“I can handle it.”
Her eyes flicked to Adeline, and the others followed, the weight of their unspoken concern undeniable.
“I can do it,” she said.
Honestly, she barely convinced even herself.
She felt a brush of warmth over her hand where it still lay splayed on the cracked table, and looked up to find Kai watching her, his expression tender enough to have the others awkwardly averting their eyes.
“Youcando it,” he told her, with so much assurance that she knew his belief would fill the space her own couldn’t. She turned her palm and laced her fingers with his, and Kai held fast to her hand even as he returned his attention to the table.
“We’ll be ready,” he told Imogen. “Whenever the time is right.”
Imogen blew out a long breath, audibly bracing herself.
“Well,” she said slowly. “She’s not entirely predictable, but we all know she likes a spectacle. She plans to make a big show of her power at the end of the ceremony.” She paused, expression unreadable, though it flicked from Kai to rest on Adeline. “On the seventh vow.”
“What’s the seventh vow?” asked Kai.
And though Adeline’s hand twitched in his grasp, she could not meet his eye; it was Imogen she watched as she answered him, brow knitting ever tighter. She hadn’t been to that many weddings, but she remembered the vows well enough—they signalled when the long and drawn-out droning of the Priestess had finally come to an end, the ceremony complete.
“It’s our wedding custom. Seven vows to bless a marriage. Each one sealed with a kiss. One for the Goddess and each of her daughters. One for your spouse, and one for Eisalaan.” She glanced up at Kai then, breath swelling, trapped in her tight lungs. “After that, the marriage is bound.”
His face was the rise and set of the sun all at once, understanding dawning even as the sparse light in his eyes dimmed.
“I see.”
“I know it’s not ideal—” Imogen began.
“But it’s necessary,” Kai finished grimly.
And Adeline finally released her breath in a short, sharp laugh.
It hurt; the sound ripped through her chest without a hint of actual mirth to ease its ascent. At her side, Ger tensed. Kai stared at her. Marry sighed out her nose, eyes closing like she knew exactly what was coming. Imogen looked on all too calmly, the understanding on her face close enough to pity to be absolutely maddening.
“No,” said Adeline.
That was it. No. A firmno. There was no more to say. But when no one else spoke, and Kai turned inward like he’d herd her away, talk her down, she stepped back.
“No, it is notnecessary.It can’t benecessaryfor him to bloodymarryher.”
Mareda hadn’t opened her eyes. She massaged her pinched brow, so like their mother in that moment that it made Adeline want toscream. She bit down on the urge, teeth aching.
“Why are you all acting likeI’minsane?”
Mareda finally looked at her, her blue eyes cool enough to sting.
“Because we are under siege, and this is the first plausible plan we’ve had in months. They’ll be wed for all of five minutes, Ade.”
“I don’t care if they’re wed for five seconds. That’s five seconds too long. That’s five seconds where she haswon.”
“Big picture,” Ger coaxed, his fingers brushing her elbow.
She wrenched her arm away.
“It’s not happening.”
Kai took her hand again, firmer this time.
