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The crowd laughs too but the announcer freezes for a second. A tiny pause the same way the woman at the ribbon barrel did.

Then his smile returns. “McBride?”

“Yep.”

“Well, shit.”

Everyone laughs. He does too but his eyes move past me toward someone beside the stage.

I follow them.

An older woman stands near the bonfire with gray hair. A long cream dress. And she’s staring right at me.

The announcer recovers. “Looks like the Harvest has a sense of humor!”

The crowd cheers and I laugh.

But my attention stays on the woman. She lifts one hand and touches two fingers to her lips then to her chest then the ground. A gesture? Prayer? Blessing? I don’t know.

People around her start doing it too.

One. Then another and another.

My smile slips.

Okay. That’s fucking weird.

The announcer takes my wrist and raises my arm. The red ribbon catches the firelight and the crowd gets even louder. “TO THE BRIDE!”

Hundreds of cups rise “TO THE BRIDE!”

A chill crawls over my skin. Not bad… not exactly—just intense.

The announcer lowers the mic. “Drink.” He says gesturing toward the cup someone gave me.

I look at it.

Dark red.

“What’s in it?”

He smiles. “Tradition.”

I laugh. “That’s never a reassuring answer.”

The crowd chants again. “DRINK!”

Mariah is laughing near the front. Ali has her phone out. Rhett watches from behind them… but Ezra is pushing through the crowd… fast.

His face has changed. “Sage!”

I can’t hear him over everyone else. “What?”

He says something.

I lean forward. “What?”

The announcer lifts my cup and the crowd screams.