10. You should see me in a crown.

Niyanica was peacefully sleeping after a two-hour-long fight which had been restless. It was around three in the morning when she felt a blow on her face like someone was blowing air on her forehead. She tried to open her eyes to see who would do such a thing but they refused to open. She could feel everything around her, fully aware of her surroundings but she was not able to open her eyes, no matter how hard she tried. Amidst her inner battle, she suddenly felt someone touching her right hand and this time, she gathered all of her energy and opened her eyes with a strong jolt.
Her face was wet with sweat, her heartbeat pumped loudly in her ears as she tried to focus on her surroundings. She turned her sight towards the balcony gate, to the windows, and everywhere else around the room but everything was closed and no one was there. Confused as to what had occurred she tried to sleep again but it wasn’t as peaceful as the one before. When she had managed to dose off for a couple of minutes, someone knocked on her door.

"Please, come in." She said in a sleepy voice, letting out a sigh. She lifted herself, trying to look presentable as quickly as possible, patting down her hair and her wrinkly clothes.

The door opened and Emily Rose stood there with a beautiful gown in her hands, "Your Majesty, your presence is needed in the Down Hall for rehearsal at 6 sharp." She said with a smile.

"Oh, right it’s the 7th! I just need half an hour. Please tell Arthur to bring my coffee. I am going for a bath." Emily nodded as she hanged the dress in the closet as Niya headed to the washroom. It was the seventh of January… *how could I forget*, Niya thought, *it’s Coronation Day and Mom’s birthday*, she let out a small but sad smile.*

*Happy birthday, momma, she thought while bathing, I wish you were there with me... I miss you*. She blinked her tears away and after thirty minutes, she stepped out of the bath and pulled her bathrobe, going back to her room. She was startled seeing Emily, Siera, Aphra, Amica, Ana, and Albia waiting for her, still trying to get used to this new life.

Emily was the head of the makeup and hair department for Niyanica while Siera and Albia were Emily's assistant and clothing designers. Ana and Amica were hair designers of the Queen and Aphra was shoe designer. But today not only they were going to help Niya, but fulfill their duties as maids of honor. So it wasn’t a surprise that they were very excited.

"I cannot thank you enough, Your Majesty, for allowing us to be with you as your maids of honor." Emily said with a smile.

"Even though we are not royals but you still think so highly of us." Aphra bowed out of respect.

"It doesn't matter girls if you are royals or not. You guys always take care of whatever needs I have. I know it's just a week ago when we met for the first time but I really like you all. You are not just designers or maids but my friends too." Niya took a sip of her hot strong coffee as they all smiled back at her and began preparing Niya for the rehearsal.

Emily helped her get in a dark purple velvet gown with golden heavy embroidery that looked gorgeous on Niya. Then, she proceeded to cover Niya’s gown with a cape while she did Niya’s makeup and Amica turned her hair into a french roll bun. Once everything was perfect, the ladies helped Niya into her gold heels.

It was still 5:30 and there was half an hour left for the rehearsal of the coronation. She was feeling good but couldn’t help but notice that her hands were extraordinarily cold. The rest of her body was perfectly warm but her hands were freezing cold. She was lost in her thoughts that she accidentally touched Albia's hand by mistake while adjusting her gown. And Niya could have not prepared herself as to what she was about to see.
As soon as she touched Albia, a strange series of flashbacks started in her mind where Albia was running happily in the fields while her mother chased her happily. Then everything turned gloomy and gray when out of nowhere a flashback of, what she thought was, Albia's father, brutally beating her.

Niya jolted her hand back in shock. *Oh my god. What is happening to me? My powers are activating on their own… but how? I need to talk to William*, Niya thought, furrowing her eyebrows in concern.

"Your Majesty? Is everything okay?" Ana asked, noticing the queen’s startle action and the confused look in her eyes.

"Oh, yes, yes, I am... fine. I just um... I want to talk to Prime Minister William as soon as possible before the rehearsal. Tell George to fit in a meeting with William." Ana nodded and left to inform Arthur of the Queen’s wishes. Niya glanced at the clock and it showed that it was 5:35 a.m. Half an hour was left for rehearsal so she could easily meet William without a problem. "And Siera, can you just arrange some kind of matching gloves with this gown? My hands are freezing out of sudden." Niya asked her while looking at her, waiting for a response.

"Yes, Your Majesty! Give me five minutes." She immediately left the room and in a few minutes, came back with a pair of dark purple gloves which were a perfect match for Niya's gown.

On the other side, George asked William to meet Niya as soon as possible. "Where is she?" William asked him.

"My lord, Your Majesty is waiting for you in her room." George said. William nodded a ‘thanks’ and headed towards Niya's room along with George.

"Niya? You ok?" William hugs her with a decent smile on his face.

"Oh, William! I need to talk to you, quickly.'' She hugged him back and sighed out of relief, waiting as everyone left the room to give them some privacy.

"What’s so urgent?" William broke the hug and looked at her with concern.

"My powers, I mean, can they activate on their own? Without me learning how to use them?" Niya asked in a low voice. Even though they were alone she didn’t want to risk being heard.

"Yes. Some powers are part of you like your organs. They do not need your learning to activate. They work by their own, thus activate when they wish to do so.” William smiled.

"Oh, I was freaked out when some of my powers activated a while ago. I thought my powers were not under my control all of a sudden." Niya sighed.

"Some of your powers are not in your control, they'll never be, they can't be" William smiled. "But what kind of power was activated?" William asked out of curiosity. Niya parted her lips to answer him but someone knocked on her door.

"Your Majesty! It’s six. Everyone is waiting for you in the rehearsal hall.” With that, William’s question was left unanswered as Niya left immediately. Once in the Down Hall, Niya and the others rehearsed the coronation with a dummy crown since the original one could not be touched before the coronation.

***

Time flew by and suddenly, it was 9:00 a.m., the time to be crowned as the Queen. Niya was hella excited, nervous, and happy. She was feeling so many emotions inside her. She was afraid of facing so many people but at the same time excited too. Her heart was beating fast as she waited to get closer to her destiny.

Everybody was waiting for her in the Court Hall. Hundreds of media people were patiently waiting outside the palace to get a glimpse of their soon to be crowned Queen. Everybody was singing, dancing, and smiling outside the palace. Her maids of honor were ready, holding Niya's Royal Cape which was very long and elegant, perfectly matching her gown. The royal music started playing in the hall and the huge doors were opened by the guards. Seeing this, everybody inside the hall stood in honor of their queen.

William was standing in front of Niya with the royal sword in his hand and red royal cape which looked brilliant on him. He was now wearing a royal navy uniform and he looked like a perfect Vice Chief of the Royal Army. He started walking towards the hall and Niya and her maids of honor started walking behind him, their footsteps in sync. As Niya passed, each person knelt with their head bowed. Niya wanted to look at everyone but her eyesight remained forward as William finally stopped in front of the big royal throne. Niya sat on it, slightly nervous as all eyes were on her.

*Dad, I wish you were there*, she thought and sighed.

The royal priest started chanting in his language and put some holy water on Niya's neck, forehead, and both of her cheeks. After all of this, Niya finally noticed Archie, who was standing with his mother and Elena. Both the ladies were looking good in their respective gowns. But the thing that was catching Niya's eye was Archie. He was looking like a demigod in that Commander in Chief of Army's uniform. Navy blue coat with white pants and lots of gold medals and stars of the army elegantly decorated his dress. He smiled at her and she smiled back. The priest, once done, ordered Archie to put the crown on the new Queen.

Archie stepped forward and lifted a metal royal box, revealing the crown. It was big, full of diamonds and gemstones just like Queen Victoria's crown that she saw in a film. Taking the crown from the glass box, Archie elegantly placed it on Niya's head. As soon as he put the crown on her head, she felt an enormous weight, it was really heavy and uncomfortable. She tried her best to hold the crown on her head elegantly and she succeeded. She carried it like a pro.

Archie then handed her the long golden royal wand and the priest started reciting the oath from the Queen in front of their holy sculpture. Once the priest finished, everybody sang the National Anthem for their Queen.

‘*All Hail the Queen Niyanica Hemsworth’, ‘Long live the Queen Niyanica*’ were echoing throughout the hall.

"You may now greet the public, Your Excellency." Archie smiled and offered his hand. She grabbed it and walked towards the balcony. She was feeling a strange kind of urge to cry, not because she was sad but because she was proud, she was happy. She tried to control her watery eyes as much as she could but still, a little tear made her way down from her eye to her cheek. She looked at the huge number of people from the balcony and waved at them as she was taught by Archie in rehearsal. Everybody was so happy. Niya has never seen this amount of people in her life.

"My goodness! Vamp Prime has such a good amount of people." She whispered to Archie while smiling and waving.

"This is not half of it because not everybody is allowed to see their Queen due to security concerns, plus they are not from only Vamp Prime. They are from every friendly planet. Some planets are not on good terms with us so they are not attending this ceremony. But they have sent you their gifts and greetings because no matter if they are happy or not, they do respect their Queen, The Creator Queen." Archie whispered and smiled.

"Wow. That means I am not only the Queen of Vamp Prime but the whole universe?" Niya raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Yes, Your Majesty, and this planet is your capital because it lies in the center. " Archie again smiled.

"Oh my god, I am just seventeen. Have mercy on my teenage years. I am not even an adult." She chuckled lightly.

"Well, you are considered an adult when you turn sixteen here so you are fully adult in this world." Archie smirked. Once they finished their few minutes of waiving, they came back from the balcony to the Court Room.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty" William kissed her gloved right hand lightly.

"Niya, please." She hugged him with a bright smile on her face.

"Tomorrow you are beginning your royal duties so let's celebrate today as much as we can." Will hold her waist and took her to the dance floor. She was happy as she was with her best friend. She felt that she only share her happiness with William here.

"I wish my dad could see me in this right now." She whispered in William's ear.

"He is." He smiled and assured her. She smiled back. *Happy birthday again Momma, I hope you’re proud*, she thought while dancing.

"I want to celebrate my mother's birthday in the evening. Would you like to help?" She asked Will.

"Oh, it would be my pleasure, sweetheart." He smiled.

Archie, who was dancing with Elena, looked at the pair dancing, feeling slight discomfort in his cold dark heart.

"Are you jealous, Arch?" Elena asked with a smirk, noticing his lingering gaze.

"Am I supposed to be?" Archie smiled, looking back at her.

"Depends. It seems you are really fond of her" Elena said, raising an eyebrow, daring him to deny it.

"Hmm, I am. She is a kind of mystery that I eagerly want to solve." He paused for a second. "I like her, I really do." Archie smirked, looking back at Will and Niya.