“I’ll do my best to find a pansexual prince,” I deadpanned.
Olly told me to close my eyes, and I felt something cool mist my face. Then she and Eames stepped back.
“I give you…” Eames drew in an exaggerative breath. “A princess.”
“Do I get to see what I look like?” I asked.
“No,” all three said in unison.
Lithie handed me a black dress. “Get dressed first.”
The dress my sister had chosen was deceptively simple, with thick black straps and a straight neckline. So when she handed it over, I didn’t push back.
Then I slid it on.
Oh god, it was so much worse than I imagined.
It clung indecently. My breasts were almost spilling out. It barely reached my thighs.
“This is way too much,” I said, tugging at the hem, trying to stretch it farther down my thighs. “Also, it’s winter.”
“That’s what coats are for,” Olly supplied, unhelpfully.
Eames had tamed my normally unruly, frizzy curls into a soft, glossy bounce. For as much time as Olly had spent on my makeup, it was subtle. She’d made my brown eyes pop, my skin look flawless, and my lips extra pouty.
Lithie turned me around and grabbed my hands in hers, earnestly. “God put me on this earth to be an absolute menace to the male sex. That’s all I want for you.”
Yeah. There was a reason my mother named her Lilith, not me.
I arched a brow. “To be a menace?”
Lithie nodded solemnly, squeezing my hands ever so slightly.
“Not, like, true love or someone who treats me well?”
She dropped my hands, making a faux retching noise, fingers in her throat.
“Okay.” Olly clapped her hands. “Location?”
“Shared,” I said.
“If you go anywhere outside of the restaurant without letting us know,” Lithie continued. “Like, I don’t know, agraveyard, expect a heavy police presence.”
“Noted,” I said.
All three offered to drive and pick me up, but I insisted on a Lyft. I needed some space to integrate this new reality, as my mother would say.
I was going on a date.
As the car drove closer to downtown, nerves vined their way up my throat. Butterflies the size of beetles slammed in my gut, the vibration echoing in my chest.
Was this the worst idea in the world? What if he didn’t match his profile? What if hedid?
I was so in my head, I didn’t notice when the car came to a stop. The man eyed me in the rearview.
“Oh,” I said. “Sorry.”
White gold streetlights, jewel-red headlights, and overlapping sounds of downtown met me when I stepped out. Car exhaust froze in the winter air, leaving behind a mystical fog on the street. A massive iron-and-wood door marked the entrance to the restaurant. Above it, a similarly brushed metalsign hung, denoting the name. Through the windows, a throng of people waited around the hostess.
