I frowned, glancing down at myself. “What’s wrong with my outfit?”
She clucked her tongue and pinched the hem of my graphic t-shirt. Koto had stolen it from a town close to the mainland years ago and gifted it to me as a souvenir. “This is horrible. Lorenzo won’t like this.”
I rolled my eyes. “What do you know what he likes and doesn’t like? You’ve never even met him!”
Ignoring me, she pulled me to the bedroom, where she kept a stash of items ready for the occasion. Apparently, my mother lived on the edge of her seat waiting for this special day to finally arrive. She pulled out the wicker basket and dug through it, revealing neatly folded pristine clothes and fancy jewelry - all of which were for me to wear on my wedding day. Diamonds, pearls and rare stones glittered inside the basket. I didn’t even know she owned so many rare items that she didn’t even wear. I suddenly felt embarrassed knowing that she hoarded all of those things just for me.
My mother pressed a pure white linen shirt against my chest and spread out the arms to match mine.
“Look at this! Isn’t that wonderful?” she cooed. “Wait, let’s see how it looks with this on…”
She added diamond-studded bangles to my wrists and draped a necklace made of topaz around my neck. When she was finished fussing with my appearance, she stepped back and examined me with a smile.
“Darling, you look amazing,” she said. “Oh, I’m so happy for you!”
My father peeked into the room. A small but proud smile spread across his face. Although he was the most powerful and well-respected man in our clan, something about the news of my engagement seemed to bring him down to earth. Instead of a vision seer and a clan chief, he was simply a proud father excited for his son’s wedding day.
Shame and embarrassment flooded me. For the first time since this situation began, I actually felt bad about tricking my parents this way. I only wanted to earn my freedom from the village - I hadn’t thought about their emotions at all.
But it was too late to back out now. Lorenzo had agreed to the whole thing and would be on his way soon. In a short few days, Lorenzo would arrive.
And my life would change forever.
