We followed everyone outside to the town square. I wiped my palms on my dress as I walked.
“It’s going to be fine,” Darcy reassured.
“I don’t know. What if people start rioting or threaten to kill me or something? What if they think I’ll be a terrible queen?”
“Hey, do you hear any protests against their former King’s execution?” I listened, and now that he pointed it out, I found he was right. I could hear cheers and excited chatter amongst the villagers. Darcy chuckled as he saw my hopeful and somewhat relieved expression. He leaned down and kissed my cheek.
“It’s going to be fine. They already love you, Emma.”
As we made our way to the center of the crowd, people parted to let us through. That’s when I saw the tall wooden structure in the middle of the square. My eyes widened, and I stopped in my tracks, backing into Darcy.
“I… I don’t think I can do this.”
“It’s going to be okay. Just don’t watch.”
I waved my hand toward the structure. “It’s a freaking guillotine! It’s an archaic device!”
“I know. But as you know, the customs and fashion here are… behind the times compared to the human realm.”
“Yeah, clearly.” I let out a frustrated breath. “I can’t believe they still use a guillotine.” I muttered the last part as we continued our way to the base of the instrument of death. The base of the archaic structure was a circular slab of ancient stones. They looked similar to the stones used to build my castle. As Darcy and I waited near the steps leading up to the guillotine, I heard cheers as Eva and Ash arrived followed by guards pulling my father along in shackles.
The guards led my father up the stone steps and over to the center of the platform. He was pushed down to his knees below the towering wooden frame and the razor-sharp blade of the guillotine.
Nervous beads of sweat formed on my forehead, and I wiped my hands down my red dress once more.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I admitted.
“It’s completely up to you, you know,” Darcy said, turning to face me. “You don’t have to actually release the blade. You just have to make a tiny speech about why he is being executed today. Or Eva can do it. But just be conscious of what your actions may reflect on you as a leader.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. If I do nothing, or chicken out, I may appear weak. If I execute him myself, I may appear cruel, like he was. God, becoming queen is a lot harder than I thought.”
I turned around slowly in a circle and took in the faces of my people. This was the Capital, the center of the entire supernatural realm. Yet I saw many different kinds of creatures in the crowd. Selkies, faeries, shifters. They had all come here today to support me, the lost hybrid Queen of the Dragon Realm. They didn’t care that I was wearing modern clothes (frilly dresses with puffy sleeves and corsets were so not practical), or that I was a half-breed. I could tell this by the smiles on the faces of the adults and children. A small fae girl waved at me from the comfort of her mother’s arms. I smiled and waved back, then turned and held my hand out to Darcy.
“I’m ready. Let’s do this.”
We climbed the stairs to the dais and stood beside Eva and Ash and the executioner, as well as the kneeling form of my father. I glanced at Eva and Ash, and they smiled and gave me reassuring nods. Darcy squeezed my hand, and I stepped forward and stood before the crowd with my back to my father.
“People and realm creatures, I stand before you today as your Queen with a proposition.”
The entire square went deathly silent as everyone listened to me. I smiled and held my head high.
“I once ran from this realm and this world because I was afraid for my life. Well, I am not afraid anymore. Fear has taken a back seat. No, fear has been obliterated. You don’t have to be afraid anymore because justice is about to be served.” I gestured toward my father. “My father, your former King, has ruled this kingdom with an iron fist and cold heart for far too long. Change is coming!” I held up my hand and heard the executioner swing his blade up, cutting the rope to the guillotine, and the blade fell. Then I heard the slice, and the double thud as the blade separated my father’s head from his body, and his body slumped to the side.
A wave of sound plunged over the square as people cheered and celebrated the end of their former tyrant’s reign and the start of a new era.
“From this day forward, the Trans-Realm Treaty is solidified. Supernatural creatures are allowed to venture across the veil into the human realm and humans are allowed to come here. But on the condition that those with supernatural blood not harm the humans or reveal their true form. And all humans are forbidden to hunt our kind or solicit transmutation. I call for peace and harmony across the realms forever more.”