The Ceremony

*Kieran*

When Delaney first asked me to come with her, I was nervous, but as we walked along, she told me about what it was like giving birth to Raven, how she’d been asking the Moon Goddess to bless her with a child for many years and hadn’t been lucky enough to have one until finally she found out she was pregnant. When it had turned out she was having a daughter, she’d been overjoyed.

Raven had only been a few months old when everything had happened with my kingdom. As she spoke, I got the impression she knew who I was, that I am the Crown Prince of Dun’s Crossing, but I never told her the truth, and she didn’t ask.

Now, here we are about to go through with the handfasting ceremony, something Delaney also explained to me. I figured it was like a wedding but not as complicated. As we walked, my mind went over all the planning my mother and Nessa had been discussing since the Haze and think about what a waste of time that’s going to turn out to be. There’s no way in hell I’m going for