The thought struck fast and hard. Ahead, a dense crowd had gathered, larger, louder, mixed with townsfolk and courtiers alike.
Maybe he was there.
Maybe she was too.
“Alright,” Lo caught my attention again. “We have, oh, ten minutes before Selena finishes her divine sermon and Kael is loosed upon the world.”
He scanned the shop for Jenna, who was now in the back rummaging through yet more colorful explosions, then glidedtoward her like he owned the place. The moment she saw him, she shrieked in delight and hurried forward, greeting him like a long-lost friend, kissing both his cheeks with great ceremony. Then they both came to me.
“So you are Loren’s friend, yes?” she said, her r’s rolling like pebbles down a hill. As she turned to me, her sharp eyes swept up and down, already taking my measure. “And you are also from Sud?”
I nodded to both. She switched languages for a moment, asking if I wasn’t weary of the cold and rain. I didn’t lie.
Then she returned to the Common Tongue. “Loren said you need a gown for tonight, something magical.” She circled me, humming her assessment. “Cara mia, you have the hips of a goddess. And your breasts! We must show more of that.”
I blushed. Hard. Even Gio had never spoken so boldly.
“What color?” she asked Lo, not me.
Please, not orange.
“Teal,” Lo declared, hand to heart as though delivering prophecy. “It’s her favorite.”
I couldn’t help smiling. He was right. Teal had always been my color, the one shade that felt like mine alone.
Jenna dove into a cascade of blue and green fabrics, muttering to herself until she emerged, triumphant, holding two gowns aloft. The first was a tight shift of thin satin and transparent mousseline, slit high at the side and scandalously low at the neckline, far too daring for someone accustomed to plain mage robes.
The second was a velvet gown with twin slits along the thighs and loose sleeves of white mousseline that rejoined at the wrists. That one called to me. I didn’t need to say it; Jenna already knew.
She led me to the farthest changing booth, a square enclosure of three wooden walls and a colorful curtain, a large mirror leaning against the frame. She drew the curtain closed behind me and said in our tongue that she’d be nearby if I needed help.
Lo’s voice came through the curtain. “I’ll dash to the main square, see if Selena’s finished dazzling the populace. You,my darling, stay right there. And when you’re done trying it on, don’t you dare take it off before I return. I want the grand reveal!”
And then his footsteps faded into the din of the market.
I studied myself in the mirror. I’d always considered myself average in terms of beauty, nothing worth a second glance, never the kind to stand out. That was why I favored dark, shapeless robes, clothes that erased me from sight. Unnoticeable. Safe.
But what Jenna had said had given me an extra flicker of confidence, just enough to make me pick that gown. Perhaps I wasn’t meant to disappear. Perhaps tonight, I would allow myself to be seen.
I undressed and slid the gown over my skin, the fabric cool, then warm as it settled. I loosened the thread in my hair and released the dark mane of curls that always tried to escape me. I fastened the mousseline sleeves at my wrists, the white fabric falling like pale half moons from my arms. Then I looked again.
What I saw in the mirror made my lips part.
That gown had beenmadefor me.
It hugged my hips perfectly, drew in my waist, and even the cleavage, daring by my standards, seemed to flatter rather than expose. The sleeves gave it that magical look Jenna had promised. I probably stood there for more than a minute, admiring myself.
When I began playing with my hair, trying to decide how to wear it, I heard footsteps return. Lo, surely.
I opened the curtain, eager to show him his creation.
“Should I wear my hair loose or like?—”
I froze, arms raised, fingers caught mid-motion in my hair.
It wasn’t Lo. And it wasn’t Jenna either.
It was Kael.
