Nora's eyes shone.

The room had become very still.

I lifted the circlet.

For a moment, my hands remembered the tremor of another evening, a blue ribbon, her skin warm beneath my mouth.

This was different.

That choice had belonged to us alone. This one named responsibilities other people would live with.

I placed the gold against her hair.

"Nora Bennett," I said, "my beloved, and our queen."

The first answering voice came from the patrol benches.

Then others joined it.

Outside, a wolf lifted his head and howled. The sound passed along the walls, deepening until the windows seemed to hold it.

Nora startled, then laughed through her tears.

I kissed her hand.

When we turned toward the hall, she didn't look smaller beneath the gold.

She looked unmistakably herself.

After the witnesses signed the record, the room loosened into voices and movement.

Thomas reached us first. He looked at the circlet, then at his daughter.

"Can I still hug you?"

She stepped into his arms before he finished.

Elise followed, crying openly now and brushing an invisible thread from the hem she had sewn.

Jamie examined the crown.

"Is it heavy?"

"Enough."

"Can I—"

"No," three of us said.

Nora laughed so hard that she had to hold the gold in place.

I would have agreed to a hundred ceremonies for that moment.

The meal began with much less order than the steward wanted.

We sat among the long tables, close to both Nora's family and the pack households. Children slipped between benches. Someone spilled gravy before the first toast. A wolf outside stole a dropped crust and was scolded by a woman who was apparently his sister.

Nora watched it all with an expression I couldn't quite name.

"Too much?" I asked.

"No."

Her hand found mine beneath the table.

"I think I'm allowed to enjoy it."

"You were always allowed."

"I know. Today I'm managing."

Garrick approached before the meal ended.

He didn't ask for my attention first.

"My lady. I've spoken with the households who heard the earlier petition from me. They have the correction in writing."

Nora set down her cup.

"Thank you for doing what you said you would."

He bowed.

There was no sudden friendship between them. I trusted the exchange more for that.

Thomas caught my arm as I passed behind his chair.

"I've spent a long time wanting her where I could see she was safe," he said.

I waited.

"She looked at you today before she answered. You didn't answer for her."

"No."

He nodded slowly, watching her laugh with her mother.

"I'm still going to worry."

"I'd be disappointed if you stopped."

His hand tightened once against my sleeve. Then he let me go, and I understood that it was as much of a welcome as he knew how to give.

Later, when the musicians began, I stood and offered her my hand.

She looked suspicious.

"How complicated is this dance?"

"It depends on whether you step on me."

"Then very."

I drew her into the open space between the tables.

We found a pace that suited her. The first turn was awkward; she caught my sleeve and glared at me for smiling.

"I warned you."

"You did."

After a while, she stopped watching her feet.

That was when the dance became ours.

Her hand rested on my shoulder, the other warm in mine. Around us, people talked and laughed and began to join in. I no longer needed the room to disappear to feel alone with her.

Near the end of the evening, we escaped to the covered walk.

Nora lifted off the circlet with an audible sigh.

"Leave it," I said when she started to smooth her hair.

"It's a mess."

"I've been thinking about that mess all afternoon."

She leaned against the stone pillar, smiling up at me.

I kissed her, and she caught the ribbon at my wrist.

Beyond the lamps, the forest stood dark against the fading sky.

"I'd like to go there with you," she said.

I looked toward the trees.

"Somewhere safe. In daylight," she added. "I'd like a memory that doesn't begin with being afraid."

I touched her cheek.

"We can choose a path the patrol has cleared."

"Tomorrow?"

"If the weather holds."

She tucked herself against me.

The crown rested on the ledge beside us. I let it stay there.

For a little longer, I held the woman who had worn it.