Gilded: Chapter 1

The day of the coronation, and an introduction to our main cast

Chapter One

The maiden was so moved, she cried for the night. Her glittering tears made the rivers, which began to flow with small fish. The wolf was so grateful, filling his hungry belly that morning, he promised to shield and protect her. The maiden would cry tears of joy, but the wolf's wound would not clot. From blood, sweat and tears came the birds, the mammals, the plants, and all other life on earth.

-From the Codex of The Pack, Chapter 1

---

They still hadn't been spotted.

Tonight was too precious, too sacred, and yet someone still slid through the shadows easily. A figure in black from head to toe bypassed the gate guards at the entrance hall and darted to the eastern wall of the Chateau. They climbed the wall with no effort, slid through a carelessly opened window, and crept through the bedroom with disturbing skill. The room's occupants had long since abandoned it for the coronation, leaving it ripe for the picking.

But this intruder had a goal. Leaving gold and fine silks untouched, they instead slipped to a chest with a heavy iron lock and a string of silver wrapped around. The figure tore the tiny chain off with a small hiss, rubbed their fingertips together, and tore off the lock. They opened the lid as slow as possible to avoid any creaks and squeaks.

Inside they saw a host of scrolls, wrapped in more silver chains. The figure pulled on a leather glove and plucked one specific scroll from the chest, tucking it into their tunic.

Footsteps echoed outside the door. A servant unlocked the chamber and stepped inside, towels draped over their arms. They had no suspicions of foul play, for nothing appeared disturbed. How could it when the intruder was fast enough to close it, reseal it, and exit without a sound? The servant did notice the open window and shut it with a click of their tongue.

---

"So the Virgin represents new life, may our new queen represent a new era."

"So let it be," Addy said.

Her arrival was met with expectant stares. The entirety of Casteline's nobility had attended, the highest ranks of the Elehari race together in one room. As the only race in all of Myradas who could use magic, the Elehari nobility fancied themselves the cream of the continent, the best of the best. Addy should have felt like one of them, but couldn't bring herself to look any of them in the eyes. Thankfully, most of the ritual required her to keep her back to the crowd, but she could feel their eyes on her skin.

Even more so, she knew that the foreign neighbors were here to pay respects as well. Humanity's king, Eldric The Lion, was somewhere in the crowd with his son and two daughters. On a (hopefully) opposite end, the Vampire Queen Laurell was also watching, her sons by her side. This was a truly giant affair, and Addy hoped to the Wolf above she didn't give them a comedy show instead.

Nervous, she let her eyes wander about the new throne room. The previous queen finished remodeling the rectangular chamber days before her death. She'd lengthened the room, putting the mahogany throne on a raised dais opposite the door, draping purple velvet curtains around it and adding gold-leaf detail to the floral motifs on the walls. The biggest change came from the ceiling, now painted to look like the fall of the Luminous City, the Elehari's ancestral home. With the fall painted directly over the throne, Addy wondered if that was an omen.

The Oracle lifted both of his hands. The holiest man in the Church of the Wolf was showing signs of middle age now, with wrinkled tawny skin and red hair flecked with gray. His wolf-skin hat bore down on Addy with two glassy, yellow eyes. Men and women in wolf-fur tunics, with gold-leaf chains adorning their heads, stood on either side of the throne. The priests and priestesses had their heads down, eyes closed in deep meditation.

They moved to surround Addy and lay their hands on her. She knelt before her throne, head bowed.

"And we call upon our Great Wolf, who shields and fights for the people." The Oracle read from The Codex of the Pack, a large, thick, red-leather book. A silver wolf glared from the cover, with long flowing hair behind it. "Let his strength and prowess be hers, that she may know no terror. Let her sword strike at the hearts of those who oppose her and you alike."

"Down with the false queen!"

Gasps turned to screams rippling through both sides of the crowd. A servant in rough leather and sackcloth rushed forward with a dagger held aloft. Addy gasped as three guards tackled the perpetrator to the ground, chains made from rock and metal springing up out of the ground.

"Easy child," Chancellor Vaschel said, standing to Addy's right. "We knew this nitwit would be here since day one."

Relief flooded Addy's system. Of all the titles in the room, Addy felt grateful to see the kingdom's second highest standing beside her. The aged Elehari, a stick of a woman with an austere face, tightly braided blond hair and hard brown eyes, was the advisor to both royals that came before Addy, and now had the job of guiding her. It felt good not to go through this completely alone.

Vaschel pointed a finger at the assassin. "Captain, interrogate him."

A tall, thick man waded through the crowd on the right. Addy zeroed in on his face and felt her own flush. She knew this giant of a man, round face hardened from battle, brown hair haphazardly braided down his back. They hadn't seen much of each other for two years, leaving Addy to wonder how'd he crossed so many ranks so quick.

The captain lifted the prisoner up by his skull. While the prisoner thrashed about, the captain's eyes brightened to pure white and white sparks snaked up his arm. The assassin struggled harder as the sparks leaped into his eyes. Their audience gasped, several women looking away in disgust.

"Isolated," The captain said and dropped the threat like dirty laundry. "The useless b*****d got called crazy every step of the way."

"Captain Cerano, we must proceed," the Oracle said. "If you'd please remove this stain from our sights."

Cerano turned his head to the throne. The Oracle wilted at once and Addy felt her cheeks get hotter. Cerano dropped the prisoner and two soldiers rushed forward to take him away. The guard captain zeroed in on Addy and slapped a fist over his heart.

"Captain Cerano de Averet, in service to crown and country," he said. "Long live the Queen."

He flashed her a smile, soft despite his harsh features. Addy liked it, liked how it brightened up the rest of his face. He was bigger, more important, but maybe he hadn't changed much.

The Oracle cleared his throat and gestured to his congregation. The priests and priestesses formed a line from the throne to the royal chapel on the left while Vaschel handed The Oracle a silver and gold crown.

"With church and country, we thus declare her queen," he said. "So let it be."

"And so it shall be," Addy and the rest of the crowd responded.

This was it; she was in charge now. Despite wearing her mother's clothes, it looked like the worst of it was over. They placed the heavy ornament on her head, and a sea of smiles met her gaze. She could keep things under control for the rest of the night, right?

---

The assassination attempt would blow over, with others sure to come. But Cerano didn't become the guard captain through complacency. This breach of security would not go unpunished.

Making use of a servant's route, he and his men arrived at the ballroom ahead of the crowd. This spacious, echoey chamber was tucked away in the castle core and served most of the public functions for the royal family. This meant twice the decoration with gold floral filigree over the white marble, purple accents to the teal floor, and seasonal flowers under each window. It was about to play host to yet another gathering, but this guard captain had some unfinished business before the peacocks arrived.

The guards from upstairs, alongside the ballroom's roster, lined up in the center of the room. Cerano strode to the front and glared at each of them.

"That boy should not have been in that room," he said, glaring at his men. "And you can bet your asses he shouldn't have had a weapon. Which of you was watching him?"

"Sir Oliver, sir," An older guard said.

Oliver flinched and Cerano's gaze bore down on him. He gave him one moment to speak, a moment the knight refused to take. White sparks danced from Cerano's eyes and cascaded over Oliver's head. Cerano saw a smoke-like image of Oliver wonder away from his post and dash into the kitchen for some stew.

"Hungry, eh? Guess that means the others get your rations tonight." Cerano smirked, then eyed the rest of the men. "They'll need 'em. We got a room full of nobles who don't know a sword from a dinner fork and we're not having another incident. Am I clear?"

After a chorus of "Sir, yes sirs!" they rushed into position. Two guards stationed themselves by the ballroom doors and pulled them open for the approaching crowd, others starting their hallway patrols. As the guests poured in, the Captain moved himself to the back wall and tapped again into his magic. White sparks turned to a white cloud over the ceiling, only visible to the discerning eye, and the thoughts of the room came in like the tides.

With the ceremony over, the nobility took to chatting amongst each other, starting what would become the gossip of the next day. As the story mutated into something far more scandalous, a few of them storing it away in their mental cache, Cerano felt his bad mood sour further.

He scoffed and whispered, "Yes yes, it's not exciting enough that someone wanted the girl dead. Let's dress it up, hm? Make it juicier…"

"Such is the way of the people, Captain."

Cerano turned to face Vaschel, who was giving him a wry smile. She turned to eye the haze above them. "I see you're hard at work, adding to the stress of the day. You do realize you make yourself a target when you do this, yes?"

"Better me than the queen," Cerano answered. "Maybe they'll finally clean up if they know someone's listening."

"I doubt that highly, captain," Vaschel sighed and put a hand to her temple. "Do what you must, but do not upset our guests more than necessary. Disturbing the balance here is far more dangerous than you think."

With that ominous warning, Vashchel disappeared back into the crowd. Cerano began to circle the room, catching more than one nervous glance in his direction, and several women shuffling away. It seemed he'd doomed himself to isolation, a fate he accepted if it kept everyone alive one more night.

He stopped at the back wall and saw the main doors open. He watched his men escort the queen into the room with her Ladies-in-Waiting. He mentally commanded his men to return to their posts and took some time to observe his new queen. Even from this distance, he could pick up her aura, a mass of nervous energy that was practically bouncing off the walls. Cerano pitied the poor girl, but her fear was well placed. There were more than a few people in the room who had something to gain from her death.

When her eyes met him, he suddenly felt wistful. For all her nerves, he couldn't help but remember the way she used to be: brave, clever, a dirt-covered little girl who helped him fight imaginary dragons in the woods. He'd been so young when they played together. He'd lost track of her when his training had gotten too intense and when her upbringing prevented her from associating with a simple squire any longer. Did she even recognize him, for just a small second?

She gave him a soft smile. He decided to take that as a yes.

The queen gestured to her sides and her ladies left her hesitantly. Cerano made a move to bow before her eyes drifted to the right and a look of unabashed joy hit her. She darted into the crowd and threw her arms around two young girls. Cerano stared at the scene for several seconds, then couldn't stop himself from chuckling. That wouldn't look good amongst her peers… but it was cute.