“Okay, okay,” Calla said. “I hope you’ve rested well because you’re going to need your strength hosting dozens of men tonight.”

“That sounds a bit much,” I said.

Calla laughed her silver-bell laugh. “The Promise Ball is a very old tradition. Everyone wears a mask, and we all dance with each other’s Ones.”

I wondered about how awkward the whole thing would be. It was reminiscent of my entire dating experience. Granted, I hadn’t dated a lot of boys, but every single attempt at a relationship had been disastrous. Until James.

“When it’s time for the last dance, we’ll share it with our One and feel how right it is that we are together. From that moment on, we’ll never want to be with anyone else. At the end of that dance, our One will ask us to marry him again. It will be different this time because his proposal will be official, you know? In front of witnesses. Of course everyone will say yes.”

Although Calla’s eyes misted with emotion, it was all I could do not to vomit. The Promise Ball was just another grandiose event to permanently impress on us that we belonged to someone. That we would always belong to our One, as if we were his possession.

“So romantic,” Calla said. “Don’t you think?”

“Yes, it is,” I answered, fighting the bile rising in my throat. “So, who leads The Joining?”

“The Elders, of course,” Calla said.

That was when things began to click into place in my mind. I didn’t care what Ever had said; I truly believed if I had the chance to speak to the Elders, they would allow James and me to live in peace. And now I’d been given the opportunity to see them. If I could somehow get my hands on the Bound Book, bring it to the ball, and then show the Elders, they’d see my name written beside James’s. They’d understand I came here on my own because I loved him. They’d have to return his memories and allow us to live here. Not that we would stay here forever. Once things settled down, James, Tobias, and I would make our escape.

“It’s going to be a beautiful ceremony,” Calla said, oblivious to the plan I was hatching. She was the definition of blissful over her soon-to-be life with Haden.

I wondered what kind of guy Haden was. Would he treat Calla the way Cole had Ever? Did he even love Calla? Somehow, I didn’t believe that to be the case. At that moment, all I could think about was stealing Calla away. I would have done so, too, but I knew if I left Judaculla now, I wouldn’t get another chance like this one. The Promise Ball was my one shot to get back to James.

But there has to be a way to do both.