Page 95 of Golden Queen
A boy knelt in front of me. I tried to pull him into focus as his pale skin and white-blonde hair wavered before me.
Withian, I realized. The boy was Withian. I could see his oddly perfect skin, irregular shaped pupils, and strange yellow eyes.
He wrapped my hand in a soft, white bandage and gave me a tentative smile.
"Nefum calu Aelia, oan alva catka morgan," they chanted.
The melodic voices, the smoke, and the red of my blood now soaking through the godsgrass and onto the stones of the dais in front of me, all coalesced to make me feel like I was in a fever dream.
I felt myself sway and had to blink my eyes furiously to clear my head.
The Withian boy was gone, but I could not remember him leaving.
And then the high priestess stepped before me. "I crown you Queen Aelia of Windemere, the First of Her Name, Protector of the Godsgrass Kingdom, and Guardian of the Realms of Men."
She lowered the crown onto my head. The weight of it was substantial. I felt it tip and slide to the side as she released it. I had to angle my head to keep it on.
"Long live Aelia of Windemere!" the eldermen and priests said in unison. "Long live the Queen!"
I felt hands clasp my arms gently on either side of me, and I awkwardly got to my feet.
I had to reach up to prevent the crown from falling off as I mounted the little step and strode across the godsgrass. The long robes swished around my feet, sliding over the dried stalks and scattering them across the floor.
Acolytes guided the long train of my robes around me as I took the last few remaining steps to the throne, dragging the godsgrass with me as I went.
I barely registered the tiny golden points of light reflected on the stones around me in between the scattered stalks. My thoughts were focused on keeping the gods blasted heavy crown on my head as I backed up to my mother's chair and sat.
I let my weight sink into the cushion beneath me, feeling a sense of finality and relief, drawing out the moment until I was forced to raise my eyes to meet the stares of my subjects.
I heard a gasp and then another, followed by several voices all at once, murmuring.
"Angels save us!"
I looked up, but the chamber was dimly lit, the smoke hanging heavy in the air. I could barely make out the faces in the crowd.
Another voice, rising above the others, cried, "Look at them!"
People began leaving the rows of benches as someone said, "Seeds! They're golden seeds!"
"It's a miracle!" another cried.
Someone scrambled toward the dais, falling to their hands and knees on the stones. It was the high priestess. She was pawing through the godsgrass stalks, fumbling for the shining points of light.
I felt frozen on the throne as others crowded the dais and began picking through the godsgrass.
"Nefum calu Aelia, oan alva catka morgan," came the high priestess' loud, dramatic cry. This time it was edged with a fanaticism that sent unease coursing through me.
The high priestess who so often looked at me with condescension and scorn, crawled her way across the dais, lowering her head to the stones. "Theangel bleeds red for gold!" she cried, taking turns prostrating herself and staring up at me with near reverence. "Aelia! Aelia! Savior! Hope sprouts anew with a golden bounty laid at her feet!"
I stared at her with my mouth hanging open in shock. Tears streamed down her face, smearing the dark liner around her eyes. She looked utterly unstable.
The others, eldermen, priests, and nobles, were still crowding the dais, picking up the godsgrass seeds that were strewn all around. Even Markus was on one knee, kneeling down to retrieve them.
I moved from the throne and picked up one of the little golden orbs. Stepping to the lantern on the wall, I held it up to study it. There were faint lines running down the surface and a rough round dot at one end of the sphere, proving it was a real seed.
I scraped it with my fingernail to be sure it wasn't painted gold. Nothing flaked away, but I dared not break it to look inside.
If these were the first godsgrass seeds to ever be harvested from the grain, even a single one would be more precious than anything else in the whole of Alterra.
