Page 69 of Dead Crown
“Not all do. The bloodline through a male is thought to be purer by some.”
“There you go. Our bloodline was needed to keep the land going. We received a special Crown, and it came with a rule.”
Jaki shifted by Lumi’s feet. “No other Kingdom has the rule that a woman can’t take over if she’s the first child. Eliranevergave such a command to them as if men were the only worthy ones to take the throne. Why not simply make it so that the Crown would live along with the lands as long as an heir was born and later coronated?”
Lumi struggled to remember his history lessons from childhood. It was true that a few lines kept birthing males as the first children, like Soleil and Nova. East Forest always had a male child as the oldest too, and currently, the heir was Kalen, the son of Reesing's killers, although Lumi barely ever thought about him.
Others like Illusa and Foamlen had started out with female Queens, and their firstborns had been women who later took the throne. Rowland, far in the south, had been ruled by a man and a woman who had already been married when they first arrived, and the woman was usually mentioned more as the first Queen over her husband in stories.
“Well…it’s not just males here,” said Lumi. “They have to be born of the Father. Bastards from the Queen by another male don’t count here. It’s…something about our blood.”
“I think Elira might have done that to help prevent cheating in a way. She didn’t like a fairy who would make a vow and sleep with another behind their spouse’s back. It's not the same as people agreeing to a poly relationship or an open relationship.”
“Father cheated on Mother, and the Crown would work for you,” argued Lumi. “You’re an heir.”
“Yes, but I came from Father,” said Jaki.
“What’s the difference? Cheating is cheating. Elira never said it’s only wrong for a wife to cheat.”
“But I came from the actual King,” said Jaki. “It’s possible bastard children like Elswere aren’t meant to rule because of this: the Queen can’t fall in love with another man, plot treasonwith him, overthrow her husband along with any children they had, and allow a new man to take the throne with their child as the new heir. Your Mother wasn’t born a Cleel, so imagine if she had never had children with Reesing, she cheated on him, and they overthrew him. At that point, the Cleel bloodline would be entirely erased.”
“I can see that. The woman who marries the heir is only a Cleel in name, and if Elira did that to prevent treason…bastards from the King can rule. But what’s the point? If you want to be really technical, bastards from the King are acceptable everywhere because if the King marries a man and neither are abundant males, he’ll need a consort to create a child. Oftentimes, the consort isn’t married unless they’re agreeable to a poly relationship. That rarely happens. The King only fucks her until she conceives, and you could easily say that the resulting heir is a bastard.”
“True, but I don’t think Elira planned for girl children to be nearly useless in terms of rulinghere. Why give such a rule to Iceland? Elira wasn’t like that.” Jaki leaned forward to grab the pack that contained the Crown. “Every time a ruler has died, a High Mage takes the Crown until the heir is coronated which is usually within days. No daughter has ever tried to touch it beforehand as far as I know. We have a little girl right here, and no one is technically crowned…”
Lumi hadn’t even thought to try such a thing. Everyone knew how the Crown worked.
What if everyone had been wrong and missed one detail? It wasn’t like they could go back in time and ask the first King or Elira. Jaki took the Crown and leaned over to tug Jacqueline’s blankets down a little. She had been quiet, and she waved a fist at the disruption of her swaddling. Jaki gently laid the Crown over her body so part of it touched her bare skin.
It had a slight sheen since Jaki had been holding it, and when he let go of it, it remained. She must have felt the warmth and thrum of it since she made a pleased sound and grabbed at a shiny ruby.
Lumi couldn’t think of a single thing to say as he stared.
“Our daughter can be the Queen when she’s older,” said Jaki.
“Is it working because we’re both heirs, and she came from us?” Lumi knew not a single Cleel ruler had created an heir with a sibling, half or not.
Jaki paused before he spoke. “I don’t think so. I think any daughter could have been Queen, but none have touched the Crown after the King’s death and before the son was crowned. By chance, there has always been a male to take over. Elira wouldn’t make women here unworthy of ruling.”
She wasn’t that sort of Goddess, and Lumi had never really questioned why she had supposedly created a strict rule for their Kingdom alone.
“When people hear the same thing generation after generation, and the centuries go by, they may not question a thing,” said Jaki. “An assumption becomes fact in their minds. To question it becomes folly, like asking if the sun will rise tomorrow. Since we’ve always had a male to take over, it wasn’t like anybody had to worry either. The lands have never died until now.”
“She can’t rule unless we’re united,” said Lumi. “There won’t be anything left to rule when she grows up.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jaki had never appreciated East Iceland so much. Sure, it was dying like the other half, and bandits roamed around, but there was less chance of being captured by Tivar’s men.
They likely wouldn’t go past the border. To be caught by East Iceland soldiers would lead to imprisonment, and they’d be tortured for information before a dove even made it to Elswere to say they’d caught someone from the enemy side.
They were pretty safe from Tivar. Jaki still had to be careful of bandits, but even Lumi seemed to feel a bit safer. What little strength he had was sapped as they rode for three days. It was no wonder, considering the physical and mental strain he’d been under.
Jaki had never appreciated home so much either. When they finally entered the grounds, no one questioned why he had no guard after being away, so they must have assumed he’d taken one or two from the city and dropped them off. Those in the city and the Castle grounds didn’t mix for shifts, so Father wouldn’t even know.
Lumi drew stares even though he had his hood up and his face hidden. Jaki took him in a side entrance.
“I think you should have your own rooms,” he said in a low voice when they entered the main grounds. “I was going to put you in mine, but that’s not a good idea.”
