“Father,” I said in a low voice. “We can’t do this to Zadie now. It will destroy her.”

He glanced at me. “You know?”

“Samiel told me, after the ceremony.”

“Zadie has a right to know before she leaves.” He raised the bowl of oysters to his mouth and swallowed all three at once. “Besides, she should be happy that her sister is going to be the future governor’s wife. It is a great honor for the entire family.”

I placed a hand on his arm. “Father, she loves him.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. “I know, Nor.”

“Then let’s wait to announce it. It’s only six more days. There can be no harm in waiting.”

“Your Mother doesn’t want to wait,” he said quietly.

So this was her idea. Zadie had given her everything she wanted. Why was she punishing her now? Was she trying to create some kind of wedge between us? I wouldn’t put it past our mother to try to separate us, maybe even believing she was doing us some kind of a favor by severing Zadie’s life in Varenia completely, giving her no reason to stay, but without ever asking anyone else how they felt about it.

Sami. Maybe if I talked to him, he could convince his parents to wait. I couldn’t imagine he wanted this any more than I did. He loved Zadie. The last thing he’d want to do would be to see her hurt.

I was halfway through the trapdoor when Mother poked her head around the bedroom curtain.

“Where are you going?” she asked. “Dinner is soon.”

“There’s something I have to do. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“You’d better be. We need the boat.” The communal buildings were connected to the governor’s house with wooden docks, but many houses, like ours, were separated for privacy, something hard to come by in Varenia.

“I’ll swim.” I tied my skirts in a knot between my legs and dropped into the water with a splash. The sun was just setting, casting an orange glow over the water. I wouldn’t get to watch it go down with Zadie tonight, but this was more important.

The governor’s porch was lit with hanging lanterns, making it easy to find in the gloom of twilight. I hauled myself up the ladder and wrung out my skirts and hair before knocking lightly on the door. I wouldn’t normally show up at the governor’s house like this, but I knew if I stopped to consider my appearance too long, I’d lose my nerve.

The door swung open, revealing Sami’s bewildered face. “Nor—”

“We need to talk,” I said, walking past him into the house. I’d only been inside a few times, and its size, at least compared to our house, never failed to amaze me. It should be Zadie’s future home, not mine. “It’s about Zadie.”

He pulled on my arm. “Now isn’t the time.”

“And you think tonight at dinner is? Ask your father to wait until after she leaves.”

“He’s not just my father, Nor. He’s the governor.”

I broke away from him. “Then I’ll ask him myself.”

“Are they here already?” Sami’s mother, Elidi, called from the kitchen. Theirs was the only house in the village that had multiple rooms separated by permanent walls instead of curtains. Even Sami had his own room, though what a seventeen-year-old boy needed a private room for was a mystery to me.

Elidi and Governor Kristos appeared together, and for a moment they stared at me, bewildered by my presence. Or perhaps it was my clothes. I plucked at my skirts, which clung wetly to my legs, and suddenly wished I had taken the boat. But their gazes drifted past me toward the door.

Behind me, someone else cleared his throat.

I turned to find a stranger standing in the doorway. “Oh gods,” I whispered to myself. He was a young man, a few years older than me at most, and as his gaze swept over my body, I became even more painfully aware of my sodden clothing. Our eyes met for one humiliating moment before I lowered mine to the puddle slowly forming at my feet.

“Nor, what are you doing?” Elidi hurried forward and ushered me back out the front door, past the stranger. “Where is your family?”

“They’re preparing for dinner. I only came to speak to Sami.”

“We have a visitor.”

As if I hadn’t noticed. “Who is he?”

“My husband will explain everything. Go home and clean yourself up. And please, when you return, come in the boat.”

I nodded and scrambled back down the ladder, wishing I’d listened to Mother for once. As I swam back to our house, I tried to puzzle out who the young man could be. Judging by his strange dress and the even stranger behavior of Sami and his family, it was clear to me that he wasn’t from our village, and I knew for a fact that no man in Varenia had ever looked at me before the way he had. I’d only had a moment to take in his appearance, but I blushed at the memory of his gaze, lingering in places Sami’s never had.

“Where have you been?” Zadie asked when I popped back through the trapdoor.

“Nowhere.”

“You’d better change quickly. Mother’s almost ready.”

Mother was arranging her hair in front of her mirror, still humming to herself. Did she know about the stranger, too? Was that what this was all about? I rinsed myself quickly with fresh water and slipped into my red gown while Zadie tried to fix my hair. Hers was perfectly plaited, as usual, and her skin glowed against the soft pink of her dress. I felt garish next to her, and I wondered if Mother had planned it that way on purpose.

“Come, girls,” Father said, helping us all down into the boat. I dropped gracelessly onto the bench, my arms folded across my chest. I should have set the oars adrift on the current to delay the inevitable. As it was, Father’s powerful arms brought us to the governor’s house far too quickly. I volunteered to tie up the boat, fretting over the knot as long as possible. Perhaps I could slip away and skip this dinner altogether...

“Hurry up, Nor,” Mother called as if she could read my wicked thoughts.

I scowled and climbed the ladder. Father and Governor Kristos shook hands while Elidi showed Mother, Zadie, and me into the communal room. A large wooden table—a proper one, not fashioned out of driftwood like ours—was set with more than half a dozen dishes: fresh grapes in glistening piles; cubes of melon and sliced figs; delicate white fish sautéed in broth; bowls of olives in black, green, and purple. It was more food than I’d seen in years, and most of it from land. The governor must have spent a fortune on this meal.

I watched Governor Kristos slap Father affectionately on the back while Mother and Elidi embraced. “After all these years, we’re going to be brothers, Pax,” Kristos said in his deep, booming voice, one that seemed made for giving speeches.