Becoming Calder (A Sign of Love Novel)(8)

Everything was utterly still.
Suddenly, a breeze blew in, bringing with it swirling dried leaves that danced down the aisle and came to rest on the floor. At the same time, the wind chimes that hung in front of the Temple started tinkling as if, until that very moment, the entire world had been holding its breath. I craned my neck to see what everyone was looking at and that's when I saw her—a little girl, even smaller than Maya, walking slowly down the aisle, a look of terror on her face. My eyes widened as I took her in. She was wearing a white, lace dress—like a tiny bride—and her pale blonde hair fell over her shoulders and down her back. And her face . . . I felt my heart lurch in my chest at the beauty of that small face. Her lips were full and pink, and I could see they were quivering slightly as her eyes darted around. Suddenly, they fell on me and my breath hitched as our gazes met and held, her blinking and me staring. I couldn't see the color of her eyes from where I was standing, but something in them held me captive. And then she looked away and the spell was broken. I let out a big exhale of breath as she moved farther down the aisle, and I could only see her small back.
Some strange instinct told me to run after her and take her hand. I suddenly realized I was still holding Maya's and my grip had tightened so much she was glaring at me. I loosened it and smiled apologetically at her and then looked back at the girl who now stood next to Hector at the podium.
"My beloveds," Hector said, beaming at us and raising his arms again. "Today is a magnificent day. Today is a day filled with the glory of the gods." He looked around at each of us again. "Today is the day you all meet Eden." He put his hands on the small shoulders of the girl next to him and moved behind her.
I frowned in confusion and looked up and back at my dad and then over at my mom's faces and they both had matching looks of pure pleasantness. I mimicked their small, accepting smiles and turned back around to where Hector and the little girl, the blessed one, Eden, stood. Evidently, I was the only one in my family thinking this was an interesting turn of events.
Hector continued, "I know you're probably surprised to see your mother is so small, so young. As was I when I first laid my eyes upon her and saw she had the mark." He turned Eden, who was looking around the Temple with wide eyes, and directed her to a chair in the center of the council’s seating arrangement. She sat down primly, her hands clasped in her lap—perhaps shaking slightly, although it was hard to see from where I was standing—her lace dress pooling on the floor.
When Hector turned back to us and began speaking again, I moved my eyes away from Eden with effort. Hector moved back behind his podium, looking thoughtful. "The ways of the gods are not always clear to us—are not always predictable, or easily understood. And yet, the gods always know best, do they not?"
"Yes, Father," we said in unison.
Hector nodded and leaned forward casually, resting his forearms on the podium and lacing his fingers together. "Yes, the gods always know best, and the gods always provide. And so the day I saw Eden and recognized the mark on her shoulder that foretold the identity of the blessed one—my perfect balance and harmony—I went back to the home where I was staying and prayed to the gods. How could this be? How could the blessed one, my bride, my wife, the one to lead us into Elysium, how could she be nothing more than a child? My beloveds, I had the same questions I'm sure you have as well."
Hector raised his arms slightly and banged them back down on the podium, startling us. Raising his voice he continued, "That night I prayed to the gods. Please guide me! Don't let me let my people down! My beloveds, they're the reason for my very existence!" He dropped his head slightly, looking wracked with emotion. When he brought his head back up, his eyes were shining.
"I cried and prayed all night long. And finally . . . finally in the early hours of dawn, the gods spoke to me in a whisper." Hector looked around the room and I held my breath, waiting to hear what the gods had said to him. It had to be good.
"‘She is the one,’ they said. ‘Her name is Eden, and she is the one.’"
He paused and looked around again and then turned and held out one arm to Eden, as if presenting her one more time before turning back to us.
"And so she has come to live with us, a child who before was an orphan, alone in the world. And when she reaches her eighteenth year, she will become my beloved, my one and only bride. And as the foretelling has said, we will live together as man and wife for two months and six days before the mighty flood comes and destroys the earth and all the people and animals, and we, the blessed people of the gods, will be escorted to the glorious fields of Elysium where there is no more pain, no more struggles, and never, never any tears."