#Chapter 139: The Ceremony

Ember The preparation chamber is quiet except for the roar of the hall beyond the doors. Hundreds of nobles, foreign envoys, priests, guards, and servants have gathered to watch the woman who hid her mark stand in front of the kingdom and bare it by choice. Lila checks my midnight-blue dress, Clara's flower basket, and Jake's polished collar pin with the same cool efficiency she brings to diplomacy. Then Jake offers his arm and announces that he is walking me in, and when I point out that this was not in the plan, he only says it is now. Clara squares her shoulders as if entering battle. "Flowers first, slow steps. I remember." Her basket is almost as wide as her waist, filled with white petals and tiny blue ribbons tied by palace maids who kept smiling at her like she was made of spun glass. Clara refused the glass treatment on principle and spent the last ten minutes instructing Jake on proper escort behavior. He accepted every correction with a solemnity that would have been