Midnight Beauties (Grim Lovelies 2)
“No one asked me, but I’m in too,” Viggo interjected.
“Anouk?” Beau asked softly. “I’m in only if you are.”
She hugged her arms around her chest. “If we’re going to do it, we do it tomorrow after the wedding and coronation. As soon as the Royals swear fealty to the Nochte Pax. That way, even if we fail, the Royals still stand a chance of protecting the rest of Europe.”
Beau’s face had gone dark at mention of the wedding. Anouk placed a hand on his cheek and smoothed out his worried wrinkles with her thumb. “I told you,” she said quietly. “It’s only a marriage in name. After we stop the Coven, I don’t have to be faithful to him. You and I will be together.”
“I’m not sure your fiancé knows that,” he grumbled, sliding a look at Rennar.
“Speaking of fiancé,” Rennar interjected. He sauntered over and took one of Anouk’s hands. “If you haven’t forgotten, we have a wedding to prepare for. Our own.” He glanced at the clock. “It’ll be daylight in an hour and you’re in desperate need of a bath. You can’t show up at your own wedding with ink stains on your fingers and crumbs on your chin.”
She wiped at her mouth guiltily, then turned back to Beau. “The wedding will be over in a day, we’ll have the support of the Royals, and then you and I will stuff our faces with fistfuls of that cake, okay?”
Beau still looked glum. “Before rushing to our dark fates?”
“Yes, before that.”
She placed a soft kiss on his cheek. He reluctantly smiled.
The clock chimed six. Rennar tugged Anouk toward the door, calling for the servants. December and the Goblin beauty squad swept into the room and tugged her out by wrist and skirt, scrubbing cloths over her sticky fingers. She sniffed her armpits surreptitiously. She sighed and gave in.
Even if this wedding was a sham, Rennar was right—?a bath first wouldn’t hurt.
Chapter 26
As soon as December and the other Goblins got her to the penthouse salons, they gave her a bath, and then they began to work their magic. Pulling combs through her hair, casting whispers to smooth out the tangles, then styling it into a chignon bow at her nape. They swallowed June bugs and spat out tricks to erase the odd pimple here and there and bring a permanent blush to her cheeks. It took four of them to lower the wedding gown over her head, and when Anouk looked in the mirror, she was surprised to see that the downy feathers covering the train had multiplied yet again so that the wing effect was exaggerated; she looked like she was about to take flight. She tapped at her reflection in the mirror, almost expecting it to move independently of her.
“Stop looking so surprised,” December said. “We can make the ugliest duckling look like a swan. Er, of course, you were a nice-looking duck to begin with. Pretty, even. For a duck.” She grabbed Anouk’s arm in an attempt to change the subject. “Are you sure you don’t want me to ink some tentacles on your arms?”
“No, thanks. Really.”
“I could use pink ink. It would fit the color scheme.”
“This is fine as it is.”
“Just one little tentacle?”
Anouk shook her head. The Goblins exchanged looks. “Boring,” one of them whispered.
But Anouk smiled at her reflection. She was going to be a princess. From owl to girl to princess. Not many people could claim to have achieved so much. The only person who’d risen equally high was Rennar. Spell-scribe to prince. Now they were going to prove that those who started from h
umble beginnings were capable of great things. The greatest of all? Turning over their power and putting it back into the hands of the people.
A knock came at the door.
December opened it for Beau, who had also bathed and was dressed for the occasion in a black suit. He took one look at Anouk and swallowed, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He started to loosen his tie. “Are you sure you don’t want to run off together? We could go back to the Black Forest. Find that castle full of candy and grow fat together.”
She lifted the heavy train of the dress and waded over to him in a pool of feathers and silk. She placed a hand on his cheek. “First we save the world. Then candy.”
His soft eyes practically consumed her whole. “What about a kiss? When does that come in?”
She grinned. “Right now.”
She touched her lips to his. He smelled like fresh soap, and his skin was smooth and clean. He slid his hand around her back, crushing the feathers, and December gasped in horror and slapped his hand away.
“You beast!” December cried. “No touching the dress!”
His mouth curled into a grin over Anouk’s. He picked her up by the waist and swung her around in a twirl of feathers, out of range from December’s slaps, and kissed her again. She leaned into him, laughing, resting a hand on his chest. His heart was beating steadily. The smell of him was driving her wild. She nipped at his bottom lip. He captured her own and leaned her back into a dip, one hand behind her head to keep her from falling.