The-Sinful-King-By-Claire-Contreras-PDF

C H A P T E R 2 9
A D E L I N E
T
he air was charged. It hadn’t yet started, but
anticipation rolled through me nonetheless. The
deceased king didn’t allow anyone inside his coronation. I
wasn’t sure he even had one. The Queen Mother held hers
behind closed doors. Elias was having his televised, had
opened the door to the outside world when he invited people
like me, a commoner, in here. It was so quiet, you could hear
a pin drop, and I leaned in closer when the doors opened and
they started playing a hymn. The archbishop walked in
followed by a row of bishops behind him—one held a sword,
another a large gold crown with stones, another a chalice,
another a red coat, another a pillow with a ring on it. We all
remained standing, as we had been since we walked in,
worried we’d miss something. I hadn’t seen the Queen
Mother or Princess Pilar, or Prince Aramis, or Emily, the
Princess of Austria, for that matter, but the moment I caught
a glimpse of Elias walking behind the bishops, looking larger
than life and handsome as ever in regal red and gold attire, I
felt like the air was sucked out of the room.
A hand covered and squeezed mine on either side. I
turned my attention to my right side, where Etienne was,
and my left, where Joslyn was, and squeezed back, grateful
for the comfort they provided. Then, my eyes were back on