Kaye slept poorly. Every time she woke from a nightmare she had to remember where she was, and why. Then she’d cry herself to sleep again. She would go to her wedding in the morning with a puffy face and red eyes.

The final time she woke, it was silent in the great house, except for the crackle of hearth fires being built up. She peeked around the curtain—the door flap was still bathed in darkness. If she was home, she’d be preparing to sing up the sun with the other priestesses, but now she had nowhere to be at such an early hour. She built up the coals in the hearth and stared at the small flames that arose as she tried to calm her mind and fall into that place where all was right with the world.

Her calm was broken when the curtain opened. A willowy girl with long, dark hair stepped in with a platter. The scent of hot tea and venison sausage followed, and Kaye’s stomach rumbled. She’d been too nervous to eat last night, and although her nerves still rose and fell in waves, she was calm from meditating and needed to eat or she’d pass out during the ceremony.

The girl set the platter down and Kaye thanked her in Obsidian. The girl’s dark eyes widened, and she backed into the curtain. “You speak Obsidian?”

Kaye nodded. “I’m not completely fluent, but I can get by. I’ll learn fast, since few people here speak Aledan.”

The girl looked terrified, or guilty, or a combination of both. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I think it’s terribly wrong what they’re going to do to you.”

Kaye thought so too. The girl was several summers younger, but perhaps she’d come to be a friend. “What’s your name?”

She looked behind her as if someone was eavesdropping, then tiptoed forward and whispered, “Muire Obsid.”

Kaye’s eyes widened. “Oh.” Not a friend then, a daughter. “It’s nice to meet you, Muire. I’m Kaye Odion.” She almost added ‘your new mother’, but the girl would know that already. “Thank you for breakfast.”

Muire bobbed a quick bow, then ducked out of the room. Kaye watched the curtain fall into place and wished she’d stayed to talk. Maybe give Kaye some idea of how the ceremony would proceed and what she needed to do.

Loria sat next to Kaye and took a sausage. “Who was that?”

Kaye swallowed as nerves attacked her again and the smell of sausage turned from mouth-watering to nauseating. “That was my new daughter.”