At first, I pout and immediately decide to ignore the order to get ready for the party. I want no part of it. I don’t want to be glared at or threatened. I don’t want to watch Deandra dry hump Carrick on the dance floor. And I don’t want to spend time flirting with Pyke, which had seemed like a good idea earlier.
I’m tired, and I want to get this trip over with.
In the end, however, I know that Carrick won’t let me out of this duty and will expect me at his side. As such, I trudge off to the bathroom and take a hot bath, using the hair and skincare products I had found.
I don’t luxuriate long given my hour deadline, so after the bath, I wrap myself in the robe and stare at myself in the mirror. I contemplate the fact I don’t have any makeup to make myself at least look one-tenth as glamourous as the female fae are sure to be tonight. I’ve only got a pile of unruly hair and pretty eyes.
Oh, well. I’m not here to impress anyone.
At least that’s my philosophy as I walk back into the bedroom to check out the clothing that was left behind.
Three dresses, all different just on fabric alone.
One is a heavy satin with lavender and pink flowers, and I immediately discount it as it will clash with my hair.
One is black, and I don’t spare it much of a glance because I always wear black. It’s what goes best with my bright hair, with the exception of that beautiful champagne dress Carrick had bought me for the auction.
The third dress is a possibility, a shimmery bronze material that on its own could be considered dull being that bronze is essentially brown, but, with my hair, I could look like an autumn enchantress.
Snickering to myself, I decide to look at the styles before I make my final choice.
The bronze dress is Grecian styled with the fabric draping over one shoulder, fitted through the bodice, and flowing down to the ground. It has a belt made of large gold linked ovals, and there are slits up both sides that will bare my legs when I walk. It’s incredibly beautiful and something I would wear to an event in the Earth realm. I think it was possibly chosen for that very reason, so I would look like where I came from.
The black dress… well, I can’t quite figure it out. It doesn’t seem like a dress at all when I lift it but more like a bunch of stretchy velvet straps, some maybe three inches wide, some a bit wider, and one piece that’s about twelve inches wide. There’s also a long piece of black satin that has snaps on it, and I set that aside wondering if it’s a cape. I’m finally able to untangle the puzzle of velvety straps and smooth it out over the bed. I step back to study it.
“Oh, wow,” I murmur as I realize what I’m looking at.
It’s not a gown at all, but would essentially be a skintight black velvet dress with strips of material cut out of it, which would bare my skin. I can tell the strips would strategically cover my breasts, but not much, and the widest swatch of material is to cover my crotch and butt. It had full-length sleeves but there was more material missing than not, and I had this image that if I put it on, I’d look like I’d tangled with a gryffin, and my outfit got all sliced up.
The outfit is far too short, and I almost discount it, but then I glance at the black satin I’d set aside, thinking it was a cape. Turning the velvet mini dress over, I see three snaps at the rear portion above my butt, and I understand the satin is supposed to be a partial skirt that looks about wide enough to just go from the sides of my thighs all the way around the back, leaving the front fully open. While my backside would be protected from prying eyes, I would still have a lot of my breasts visible under the crisscross of velvet scraps of material, and the front of the skirt is so short there would be no sitting in chairs and crossing my legs without giving quite the peep show to all.
My eyes linger on the outfit a moment, then over to the bronze dress.
Back to the black one.
Bronze once more.
“Well, black really suits my hair the best,” I mutter as I pick the outfit up off the bed.
As I’m walking into the bathroom to put it on, I tell myself over and over again I didn’t choose this outfit to compete with Deandra in any way.
I most certainly didn’t choose it to catch Carrick’s eye.