The smoke from the lit torches choked me as I squared my shoulders and stared down the aisle. The thought of dancing even a little bit in front of a crowd made me feel as naked as a freshly plucked bird. I was not graceful. Not by anyone’s definition of the word. But I took a deep breath and swayed down the aisle as best as I could, my cheeks flaming hot up to my ears. When I reached the dais, Dagan reached for me with a calloused hand, worn from the mattock and plow, and the warmth of his palm pressed to mine made me forget all about my embarrassment.

As I stepped up, he pulled me close and kissed my forehead.

“You are stunning, Oh Great Dancing A-zu.” He grinned.

“Stop it. That was the clumsiest thing you’ve ever witnessed.” I blushed. “You are stunning, too, of course.”

I took in his handsome features. The divot above his lip that made it impossible not to kiss him. The rough smudge of beard on his jaw, now beginning to thicken. The black eyebrows that framed his dark lashes so well. My love. My heart swelled. We’d made each other happy here in Manzazu.

Dagan wrapped an arm around me. He bent down, his lips against my ear. “My sweet, you’re not nervous, are you?”

“About Simti? No. Why would I be?”

I looked at him, and the earnestness in his amber eyes made me squirm. He ran a finger down my chin, but pressed his lips together. Tight. Took a deep breath.

“Because,” he started, his words tumbling out of his mouth quickly, “these last moons have been the best of my life. Living underneath one roof with you and everyone else. Caring for all of us together has brought me the greatest joy I’ve ever had.” He tapped his fingers on my arm.

“Dagan, they’re about to start. What is it?” I whispered, my eyes on the priestess ascending the platform, a ceremonial bowl of sweetwine in her weathered hands.

He cleared his throat. “What I am saying to you is—”

“Will the bride and groom step forward, please?” The priestess nodded to Simti and Ilu.

“Later,” I whispered to him.

“Okay.” A nervous smile flitted across Dagan’s face as he looked at Ilu across the platform. Ilu flashed him a wink as Simti stepped forward, a dazzling smile on her face to meet him in front of the priestess.

Dagan and I joined hands with Nanaea and Iltani and closed the circle around them both as Ilu draped a bride-price necklace around Simti’s neck. Ilu’s mother dabbed at her eyes, and mine filled, too. We’d be losing her from our home this night. We’d spent so many evenings together, cooking, laughing, building a new life free from the threat of Alu’s terrifying customs. It was tough to let her go. But Simti and Ilu had fallen deeply, wildly in love within a moon of our arrival, so how could we not agree?