Chapter 4: The coronation

****At the palace****

A woman dressed in royal regalia was talking to some maids. The coronation will begin in two hours and she wanted everything to go well for her son's coronation.

Queen Miranda has been the one running the matters of the kingdom since her husband, the previous king died. But now it was her son's responsibility. She was really thrilled. The next thing she has to do is to find a suitable queen for him.

The ballroom was filled with decorations. Every maid in the palace did one thing or the other. Queen Miranda, ordered one of the maids to go get her son. The maid got to his quarters and knocked.

"Come in." The deep voice sounded.

"Your highness, Queen Miranda requests your presence in the ballroom." The maid said with her head bowed.

The man was seated at the dressing table. He was surrounded by three maids who were getting him ready. He had inky black hair that was combed back. His face was nothing less to that of a Greek god. He waved his hand and the maids moved backwards to give their prince some space. He got up and walked to his bed and picked up something. His was tall, so he towered the maids.

"Tell her I'll be there soon." He told the maid.

"Yes your majesty."

After a few minutes, the maids left and he left his room to see what his mother wanted. When he got to the ballroom, the guards situated at the entrance bowed at him. He strode confidently into the room. The maids that saw him coming immediately bowed their heads. Apart from him being the future king and staring at him would be a huge disrespect, he was quite intimidating. There was some sort of raw power that emanted out of him which made people succumb to him. He went over to his mother and gave her a bow. Even though he was becoming the king soon, he still had to show respect to his mother.

"You called for me mother?"

She gave her son a bright smile. "Yes Alexander, in two hours you are going to be king, that means you're ready to have a wife." She said, going straight to the point.

Prince Alexander sighed. "Did you really call me for this mother?" He asked in an irritated voice. He hated it when his mother talked about marriage. It totally annoyed him.

"Isn't it a topic that is worthy to be talked about?" Queen Miranda asked her son even though she knew what his answer would be.

"No mother, it's not a topic worthy to be talked about. I have other things to focus on. And I'm not ready for that yet." He said.

"You have to be ready for it. It's one of your duties as a king." She said

"Not now mother." He said and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Bye mother." And he left his mother's presence.

Queen Miranda sighed. 'He's just too stubborn.'

Prince Alexander was heading back to his quarters when he ran into his sister.

"Big bro!" The girl said excitedly and hugged her brother tightly as if she hasn't seen him in ages."How are you?" She asked.

He smiled at his sister. "I'm alright Ella."

"So how does it feel to become king soon?"

"Annoying." He said and started to walk slowly so that his little sister could keep up with him.

"Really, why?"

"Mother is already talking about marriage."

"You do need a Queen." Ella said.

Alexander turned to face his sister. "I'm in no hurry to get married."

"So you still want mother to be bearing the 'Queen's title.

"Everything has it's time Ella." He said with a slight frown.

Ella sighed. "Well I hope the time comes quickly. I really want a girl to be friends with. All of the maids don't want to be friends with me because I'm the princess and they see it to be improper. The only person that I have is Martha and she's too old to tell certain things to.

"Certain things like what?" Alexander asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Things that you don't have to know about your highness." Ella said while adding his title so as to not sound disrespectful. A smile came unto Alexander's lips.

"So please if you want to choose a wife, choose wisely. I want a sweet and beautiful queen ok?"

"Yes, Whatever her highness wants." He said. and patted his little sister's head. She could be quite convincing for a twelve year old.

"I'll take my leave now your highness." She said and left.

With a sigh, Alexander left and went back to his room. He didn't have time to think about marriage. He had other things to take care of, like the war between Devon kingdom and the neighboring kingdom, The kingdom of Valeria. It's been going on for over seven months now. He completely hated wars and the first thing he was going to do when he becomes king is to find a way to end the war.

****

Two hours later, the coronation began. All of the ceremonial traditions were performed. "As the queen of Devon, I declare Alexander D'Augostino the King of Devon. Rise my son!"

Princess Ella gave her brother a bow. "Long live the king." She said.

"Let's go see the people." Queen Miranda said.

****In the village****

Come on Aurora, let's go or we will definitely be late." Gwen said to her sister.

"I'm coming. I can't run as fast as you." I replied.

We got to the palace. The huge gates were opened up. The people of the village have only seen the gates. Only important people and maids can enter the palace.

"Oh my goodness, it's beautiful!" Gwen said amazed.

"Yes it is." I said also amazed by the palace. They followed the crowd. "May we present, your new king, King Alexander." The Royal family came out and the people applauded and cheared them.

"Wow, he's so handsome!" Gwen said. I looked at the terrace where the royal family was. The king was definitely very handsome. Every feature on his face was perfect. He was tall and has a well built frame. 'So the rumours ended up being true.' I thought.

King Alexander gave a speech and when he ended it everyone applauded him. He stared at the crowd and his eyes briefly caught someone. He felt himself staring at her.

Gwen was busy cheering and applauding while I just stared at my surroundings. I felt someone's intense gaze on me. Looking up, I noticed the king was looking towards my side. Our eyes met and we held the gaze for awhile. I finally broke the gaze. 'How can you stare at the King like that? Don't you have any manners Aurora Harson. I said while mentally scolding myself.

When Aurora broke the gaze, Alexander found himself snapping out if it too. He once again looked towards her side. He don't know why but he couldn't stop staring at her. There was something about her that called his attention. Eventually it all ended.

Gwen and Aurora left the palace and headed home.

"It was wonderful, wasn't it?" Aurora didn't answer. She was lost in her own thoughts.

"Aurora?"

"Yes, What's wrong?" I asked. I didn't hear a word she was saying

"I should be asking you that?"

"I was just thinking about mom and dad."

"I told you not to think about that."

"I know, I just can't help it." Aurora was actually thinking about the king. 'Why was he staring at her, and why did she stare back?" she removed the thought from her mind and they slowly walked home.