But ultimately, it had failed. Had she and Mekos restarted it?
As she remembered all this, Aradella’s heart began to race.What will Mekos and I cause to happen?echoed through her mind.
Hale opened Aradella’s door. “It’s time,” she said, then left the room.
Sometimes Aradella thought her friend knew what was planned, but she didn’t say so. If it worked out, this could be their last day together in such close companionship.
Aradella got out of bed. Was this her last day to wear the hated pads? Or was it her last day of beingalive?
Aradella was hidden away at the end of the big room where her union to Nessa was to take place. She hadn’t been allowed any rehearsal for the ceremony. Nor were the Beauty Girls allowed to use their talents on her as they’d done with Kaley. Aradella’s lashes and brows were very light and with her nervousness, her face looked as though it had been erased. Her robe was so thick and heavy that if it weren’t for her years of training with Hale, she wouldn’t have been able to carry it. This seemed to have been anticipated as a wheeled chair was waiting for her.
Aradella’s only experience of a royal wedding was when Olina married her uncle. It had been a serious affair of signing contracts and valuable gifts being presented to the couple. Young Aradella hadn’t been allowed to participate, and she’d only seen a bit of it. Olina, in her golden gown, had seen the child and ordered her to be taken away.
But now, the reproduction of an Earth wedding that was done for Kaley seemed to have made an impression. Aradella was to walk—or be pushed—down an aisle. She was alone, no male escort, but she hadn’t expected Olina to be that generous.
Out of sight of everyone, Aradella stood at the back of the huge room and peeped through the curtains. She wanted to see what was waiting for her.
In the front, seated on the right side, was King Aramus and his entourage. There were several beautiful young women with him.Does he have multiple wives?she wondered.
On the left side of the aisle was Queen Olina and her ancient mother. They were dressed in robes that flashed and sparkled so much, it hurt to look at them. There were rumors that missing jewels from Earth were owned by Olina and her witch mother.
The rest of the room was full of couples, men and women sitting side by side, nearly all of them holding hands. To Aradella, raised with mostly women, and being constantly told of the uncontrollable violence of men, it was a jarring sight. The plan was for the men to leave Pithan by midnight, but she wondered if they would.
Tanek and Kaley, with her family, were halfway down, sitting by the aisle. They looked very serious.They think I’m marrying Nessa, she thought.They think—Her eyes widened. Kaley was holding Tanek’s hand and she raised it to her cheek as though in reassurance. Since Aradella had spent much of her life trying to figure out what was happening around her, she’d become rather good at lip reading.
Kaley said, “Mekos can do this. Have faith in him.”
Aradella stepped away from the curtain and leaned against the wall.They know!she thought.They know our plan.She took several deep breaths. Kaley was reassuring Tanek that his son could handle being king. Considering that Tanek’s grandfather had “disappeared” when he went against Olina and the Empyreans, Kaley was asking a lot of her husband.
“It’s time for you to go,” a woman Aradella didn’t know said in the tone of an order. She wasn’t in uniform, but she was obviously a guard, a woman fully prepared to stop Aradella if she tried to run away.
Aradella put her shoulders back and started to walk down the wide, lonely aisle. When she reached Kaley and Tanek, she almost stopped. Both of them looked so serious, grim really.They seemed to be asking,Whatwill happen when it’s revealed that you’ve married Mekos?
It took Aradella’s years of discipline to continue walking. Waiting at the end was what appeared to be Nessa. He looked so real that Aradella had to remind herself that he was actually Mekos, and that he was wearing the mask. She remembered how realistic he’d looked when she saw herself lying on Valona’s sacrificial altar.
Mekos was so good at imitation that he was wearing Nessa’s sulky, pouty look, as though he was too good to be doing this. He looked Aradella up and down, sneering at her wide girth.
She gave him a tiny, reassuring smile to let him know he was doing an excellent impersonation.
When he scowled at her, Aradella couldn’t help frowning. She quickly erased it but she still felt uneasy.
When she got to the end and took her place next to Mekos, a tall man stepped before them. She drew in her breath. He was Fahir, King Aramus’s advisor, bully, co-ruler, servant, executioner. His job description depended on the person speaking. Aradella had always disliked him as he looked at her as something to be bought and sold—and he’d always found her lacking.
She leaned toward Mekos. “I didn’t expecthimto be here,” she whispered.
He stepped back, looking repulsed at her nearness.
Aradella straightened.Mekos was certainly staying in character!
“We are here to unite the kingdoms,” Fahir said in his booming voice. “Through this union—”
Suddenly, they heard voices coming from the back. They were low and strong. It was like the whispers of a hundred people.
Fahir’s voice rose. “Through this union, the islands will unite. Old royals and new will come together in equality. There will be no division between the two thrones.”
Olina is going to share her authority?Aradella thought.Never!
The whispers from the back grew stronger but Aradella couldn’t understand what they were saying. She didn’t dare turn toward them and risk Fahir’s anger. His great, jeweled staff leanedagainst a post. She’d been told that he could use that thing to turn people into snakes. Again, she leaned toward Mekos. “What are they saying?”
