a Pleasure Rites, #1 by Ines Johnson

Author:Ines Johnson [Johnson, Ines]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ines Johnson
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

14

Chanyn looked down at the gold band on her finger. The array of jewels winked back at her. The gold bonded her to Dain and Khial. On the band sparkled three gems. The ruby was Dain's pledge, the sapphire Khial's. The diamond at the center was a tradition held over from the twentieth century. It held no meaning other than decorative. Women didn't need to pledge anything to men. The third gem was simply a symbol of status. Rianald told her that the larger the diamond the more wealthy the woman. Chanyn's diamond was huge.

She was married.

The ceremony had been lavish, but brief. She had to do nothing but walk out in a lovely gown of white. She looked virginal, innocent, naive. That would have been true a week ago, but it was no longer. Chanyn knew that the people who shared your blood could be callous and devious. She knew that life could take the worst and put power in their hands, and then take the best and put weakness in their hearts. Chanyn itched to take the gown off, but the night was far from over.

The crowded ceremonial hall held more people than she'd seen in her entire life. People coming to gape at the wildling found outside the city walls, no doubt. Lump that in with the spectacle of being bound to two of the city's most notorious sons. There were a good deal of gasps, a few snickers, but mostly they just stared.

Rianald, Tem, and Brent outdid themselves on Chanyn's hair and makeup. Her gown showed all her best features, lifting her breasts and accentuating her hips. Her hair was a soft halo around her head. Her make up took her own breath away when she looked in the mirror. The onlookers may have come to gape, but Dain's manservants made sure they left envious.

She was married.

She had to keep repeating it to herself just to make it true.

She was married. It was nothing like she'd dreamed. First, she was married to two men. Second, neither of them were her true love. One of her husbands she felt a deep kinship to, while she shared a speculative truce with the other. The man she loved hadn't even come to her wedding. But at least one of her relatives had.

At the end of the ceremony, as Chanyn, Dain, and Khial took the felicitations of well-wishers, Merlyn made her way to Chanyn. A handsome young man with red hair, green eyes and golden skin trailed behind her.

"Greetings cousin," Merlyn said. "I bring glad tidings from our family."

Chanyn's shoulders jerked in surprise. "Really?"

Merlyn hesitated and then shook her head once. "No," she admitted. "But custom dictates that when a family member is bonded they should have representatives from their family as witnesses."

Merlyn recited the facts as though she read them from a book. Her speech pattern reminding Chanyn of her mother's. What differentiated Merlyn from Chanyn's mother was the hint of compassion in her eyes.

"So, because of custom," Merlyn lifted a delicate shoulder not quite meeting Chanyn's eyes, "here I am.

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