Chapter Twenty-Seven
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
‘Merissa, I need your help.’
Elara had found Merissa in the kitchens, immediately led her outside, and not said a word to her until they were in the quiet east gardens, the indigo crickets’ chirps filling the air. She looked at Merissa imploringly.
‘Stars, Elara,’ she murmured. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m leaving tomorrow. I’m returning to Asteria, and I need your help.’
Merissa’s eyes widened. ‘Elara, you can’t—’
‘Lukas has usurped my throne. My Lukas. And his coronation is tomorrow. He is hosting Ariete, I’m sure of it—Sofia…’ She took a deep breath. ‘This is my chance to save her.’
‘And what about Ariete?’ Merissa whispered. ‘You’re not strong enough to face him.’
‘Then I’ll find a way around him. Which is precisely why I need you.’
The next day, the plan was going smoothly, up until the point where Elara found herself glaring in frustration at her reflection in the mirror, wondering where Merissa had disappeared to after assuring her she’d be right back.
The makeup Merissa had painted her face with was lovely, her lips iridescent, shimmering dust sparkling around her eyes. Her hair rippled in inky waves down one shoulder. For once, Merissa hadn’t glamoured her. The invitation was for a masked ball, and with a mask disguising her, she would blend right in with the court of Asteria as she was.
Time was not on her side. It would take a few hours’ carriage ride to get to the city of Phantome, and although Elara’s plan was to bypass the coronation altogether, arriving quietly while the ball was in full swing, she was still cutting it fine.
One of the only things that stood between Elara and her departure was the corset currently in disarray in her hands.
She had it pressed to her front with one hand and tried once again to reach behind and pull the loose lacing together with the other. It was impossible. With a grunt of exasperation, she let the strings go, the corset falling to the floor. There was a knock at the door, and Elara, attempting to quell her temper, flew to it.
‘Merissa, you promised you’d be quick,’ she said, flinging the door open.
She stopped short.
Enzo was leaning against the frame, one foot crossed behind the other. As she mastered her panic, she noted something else. He was dressed in the formal colours of the Asterian court. A black blouse was undone at his collar, a bowtie slung around his neck. His hair hung in damp curls from a bath, and the smell of amber oils filled her senses. He looked like sin.
‘What are you doing?’ she breathed.
‘I had an inkling you might try and do something stupid. Like, I don’t know, attend a masked ball, alone, where the god intent on killing you waits.’
He brushed a piece of lint off his indigo jacket. ‘So I got myself ready and came here to escort you.’
A lump was forming in her throat. ‘Why? Your father forbade it.’
‘And I don’t take orders well. I won’t let you go alone. So if you need to go, then I’m coming with you.’ His eyes dragged from her feet up to her dress, and Elara suddenly felt vulnerable in the thin material. Then, with a curved smile, his gaze landed on her face.
‘Do you need some help?’ he purred. She bit back a smile as she opened the door wider, crossing the room to the discarded corset.
‘Merissa was dressing me, but she’s disappeared to Stars know where.’ She blew an errant strand of hair out of her face as she looked back to him, still leaning in the doorway. ‘So unless you know how to tie a corset and get me into this damned gown, perhaps you could go and find her?’ She shot him a sweet smile.
He looked at her, as he lazily pushed himself off the doorframe and entered the room. ‘Well, princess, undoing corsets is more my strong suit, but I’m sure I can assist.’
He approached, and Elara felt heat crawling up her neck to her cheeks as he stood behind her. She looked at her reflection, the silk gown clinging to her delicately, outlining the shape of her curves. She pressed the corset to herself, gesturing to Enzo. ‘You need to find the two loops in the middle and pull.’
Enzo studied her back. ‘You know, I never saw the point in these things,’ he murmured as his thumbs brushed her hips, holding the strings in each hand. He drew them towards him deftly.
‘Why not?’ she asked, her breath quickening. She saw his smile in the reflection as he began to pull on each string, the corset tightening with every movement.
‘Just seems like an awful lot more for me to have to take off.’ Enzo’s voice caressed her ear, a low murmur. She felt goosebumps ripple through her body. Trying to fight down the delicious pleasure that his words brought to her, she focused on her reflection.
‘Is this tight enough?’ he asked, hitching her in roughly so that she was pulled against him. She exhaled a little breath of shock. A hand around her waist steadied her. She nodded silently as a smile danced on his lips.
‘Is my hair getting in the way?’ she asked innocently and swept it around to one side, the nape of her neck exposed. The hands tying a bow behind her went still, and she glanced in the mirror. Displayed in the looking glass was a furrowed brow and clenched jaw as Enzo’s gaze bore into her exposed, silver-dusted neck. She knew he could smell the faint smoky vanilla perfume dabbed behind her ear. Her chest, spilling out of the bodice, was heaving, shallow breaths that she inwardly insisted were caused by the tightness of the corset and not the way Enzo was looking at her.
He lifted his eyes to the mirror, finding hers as he stood still, hands still wrapped in strings. His breath was warm, causing rivulets of fire to dance down her back. In that moment she thanked her shadows for hiding the feelings swirling through her. The air grew heavy, almost suffocating, before Enzo spoke.
‘Don’t we look quite the royal couple?’
Elara forced out a laugh, batting him away. He grinned and finished tying the bow, the movements rough and taut. When he finished, he stepped back from her.
‘There.’ He bowed. ‘In another life perhaps I was a handmaid.’
She chuckled as he swaggered towards the door. ‘I won’t be long.’
‘I’ll arrange a carriage. Take the servants’ staircase.’ Then, with a final look at her, he was out of the room.
Minutes later, there was a quiet knock on the door and Merissa swept back in, just as Elara was almost drowning in the swathes of ballgown that she was trying to put on the right way.
‘Thank the gods,’ Elara muttered as Merissa hurried over to help.
‘Sorry,’ she said breezily, ‘His Highness needed my assistance.’
Elara raised a brow. ‘Oh, I gathered that by the attire he was wearing. But that doesn’t explain where you disappeared to when he found himself in my rooms while I was wearing only my undergown and corset.’
Merissa’s lips twitched as she pulled Elara’s ballgown around, righting it and smoothing it down. ‘I thought you may need a moment alone to discuss your plan.’
Elara’s mind flicked to that moment alone, to Enzo’s thumbs stroking her waist, the way he’d looked at her neck, the feeling of his hard body as he’d pulled her against it.
She clicked her tongue, admonishing herself. Get it together, Elara, my gods. You’d think you were a tremoring virgin the way a few touches are making you act.
Once the adjustments were finished, the glamourer stepped back and Elara admired the final result in the mirror.
Merissa had tailored the perfect dress for her return to her kingdom. It was the indigo blue of an Asterian evening. Silver constellations adorned her décolletage, the rest of her neck and chest left bare.
From there, the gown fell into a cinched waist and then into a flowing skirt of stars. It glittered and shimmered as she moved. Her hair hung to her waist, threads of silver woven through it. Merissa handed her a delicate silver mask that she placed over her eyes. She looked every bit Asterian, every bit ready for a royal ball.
‘Be safe,’ the glamourer whispered, squeezing her shoulder. Elara put her hand on top of Merissa’s, stroking it once. Then with a deep, shaky breath, she left the room.