If you want to share my author experience and don't mind music playing while you read, try playing "Part that's Holding On" by RED while reading this chapter and the next couple following…
*****
AYLETH
She wasn't sure she breathed for several minutes.
The first minute, she didn't trust her body to move without shattering.
The second, all the couples that had been announced—happily or otherwise—rose from their seats, along with their parents, to meet in the center of the tables to shake hands and be seen to be publicly aligned. There were several couples, and so the crowd of people blocked any hope for a discreet escape for someone like Ayleth, trapped within the U of the table.
For the third minute, Ayleth slowly, carefully, cautious that her skin might shatter like glass, turned in her seat to stare at her plate so she didn't have to watch Etan bow over the hand of the Lady Playn.
