Chapter Five
“Are you having fun?” Ahlgos smiled.
Yna sighed. “This is complicated.”
“Family usually is.”
“I have a vague memory of that.” She smiled.
He shifted closer to her, and with his family watching, she rested her head on his shoulder. It took her a bit of fidgeting, but she eventually got comfortable as they looked out over vineyards and orchards.
Likiada came up to her after a few minutes. “Just stick with me during the procession, you will be fine.”
“You are going to be there?”
“As the sister of the groom, I have to be. I can hardly wait until my brothers are married and I can start a family.” There was an intense look offered to Yna.
“I am sure it will be sooner rather than later.” It was all Yna could offer.
Ahlgos wrapped an arm around her and squeezed. “Not soon enough.”
Miett came toward their small group and smiled. “There isn’t enough time tonight for a tour of the grounds, but Ahlgos planted all of those vines when he was just a child. He wanted his father to resign from peacekeeping to become a vintner, and Ikato wine is consumed all over Remuyan now.”
Yna didn’t have time to comment.
“Well, you have to get up early to have your hair done with the others. Since she isn’t used to our time zones, it is best if Yna gets some rest.”
She straightened, her skin still warm from contact with Ahlgos. “That is sensible.”
“Likiada, please show our guest to her room.”
Yna reluctantly moved away from Ahlgos and inclined her head. “I will see you in the morning.”
He gripped her by the arms, and to her surprise, he kissed her in front of his family. When he pulled back, he smiled, “Sweet dreams, Yna.”
Likiada sighed. “Right. Come on, Yna, before things get a little less suitable for public consumption.”
Yna felt her blush grow as she met the knowing and amused gazes of Ahlgos’s family.
“Likiada, you just need to point the way, and I will be fine.”
“Call me Li, the whole family does, and as for finding your way around here, I really doubt it. The house is built—”
“On a spiral with offshoots of larger rooms in the centre and a multitude of smaller rooms on the outside walls. Based on my social standing, I am somewhere in the middle.”
“How did you know that?”
“Everybody has their talents, mine is related to special awareness, plus I saw a schematic while I was on the way here.”
Li chuckled and then redirected the conversation. “You are here because of me.”
“Yup.”
She sighed. “I can hold the embryo dormant for another seven months. It isn’t that much of a rush.”
“You can withhold development?”
“For up to three years. I have been in holding since Ahlgos came home and announced his broken betrothal. The high family wasn’t happy, nor was his fiancée, but she got over it.”
Yna blinked. “It was an arranged marriage?”
“Demanded is more like it, but he put his foot down and refused to go through with it, which sent a ripple through the nobility and separated me from Groven for a time. We resumed our courtship after Huknos’s wedding was announced, and that is when I told my family what was going on. Ahlgos set out in search of you immediately. You were the only one he wanted.”
“What?”
“Didn’t you know? Since he first met you, he has been fixated. I didn’t know your name until now, but I have seen the truth of his attachment.”
“You see truth?”
Li sighed. “It is odd, but when someone is pure of heart, I can see it. Groven may have to give into his family, but he loves me with a pure heart. The moment we are clear to marry, we are going to register at the imperial court.”
“You are content to wait?”
“Hell, no, but I am a citizen of Remuyan and want my family to be proud of having me as a member. I may go to live with Groven’s family, but I am always an Ikato, as my children will be. We have already drawn up the contract.”
Li’s smile was blinding as she settled a hand over her belly. Suddenly, she looked around. “Here we are. I honestly don’t know where they are going to get a dress for you.”
“Oh, do you have yours?”
“I do.”
“Can I see it?”
“Sure. You have a bath, and I will be back within the hour.”
Yna nodded and headed into the burgundy, gold and brown room. The colours were all wine and autumn. It was a lovely space.
As she walked into the bathroom, her Masuo retreated into a series of bands down her thighs. She ran the bath with a minimum of fumbling and slid into the water with a happy sigh. Gel showers and sonic scrubs were fine, but nothing beat a good soak.
She stayed in until she was relaxed and then stood, draining the tub while the Masuo formed a soft robe around her.
The knock at the door came a moment after she had begun to brush out her hair.
Li was standing in the hall with a long gown over one arm.
“Please, come in.” Yna stepped aside to let Li enter.
“This is what we will be wearing for the first ritual. We will line up in order of skin colour and proceed across the floor of the temple until we reach the end. When we get to the far side, we will line up with the lightest-skinned one being next to the bride. During all of the seal and singing ceremonies, you will hold her wreath and bouquet. It is quite the honour.”
“Who would have done it if I wasn’t there?”
“Kimettel Lafui. She is dangerous but stupid.”
“Can you hold up the gown?”
“Sure. If Nialloa says she can get you a new gown, she can definitely do it.”
The gown was black, and the upper portion was delicate and intricate lace that would cover what was necessary and let the other portions of skin glow through. The scars would definitely show if she wore it. The skirt was flowing silk and very dramatic, starting low on the hips to leave nothing else to the imagination. The tight silk would outline over half of her body.
“Delightful. Well, I think I can manage a good replica if necessary.”
“Is that your talent?”
Yna was startled. “Uh, no. I have Masuo.”
“What?”
She stood with her hands extended from her body, and the robe turned into a close version of the ritual gown.
“Can you do that with anything?”
“Sure.” She had it change to her daily wear then to what she had worn to dinner and finally the robe again.
“That is amazing. How do you take it off?”
Yna laughed. “I don’t. It is bonded to me in a symbiotic relationship. It consumes my body heat and skin cells to survive, as well as tapping into my nervous system to a certain extent. In return, I let it travel and see the universe.”
Li looked appalled. “How smart is it?”
“Not very. It is a plant. It has just enough reflex to put armour on me during an attack.”
“Where do you get something like that?”
“It has to be given to you or grown. I got mine to help me recover from a... surgical procedure.”
“What kind of procedure?”
Yna sighed and pulled the robe away from her neck to expose the lines of the suit design that she had been wearing. “Skin graft.”
“Oh, so that is what the reference to scars was.”
“Yeah. Well, speaking of scars, I had better get to putting lotion on mine. I will see you tomorrow. Thank you for letting me see the gown. If there are any issues, I am now prepared.”
Li smiled. “I think that tomorrow will be fun. We just have to get through a few hours of ceremony, and then, we can party.”
“I will see you tomorrow. Good night, Li.”
“Good night, sister.” Li winked and left, her deep green hair swaying down to her lower back.
Yna closed the door and set her wrist alarm. Dawn came early on alien worlds, and weddings seemed to move the clock forward.
The skimmer trip to the imperial palace the next morning didn’t even come close to waking her. Li kept a flask of caf coming, pouring it into the cup in Yna’s hands every time she took a sip.
The palace was lovely, but Yna was in no mood to appreciate it.
They landed in a secure courtyard and were taken by armed escort into the palace, toward the ceremony grounds.
“I swear, Li. If you get married, don’t invite me.” Yna stifled a yawn.
Li laughed, and the sound echoed in the halls around them. “Do invite me to yours. I can hardly wait to see the look on Ahlgos’s face when he finally locks in for a lifetime.”
Yna laughed at the thought and kept her instincts pure. She didn’t respond, but Li gave her a searing look.
Soon, there was no time to think about anything. The world was a whirr of gowns and makeup with a hairstylist and his army twisting and brushing at their heads.
The gown that Yna was wedged into was of inferior quality and presented to her by the woman she would be following in the procession. Yna took one look at the gaping stitches that attached the skirt to the bodice and prepared her suit to jump in when the moment came.
Li was shunned by most of the eighteen other ladies. She shrugged it off and simply prepared for her walk. She was eighth in the skin-tone arrangement and going to be the sister of the bride. They could be rude to her but not do anything to impact Nialloa’s special day.
Huknos Ikato was Nialloa’s chosen mate, and she was locking herself to him that day. Anyone who interfered with that process would definitely regret it.
Yna listened to the gossip of the women who feared Nialloa’s wrath. She caught on to an interesting tidbit that had completely escaped Yna in her studies—Nialloa was an imperial princess of Remuyan. She wasn’t the only princess, but she definitely had some pull.
The chime rang, and the ladies lined up. Nialloa was in a separate room and would only be seen by the last woman in line. It was in the shuffle to take their places that someone stepped on Yna’s skirt, ripping it free of the bodice.
Yna pretended to fuss quietly as the ladies proceeded down the aisle, one by one. It was only when it was down to Yna and Kimettel that she changed her frantic expression to a calm one, shucked out of the torn gown and had her Masuo make her a copy that was richer and more flattering than the one her counterpart was wearing.
Kimettel stared in shock, but her turn was up. She whirled and stomped down the aisle. When the coordinator nodded, Yna glided out, winked at Nialloa as she emerged from her own changing room, and she cruised majestically down the aisle to gasps and murmurs from the crowd. The women were wearing enough jewels to ransom whole planets, and the men looked as if they owned those worlds.
She settled in next to Kimettel and turned to watch Nialloa coming down the aisle. Her gown was the same black lace as their bodices, but it wrapped into a tight gown that loosened enough for her to walk and not much more.
The ceremony took three hours of contracts read out and stipulated to. Yna held the cascade of vines that had been provided to Nialloa by Huknos’s family. It was a symbol of their wealth and of the summer season.
When the couple had signed the final document and Yna had put her name down as witness, Huknos grabbed his bride and kissed her, bending her back so far, Yna could hear the fabric creak in protest.
The Peacekeepers, who represented the groom’s side along with his brothers, broke out into hoots and howls of approval.
Nialloa smiled when she was set upright, and Yna handed her the vines as she and her husband walked through the crowd and out of the ceremony hall. Yna followed with Ahlgos falling into step beside her.
The family reception occurred before the public one, and Yna wrapped her arm around Ahlgos’s and went to greet the bride and groom.
Nialloa grinned and hugged Yna. “Thank you for coming, sister.”
“Thank you for having me. It was an honour to serve.”
“I hope that the other ladies didn’t give you too much trouble.”
“Only one, and I managed to work around it.”
“Well, the gown looks better on you than it does on the others.”
Yna blushed, “It must just be the skin tone.”
Ahlgos laughed. “That must have been it.”