Chapter 31
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
Marigold
The waiting room is painfully quiet.
Beyond the closed double doors, I can hear the orchestra warming up beneath the steady hum of conversation.
Crystal glasses clink together somewhere inside the ballroom, followed by a burst of laughter that quickly fades beneath the tuning of violins.
Every note slips under the door and coils around the nervous flutter in my stomach.
I’ve smoothed my hands over my dress so many times the silk should probably be wrinkled by now.
But the Monarch didn’t skip on anything for tonight, especially not the fabric of my gown.
Gold silk hugs my waist before cascading to the floor, but it’s the back of the gown that still leaves me speechless.
Hundreds of shimmering feathers spill outward behind me in sweeping arcs, forming enormous wings that brush the floor whenever I move. It’s breathtaking.
I’m a phoenix, risen from the ashes. Incomparable. Strong.
At first, I’d thought the dress was overdramatic, a bit over the top, but now, standing here with my heart beating fast, I realize she was right.
One of the Monarch’s Delta servants quietly fluffs one of the wings.
“You look beautiful, Miss Gardener,” she says.
I smile. “Thank you.”
Beautiful is exactly how I feel, much more than anything I’d worn for the events this Season. Maybe it’s because I know what today means and what waits for me past those doors.
I haven’t seen Reece since we arrived at the estate. During our meeting with Sophine three days ago, she had insisted we prepare separately and enter from opposite sides of the ballroom. And when I had asked why, she’d only smiled and said, “Trust me.”
That answer somehow made me even more nervous. Reece has always been an anchor for me, and with him not here, I’m lost.
Unable to help myself, I peek through the narrow opening in the door.
The Council Estate’s ballroom is breathtaking. I’ve been here before, during my sisters’ Season events, but the Monarch really outdid herself this time with the decorations.
Towering marble columns stretch toward a ceiling painted with clouds and soaring birds, while crystal chandeliers scatter golden light over polished floors that gleam like mirrors.
The walls are draped in ivory and gold silk, enormous arrangements of white flowers spilling from gilded urns.
Every important family in Sabine seems to have gathered beneath those chandeliers.
Council members mingle beside distinguished families and newer ones from Midtown and the Lower Side, while servants move gracefully between them carrying silver trays of champagne.
Tonight isn’t just another Season ball.
Tonight, history will be made.
Movement near the orchestra catches my eye.
Sophine enters the ballroom dressed in ivory embroidered with delicate gold thread, a thin crown of sculpted branches weaved throughout her silver hair.
The room instinctively quiets as she walks to the front without rushing, every step carrying the confidence of someone who has never once questioned whether she’s belonged.
She reaches her place before the orchestra, then looks directly toward my doorway.
Behind her, the conductor raises his baton and the first notes bloom through the ballroom.
As the servant beside me grabs the door’s handle, I shift to give her space. “It’s time,” she whispers.
Another Delta servant grabs the other door, and together, they them open wide.
Light floods the room, and every conversation dies at once. Hundreds of eyes turn toward me. And for one heart stilling moment, I can’t move. I’m completely frozen in place.
You’d think being Luxe this Season would’ve prepared me for this—all the attention and the murmurs—but this…this is different.
I think of Reece.
I think of rain falling outside Pen’s estate. Of how I’d draw while he worked on something at his workbench in our shed. Of every stolen dance, every secret kiss, every impossible choice that somehow led us here.
It gives me the courage I need to take my first step.
The crowd parts as the orchestra swells, strings rising into a triumphant melody that echoes through the massive ballroom. Gold feathers trail behind me like living limbs, brushing softly over the floor.
Whispers ripple through the guests.
“That’s the Gardener girl. The Luxe.”
“What is going on?” someone else says as they push for a closer look.
“The Queen Bee hasn’t mention anything about this, did she?”
I barely hear them because halfway across the ballroom, another set of doors opens.
Reece steps into the ballroom and my breath catches.
He’s dressed entirely in gold, his tuxedo perfectly tailored, the embroidery catching the chandelier light with every step, and seeing him this dressed up has my mind flashes back to the Ackerman ball when he was the Alpha in White.
Except this is infinitely better because he isn’t wearing a mask, or padding. It’s simply him—messy black hair falling over his eyes, glasses, quirky half-smile and all.
His eyes fine mine in an instant, and that slight lift of his lips spread into a full grin.
Someone in the crowd whispers, “It’s him. The Alpha in White.”
Another guest quietly corrects them. “No. It can’t be.”
“It is him. It is!”
My heart swells as the music fades into the background. The whispers become nothing more than distant hums. There is only Reece walking toward me from the opposite side of the room, every step bringing us closer after months spent trying to convince ourselves we should stay apart.
When we finally meet before the orchestra, his fingers slip into mine. They’re trembling slightly.
Mine are too.
The Monarch steps forward, and the music gently fades until silence settles over the ballroom.
“For generations,” she begins, her voice carrying through the hall, “Sabine has honored tradition. We have built our society upon customs intended to preserve order, family, and stability.”
She lets her gaze travel slowly across the assembled guests. “But leadership is not merely the preservation of yesterday. It is the courage to decide what tomorrow should become.”
A building murmur moves through the room, but Sophine smiles and goes on.
“Miss Marigold Gardener and Mr. Reece Calder came before me asking for something no one has ever requested before. They’ve asked me to recognize a mate bond that tradition says should not exist. They’ve asked me to judge not by status, denomination, or expectation, but by devotion.”
The whispers grow louder, assailing us from all sides.
“A Delta and an Omega?”
“A mating ceremony? Here, now? Are they serious?”
“It’s impossible!”
“The QB is going to lose her mind when she hears about this!”
“This will change everything...”
“It will change everything,” Sophine says, somehow silencing the conversations without raising her voice.
“Because after hearing these two young people out, after seeing the lengths they have gone for one another, I reached a simple conclusion.” She smiles down at us.
“Love has never cared about the rules we write for it.”
Emotion rises up inside me, and I have to blink away tears. I glance toward the crowd, and when I see my family near the front of the onlookers, holding the tears at bay is useless. They free flow down my cheeks.
Pen comforts Mom, who is already crying.
Rue holds up her phone to record the entire thing.
Dahlia stands beside Tristen, the fresh mark on her neck proudly on display, despite her modest neckline.
Violet leans comfortably against Stephan while Alder sleeps, quiet and peaceful, on his father’s shoulder.
Iris grins between Killian and Xavier, with little Emmie bouncing on her toes for a better look.
Then my eyes find Heath.
Of everyone, he was the one I’d feared would never truly accept this situation. But, when our gazes meet, he dips his head and smiles. A knot I hadn’t realized I carried slowly unwinds in my chest.
Even Derrick is there, dressed in a black suit, and looking like he ate something incredibly bitter. Good.
“Miss Gardener. Mr. Calder.” Sophine gestures for Reece and me to face each other. “Most mating ceremonies between Alphas and Omegas are sealed with a mark. But tonight, you will seal your bond with a kiss.”
She inclines her head. “You may kiss your mate.”
Reece cups my face so gently it makes my eyes sting all over again. When his lips meet mine, every fear I’ve carried throughout this Season quietly falls away. There are no masks between us now. No lies. No impossible dreams. Just the two of us, standing before all of Sabine exactly as we are.
I’ve never been happier in my entire life.
“I love you, Mari,” Reece whispers so only I can hear. His thumb wipes the wetness from my cheeks.
“I love you, too. More than anything.”
Reece is my mate… I can’t believe it. He’s mine. Officially.
When we part, applause crashes through the ballroom. Guests rise to their feet, and their cheers echo against the towering ceiling as crystal glasses lift into the air in toast.
“To the beginning of a new era for Sabine!” Sophine calls over the roar of the crowd.
“To a new era!” the ballroom answers as one as a new sense of hope for the future washes through the room. And when I look out over the sea of faces filling the ballroom and wonder how many lives will be different because of this night.
Because of us.
Because of our love.
Reece’s hand tightens around mine, grounding me in the middle of it all.
For generations, Sabine has been a place where its people were only meant to fit inside a specific frame.
But tonight, it’s finally making room for a new picture.