“Watch it, Samara.” Nina warned, stepping to her other side.
The whispers and gasps dwindled into silence again, but this time even the soft sounds of the birds and the wind from beyond the walls seemed to halt.
As if the gods themselves were listening.
Nina cleared her throat. “If we may, your Majesty? Alix or I will join the Vows.”
Sol snapped her gaze to her. “You willnot??—”
“You can’t anyway,” Gina said. “None of you are noble. Amana, your mother was a servant. Alix, your family is made of commoners. Incredibly intelligent, but not noble.”
Sol narrowed her eyes at them. Semmena had planned this. Although he didn’t truly know her, his gamble was well organized. He gave her a way out, which for a second, she contemplated.
A way out. Back to Yavenharrow without needing to worry about any of this anymore.
If you don’t succeed, Sol, nothing will matter. There will be nothing left to love if you don’t continue what I started.
Sol sighed. And all logic left her as she said, “I’ll join then. If I win, I don’t marry.”
There was a beat of silence then Samara laughed. “You’re out of your gods-damned mind.”
Smoke curled on Semmena’s shoulders as he raked his gaze over Sol. He angled his head.
“If I win, this tradition is done. Southern rulers won’t be shackled to people they don’t know,” Sol continued.
Murmurs sounded from around them, and she briefly registered the Ladies of Niome smile from the corner of her vision. Beside them, another couple looked at each other, then back to Sol with furrowed brows. Then gave her a small nod.
It made her wonder how many of the nobles were together under free will, or if they had also been thrown into lives they had no control over.
She hadn’t spoken for anyone else other than herself, but a shimmer of pride settled in her chest. She held her chin high, even more so as Nina grasped her forearm. “Sol, no. These people are??—”
“You realize you’d have to kill all prospects to win?” Semmena said. “Have you ever held a sword?”
Sol peered over her shoulder at the prospects.
Five men. Three women. Well, four men and a child.
She’d find a way to spare them. She—she'd go into the Vows and somehow have them survive. There had to be something shecould do. What else was she good for if she couldn’t save the lives she left everything to fight for?
Sol looked back at Semmena. “I’ll join.”
Her uncle grinned. “What an interesting turn of events.”
“You can’t be serious,” Sawyer spat at her father. “You cry about traditions then make this exception?”
Semmena stood from his throne, making the audience fall to their knees in a bow. “I’ll allow it.” I’ll allow it. Okay.
Panic swirled in Sol’s stomach, but she kept her jaw shut, unwilling to change her mind. She had to Awaken her magic. She had to get through this.
And she wasn’t going to do it with a stranger shackling her down, observing her every move. She couldn’t have anyone beside her, not for what she was meant to do.
Sol turned to walk back into the shadows of the ballroom, painfully aware of everyone’s attention. The prospects eyed her, most with surprise. Some with fear. Some with a mix of both, laced with a curiosity she had no intention of satisfying.
The room seemed suspended in time. Everyone whispered amongst themselves in between coy glances, and the crowd of Rimemere students that gathered by the open doors dissipated back into the castle hallways as Sol neared the exit.
That was about all she could take for the day.
Sol knew if she focused too much on what she had just done, she would melt with nerves. Run back and beg to rethink her decision.
