Chapter 21: The Wedding at the Temple

Ten thousand people stood in the Temple square, and none of them made a sound.

Mai could hear her own heartbeat over the hush.

She walked up the long white steps in a plain white robe.

Her black bob was combed flat and her steel glasses were polished until they shone.

The red thread was still knotted around her ring finger.

At the top, under the open dome with the two moons faint in the daylight sky, Odile waited with the blue book in her hands.

Prince Leon stood to one side in his silver-buttoned coat, and his ears were pink and his eyes were wet.

Beyond him, in the front row, a farmer in a brown coat held his cap against his chest.

Then the bells began, and Hinata came up the steps from the other side.

She wore the seven layers of the saint's robes, white and crimson and gold.

The sun was embroidered on her back, and her chestnut hair hung loose to her waist.

She was a little pale.

Her dimples came and went.

When she reached the top, she looked at Mai across the white stone, and every nerve in Mai's body sat up and sang.

"Lady Saint," Odile said. "Lady Mai. Tell this Temple what you have come to write."

Hinata drew a breath.

Her voice rang out clear over the square.

"I am Hinata Aizawa, twenty-two years old, called through the Dawn Gate to be your saint."

The crowd stirred.

"I never asked to be called. I would have said no, if anyone had asked."

A soft laugh ran through the front rows.

"But the woman beside me grabbed my hand and came with me, and I have never once been afraid since."

She turned to Mai.

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