She’s Still Here #2
Nella caught my eye, but I just shook my head.
Could my mom have been part of the castle storm?
That could explain why she had been here in Dolvenar, but did she make it back to Elyndor, where the rebel movement was supposed to be based?
The banshee had said the capital was where I could find her, though.
All these thoughts made my stomach uneasy. Something wasn’t adding up unless…
“Hey, Moe, do you know if the king kept any of the rebels prisoner from storming the castle?”
Her eyes went wide from back at her station as she shushed me. “Quiet down about that, I told you!” She glanced around nervously. “Yes, the rumor was, he kept some in the castle dungeons.” She shook her head at me, baffled that I would shout such a thing.
My stomach sank to the floor. I couldn’t think of any other reason my mother would be in Dolvenar instead of with the potential remaining rebels in Elyndor.
And it would explain why she never came home to me.
The thought made me nauseous, but it made perfect sense. At least to my desperate mind, it did.
She was possibly a prisoner here… And had been for years.
I hated it, but it was the best lead we had.
I needed to find the dungeons.
* * *
The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I was right. It was the only thing that made sense with all the pieces, even if it was heartbreaking to imagine.
And maybe it was because we shared this strange mental connection and he could sense my resolve, but Noxie agreed too.
Or at least supported the theory.
Nella wasn’t so sure, but I was at least sure it was worth exploring. It was all I could think about day and night.
Day and night, until a very handsome, blue-eyed distraction appeared at the lunch table three days after Ott and Moe’s reveal. The reveal had been unbeknownst to them, of course.
“Hello, Nella, you’re looking radiant today. Positively glowing.” Varyn smiled at her and inclined his head.
He was really laying it on thick.
Nella promptly stood up from the table and curtsied. I remained seated and did nothing.
“Naci.” He inclined his head to me next, and I felt the blush creeping up my cheeks. “Would you care to join me this evening for dinner in the rose garden?”
Dinner? With the prince?
“Why?” I blurted out before I could think twice.
Taken aback only for a moment, the prince arranged his face in an arrogant grin. “Hopefully, because you’d like to. But if not, then because I asked nicely.”
I had to fight a smile. I liked our banter. It made him feel…real. I didn’t tiptoe around the fact that he was a prince, and he didn’t treat me like a mortal servant.
“Only because you asked nicely.” And then I winked—gods, what was happening to me? I completely lost my head around this male.
He gave me a wide smile. “Very good. I shall come for you before dinnertime then. Ladies,” he said as he nodded toward the gossipers at the other end of the table, all of whom were watching the scene unfold with mouths hanging open.
As soon as the door to the dining hall closed, Nella squealed, grasping my hands and practically jumping out of her seat.
“Oh, Naci, we have to get you ready! You have a date with the prince!”
Holy shit, she was right. My heart sank at the realization that the only clothes I had were my laundry uniform. I had burned the Dolvenar mortal servant uniform in our fireplace—chains, collar, and all. Not that I would have wanted to wear that to dinner either.
This would be so embarrassing, dining with royalty in my uniform… Maybe I would tell him I didn’t feel well and decline when he came back to pick me up.
But then I saw it when we got back to our room, lying across my bed with a note.
A long deep-purple dress. It was simple, nowhere near as elegant as what the nobles and other fae could be seen wearing walking the halls of the castle.
But beautiful with gold embroidery on the wrists of the long sleeves and around the square neckline.
A pair of purple shoes sat on the floor just beside the dress.
I look forward to seeing how the purple complements your spark.
-V
This prince was melting my heart that I hadn’t even realized was so frozen.
And the irony was not lost on me. He claimed to love my spark, when it was a spark that had given me my heinous scars.
Granted, it had been a huge, magical spark.
While I was growing used to the loss of vision, I still felt just as disgusted by the scars as the first time I’d seen the jagged pink skin in the mirror.
Yet, the prince had looked at me without gawking, had said I was beautiful and wild despite my scars. He saw them as strength and resilience. Could I really be the girl he said he saw when he looked at me underneath it all?
I reached down to touch the dress’s fabric. Nella came up behind me and took the note to read it herself, looking at the dress in awe. It was soft and silky, cool to the touch. I wouldn’t admit it out loud, but I couldn’t wait to try it on. I’d never even held a dress so exquisite.
But what was folded underneath the dress set my face on fire.
A purple slip. A very skimpy purple slip.
Oh gods.
I scrambled to pick it up before Nella could see, but I was too late. Not only had she seen it, but she had gasped and snatched it from my grasp. She held it up on display. It unfolded, revealing the delicate black ribbon that would cinch the waist and the black lace that covered the bosom.
He wanted me to wear this? For him?
If I thought wearing my uniform to dinner would be embarrassing, this had to be worse.
He’d clearly lost his mind.
And yet my mortification battled something far more reckless.
“Naci, I think—”
“Not a word, Nella. Not. A. Word. I’m going to bathe.” I wouldn’t have been surprised if steam had been coming off my face.
Her fit of giggles chased me all the way to the tub.
She followed a few minutes later, carrying both the dress and the slip, and placed them on the chair beside the basin, the fire underneath already lit.
“The dress is really very beautiful, Naci. He must really like you.”
“Maybe.” That was all I could say. I still had not allowed myself to hope he might actually like me. But this gesture…it made me soften toward him even more.
I laid back in the warm bath, letting Nella wash my long hair while I scrubbed at my nails.
I let her talk on and on through grand fantasies about becoming the prince’s princess.
But I was only half listening while my own thoughts ran away with what it would be like to be seen by the prince in that little slip.
It had been a while since I was last with Fadric in that kind of way…
“Naci?”
Nella pulled me back from the dirty place my mind had been. “Hm?”
“I said, you need to get out. It’s nearly dinner time, and the prince will be here soon.”
She was right. The tips of my fingers had grown wrinkled from my extended time in the bath.
I dried my hair as much as I could with a towel before slipping on the dress.
I absolutely would not wear the little slip Varyn had included.
It seemed far too…risqué. The dress nearly reached the floor, and it fit snugly.
I had put on a couple of pounds in the few weeks we’d been at the castle, so I filled the dress out nicely.
I no longer had hollow cheeks or protruding ribs and hip bones. Nella too.
That was really saying something if Nella’s little kitchen boyfriend’s food was putting weight on us compared to what little we got with Cassius.
She came up behind me in the mirror reflection and looked me up and down, pausing her assessment at my breasts, where my nipples were poking through the thin fabric.
“Uh, Naci, I think you may want to wear the slip. That’s probably why the prince gave it to you. He didn’t want you to poke him in the eyes.” She was hilarious…
But she was right, and the evenings were growing cooler. I had to wear the damned slip.
I took the dress off, quickly donned the skimpy silk, and glimpsed myself in the mirror. With the cinching and the lace and the boning in the bodice, it enhanced my breasts well. Even I had to admit it was sexy.
So with slightly more confidence, I slipped on the dress, and Nella pulled the top half of my nearly dry hair into a simple, elegant knot, leaving the bottom half to hang and curl naturally.
We both stared at the mirror, taking in my appearance.
I had never worn anything so beautiful in my life.
And I had never felt more beautiful either.
I caught the trace of a tear in Nella’s eye as she wrapped her arms around my waist from behind, laying her cheek on my shoulder.
I loved her so much, and I knew I would remember this moment, this embrace, for a long time.
A throat cleared from the doorway of our room.
I turned to see Miss Melda standing there, looking at me strangely.
“You didn’t finish your laundry after lunch.”
Surely, she wasn’t going to tell me I couldn’t go to dinner…
“Can I finish it after dinner?”
“You’d better.” She smirked, then nodded her approval as she, too, looked me up and down. “Now hurry along, the prince is in the hall waiting for you.”
My nerves were alight with uncertainty and excitement.
This time, I didn’t fight the smile that came. For just one moment, I let myself hope that maybe he felt the same way. I suppose I was going to find out one way or another tonight.