Ryder held his hand up for Zahruk to take and knelt before the High Priest. Z towered above Ryder now, which almost made it comical, except no one else thought it was funny. Zahruk bent low and kissed his brother’s hand, with a wicked smile planted on his face as he did so.
“Zahruk, second son of Alazander, do you pledge your life to protect your king? Would you follow him willingly into battle to protect the Horde?” The Priest asked.
“Without thinking twice,” he replied with a wicked little smirk on his face for the entire crowd to see.
“Ryder, you kneel before me and accept this crown and the responsibilities that come with it. Danu has chosen you as her Heir, the King of the Horde. Follow my lead and give us your pledge, and accept this crown as a symbol of the bond you will share with your people.”
“I will,” Ryder said, still on his knees.
“Do you take this crown, and vow to protect this land and its people from harm?”
“I take this crown, and vow to protect this land and its people.”
“In times of war, do you vow to defend your people until your last dying breath?”
“I vow to protect them even in my death,” Ryder growled. The crowd gave wild hoots of encouragement at his words.
“Do you vow to give back to this land, for which you take?”
“If I take from this land, I will plant new seeds, I will replenish what we need, and in doing so, always protect the interest of this land. No harm shall befall Faery, or the Horde Kingdom from my hand, or any other under my rule.”
“Then with Danu’s blessing, I crown you Ryder, first born son and Danu’s chosen warrior heir, with this crown you are King of the Unseelie, and the Horde alike. Rise as the King, and face your people.”
The entire room erupted into boisterous cheers as Ryder faced them as their newly crowned king. The crown changed as it formed to Ryder’s head. Gemstones of amber formed in the front as black onyx and ruby appeared behind them. It was beautiful and mysterious, everything that Ryder was.
I turned my head a little and found Cornelius watching me and it was unnerving. The crowd started to disburse as people drifted to the open doors of the hall. Some went outside for fresh air, as others went to the hall where refreshments were served. People moved around freely as music started up from across the room. People started mingling, and soon couples started moving toward the dance floor that had been glamoured with decorations.
“He gives me the creeps,” I said quietly after a quick glance showed me he was still staring at me.
“Cornelius has considerable strength, but he needs Ryder as bad as we need his alliance. He has some pretty powerful connections as well.” Ristan mused.
“So do I,” I mused and caught Ristan regarding me with a curious look. “Hey, I have half of Spokane that owes me for saving their asses.”
“I bet you do,” he said as we headed into the room where dancing had started up. It was a celebration set to last for the entire night. We were on the outside of the people dancing so it was easier for the men to guard me. Adam came strolling up with a smile from ear to ear.
“Wanna shake shit up?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
“I’d say they need a new DJ, and a couple dance lessons,” Adrian stated as he and Vlad came in from the same direction we had.
“We can’t dance to this,” I said as the weird sounding song continued to cut through the room. It had no beat, and the Fae looked more like they needed a room as they slow danced.
Ristan smiled and snapped his fingers, and the song changed to OneRepublic’s Counting Star’s. Many of the Fae immediately departed the dance floor, and I smiled. Idiots wouldn’t know a good song if it slapped them all upside the head.
“Might need to liven it up with a music war,” Ristan mused from beside me.
I knew they’d done music wars at Sidhe Darklands, where Fae would ‘fight’ by changing the songs just like Ristan had and the winner was determined by cheers, but this was Faery, and music from the human world wasn’t something that everyone here liked. Many still held on to the old ways as was apparent from the music that sounded like bagpipes and other ancient instruments.
I moved to stay within sight of Ryder, as Adrian and Adam started dancing on either side of me, both smiling, or more to the point, goofing off as we used to do. It was how we’d used to relieve stress after a mission. It wasn’t long before Adrian had pulled Meriel out onto the dance floor, and I saw Adam was dancing with Darynda. I saw Keeley and Faelyn off to the side dancing with each other as they cast glances to the males around us, hoping that one of them would cut in and dance with them.
I smiled until my face hurt as we danced to the songs Ristan picked. Soon, we had a lot more of the Fae out dancing as we were. Which, let’s just say we all looked like idiots bobbing our heads and shaking it to the beat.