LIZAVETA
The candlelight was keeping me awake.
Or maybe it was the heartache, I'll never know. It was the eve of my coronation, exactly midnight of Sunday. I sighed. There was no running now.
Three days ago, after I ran away from Ly and he didn't run after me, I realized our friendship was broken. Reparable, yes, but restored not to its former glory. Because all the past times I tried asking for his hand, I never meant it. Last Wednesday, I did.
Many of the princes and the first sons and the billionaires and those Nobel prize winners asked if I had time for them. Of course, I did. But in my current state of grief over a six-year friendship, I realized that if any of them showed me any trace of kindness, I might mistake it for the love I'd lost.
I was too young when I fell for Ilyaas. Too foolish. I trusted him to say the right thing, trusted him too much to break me, thinking he saw me the same way or at least loved me enough to lie.
He didn't.
I was too hopeful for someone to be able to love me... Onus. There was no use denying it now, was there? Something happened when my grandfather died; somehow, I became a little less human.
Who could I tell that the coronation that starts at daybreak was a crime?
I read about the death penalties against the Onus caught after the war and the Great Dying. Some were burned. Some were hung. Some were locked in coffins and thrown into the ocean. Some had the privilege of being killed by a needle. But those looked like lives from other dimensions. I barely thought they were real... That at a moment in time those judicial murders were real and glorified because the enemy was no longer seen as human.
How would they kill me?
My back was flat on the cushion of the wooden bed of Solomon I. This was the Chamber of the Ascendant - a room on the first floor of the House - the same room the first king slept in before his own coronation.
It was a pity Jazzy wasn't let in. It would be my first time in six years to sleep without her by me.
Candles were around the bed; so many of them that it all looked as if it was my funeral. Figuratively, it was. I, the Ascendant, would officially be her imperial majesty, the empress, in a few hours' time.
Thus, Princess Lizaveta of the West shall die. Tomorrow, the empress will rise.
Queen Aridni of England, the only relative within my fourth degree of consanguinity who was neither banished nor dead nor has abdicated was the only one who lit the candles earlier tonight. She told me she remembered doing it for her brother, and that back then, there were many of them who lit them when he was crowned. It was lonely for her to be alone, but I was happy I had someone at least.
"These candles are scented in rose." Aridni said. "Death and rebirth."
"You chose the scent?"
"Yes." She smiled at me, her light periwinkle eyes shining in the candlelight. She had flecks of gold in them - a stark contrast to her thick black waves. "I lit the same candles in the crypts a few days ago. I lit one for each tomb... well at least the ones I knew when they were alive. It's eerie there."
"It is." I remembered. Raza got back on time to seal my brother's tomb, thankfully. She had no questions.
She bowed to me and walked for the door, never turning her back to me. "I'm sorry this happened to you." Only those in the innermost circle knew how being crowned was equal to a death sentence. "Sleep well."
I didn't.
Tere I was, not sleeping well, staring at a persistent light, slightly hoping it would burn me.
It was cold, despite the candles. That was probably because I only had white shorts and a bandeau for tomorrow's ceremonies. They kept hiking up that I had to readjust them again and again. All the discomfort somehow warned me of how things would go.
I sighed.
I should have run. If not on Everest, then in Monaco. I should have escaped. But there I lay, in a guarded room, feeling more like I was imprisoned in a tomb rather than preparing for a crown.
Turning on my side, I stared at the candle nearest to my head as the light extended up and up and all of a sudden, was extinguished.
In a blink, it was lit again, and somewhere outside my room I heard laughter.
My head was playing tricks now. I needed to sleep.
After that I closed my eyes, convincing myself it was just a trick of the light.
×+×
The music woke me up, as they opened the doors, letting the light in. Somewhere, a sybyzgy was playing in a woodwind orchestra. Wood.
Across the lobby, they vacated the fountain to make an empty pool, and further that way, there was a tyrian purple tent where I was supposed to change. The room was only a beeline away from them.
But first, the lighting ritual.
The ladies in waiting - four of them - poured into the room, followed by the female holy leaders - the Antistita- Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, Jain, Jew, Druid, and all thirty religions of the continent. This would be a first. It used to be all holy men.
I breathed in, trying to calm myself, and failing.
As practiced, I held out my hands, sitting up, as the ladies offered me four cardinal garlands of flowers picked from every country under the commonwealth of the empire: chamomile, lavender, shamrock, padauk, roses, cherry blossoms and all types of jasmine... so many of them with their mixed scents wafting into my nose.
I lay them on the tyrian purple pillow I laid my head on last night. It was an offering to the gods, or God, whichever they believed. Personally, I didn't claim to know who the master of the universe was.
Climbing out, I went to the foot of my bed, and knelt on a golden carpet. I proceeded to light the candle named the Lux Imperium, and bowed, pressing my head to the floor for exactly ten seconds, praying for my people. Fire.
Rising, the each Antistita dipped her hand into a mixture of clay and oil to write her religion's symbol onto my exposed skin. Earth.
My hands were up, as I spread them outward, welcoming their blessings. It was warm, then cool, and then itchy.
It took half an hour for all of them to finish. As each symbol was written, they whispered their wishes. Then they started chanting the same song in each of their own languages. It was surprisingly not dissonant.
Two of the ladies in waiting held my hands and arms as I stood, covered in clay. They then led me to the empty pool awaiting in the lobby parallel to my door.
Guards lined the walls, I could hear all the drones in the air, the choppers guarding the whole city. Through the doors of the House, I could see the mercury dome expanding to cover the entirety of Lesya, soon they'd be filled with the eyes of my people - watching over me as their sovereign - on a projection that spanned the whole city's sky.
I tried distracting myself that way, but the itch came back.
The other two ladies came from behind me, holding golden pitchers in their hands, filled to the brim with holy water. Metal.
Below, in the pool, water leaked into the base, filling it as the ladies poured their pitchers in unison. In an instant, the pool was full. Water.
Two steps, I took, and I went under- the water filling my nostrils, feeling each inch of me submerged in the cold. The music and the chanting reached a crescendo, the clay dissolved and peeled away from my body, and in seconds, I was cleansed.
The moment my head broke from the pool, the ladies then helped me up and out of the water.
Dripping wet with droplets falling onto the ivory carpet, they led me to the tent.
There they dried me with a device that left my clothes steaming, my skin warm to the touch.
My hair was loosely braided with diamonds mined from Jupiter clouds, but my feet were left bare as I was to walk barefoot to my throne.
After those came the dress.
It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
The dress had a shallow boat neckline with a column skirt and a wrap-around train made of thick champagne and gold-specked fabric. In the darkness of the tent, it looked nothing special, but it shall glow.
Next, they clasped a tyrian purple cape - the cape worn by every sovereign since the conception of the empire - to my shoulders. It was embroidered and lined with golden threads that imitated chain s- the incorporation of each country into a chain linked by trust, gratitude and the mutual aim of unlimited and eternal prosperity.
To be honest, it sounded like chackles.
They fastened an emerald belt - a gift from the Grand Mufti - around my waist. Next came the yellow gold cuffs for my arms given to me by a Ramakrishna, one eilat earring from Israel given to me by the Chief Rabbinate and one ruby earring given by the Pope. A circlet of diamond prisms, that when hit with sunlight would make a halo of rainbows to symbolize Nirvana given to me by the Dalai Lama was then fastened into my hair.
Lastly was the golden compass medallion given to me by my ancestors. It was the same symbol on each flag flying in the empire.
When they were finished, they opened the heavy curtains of the tent to let me out.
The sun was rising faster now, kissing me with light. From the corner of my eye, I saw the shield lock itself around the city's borders, protecting us from any attack that might come.
At the front of the house was a gilded glass carriage with akhal-teke horses harnessed to it, glowing pale gold and ivory. The ladies in waiting gathered my cape in their hands and walked me to the carriage.
From there I had no idea what I looked like, but from the gasps of the staff, the stares and amazed smiles of the privy council members slowly boarding their own carriages... I surmised that I might have looked either stunning or absolutely horrendous.
The carpet was purple now, and it was soft under my feet as I walked to the carriage. Breathing was a bit hard, and the jewels were heavy, but I kept my face contented, sound, not emotionless but not giddy.
Then... I almost stopped walking when I saw him.
Ilyaas.
He, like all the other Pentagon League members, was on an albino friesian horse surrounding the entirety of my carriage, dressed in full regalia. He kept his eyes forward, away from me and I just wanted him to steal a glance, but he didn't.
My heart sank. I couldn't let it show.
Jazzy was at the front of the caravan. She would lead me to the temple, followed by my horses, and I, surrounded by my guards. Everyone protested when I brought it up, but I couldn't let my most prized friend miss my most important moment.
She looked at me, and I swore I could see her smile.
On to the carriage I went, the immense dress and accessories filling each corner. With one look to my right where Ilyaas's horse was then trotting to my six, I saw a red wilted carnation tucked into the wall of the carriage.
A silent apology.
I smiled, taking heart, earning courage. I realized I already forgave him beforehand. Not the same but enough.
I grabbed a petal and tucked it into my sleeve - a piece of him with me for this piece of history I was about to make.
Then I kept my eyes forward.
I wasn't baptized into any religion, and I had no intention of doing so, so I chose the temple that paid homage to every church. I kept my eyes forward, seeing the cars and carriages go before me to the Mashriqu-l-Adhkár, the Baha'I place of worship - the only temple that could celebrate Eid and Christmas without question. And today, it would bear witness to my coronation.
It was a day unlike anything ever chronicled in history. The day the continent crowned the very thing it destroyed at its conception.
The day the very thing that could destroy the empire was crowned Empress.
ILYAAS
When I saw Lesya step into the light that morning, I regretted not saying what she wanted to hear. I knew I wasn't the only one who felt it - that sudden shift in the world. I wondered why I never catered the thought of how different she was to the rest of us.
She looked as though the moon descended from the sky to grace us mortals with her presence. Stars worshipped her, her face surrounded by a kaleidoscope halo, as she walked up to her glass carriage. It didn't feel real.
As I guarded her from her blind spot, I couldn't help but stare at her form inside her translucent cocoon. The epitome of radiance. The embodiment of mortal transcendence.
She took my breath away and I didn't mind.
Lesya always thought she was average - never prided herself in her looks. She knew she was attractive, but not more than the common celebrity. She was though. She still didn't know what that entailed.
On a normal day she already looked beautiful, with her long white spiral curls and those eyes... those alexandrite eyes. Today, however, she looked like everything good in the world, she was heaven on earth, she was a goddess rising to the skies and we were her willing subjects, I, her willing sacrifice.
I had to snap out of it. There were things that were already impossible. There were things better left undone. There were things I already sacrificed not having.
Before us, far into the temple, were the Antistita, followed by Parliament, the Cabinet, the Privy Council, the Order of the Jewels, then the thirty tributes... then us.
We were in our full regalia - a blessing and a curse, if someone were to ask me. The warm day made sure no rain interrupted the coronation, but it also made sure I was sweating into every piece of fabric attached to me.
We stood; Ji Su would hold the scepter, Natasha would have the orb. James will offer the sword, and I would carry the Imperial Crown and ring - two because Lesya didn't hire anyone to replace Raza. Jazzy will follow, to guard her Empress with her life.
And then Lesya.
The distance from the House to the temple was short, and thankfully so since my legs were already aching from the horse. I never understood the tradition of it all. Why did I have to ride a horse when I could ride a runner? I didn't understand the sanctity of rituals if they compromised safety and comfort.
The convoy of cars and carriages was a long one, and the streets were filled with screaming citizens climbing over each other to get a glimpse of their young empress, waving the gold and purple flag in her name.
I scanned their hands and faces, and the windows above them. So many loved her. So many hated her. There were already thirty attempts at her life in the past week. No one had to know.
Each one of the people's jaws dropped the moment she passed them. I couldn't blame them. Looking at Lesya was like looking at a sunrise for the very first time in a century... wondering how such beauty could possibly exist in a world so dark.
The Mashriqu'l-Adhkár was positioned at the exact center of the continent. In the lessons, they said that the House was the center, but that was slightly off. King Solomon, the first, was crowned there, and so will be the first empress.
She shall be crowned at the heart of her empire she shall rule for the entirety of her life. Was it too simple of me to say I wanted nothing more?
The trumpets blared as we arrived and I dismounted to walk to the front, receiving the crown and ring from a jeweler at the entrance. The nerves were high today. I would have rather been in the shadows, watching and observing the proceedings. But here I was, center stage with my back to the only one who mattered.
Amidst it all I couldn't help but stand in awe of the temple. It had nine points dividing it into nine faces, rising up and up into the heavens like a star looking skyward instead of down.
Who knew a boy from the sands would end up here?
I wished mama were here. My brother's would have teased me until the day I died... If only they didn't.
Everyone was already sitting or at least walking down the aisle to the center. Every dignitary, every royal, every important person who had the honor of being invited was in attendance. All were in their richest finery, in their best behavior.
They were standing already, awaiting her.
I harrumphed the nerves out.
"Ilyaas." I heard her whisper. I never thought she'd speak to me again. I guessed the carnation worked. She once said it was the flower which reminded her of her brother, and I hoped it would calm her down knowing he was with her at least in this form.
I turned to see her, willing myself not to stumble. "Lesya." She smiled at the mention of her name.
"Thank you for the flower."
She saw it, I saw its petal poking out of her inner wrist's sleeve. I smiled at her, telling her with my eyes how proud I was to see her like this, how much of an honor it was to serve her, to be hers.
I wanted to preserve that moment forever.
That moment in between moments with the quietness of her smile, the courage of her posture, the immense future she was facing reflected in her eyes... Breathtaking.
I'll be there. I thought. Each step of the way.
"I love you." She mouthed to me.
"Always." I mouthed back.
Then off we were. One breath in, one breath out. One... two... three.
At the request of Queen Aridni, the score for today would be a gift from England's Orchestra, and with our entrance, they played Parry's tune. I could feel the whole room engulfed with each note, each eye gazing upon the vast power and command Lesya wielded with each step.
It was at that second, I almost shed a tear.
The moment was perfect. It was all I could do not to look back at Lesya and bask in the glory of the Empress. It was all I could do not to kneel right there. Each face I saw was in awe, each person fighting the urge to surrender their whole selves to the goddess amongst men.
Today she was not just my Lesya, today she was the Empress of Eurasia.
She was worth everything. Everything.
I was glad.
When we reached the altar, each guard offered a relic, and I was last to offer the crown as the music slowly started fading.
I knelt as the Antistita opened her palms to me to receive the crown. That was when I looked back at Lizaveta, her hands clasping her compass medallion, her face indiscernible.
Jazzy walked around Lesya's kneeler once before sitting behind it to let her buddy to stand across from it against King George's Seat - the seat that came before the throne.
And so, the recognition ritual began.
"I HERE PRESENT UNTO YOU, EMPRESS LIZAVETA SNEZHANA WANIKA NADIR, YOUR UNDOUBTED SOVEREIGN, PLEDGING HER LIFE TO HER EMPIRE, WHEREFORE ALL YOU WHO COME, TO GIVE HOMAGE AND SERVICE. ARE YOU WILLING TO DO THE SAME?" The Antistita exclaimed to the North, to the South, to the East and West. And in every direction the resounding response was "GOD SAVE EMPRESS LIZAVETA!"
Lesya then sat upon the seat of King George, as the Chief Justice stood and presented to her the Imperial Constitution. She paused and then said "This is Imperial Law, our gracious empress. To keep her imperial majesty ever mindful of her duty. As the rule for the whole life and government of our land, we present to you this book, the most valuable thing in the continent. Here is wisdom, this is royal law, this is the word of your people by which you must serve."
The empress then knelt before the constitution and kissed its ornate cover. "And I shall serve." She said, her voice nothing but a whisper, and yet heard all throughout the realm.
Further, the Chief Justice then took the book and offered it to the hands of her sovereign and retreated to the altar. She was followed by Lesya and her bevvy of ladies-in-waiting, positioning the empress on the Throne of the Ascendant, yet to be seated.
It is time for her oath. I gave a silent prayer to Ganesha for her not to mess it up.
"Madam, is your imperial majesty willing to take the Oath?" The Antistita exclaimed instead of asked.
"I am willing." She lies, holding the constitution in her hands.
"Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the Peoples of the Empire of the Eurasian Continent and of your Possessions and the other Territories on Earth, Mars and Jupiter's moons, to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective laws and customs?"
"I solemnly promise so to do." Lesya promises in truth.
"Will you, to your power cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgements?"
"I will." I knew there was no need for her to promise that. It would have gone against the grain of her being to do otherwise.
I could barely breathe.
"Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain the Laws of the God and gods of your people? Will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Empire, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in the Empire of the Continent of Eurasia?"
"I will."
I didn't realize I was holding my breath until I let it go. I truly thought she would go back on the oath and run away. But here she was still, now sitting on the throne.
One by one the Antistita kneeled before her to give her the relics.
First was the sword to be attached to her emerald belt. "Receive this sword as a symbol of our trust, that you may brandish it against our enemies in defense of your people, that you may behold only victory in war and peace everlasting."
Lesya bowed her head as she fastened it to her left-side belt.
Next came the Orb, a golden ball encrusted with diamonds in the shape of the continents and seas. "Receive this orb and remember that the whole of Eurasia is subject to the power of the hand who wields it."
Then came the scepter, a diamond, sapphire, alexandrite and red beryl-encrusted rod of solid gold. "Receive this scepter as a symbol of our loyalty, that you may rely on your people as we promise our homage and service to your reign everlasting."
"Receive this ring of kingly dignity that you may be forever bound to your country." An Antistita said as she slipped the ring onto Lesya's right ring finger at last.
And then came the crown. It was that heavy thing lined with tyrian purple velvet and ermine. I wondered how the kings of old even managed to stand upright with it on their heads.
It was held above her head, like a guillotine's blade waiting to drive down. As much as I knew she would be an amazing empress, I knew she felt like she was being executed.
"I CROWN YOU THAT YOU MAY HAVE AN EVERLASTING EMPIRE!" The Antistita said, holding the crown above her head.
That was the cue as hundreds of servants entered the temple, their trays full of imperial coronets, rapidly being distributed to all the royals of the continent.
There, I saw on the third row from the center, a blonde head of a boy beaming with pride, Tino. He received his coronet, and held it against his chest, his eyes never leaving the empress. Maybe someday he would be crowned in this same room as well. At least it was my hope. He was the only one who looked at her almost like I did.
It was a pity; she didn't want to look at him at all.
"May God bless you and keep you, that God protect you, in all your life, and prosper in all your handiwork. That God give you loyal parliament and quiet realm, sure defense against all enemies, fruitful land and a prosperous industry, wise counsellors and upright magistrate, leaders with integrity, in learning and labor, a kind, learned and useful clergy, honest, peaceable and dutiful citizens." She took a breath, her arms straining with the heavy and sharp crown. "May wisdom and knowledge be the stability of your time and the fear of God your treasure." Another breath. "That you may rule over the empire on which the sun does not set for as long as you live. That God that made you Empress over these peoples give you increase of grace, honor, life and happiness in this world and make you partaker in His eternal felicity in the world to come." She screams.
Finally, she placed the crown upon Lesya's coronet, the two merging and locking in place. And despite believing it to be as heavy as I remembered, Lesya's head remained unbowed and unbent, her resolve unbroken, her soul, unconquerable.
The Antistita turned to face the world.
"I give you, Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Lizaveta Snezhana Wanika Nadir, Empress and sovereign of the Empire of the Continent of Eurasia!"
The royals crowned themselves with their coronets and exclaimed. "God save Empress Lizaveta!"
And in the tears clouding my vision, I said the same.
LIZAVETA
"God save Empress Lizaveta!" They exclaimed from the temple.
"God save Empress Lizaveta!" I heard from the crowds.
"God save Empress Lizaveta!" It rang in my head.
God, please save me.
My mind was reeling at what was expected of me, at the life chosen for me, at my own existence. With the sword at my belt, the scepter and ring on my right hand, the orb on my left and the crown on my head, I never felt more powerless.
The platform the throne was propped on started rising in a spiral, the nine points of the Mashriqu-l-Adhkár's ceiling blooming outward like a lotus, opening me to the blinding midday sun. The sonorous sound of the Jupiter by Holst reverberated through my body, through the whole city, the entirety of the continent it seemed.
I caught my breath.
I stood, balancing myself as the throne continued to rise over the heads of the guests, as I flew above them. There, in the sky, the mercury-like dome covering the entirety of the city slowly turned into a vision... showing every country, every city, household and face of every person now under my rule to show me who they were - the peoples to whom I was accountable.
There were so many, their faces in awe of me.
As I cleared the opened ceiling, as I floated well above anyone in the entire city, I felt the same longing for liberty and companionship I felt on the peak three weeks ago, unaware of the hell awaiting me. The abrupt realization that the life of freedom I'd once wished for myself was now beyond reach crippled my spirit... and yet I stood.
Because things were different now.
I looked down to see my people, all of them looking up at me, their eyes full of hope for the future I would bring them.
I wanted to run. Fly. I couldn't face them with this cowardice. I didn't deserve their awe.
I was standing in the face of an incoming storm.
And time stopped. Then... all of them, the totality of the nation of Eurasia, at once, kneeled.