“Oh,” she sighs, and I feel a tinge of guilt. She was just trying to be nice, and I could probably use a friend around here. It’s just that I don’t like to get close to people. I was always moving homes and then everyone I ever knew died during the Last War. The idea of having someone to call a friend has been long forgotten over the years. “Well, maybe we can just start with acquaintances,” she adds with a hopeful smile.
“Sure,” I offer with a half-smile she seems to gladly accept.
“Okay, so which of these do you like best?” She motions to the four dresses sprawled out on the bed.
“The black one,” I say without any thought.
“Really? But it’s so…”
“Black?”
“Well… yeah.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want to giveAlphathe wrong idea of me.”
She giggles and starts unzipping it. “You’re feisty,” she says, looking at me with a sparkle in her big brown eyes. “I like it!”
“Yeah, well, you’re the only one.” I take the dress from her and make my way to the bathroom to get changed.
When I come back out, she helps me zip the back the rest of the way. The dress is made of a thick black lace that hugs my body until it flares slightly at my knees. There are no sleeves, and the lace crawls all the way around my throat. It would be beautiful if it wasn’t ruined by the metal collar still latched around my neck.
“Bellissima!” she says, looking me over. “I wasn’t sure about this one, but you make it look good!” Her eyes stop on the collar, and she sucks her teeth. “It would look so much better without this stupid thing.” She shakes her head and begins shuffling through a small bag. “Here, maybe these will help.” She holds out a couple of silver cuff bracelets and slips them onto my wrists. “At least this way, it’ll look like it’s part of the outfit.” She starts sifting through the backpack. “How are you with heels?”
“How do you think?”
She looks up at me and grins. “Three inches it is!”
She motions for me to take a seat on the edge of the bed and proceeds to fasten the silver heels around my ankles. When she’s done, I stand up and take a lap around the room. The dress still touches the ground, but not enough to trip over when I walk. As for the heels, they’re uncomfortable but manageable.
“Thank you, Sienna. You’ve made this part of the evening almost enjoyable.”
She beams at my words like they mean the world to her, and it makes me wonder if she’s often overlooked by the others.
“Of course! I’m not sure what the night holds for you, but at least you’ll look good.” She picks up the dresses from the floor and adds them to the others on the bed. “Do you need help with your hair?”
“Oh, I was just going to leave it down,” I reply, running my fingers through the soft ends.
She tilts her chin down, waving her hands around. “No, no, no. A high neckline like that calls for an updo.” She drags me into the bathroom and immediately gets to work. By the end, she’s pulled it into some sort of twist, leaving two long pieces to fall around my face. “I wish my hair had a slightly natural curl like yours.” She strokes her straight chocolate-brown hair with her hands before tossing it all behind her shoulders.
“Ahem.”
The two of us peer around the bathroom doorway to see Kieran waiting not so patiently for us to finish up.
“She’s ready, she’s ready,” Sienna tells him as if he had been rushing her. She turns to me and adds, “Vampires,” with a roll of her eyes.
“You’re just jealous, wolf.”
“You’re sooo right,” she agrees sarcastically. “I only wish I had sickly pale skin and two razor-sharp teeth instead of a mouthful.”
He scoffs, and she tosses me a wink that makes me like her a little more. Maybe she has a bit of feistiness to her too. While she finishes grabbing her things, Kieran escorts me down the stairs. Thankfully, he doesn’t grab onto me this time, and I’m able to cling to the railing for support as I carefully avoid falling to my death.
“This way,” he orders when we make it to the first floor.
“We’re not going to the dining room?”
“Not tonight,” he answers with a mischievous look that raises the hairs on the back of my neck.
We stop in front of another set of double doors, where a symphony of conversations is coming from the other side. Sienna told me the leaders of the other territories would behere for meetings, and I’d bet money they’re just on the other side of these doors. A pit begins to form in the depths of my stomach, but I do my best to ignore it. Feeding into the fear will only make things worse.
