“It occurred to me you’d been wearing the same two dresses for a week now. The men were beginning to complain about the smell. Balandria was nice enough to offer one of her dresses.”
She didn’t know what to smart off about first.
“Okay, first, I do not smell. Second, if I do smell, it is because you have not offered to allow me to wash my clothes. And third, I’m surprised Balandria had a dress to offer. What could she have to do that would require one?”
Draven smiled the snarky smile that she had come to know all too well in the last week. “Perhaps you should take a closer look at that dress and you’ll figure it out.”
She frowned and held it up again. And her mouth almost dropped at the sight of it. It was lace—sheer lace— and was of a slim fitting nature with long sleeves and such a high slit that Aydra was sure her privates would have shown.
“You cannot be—Venari!”
Draven’s low chuckle vibrated the air as he backed out of the room. “I would have thought it to suit you after the dress you wore at banquet,” he mused with a wink. “Make sure you wear that to breakfast.”
“Venari! You—Draven!Come back here!”
She cursed the day as she glared at the dress in her hands once more.
“Fine, Venari,” she muttered. “I’ll play your games.”
“My Queen—”
The sound of Lex’s voice coming up the stairs calmed Aydra’s nerves. Lex bounded into the room, wide eyed.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Aydra said at the sight of her Second. “I thought my sister had been stupid enough to come on her own.”
“I tried to stop her,” Lex said as she crossed the room and hugged her. “How are you? Are you okay? You—” her face furled in disgust and she took a step back “Ugh.Sweet Arbina.Has he not let you bathe since your being here?” Lex held her hand up to her nose. “And look at the state of your hair—” She began quickly looking around the room then for the wash.
“Haven’t exactly been able to help myself to the bath,” Aydra admitted.
“You would think the Venari would be able to contain himself long enough to help you at least get to it. How long?”
“Only a few days…”
Lex raised an expectant brow.
“Okay, so I’ve just been bird bathing since I arrived,” Aydra finally admitted.
“Disgusting. If this is how he treats wounded guests, he and I will have to have a chat.” Lex found the bath behind a door and began drawing the water from the pump tap. “Come on. You can’t go down to breakfast like that.”
Aydra held up the lace dress Draven had given her. Lex’s brows furrowed.
“What the Infi is that?” she asked.
“It’s what he expects me to wear to breakfast,” Aydra answered. “Said it was the only dress Balandria had.”
Lex took it from her hands and then looked around the room. Her eyes fell on the black sheets on the bed, and a small smile grew on her face. “We can work with this.”
When Aydra and Lex made down the rope a half hour later for breakfast, she was met with staring gazes from the other Hunters in the clearing. Raised brows followed her hobbling figure, until finally she reached Draven standing a few yards away, his back turned to her.
Balandria was the first to notice her of the pair. Her brow raised and she smirked.
“Hm… Looks like someone’s not playing your game,” she mused, grinning at Draven.
Draven turned, and both his brows raised as he gave her a full once over.
They’d taken his black bedsheets off and fashioned it into strips, making Aydra a sheeted bodysuit that stretched from her crotch over her left shoulder, and then wrapped around the rest of her hips and torso. She had taken the lace dress he’d given her and merely pulled it around her hips, ripping the top part and then tying the sleeves behind her, fashioning her signature waist cape that she favored so much.
“Are those my sheets?” he asked upon seeing her.
