too turned her right hand upwards and towards him but Geetika stepped forward and to the dagger from the man before making a cut, smaller to the king, on hers.
"Today under the light of a goddess, we witnessed the binding of the bond between our king and queen. May the goddess protect them, us and the young ones that will soon join us."
The ladies that she had failed to notice five steps below then started to chant hymns as the priest moved forward and placed their hands, joining the palms together and to each other.
"With the blessings of the goddess of the moon, as we all stand witness to the bond established today, I, the servant is chosen by the goddess, find the two of you together till the end of time, separated by death only."
He pressed their palms together and Adaline flinched lightly in pain but ignored it completely. She felt it all happen. Maybe, it was just in her mind, but the pull in between them intensified.
Adaline caught the movement from the corner of her eye. Two women from the sides of the ground below the elevated platform left the line and came back with a goat.
The females surrounded the not-so-little lamb, and one of them made it with a dagger that was quite old and rusted.
She could no longer see what was going on when the woman circled the area around the lamb and there was nothing visible anymore given their height was much taller than Adaline and she could not pay much attention to what was going on there.
The woman that had been previously chanting the prayers while looking up at the moon now made their way to the platform where the king and soon-to-be queen were standing.
Two women, in the middle, carried a bowl of iron that looked like it had rusted in their hands and stopped in between the king and queen standing in front of them before they reached over and dipped their hand into something.
Their hands reached over to the cheeks of the couple and smeared something from three fingers on each cheek before the board and went back to the chanting below the platform and this time they were all circling and facing towards them.
"To death, Adaline." Xavier promised, "to death and fucking beyond."
Her eyes teared up on their own and she nodded, "to death and beyond."
The movement he started to lean in her eyes closed and she angled her head up, meeting his lips halfway.
He gently kissed her, held her with love, and showed her his passion, all in one kiss. Soon, they separated and he joined their foreheads together.
They breathed together, their breaths were in sync, and at that moment, it just seems like it was the two of them against the world.
"My queen," the priest interrupted them, "it's time."
Adaline nodded against Xavier's head. It was time for her to be crowned queen.
Slowly, she felt him pull away and when her eyes opened he gave her a final nod before he took the seat of the king.
Adaline moved back to the stairs, just like that read about the coronation of the previous queen, and stood on the second last step before she kneeled her knees on the last one. She did not touch the platform with was sacred.
Someone walked up the stairs and stood in front of her. Adaline knew it had to be Javier. He would be here in the place of the previous kind Nicholas, his late brother as the former king who would find her worthy to be the queen. His trust would enable the other shifters to trust her too.
"Adaline Marigold Xavier Rivera," Javier's voice thundered across her room, "You have passed the test making as the king's mate and have proven yourself to be worthy of this crown."
"Do you swear on the blood of the royal house of Rivera to the moon that you shall serve the moon justly and with loyalty?"
"I swear."
A heavyweight landed on her right shoulder and she knew what it was. The last seen sword touched by the goddess.
"Do you swear to protect her children like your own?"
"I swear." that was a little stab to the heart.
The sword was shifted to another shoulder.
"Do you swear to defend the country and its people no matter what the cost it might bring?"
"I swear.'
The next time she felt the sword was on top of her head.
"In the words of my brother, the late king Nicholas Rivera, who knew the kind, fair and loyal soul you were, I crown you the queen of the realm of shifters."
Soft thuds were heard and a blanket of silence washed over the hall. Soft yet heavy footsteps were heard and her heart knew who it was.
The sword was removed from her head and was placed with a heavier weight. The crown.
"My people," Xavier roared into the air, his head tilted to the moon, "my queen!" he howled in the air and millions of howls followed behind.
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