back muscles to stretch his wings. And then my mate will magically forgive me for starting our new lives with a lie? Will the gods really restore their favor after this, or will we be doomed?
The idea had been circulating in his brain ever since he’d conceived this plan, and it had been weighing more and more heavily these past few days. Watching Coralee now, Xander felt like a villain instead of the hero his people needed him to be.
We needed a win, he told himself.
We needed a match.
Taetanos needed a victory.
My god, my people, they needed this.
The excuses sounded emptier than they had been the day before. But maybe that was just because his eyes had found hers again, and for the first time he realized his future and his people’s futures weren’t the only ones that mattered.
A cheer filled the atrium.
Xander blinked, realizing the king had finished his speech. The matching ceremony had officially begun.
Pay attention now.
Don’t embarrass yourself or your house.
Not so close to the end.
The matches had been set the night before, through notes and messages passed back and forth between the royal families, but nothing was final until it was stated before the gods. Even the slightest error could ruin everything. There was no rule forcing Coralee to agree to the offer he would bestow, and maybe that was why his heart had behaved like a wild, untamable beast in his chest all morning. Part of him didn’t believe he was worthy, not when it was Rafe who had truly won her. Part of him expected her to say no.
Xander squeezed the wood beneath his left palm. In the folds of the clay hand on his right, his fingers curled tight, invisible but somehow so real he could feel them shake, so real his arm softly trembled.
The trial committee signaled to the dove prince, the male victor and winner of the first choice of mate. He stood from his throne and flew to the center of the atrium. After landing softly on the tile floor, he faced his people and bowed deeply, ashy wings fanning from side to side. Then he stood and lifted his hands to the back of his head to gently remove the mask, revealing his face to the crowd.
“I am Luka Aethionus, born of the god Aethios, Crown Prince of the House of Peace, and by my god’s favor, I have picked my mate, chosen for her speed and her stealth, for her grace and her charm, for the shrewd mind she displayed and the strong heart we all witnessed.”
The prince jumped, pumping his wings as he soared determinedly toward the House of Paradise, to no one’s surprise. Xander had spent the night discussing the matches with his mother, and they’d guessed the mate the dove prince would pick. Still, relief trickled through him when Luka flew in the opposite direction of the House of Wisdom. Xander would be next for the men, and his princess would be waiting.
The dove knelt before his chosen mate. “Iris Mnesmeus, born of the god Mnesme, Princess of the House of Paradise, will you have me?”
The whole room grew still.
Hardly a moment passed before she stood and removed her mask, amethyst gown fluid in the sun as she took the hand he offered. “I will.”
The princess turned, kissing her parents on the cheek and embracing her two brothers before she followed her mate back to his dais and settled onto the open throne by his side, no longer a member of the House of Paradise but now the future queen of the House of Peace. Their hands were tightly clasped. Without masks, their faces displayed wide smiles full of hope and the slightest bit of fear. The doves cheered when he leaned down to press a soft kiss to the back of her hand. The sound was like a tiding of things to come, a promise that their house would continue to be a place of happiness, of light and air just like their god.
Again, the room grew quiet. The trial committee gestured to the female victor, who had won second choice of mate.
The princess of the House of Peace stood.
Xander had hardly noticed her before, but now he found he couldn’t look away. There was something captivating about her, as though her energy were magnetic, forcing every gaze in the room to pay attention. And they did. The atrium was so silent he heard the scuffing of her silk slippers on the floor as