two Yea

ns below, the fragrance of blooming white camellias drifted through the open windows, and fountains sang softly in the morning hu

ny other day in th

- and if the treaty held, the last queen

er lanterns shaped like crescent moons. Musicians tuned their instruments in the city square while merchants hung banners from every balcony, and for the first time in decades, the people all

oked out over the city she had loved since childhood. The morning sun painted everything in warm gold. It was beautiful. And yet her gaze didn't linger on the pala

iled s

y are celeb

ckled. "Your Highness,

ement dancing in he

kn

spent the last ten minutes worrying a

riana smile

e than I do. They're the ones who

dramatic and fond

e ever met a princ

ither my greatest streng

ain it's

ss, a basket overflowing with fresh white camellias in her ar

he light. Flawless. Pure white. Delicate. Her mother had told her once, when she was small enough to still believe

m free and tucked it behi

he

ed, startled.

e prettiest on

youngest maid covered her flushed face

wh

orget you are ac

mellia stem between her fingers. "Perhaps that's becaus

kind of thing this particular princess actual

gently against t

nt

gown, Ariana realized, that her mother had worn the day she was christened. For a moment neither woman spoke. They simply look

er and cupped her daught

ittle

told you not

. I'll cry whe

herself. "I suppose no

rested her forehead gently against hers, the way she'd done since Ariana was small enough to be he

remembe

caught, just slightly. "

quickly as she noticed it. Her mother had always carried a sadness she never fully

dens," Elowen said. "Promise me - just for

This marriage ends a rivalry between the two kingdoms. If ou

roud all at once. "Alway

, where smoke still curled up from a hundred small chimneys

ghter into an embrace an

ora Palace rang once. The

preparatio

ed figure standing on a distant

tayed shut for twenty-two years and might, today, finally open. Her hood kept her face from the wind. It could not keep her eyes from the wh

bells were ring

smile. She d

counting down the final hours befo