Page 81 of Rite of Unity

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I stood with the other matches in the foyer, our skirts pressed together in the tight space.My eyes met Nami’s as I laced my hands behind my back.

The front door swung open, and the first chaperone waved Sera and Lydia forward.

In groups of two, we slid into our driverless cars, chaperones wedged in beside us.

I tugged layers of tule into my lap as the door clicked shut beside me.

Phoebe glanced over.“Your dress is…”

“I know.”I sighed.

The car zipped down the road.Within minutes, we stopped beside a thatched gazebo, millions of tiny yellow lights twinkling like stars above a wide open lawn.

The door opened, and I stepped out as a man in a gray suit extended a hand.Along the street, matches stepped out of their cars, assisted by attendants.

One by one, in our order of selection, we moved under the gazebo, filing into an open space, filled with more people than I’d ever seen in one place.There must have been hundreds of people milling about, dancing, drinking.

Unlike Middle balls, people here weren’t segregated by sex.As my gaze swept over the crowd, it also became clear that none of the other women here was single.Not a stitch of white dotted the outdoor ball apart from the eight girls I had arrived with.

Phoebe bumped my shoulder, moving me forward.

My dress was a statement, from my bare shoulders to the skirts as wide as my arms, but a quick assessment of the crowd told me I wasn’t the most scantily clad by half.

Cleavage spilled over the tops of gowns and high slits up full skirts showed off skin all the way to the knee.My cheeks heated when a woman spun, her thigh exposed to anyone watching.

“Wine?”

I accepted a glass from the waiter, taking a long drink.

Loud laughter had me turning in time to see a man press his mouth to a woman’s throat.I gasped, spinning away.

A hand wrapped around mine, and I glanced down.

“Come on.”

Heat rushed up my neck as I let Nami drag me to the center.She leaned closer, whispering in my ear.“It’s sick, isn’t it?But we’re on camera.Don’t let them see your thoughts.”

Her words were a bucket of ice on my flushed skin.I wrapped my fingers around hers and smiled.

A cheer rose, glasses clinking together, and soon, the other matches had joined us.

“Hello.Hello,” Elias said from somewhere on the other side of the ball, his voice amplified by the drones hovering overhead.“Are you glad to have me back?”

Another cheer from the crowd.

A spotlight dropped from the sky, illuminating Elias’s blond head.

“Oh, I guess not.”

He held a hand to his ear.The responding cheer rattled the glass in my hand.

“Awwww.I missed you, too.”

Champagne flutes clinked as Elias approached us.

I watched him, but his eyes never strayed to me.A chill skated over my skin.Last night, he’d listened to me, shared his dinner.This man was the one I'd grown up watching on TV.