“Yes,” we answer, together.
She looks at us like she doesn’t know what to do with that.
“I don’t know how to be a queen,” she says.
“Then learn,” Sylvian says.
“With us,” Cassius adds.
Ashton smiles, softer than I’ve ever seen him. “We’ll figure it out together.”
I take her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me.
“You are not small,” I say. “You are not weak. You are not less because you were born human. You are everything we needed and didn’t know we were missing.”
Her breath shudders. “I’m scared.”
“Good,” I say. “That means you understand what this is.”
I kiss her. With everything I don’t have words for.
When I pull back, the others are there. Sylvian brushes his lips over her hand. Cassius presses a kiss to her temple. Ashton touches her cheek like she’s something rare.
And then, we kneel. All four of us. In the grass. In the sunlight. In front of her.
Alette stares down at us, stunned. “What are you doing?”
“Choosing,” I answer.
Sylvian speaks with quiet certainty. “Marry us.”
Cassius’s gaze never wavers. “Be our queen.”
Ashton smiles, just a little. “Stay with us.”
I meet her eyes. “Wear the crown. Not because Varua wants one of us to. Because we want you to. Because we choose you.”
Her lips part. Her chest rises and falls too fast. She looks at the crown. Then back at us.
“I…” she starts.
And stops.
The world holds its breath. So do we. Waiting. For her answer.
21
Alette
The crown of bone rests on the altar, silent and waiting, as if it has always known this moment would come. I can’t stop looking at it. It draws me in in a way I don’t understand, something deeper than curiosity, deeper than fear. There’s power there, yes, I can feel it humming faintly in the air, threading through the sunlight and the breeze and the very ground beneath my feet, but it’s more than that. It feels like a choice. A turning point. A line I can step across… or walk away from.
My fingers curl slightly at my sides. I don’t move. Because if I do, everything changes.
Slowly, I lift my gaze from the crown and look at them.
They’re all watching me. Waiting. For me.
A strange ache settles deep in my gut. Because I already know something I haven’t said during this conversation. I love them, and I want to be with them. Which, no matter how I look at it, will make me a queen.