Page 114 of Dark Destiny: The Turning Of The Loom

"Of course. I am ready to wed my mate again before all her people, so there will be no doubt in anyone's mind that we are officially mated."

Kian lifted his glass and clinked it with Khiann's. "To Annani and her everlasting happiness."

"To Annani!" a chorus of voices repeated.

"That's a good line for the vows part of the ceremony," Toven said. "Do you have yours nailed down?"

Khiann frowned. "Nailed down to what?"

Toven laughed. "It is just an expression. It means finalized."

"I do," Khiann said. "I just hope I will not mess them up, since I intend to deliver them in English. Not everyone at the celebration will have translating earpieces."

"Do you want to try it out on us?" Kalugal offered.

Khiann shook his head. "My vows will be said at the ceremony. It feels wrong to let anyone hear them before Annani."

"You are right." Kalugal clapped him on the back. "But if you have them written down, you might want to give them to Esag so he can whisper them to you in case you forget or confuse anything."

"I will not forget or confuse them."

"As you wish."

Esag came to him, took two small boxes from his jacket pocket, and opened them one at a time. "One last look before I take Annani's ring to Wonder."

The two rings were neither yellow gold nor the pale metal of the one on Khiann's hand, which no one alive knew how to make, but something in between. White gold, Esag called the material. On the inside, carved by Esag's hand in the old tongue, were words old and new.

Now and then, for Eternity and Beyond.

40

ANNANI

The elegant penthouse Areana had been using for months, mostly in solitude, was now bursting at the seams with excited females.

Angelica had taken over the dining table with a mirror on a stand and a case of brushes, irons, and pins laid out like surgical instruments. Frankie had claimed the coffee table for her bottles, files, and a small lamp that hardened polish under blue light. She was working on Sari's hands while Sari, who had landed from Edinburgh at six that morning, dozed upright with a margarita balanced on the arm of the couch. Ogidu moved among them with a tray and a smile that seemed more genuine than his usual, replenishing glasses.

Morelle sat on the floor with her back against the couch, Sari's feet in her lap, painting Sari's toenails with utmost concentration.

The buffet was still mostly full, with Annani's entourage preferring drinks to food.

Annani sat at the end of the table in a silk robe, allowing Angelica to style her hair, something she rarely did.

She usually wore her hair down, which did not require any styling, but Amanda had convinced her to pin it up so people could actually see her dress rather than a mass of hair covering it.

"I have never in my life seen someone with so much hair," Angelica mused. "How do you handle it on your own, Clan Mother?"

"Simply. I wash it and let it dry. It does not need any styling."

"It's too terrified to misbehave," Amanda said. She was holding a margarita and swaying to the music. "My mother does not tolerate anything that's high maintenance."

"She tolerates you," Sari said from the couch. "And you've always been high maintenance."

Amanda turned to her. "I thought you were sleeping."

"I'm just closing my eyes. I am saving them for the tiara vote. Some of them have so many diamonds that they could blind an immortal."

Syssi and Wonder were going through a box of velvet cases that Ogidu had brought from Annani's house that morning.