Jeff returned to his seat, and suddenly Teddy was walking up the steps, his face alight with unmistakable pride. Technically he shouldn’t have been in the proceedings at all, given that he wasn’t a duke—or even a future duke—anymore, but Beatrice had insisted upon it.
As he knelt before her and swore the same oath, she realized—Teddy had said these words to her before. That long-ago day when she’d proposed to him, he had knelt before her and sworn the same vow. To honor and serve her in faith and loyalty for all the days of her life.
Looking at him now, Beatrice felt her heart burst with love. How foolish she had been to think that getting married before her coronation would weaken her. Love could only ever strengthen you; it lifted you up and made you a better version of yourself.
As Teddy stood, and the opening notes of the national anthem reverberated through the throne room, Beatrice realized what it meant.
The reign of America’s first queen had officially begun, at last.