Page 52 of The Kingdom of Flames

James nodded as if speaking to a dream. They continued in silence.

Celestine heard the grand gala before she even saw its glimmer. They walked in boldly, four guards of honor on each side of the grand doorway, a hundred people waited.

“Lady Celestine! Of the Unbannered!” James announced.

Every nobleman and noblewoman in Lord Solis’s realm turned. Each woman wore a yellow ribbon of some sort of variation, silken, woven, and jewel-adorned.

“The Final Bride of the Painted Realm!”

Applause broke out, claps and cheers as if she was at some grand tourney or melee. Whatever color she had donned on her cheeks and lips, surely they darkened somewhat in her embarrassment.

The crowd parted, and Tristien, waited for her. Tall, golden, beautiful. He was wealth and control personified. The very air around him seemed to be owned by him. His tunic, frock, and pants were all pale silver with canary yellow and topaz adornment.

He matched her perfectly.

A smooth jawline, white teeth, flashing blue eyes under golden hair. So lean, so fine.

This is him without his circlet. What a marvel this man is..

“And soon to be betrothed.” Tristien smiled and bowed, sweeping one leg slowly across another, a hand flaying out behind him. A beautiful belt of topaz and gold glittered on his slim waist.

Celestine took him in. This castle, this land, the very sun and sky, it moved upon his whim and he showed it.

Music broke out, light, but grew louder. Tristien walked towards her, taller than any man or woman in the room, his fine shirt splayed open, showing his hairless and sinewy chest.

He took her hand in his and kissed it. His eyes never left hers.

“Lady Celestine, welcome to Suncrown.”

“Tristien… thank you.” Celestine stepped forward, ready to embrace him. She reached out, touching his shirt, feeling the deep line of his abdomen underneath finer cloth than she had known could exist. In a moment, she was in his arms.

“My lord, I am not well versed in dance…” Celestine breathed. He smelled of summer, the summer you ran with your friends along. Where boys kissed you in the warm evenings next to hay bales that looked more and more comfortable the longer their lips touched yours.

His hand held the small of her back. Tristien smiled, looking down. “Your feet say otherwise.”

Celestine followed his gaze. They practically floated above the ground, moving together as if they were two stars circling one another.

“How…”

“Feel your hand in mind, being led, being shown, my touch upon your back. What do you feel?”

“I feel…guided.”

“You are the sails, and I the wind. A ship may turn or cut through it, but it will never be as it should unless it follows what the wind shows it.”

Dancing felt effortless, easy. There was no choice to make, nothing that needed to be worried about. Everyone adored her. Everyone looked upon her in his arms, swirling and spinning upon the floor, wafting on music and his majesty, and she found she loved it.

“I understand. I am to attend your chambers this evening.” Celestine looked up at him.

Nothing wavered for this Lord of Season. How could it? She danced with a piece of summer itself.

“They will be our chambers, Celestine. You will be my bride. You will never leave wish to leave the realm of the Yellow Banner. I know Encarmine took your crest, but I will own your soul.”

It felt so true, hearing it from his lips. Tristien brought her in closer as the dance ended so only she could hear.

“I will take you, Celestine, and never let you go.” His hands circled her back, locking there for a moment. “I cannot wait for you to see your gift.”

They broke, and Celestine's face flushed. She smiled up at him. It was so hard to do anything else. “I look forward to it.”

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