I look at Asha and suck in a breath, gathering my courage. “I am weak for this small, Penticari woman named Asha, who is a princess in blood, and of my heart.”
Asha takes a step back, trembling.
I look toward my hut, seeing Nori rushing toward us, holding my courtship gift. “Let smart Nori through,” I bark as she comes up against a wall of bodies.
A hole is formed, and Nori squirms through it, handing me the gift.
I shoo people away, giving us more space, then set the gift on the floor.
“What is this?” Asha says, her eyes moving between mine and the gift.
“It is a courtship gift.”
I hear a Penticari woman gasp and whisper, “He’s giving the princess a courtship gift during festival! How romantic.”
Asha anxiously glances around at the staring people. And then, in one swift motion, she whisks the weave away.
28
ASHA
Under the weave is a replica of Ramsey’s hut.
I take a step back and look up at him, nearly melting when his silver gaze fixes on me.
“I don’t understand.”
“Do you not see that it is a hut?” Ramsey says with a hint of smugness in his tone.
“I see that, but it’s too small for me.”
“That is because it is not a courtship gift for you, but for Harold.” He squats, takes Harold off his shoulder, and places it on the small hut’s stoop.
In my entire time on this island, I can’t recall an instance I’ve ever been so shocked.
A giggle escapes my throat. “You thought Harold needed a hut?”
Ramsey shrugs. “If he is to court his own lady vaeyark, he must have a place to bring her back to.”
People whisper, the women laughing, the men sounding confused.
I turn to Nori, who is hauling the basket over, as I’d requested her to do before the festival.
“You were in on this?” I whisper-snap.
“He asked for my thoughts?—”
“And you told him to build Harold a hut?” I chuckle out.
“Actually, no. I told him it was custom for a man to ask a maiden’s father for her hand in marriage.”
“Oh…”
“I gave it to him before the ceremony!” Elena enthuses.
“You knew about this?” Grixis snaps.
“Shhhh!”Elena scolds.
