"And now, please take each other's hands," Mr. Cassidy told us. "Women, repeat after me. I swear to give my service, my children, and even my life to my husband so that together, ourlines will last until the final days, when the Earth is once more ours."
I lifted my eyes, meeting Tobias's strange hazel ones, but the words I offered him? They were not the same. I simply spoke them softly enough I hoped no one else would hear.
"I swear to give my friendship, my intelligence, and my resilience to my husband so that together, we may accomplish more."
Around us, the other women all mumbled their lines - or so I thought. The voices were soft, jumbled, and trembling. They didn't speak at the same time, making it into little more than a hum of mixed-up words.
And then the girl behind Tobias screamed, jerking away. "I will not do it!" she yelled.
Her intended didn't hesitate. He swung, using the back of his hand to reprimand the girl across the side of his face. She staggered, bending halfway over and a bit sideways before clutching at her cheek.
"Stand up, Puah," the man snapped. "Nowsayit."
The girl pulled herself up, but her face was pointed at her toes. With everyone in the dining hall watching, and no one daring to speak, she repeated the line.
Mr. Cassidy nodded, then moved to the men's verse. But when Tobias spoke the words, he changed them as much as I had.
"I swear," he told me, "to protect my friend and companion, and to treat her as my equal in all things."
My eyes jumped up and my heart stalled out. I heard Mr. Cassidy moving to the next part, but that? He'd called me an equal. He'd said it here, where someone else could've heard!
So when it came time to agree, I did it with a smile on my face. "I do," I breathed.
And Tobias shifted a little closer, waiting for his turn. "I do," he agreed.
Then Mr. Cassidy said the words I'd spent my life dreading. "I now pronounce you husband and wife. Gentlemen, you may kiss your bride."
Slowly, Tobias reached up to cup the side of my face. We were at the front. Everyone could see us, but when he leaned in, my eyes closed on their own and I waited. One breath. Two. Finally, his lips brushed against mine, the contact softer than even the fabric of my dress.
And I didn't pull away. I didn't want to. I stayed, feeling the warmth of his mouth against mine until he finally leaned back.
"Would you join me for dinner, Mrs. Warren?" he asked.
The strangest thing was the smile on my lips. "I would be honored, Mr. Warren."
Which meant it was real. I wasmarried- and still smiling.
Five
Callah
Tobias led me to a table left open for all the new couples. We took a spot at the end, sitting side by side. He put his new rod on the table, the same way the other men were, and then ignored it. Between him and the next girl, there was a space. It gave all of us a bit of privacy, and today, our meals were brought to us.
It was a younger girl who carried ours. She smiled proudly as she set a heaping plate of food in front of each of us, and then looked at Tobias. "Mr. Warren, will that suffice? I can bring - "
"This is in tribute to the first meal we shared," he told her. "The times were lean then, but our marriage should be enough to count as bountiful."
The girl simply rocked her head, looking like he'd lost his mind. "Yes, sir," she said, spinning to head back to the kitchens.
"What did you do?" I asked softly.
He flashed me a smile. "A friend of mine pointed out that we have an excess of meat this time. Typically, the couple is served." He caught my eye, making it clear we both knew what those things would add up to. "So he came up with the idea that we should start our marriage the way we did our courtship - without excess."
He meant without meat. I had never seen him eat it, but he was a hunter - and huge! His mother had been a Dragon, so it had to turn his stomach as much as mine to think of eatingpeople. But in all of that, there was one thing I couldn't figure out.
"Who's the friend? Should I know this man?"
"Sylis Underhill."
