I wasn’t the only one who had shed her usual low-key look for the ren faire. Bria Coolidge, my baby sister, might be a tough-as-nails police detective, but right now, she resembled a Southern belle princess crossed with a glittering disco ball.
Jo-Jo had also done Bria’s makeup, and she’d given my sistera soft, dreamy look, with pink shadow and silver liner that brought out her blue eyes. A matching pink gloss covered Bria’s lips, and her blond hair had been set into loose waves. My sister was lovely as always, although I couldn’t say the same thing about her dress.
“That is really... pink.” That was the least offensive adjective that came to mind.
Bria glowered at me. “I know. I look likean oversize flamingo. Withruffles. Andsequins.”
I grinned back at her, not even trying to hide my amusement. Owen’s lips twitched up into a smile as well, and Finn let out a loud snicker that had Bria planting her hands on her hips and turning her hot glower to him.
Finn’s laughter abruptly cut off, and he went over and put his arm around her waist, drawing her close. “Well, I think you looksmashing no matter what you wear,” he said, trying to be diplomatic, since he was her significant other. “Besides, I’ve always had this court jester and princess fantasy...” He let his voice trail off and suggestively waggled his eyebrows.
Bria crinkled her nose. “Ewww.”
But Finn was not deterred. He never was. He bent down and whispered something in her ear that made Bria’s glower melt intoa speculative look.
“Later,” she murmured.
Finn kissed her cheek. Bria smiled, then reached up and flicked one of the bells on his jester’s hat, making itting-ting-tingout a merry tune.
Jo-Jo took a sip of her chicory coffee to hide her own smile. “I’m sorry, darling, but that was the only princess dress I could find on such short notice. There weren’t many costumes to choose from, whichis why your outfits don’t exactly match the Renaissance period.”
“It could be worse.” I pointed at my own hideous shirt. “You could be wearing feathers, like me.”
“At least you get to hide in the Pork Pit truck most of the day.” Bria sighed and picked at one of the sequins on her poofy skirt. “I have to walk around and let people take pictures of me in this thing. Pictures that will be onlineforever. Xavier is never going to let me live this down.”
Xavier was Bria’s partner on the force and another one of our friends, although he was missing the faire. Lucky, lucky man.
Finn held up his hands. “Hey, it wasn’t my idea to pimp us out and make us actually work at the faire. That was all Grayson’s genius plan.”
“As I’ve told you many, many times now, the Ashland Renaissance Playersdonate part of the proceeds from their ticket and concession sales to food banks, homeless shelters, and other charities,” Owen said. “Darrell, one of the guys in my office, is really into the whole ren-faire scene. When I told him about the tickets I’d won, he said that the Renaissance Players were having trouble finding volunteers. So I thought we could help out.”
I put my arm around his waist.“And that’s one of the reasons I love you.”
He grinned back and pulled me closer. “Don’t worry. We’re only volunteering for a couple of hours. We’ll still have plenty of time to walk around and enjoy the faire.”
“Volunteer?” Finn shuddered, as though the word was some awful curse. “Don’t you know that I only play the part of the fool for money?”
“And here I thought you did it for free everysingle day,” I drawled.
Finn rolled his eyes at my teasing, then turned back to the mirror and checked the bells on his jester’s hat again, making sure they were perfectly draped in place.
“We need to get going,” a low, eerie voice rasped. “Gotta get the truck set up.”
More footsteps sounded, and another woman entered the salon. Sophia Deveraux was a dwarf like her sister, Jo-Jo, although shewas much younger, with a thicker, stronger, more muscled body. Sophia was wearing a ruffled white silk shirt patterned with tiny grinning black skulls, along with black leather pants. The tops of her knee-high black leather boots were turned down, revealing the soft white interior, which was also patterned with black skulls. A large black crystal skull pendant with royal-blue heart-shaped eyeshung from her neck, while a silver cutlass dangled from her black leather belt, along with a small old-fashioned spyglass.
A white bandanna patterned with small black skulls covered her head, and the ends of her black hair had been dyed a bright blue and dusted with matching glitter. Smoky shadow rimmed Sophia’s black eyes, and her lips were the same royal blue as mine.
Sophia had kicked herusual Goth style up several notches for the ren faire. The rest of us might look like we were playing dress-up, but not her. Sophia totally owned that outfit from top to bottom.
I let out a low, appreciative whistle. “Now,thatis what a badass Goth dwarf pirate queen assassin is supposed to look like.”
Sophia winked at me, then grabbed the cutlass off her belt and brandished it high in theair, as though she was calling her rowdy pirate crew to order.
“Yargh!” she cried out, shepherding us out of the salon. “To the faire!”
