“No.” She smirked evilly. “You have a small chest, which is absolutely perfect for this style of dress. The material is so thin and tight that bra lines would ruin the effect. Plus—a little nipple is hot.”
“I agree with her,” Nyx said.
Now she wakes up.
“Uh no,” I sputtered, crossing my arms over my chest protectively. “It’s not the look for me.”
The free the nips (and lips) campaign was a mindset, not necessarily a reality.
Helen crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air. “You refusedto take the hair ties off your wrists or wear any of the heels. This is the least you can do—for women everywhere.”
That seemed slightly dramatic.
I pointed down at the gold ballet flats on myfeet. “Because my feet are bruised and my toes are covered in blisters. The heels hurt way too much.”
“Well,” Helen huffed. “Do yournippleshurt?”
“She has a point,” Nyx said as she slithered around my neck.
Dear God, it’s me again.
Before I could argue with a literal youthabout the sensitivity of my nipples (this was my personal hell), Helen picked up the lion costume and put it over my head.
Nyx hissed as the bottom of the muzzle hit her.Karma.
She slithered down my body, then coiled tightly around my ankle and calf. Thankfully, the dress flared enough around my lower body that it concealed her.
“Perfect,” Helen squealed. “I’m a genius. Everyone’s gonna loseit when they see you.” She clapped. “Cunt—absolute cunt, served.”
Excuse me? What did she just call me?
Youth culture was upsetting.
“Go, go, go.” She pulled an elephant mask over her head, adjusted the thin straps of her white gossamer gown, then pushed me out the door with surprising strength. “We’re gonna be late.”
We ran into my mentors in the hall. Apparently, we had a safari theme going on.
Patro was in a dark-blue suit with a boar headpiece. Achilles stood next to him in black, wearing a hyena mask.
They both went unnaturally still.
They stared at me for a long drawn out moment.
Helen clapped her hands, and the strange tension broke.
The men reached for us. “Domus,” Patro muttered.
BOOM.
The world contorted in darkness.
We leaped away.
I staggered and tried to catch my breath, smoke billowing.
We were in a grand ballroom, straight off the pages of a fairy tale. The walls were gilded with precious metals, and the floor waspolished black marble. Ionic colonnades, covered in ivy, wrapped around the perimeter of the room.
Holy crud.
