Chapter 8 - A Kingdom Without a Crown
For three days, Aurelion had no Star Crown.
Chaos followed.
Three nobles declared themselves legitimate heirs.
Border fortresses refused royal orders.
The Council demanded Cassian take the throne immediately.
Cassian refused.
“If I crown myself now, everyone will think I used Elara’s disappearance to take power.”
The kingdom needed temporary leadership.
The Council proposed something unheard of.
A Regency of Three.
Prince Cassian.
Elara.
And Mara.
Mara stared.
“I sew dresses.”
Cassian answered:
“You also tell both of us when we’re being foolish.”
“That is not a constitutional qualification.”
“It should be.”
Elara asked:
“What do I have to do?”
“Nothing alone.”
Cassian leaned closer.
“You serve as Keeper until the crisis ends.”
“And if the crown never comes back?”
“Then perhaps we stop waiting for magic to tell us who should rule.”
The Regency was announced.
Nobles were furious.
Common people celebrated Mara’s appointment.
Children wore paper crowns through the capital.
Then bad news arrived.
Duke Halric in the north had declared himself king.
Ten thousand soldiers followed him.
The generals demanded war.
Elara asked one question.
“Why do the soldiers follow him?”
The generals stared.
“Because he wants the throne.”
“No.”
“Why do they follow him?”
Reports were ordered.
The answer was uncomfortable.
The north had suffered three failed harvests.
King Aldren’s government had continued collecting high grain taxes.
Relief shipments disappeared.
Halric had fed villages from his own stores.
His rebellion was partly ambition.
But it was also anger.
Elara said:
“Send food.”
A general nearly shouted.
“To rebels?”
“To hungry people.”
One hundred grain wagons went north.
Halric seized twelve.
The remaining eighty-eight reached villages.
Within days, soldiers began deserting his army.
Halric sent an angry message.
YOU BUY LOYALTY WITH BREAD.
Elara replied:
PEOPLE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO BUY BREAD WITH LOYALTY.
Eventually Halric agreed to negotiate.
Elara asked him:
“Why were you willing to start a war?”
No ruler had asked him that.
By evening, a settlement was reached.
Halric abandoned his claim.
The north received fair grain oversight.
But Elara refused complete immunity for the grain he had stolen.
“You can be angry and still do wrong.”
Halric stared at her.
“You negotiate like a queen.”
Elara shook her head.
“I negotiate like someone who doesn’t want soldiers dying because adults are proud.”
The northern army lowered its banners.
A war ended before the first battle.
That night, seven silver stars appeared above Aurelion.
The crown was returning.
May you like
But not as one crown.
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