Coronation day

"You have made me proud, daughter," Chief Topher praised while stroking Nerina's cheek with a calloused thumb.

Nerina stood before her father in the middle of her chambers still, unmoving. Barely thirty minutes ago, she was being dressed by Delia and three other maids who fussed over the perfect style for her hair and made last-minute adjustments to the elegant, sweeping dress she was to wear.

In an hour, she would be one step closer to finalizing her goal. What she and her father had always wanted—what he had whispered into her ears from the day she could walk.

"Thank you, Father," Nerina responded with a smirk. To avoid prying ears, she had cast a net of her power around the room so that their conversation would not be heard by anyone.

"I was not quite sure that you could pull it off."

"It is very refreshing to hear of your unwavering trust in me, dear Father," Nerina drawled, recoiling from his touch as she walked around him to sit by her dressing table.

She turned her head to the