title: The Crown Jewels and Coronation Ritual
author: Thomas Butler
description: Beautifully illustrated, informative guide sharing the majesty and splendor of the Crown Jewels of England and the in's and out's of the coronation process. Color photographs and in depth text.
zlib_text: **Storm Warning**
  
  Mercedes Lackey
  
  Mage Storms 01
  
   ****
  
    
  
  Emperor Charliss sat upon the Iron Throne, bowed down neither by the visible
  weight of his years nor the invisible weight of his power. He bore neither the
  heavy Wolf Crown on his head, nor the equally burdensome robes of state across
  his shoulders, though both lay nearby, on an ornately trimmed marble bench
  beside the Iron Throne. The thick silk-velvet robes flowed down the bench and
  coiled on the floor beside it, a lush weight of pure crimson so heavy it took
  two strapping young men to lift them into place on the Emperor’s shoulders.
  The Wolf Crown lay atop the robes, preventing them from slipping off the bench
  altogether. Let mere kings flaunt their golden crowns; the Emperor boasted a
  circlet of electrum, inset with thirteen yellow diamonds. Only when one drew
  near enough to the Emperor to see his eyes clearly did one see that the
  circlet was not as it seemed, that what had passed at a distance for an
  abstract design or