Page 24 of Hymn of Breath and Bone

She placed an ancient and very dusty book in front of me that was written in a text so old or foreign I couldn’t read it. But the page she held out was a drawing of two winged people standing before a priest or priestess, a ribbon binding their clasped hands.

“It symbolizes the unbreakable bond,” Ana said a little wistfully, pointing at the couple’s bound hands. “A promise to love each other, made before witnesses and the gods themselves.”

“Were you two handfasted?” I asked, looking between the mates who looked like total opposites, yet completed each other wholly.

Ana blushed as Zephyr snorted out a laugh. “No. We were…uh…a little too eager to plan a ceremony.” She winked at her mate, whose dark skin managed to turn slightly pink beneath the force of her blush.

“I still think we should have done it,” Ana sniffed, frowning at her mate. “My mother would have appreciated the symbolism.”

“Your mother hates me,” Zephyr pointed out, sounding not even slightly upset by this fact. “She actively tried to convince you not to accept me.”

“She hates everyone,” Ana said, waving away Zephyr’s argument. I had to agree with this assertion, having experienced Eos’ ire myself. “And she tolerates you now.”

“Yes, and it only took twenty years,” Zephyr said dryly, kissing Ana on the cheek. “Would you like a ceremony now, my love?”

“Too much work,” Ana replied, batting away her mate as she flipped to the back of the book. “Look here, Marina. This is the prayer that’s usually recited by whoever officiates. Generally a friend or family member of the couple, but in your case it will likely be a council member.” She grimaced in distaste. “And then you sing the vows and that’s it. Most couples have a party of some kind, but since winter is coming, it will likely be minimal.”

“Sing the vows?” I asked, panic rising a little.

“I’ll teach you,” Ana offered. “They’re not difficult, and the tune is fairly simple.”

I nodded, frowning at the words of the vows, which were joined with music that I couldn’t hope to read. And seas, I’d have to sing them in front ofeveryone.“And do all royal couples wait to…finalize their bond until after they’re handfasted?”

“You haven’t—” Ana choked out a cough as Zephyr elbowed her in the ribs, clearly having not told her this piece of gossip.

“No, we have not,” I said firmly, frowning to cover my embarrassment and rolling my eyes. “You two are as bad as the damned kelpie.”

“Oh—no, I didn’t mean—it’s just—” Ana stammered so much that I had to work very hard not to burst out laughing at her discomfort.

She shrugged helplessly at Zephyr, who sighed fondly at her. “You do have such a way with words, my love.” Zephyr turned back to me with a grin. “She means that she’d waste no time jumping Caspian’s bones if he washermate.”

“That is not—” Ana spluttered so indignantly that I lost my battle and burst out laughing, Zephyr grinning like a madwoman at her mate’s suffering.

“Believe me,” I said, wiping a tear of mirth from my eye as I finally got a grip on myself. “It’s not for lack of trying. Don’t you prefer females, anyway?”

“I’ve dabbled with males,” Ana replied, giving both me and Zephyr a look of bemused annoyance. “Zephyr prefers females. For me, attraction is attraction.”

“Thank the skies I got to you before Caspian,” Zephyr declared, kissing Ana on the cheek again. Her eyepatch made her look rather fiendish as she continued grinning. “How about you, Marina? Who will Caspian have to compete with?”

“Seas,” I breathed, finding it my turn to blush. “No one, I think. My experiences before him were fleeting and rather lackluster.”

“Weren’t you betrothed though?” Ana asked, looking confused.

“Yes, but not by choice,” I said quickly. “Thank all the gods I didn’t end up having to matehim.”

At their look of confusion, I explained the difference between siren and selkie mating customs as far as I understood them.

“They would have made you mate him against your will?” Ana gasped, her face a mask of horror as she reached out to grip my hand as if I needed comforting. “Skies, Marina, I am so sorry.”

“It’s just tradition,” I said with a shrug, feeling a little awkward at their shock.

Ana shook her head. “How can that be when so many sirens have been mated to selkies?” she asked, looking at me as if I must have an answer for her. “We cannot force the bond. What if a selkie mates another, then finds their siren mate?”

“Well, that hasn’t been an issue for several centuries,” I pointed out, frowning as I remembered the previous lesson on siren history. “It’s a good question though. Whyhasit been so long?”

“There’s no official explanation in any of the books I’ve read,” Ana mused, unrolling the parchment that contained selkie and siren genealogies. She found the spot where the line of connected royal families had broken, tracing it down until the page ended. “We have all our royal families recorded though,” she added, unrolling another scroll atop the first which continued the genealogy.

Down several more branches of the tree that spanned almost a millennia was the siren prince who died in the Betrayal. I leaned closer, examining theline of siren kings. The dead prince’s brother had taken the throne once his father passed. Then his son. And then…