There was a fanfare, and glaring lights, and so much confetti. She was dressed in blue – she had insisted on the colour – fur around her neck, hair scraped back. Her fingers shook with nerves, Logan's words running through her head, as the doors were opened to reveal her. Her new subjects were screaming in delight, her allies were bowing. The light burned her eyes and it felt like it was too much, as she moved out onto the parapet, breathing in deeply. Sabine bowed as she passed, and she spared Ben a glance, and when he winked at her, the tension melted out of her body. Walter placed the crown on her head, and he could barely be heard above the shouting, partying crowds, claiming her as the new Queen. The gold glinted in the sunlight, and suddenly there was no burn but there was warmth, and she waved, smiling delightedly at the people below her, laughter bubbling up in her throat. She caught Ben's eye – why did she keep looking at him? He grinned, and her smile went wide, infectious to anyone around.

Her new aide was charmingly slimy, but even he could not distract her from the glaring first article on her agenda – the bugger even highlighted it, seemed charmed by the idea of Logan's judgement, and Rina sighed. She'd moved him to a better cell, and begged someone to make sure he ate, a task Walter had volunteered for. Walter said he was looking better, which she was immensely thankful for, but she still had to judge him in front of her people. But could she do it when she understood him so well? They'd both faced the Darkness, and as much as the path he'd chosen was wrong, she sympathised. Her Hero blood had healed her somewhat, but Logan didn't have that same strain.

And yet she owed her people justice.

This was unfair.

Every step into the throne room seemed to weigh upon her, even as her subjects cheered her, and she sat on her throne like a lump of lead, watching Walter lead Logan in. She barely said a word until her allies said their pieces. Sabine called for his head, and loudly. Ben was no less vigorous in wanting him dead, tears pricking his eyes as he mentioned Major Swift, and that made Rina sigh with the memory. Yet Page, ever the surprise, seemed eager to argue his case for true justice, not mere vengeance. Kalin was hurting, stinging, unsure of vengeance or something better.

"I had good reason to do everything that I did," Logan argued. Rina stood.

"King Logan, your defence has been heard," she told him. "But there are many here who do not understand, so let me be brief. There is an evil in Aurora that stirs, and that evil will be making its way to Albion's shores, and soon. In his defence, Logan sought to make the country strong to fight the darkness. His methods were for just reasoning."

She paused under a hail of angry shouts.

"And they were wrong! Entirely wrong! I defend nothing he did!"

The shouts died a little, confused murmuring filling the throne room.

"This is not the time for revenge. We need your help, Logan," she announced.

"Logan's life will be spared, and his soldiers will join the Royal Army," Walter announced, a hail of jeers flying towards her.

"You will never forgive me," he reminded her. "You told me so, once."

"A princess told you that," she said gently. "The Queen doesn't agree."

"Then we should work together," he suggested, hand raising to her shoulder. "We are siblings, and children of Albion. Take the castle and the throne – I'm glad to be rid of them."

The road to rule was full of people, glittering translucent figures that reminded Rina of her allies. But the presence of the gypsy in front of her, the solid, red-clad woman, filled the Queen's heart with palpable rage, and she broke past the seal symbol and cornered the woman. To Theresa's credit, she did not even flinch.

"You hid my true purpose from me," Rina told her. "You planted seeds of doubt and hate further than they needed to go. Are you pleased with yourself? My brother is tainted. My oldest friend will never be the same again. My kingdom is torn. Seer of the Spire, you have wrecked my family once again."

"I have done nothing but set you where you needed to go," Theresa said calmly. "In less than a year, Albion will be attacked by the Crawler. You are the only monarch capable of stopping it."

"And how do I stop it?" Rina asked.

"You will not. The Crawler will come to Albion in a year from now. You can only prepare, and save as many as you can, whether as a tyrant or a hero," the Seer told her.

"Go choke," Rina invited. "I don't want to see you until the Crawler is defeated."

"Then you will not," Theresa said with a sigh. "Goodbye, your majesty."