The Sovereign's Sacrifice ☆ EDITING ☆

Chapter Twenty Four: Eliana

I was slowly walking up to the throne, Ivan was waiting there for me, his hand outstretched, the coronation crowns and scepters waited to the side by the priest.

I took a deep breath and swallowed my nerves. The people surrounding us were our people. I had tk.show them how strong and confident their queen is, and that it wasn't a mistake to put their faith in me.

I took Ivan's hand as I heard cackling erupt from the back of the room. Everyone was smiling and watching on, acting as if they'd heard nothing. I must be losing my mind.

The priest began his sermon as we bowed respectfully to him. Something wasn't right. I gripped the mysterious black dagger I had concealed under my robes. I'd never seen the dagger before, but I knew it was important.

It came time for us to recite our vows to the people. As we finished our speeches, the crowns and scepters were given to us and we were introduced as the new king and queen.

Darkness flooded the room and infelt myself thrown to the ground. "You for your people" a voice boomed. Ivan readied to fight. I put out my hand, halting him.  "If I go, you must not hurt them."

"I always keep my word," the voice spat out. I reached out to the darkness and was sucked in.

~*~*~

I sighed softly as I rolled over in bed. I felt a warm body beside me and it only took me moments to realize it was Ivan. My cheeks grew red at the thought of all we had done the night before.

Feeling a bit shy I adjusted so I could wrap my body in the sheet and tried to slip away to use the restroom. Just as I started moving, he rolled over and slid his arms around me.

"Good morning My Love," he mumbled into my messy hair.

"Morning," I whispered shyly.

"Today is the day you become queen and I become king. Are you ready?" He asked stroking my hair lovingly.

"No, and yes," I whispered. "I can't shake this feeling that something horrible is going to happen today."

"You are not alone anymore, my love. Anything that is thrown our way, we can handle together."

I hummed in appreciation of his words. "I love you, but I can't shake the feeling that I'll be taken from you. If that happens, and the fighting stops, let it be for our people's sake," I whispered to him.

"Why do I get the feeling that you know something you aren't telling me," he said worriedly, propping himself up on his arm to look at me better.

"I've been having these dreams. Sometimes my dreams are just dreams, and other times they aren't. I have no way of knowing which category these fall into," I whispered in response.

"Would you like to talk about it?" He asked me, stroking my loose strands of hair tenderly from my face.

"Do you know of a black dagger that radiates dark energy? It has a red gem in the hilt?" I asked quietly, thinking of the dagger I hugged to my side in my dream.

"The Dagger of Nightfall," he whispered worriedly, his face drained of all color. "It's power is believed to kill anyone who is stabbed with the blade the moment it pierces their skin."

"In every one of these dreams I have it, and I can't shake the feeling that it's important."

I sprung to my feet and rushed to the shelves in the living area while wrapping the bedsheet around my body. I remembered seeing a book on dark weapons.

I pulled it off of the shelf and flipped through the pages.

"The Dagger of Nightfall," it read. "It is said that the true power of the Dagger of Nightfall is only revealed to a wielder worthy of it's power."

Ivan came into the room after me. He walked up behind me, kissing the crook of my neck, making me moan softly. Goosebumps erupted over my skin. "You know it's silly to cover yourself when I've spent the whole night kissing you, touching you, and tasting you," he smiled punctuating each of those three words with kisses.

I squealed a little, "Be serious! Do you know where this dagger is?"

"If I tell you, will you let me have breakfast?"