Kaye's wrists were untied overnight, but her shoulders screamed as they were wrenched back and tied again the next morning. She hadn’t slept much as she curled herself into a ball next to the hearth, the familiar smells of the priestess tent hovering around her like a blanket that had gone thin and cold. At dawn, Kaye and the High Priestess were marched to the warrior training field, now stained dark with executions. Oak's body lay in a crumpled heap, head missing. Gar lay on his side next to Monk, as pale as he'd been after the battle for Deer Valley. Monk looked well enough, but exhausted, and his eyes kept searching out a bloody spot on the field where his father must have died.

Kaye tripped over the soggy ground and couldn't catch herself, but Pike grabbed her arms before she landed face first and she cried out in pain as her shoulders were pulled back. When he righted her, she spit at the grin on his face.

The back of his hand split her lip again. "Willingly, fairy flutter. Fight me again and I'll cut your throat."

Kaye's shoulders fell and she let herself be pushed forward through the bloody ground until they were standing next to Gar and Monk.

"You don't have to do this," Monk said.

She forced a smile and looked at the priestess dress she'd been given after she consented. When she looked at him, she straightened her chin and spoke with a hoarse voice. "I was raised to give the blood sacrifice same as you. A warrior of Aleda instead of Eoin. Her words are my weapon."

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Monk nodded and she looked at Gar, whose eyes were bright and fevered. "Kindra’s not beat yet," Kaye said.

"I know."

Pike tugged her arms and Kaye pressed her lips together as she turned to face the High Priestess. The woman lifted her arms and began the invocation to the Gods for the ceremony. When she was finished, she turned to Kaye.

"Do you, Kaye Odion, Daughter of Aleda, before the witness of these people and the Mother, swear to uphold the marriage of yourself to this man, Jorsen Bayn, until the death of him?"

Next to her, Pike glared at the omission of his warrior name, but the High Priestess stared him down like a child being scolded by a mother. Kaye spoke at a whisper; Aleda's words, not hers. "I do swear it."

"Louder," Pike said.

She swallowed and closed her eyes. "I do swear it."

“And do you, Jorsen Bayn, before the witness of these people and the Mother, swear to uphold the marriage of yourself to this woman, Kaye Odion, until the death of her?"

He scowled again. “I, Pike Bayn, warrior of Eoin, do swear it.”

The High Priestess put her arms up again and spoke so everyone could hear. "Then I declare to all those present, as the Daughter of Aleda, Mother of us all, that you are married in the eyes of the people of the Seven Tribes of Aleda, and in the eyes of the Gods. No man or woman, no matter their power, can declare it not so."

Kaye glanced sideways at the smile on Pike's face, and for a moment the fear of him outweighed her trust in Aleda.