#6: Love At Last!

"You ask why there has been no formal announcement concerning a coronation. I think this question is better addressed to the person most concerned, but I do know this: Nothing will be announced until the sculptors have finished refashioning a goldenwood throne for a queen"(Sherwood 402). This letter is from Meliara's unknown and when I read this I nearly jumped off my bed with joy for I know it is from Shevraeth! Oh and his name is not Shevraeth but Vidanric. (Sexy.) But another courtier is in the picture, Elenet, who has been a childhood friend and still good friend to Vidanric. Mel, naturally, thinks her unknown means Elenet. Jealousy takes over her immensly but she does not understand why. (I do!) Vidanric and Mel get a chance to dance at Nee and Bran's last ball before they get married. Mel steals many glances at Vidanric throughout the dance and notices that Vidanric does not dance with Elenet for the whole evening. In some odd way that comforts Mel. (I know why it comforts her!) Mel admits, "No matter how my emotions veered during those social occasions, it was comforting to realize that I would return to my room and find a letter from the person whose opinions and thoughts I had come to value most"(395).
BUT the night of the ball, the Merindars make an attempt to steal the crown. There will be another war. Mel finds out from Azmus that the Merindars plan to attack the Hill Folk, a special "tribe" that lives in the woods and who practice magic. Mel rides out that night to try and stop the warriors but discovers another rider riding the same way. She meets up with this mysterious rider in an inn and finds it to be Vidanric. Vidanric and her discuss the plan and who to attack but then he pulls off his gloves and... BEHOLD he's wearing the ring she sent to her unknown! Vidanric is her unknown! Remember that wager they made in the beginning of the book? Well Mel finally pays off her debt in a sensational kiss! Vidanric admits, "I think I fell in love with you the day you stood before Galdran in the Throne Room, surrounded by what you thought were enemies, and glared at him without a trace of fear. I knew it when you sat across from me at your table in Tlanth and argued so passionately about the fairest way to disperse an army, with no other motive besides testing your theories"(442).