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

to be televised. Our wedding had been the first to be
televised. My coronation, like the Queen Mother’s before me,
would remain behind closed doors, for only the clergy and
guests invited to the wedding to witness. The queens before
us were crowned with their respective kings, or alone,
behind closed doors in Sainte-Chapelle or Abbey of Saint-
Denis. Elias made it so that I would be crowned during our
wedding ceremony.
Unlike his coronation, mine was to last a few minutes.
They’d go through the necessary steps, give me communion
again, and replace my tiara with a crown. My palms were
sweating as I answered their pledge to remain faithful to my
King and the country of France. It was an antiquated system,
no doubt, but in the name of tradition, it served its purpose.
The archbishop lifted my tiara from my head along with the
veil attached to it. The crown I was to wear was brought out
and I couldn’t help my soft gasp. The crown Elias wore today
was gold and large, with diamonds and emeralds
surrounding it and a cross sitting at the top of it. The one
they were holding out to me was similar, but had golden
birds and diamond leaves. It was smaller than my husband’s,
but seemed to carry even more jewels than his. It had a small
cross sitting on top of a big diamond-encrusted ball. I
lowered my head slightly as they placed it over my head, and
brought my gaze back to the archbishop as he blessed me.
“Vive la reine.” The archbishop smiled.
I smiled back, tears trickling down my face. I wiped them
away quickly and stood when I was supposed to, this time
facing my husband. He took my hand in his and led me out of
the cathedral as our guests cheered for us. As the doors
opened for us and security scrambled to their places, Elias
led me outside, still holding my hand tightly. He put an arm
up and waved, and I put my free hand up and waved,
laughing as people cheered. We’d rehearsed this, but this