Page 115 of Dark Destiny: The Turning Of The Loom

"You need to do that soon," Angelica said. "I need to weave the updo around the tiara to hold it in place."

"I like this one," Wonder said, holding up a circlet of plain gold no wider than a finger. "It's simple but elegant."

"Show me." Annani extended a hand, doing her best not to move her head and disturb Angelica's work.

Wonder handed it over. It was very old, older than most things in the box, a band of hammered gold with a single ruby at the front, cut in a way no one had cut stones for three thousand years.

"I do not remember who gave me this one," Annani said.

"You don't?" Angelica huffed out a breath. "I would have remembered someone giving me a ruby this size."

"I have been given a great many things by a great many men. I remember the men. I do not always remember which trinket came from whom."

"A king of the Franks." Wonder's mouth twitched. "You told me that he had given you many gifts."

"That he did." Annani turned the circlet in her hands. It weighed nothing. She could have worn it all day and forgotten it was there. She handed it back to Wonder. "I said I would put it to a vote, so let us see the rest and then vote."

"I am going to put them on the coffee table." Syssi looked at Frankie. "Try not to get any nail polish on the diamonds."

Ronja came over from the buffet with two plates and handed one to Annani. "You need to eat something. You haven't eaten since breakfast."

"I am nervous," Annani admitted.

"You're the Clan Mother. You don't get nervous."

"Today, I am not the Clan Mother. Today, I am Annani, marrying my sweet Khiann, and I am allowed to be whatever I want to be."

"That's right," Amanda said, lifting her margarita glass.

"Have you written your vows?" Syssi asked.

Annani looked down at her. "Of course not. I never do. The words just come when I need them. When I preside over a couple's joining, I look at them and know what should be said. If I wrote it down beforehand, I would say what I wrote instead of what I saw, and it would not be as good."

"But this time the two people are you and Khiann," Syssi said.

Annani smiled. "Then I will look at the love of my life, and I will know."

"I envy that," Syssi said. "It's a gift, Annani."

"Okay, people." Wonder clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "We have eight tiaras on display, each marked with a sticky note bearing its number. Let's vote. Who thinks number one is the prettiest?"

A few hands came up. Syssi counted them and recorded the number on her tablet.

"Tiara number two," Wonder announced.

The voting continued, and in the end it came down to two tiaras that tied. One was the simple circlet that Wonder favored, and the other was a diamond-encrusted tiara in white gold that Amanda was adamant about Annani wearing.

"It's gorgeous," she said. "The circlet is cute, but it will disappear in your hair. No one will see it."

"Amanda is right," Morelle said. "I like the sparkling diamonds, too."

The white gold matched the rings Khiann had commissioned. It also matched the dress better.

"The diamonds," Annani said, then smiled apologetically at Wonder. "I am sorry I did not choose the one you like."

"It does not matter what I like," Wonder said, closing the lids on the other tiaras. "It only matters what you like. This is your day."

"Bring it here," Angelica commanded. "I need to secure it to the hair."