She meant that I could stop ruining hers. Nyfain wasn’t kind on panties.
“They’re excited to unveil their work for you,” she added, her words sending a shock through me.
“I’m just a commoner from a poor village.”
“Every great person started somewhere, milady. Just because you grew up common doesn’t mean you need to dress common. You’ll be going onto the battlefield soon—the social battlefield—and you’ll need your armor.”
We first visited Eliza, the good-natured seamstress who smiled and cooed about all the wonderful working attire she’d made. There was not a single dress in sight. Instead, she’d made formfitting trousers with a little stretch to them and blouses that cinched at the waist but gave ample room around my bosom. They fit like a dream, and I could move with ease in them.
I absolutely loved them all! They were feminine while still being tough, pretty but usable and durable. The material was as fine as I’d ever seen, soft and supple on my skin, and decorated with lovely, flattering designs—flowers along the sleeves, vines twining along the seam. The binding around my breasts was tight but still flattering, and a sort of wire had been sewn in so I had two boobs and not one flattened uni-boob across my chest.
Hadriel and Leala both agreed that Eliza had outdone herself, and she’d better keep a very low profile for a while or her expertise might get her noticed by the demons and killed.
While we were on the way to the seamster, something occurred to me.
“That tower used to be Nyfain’s retreat, right?” I said, noticing the light starting to dim through the arched windows overlooking the grounds. Hadriel and Leala nodded. “Well, whose dresses were those, then? They were too small in the waist and shoulder to be something Nyfain played dress-up in.”
Hadriel and Leala exchanged a look, and I got a weird pang in my chest.
“Spill it,” I said.
“Those were his ex-fiancée’s dresses,” Leala said. “He had the dresses made to her measurements because he was planning to bring her home to meet the king and queen. He wanted to surprise her, I guess. But the queen died before the trip, and so he had to rush home for the funeral. The fiancée—”
“Ex-fiancée,” Hadriel corrected her.
“Right, the ex-fiancée was supposed to follow, but then…the curse.”
The breath went out of me. It felt like a horse had kicked me in the sternum and I should be walking crooked like Gyril. I’d known Nyfain had wanted to marry for love. I’d conveniently forgotten about his probably having a fiancée before the curse.
My eyes stung with unshed tears. I blinked profusely to keep them at bay. “I guess that makes sense.”
“What’s that, milady?” Leala asked softly.
I shook my head. I didn’t really want to talk about it, although that didn’t keep my brain from thinking about it.
Of course he didn’t want to have sex with me. He was already promised to another. A non-shifter, which was why his dragon was leaning my way. But Nyfain’s heart was probably still with her, and I was playing hell on his self-control because he’d been abstinent for sixteen years.
I felt like such an asshole. I’d been goading him on. Our animals had done the same. We’d been preying on a guy who was clearly losing hope. All that “I’ll ruin you” stuff made so much more sense now. Goddess forbid I fall for him, only for him to rip my heart out by leaving me for another woman the moment the curse ended (if it ended). That would kill me. I knew we couldn’t be together in the long term—he was a prince—but I didn’t want to see him move on so soon. That had already happened with my ex, and it wasn’t fun.
“This situation is so fucked up,” I said, lost to my thoughts as we entered the chaos of the seamster’s workroom.
“Well, it is about time you showed up,” Cecil said. His apron hung down his front, not tied, smeared with various stains and stuck through with needles. How he got stains from working with fabric, I did not know. “I have been waiting for you for ages.”
He stepped to the side, blocking me from walking past him.
“Uh-oh, you’re sad. No, this will not work for my designs. Get happy, immediately.”
“You can’t tell a woman to just change her emotions in a moment.” Leala took my arm. Gently she said, “Come on, milady. And don’t fret about the master. He’s never mentioned her since the curse. Not once.”
“Who?” Cecil put his closed fist on his hip, the measuring tape sticking out on either side. “Who has done this to her?”
“It’s fine.” I waved them away. “I just didn’t know they’d been engaged, that’s all.”
“Finley, love, no.” Hadriel rubbed my back, stepping in the way of an inquisitive Cecil. “It was nothing. Truly.”