Chapter Fourteen
Vanessa
“All of this effort for me?” I asked, looking around in a daze at all the various fabrics, chairs, and implements set up. “It’s too much.”
“It absolutely is not,” Curi said, guiding me past all that to a thick wooden barn door, which she pulled aside on its roller track to reveal the bathroom. “We’re delighted to be able to help our prince and his princess.”
I stiffened. “Don’t call me that,” I whispered.
“But it’s the truth. You’re his mate.”
I stared at the woman, whose eyes glittered with belief. “How can you say that? You don’t know me. None of you do. Not to be rude, of course.”
Tinny shouldered Curi aside to stand in front of me. “We don’t need to know you, Vanessa. It has nothing to do with who you are as a person. It has all to do with who you and the prince are together.”
“But Vil and I, we aren’t together,” I protested. “He brought me here and told me I was his mate. That was it. That’s all there is.”
“You arrived here hand in hand,” Galli pointed out as she tried to lean around the other two to be seen, her short brown hair bobbing wildly with the efforts. “Did you not?”
The other two stared at me expectantly.
“Ummm.”
“Exactly,” Curi said, once again taking charge. “His scent is all over you as well.”
“I’m wearing his clothing,” I countered, “so of course it is. And before you say it, it’s because he brought me here without any chance to bring my own stuff.”
“That’s not what she meant,” Tinny said. “You two have been … together.”
I was reminded of the kiss. The unexpected, but deliriously hot and spicy kiss that had come and gone so quickly I had barely had time to process it.
Everything had been happening so swiftly since RJ pulled the knife on me that I wasn’t sure I’d processed anything.
The accident, dragons, a prince, the kiss.
“See, even now, she responds to it.”
“He kissed me. That’s it,” I said sternly. “We have not ‘been together.’”
“Still counts,” Galli said with a grin. “You can fight it, but we can all sense the magnetism between you two.”
I groaned. How was I going to convince them that there was nothing there? Sure, he was hot, and yes, he was a good kisser, and true, my body reacted very positively to his touch every time his skin brushed mine, but that was it!
“Now, into the shower with you!” Galli said, giving me a gentle push into the room. “Take your time. Scrub good. Get your hair wet, but Tinny will give it a proper wash, condition, etc., out here.”
“Oh,” I said, the idea of having someone else wash my hair sounding absolutely divine at that moment.
“Go on.” Galli urged, sliding the door closed behind me.
I did as I was told, and that time I let myself luxuriate in the shower, the hot water all but scalding my skin.
Galli wasn’t lying; there were all sorts of stuff lined up on little indents in the wall.
Various facial scrubs and washes, and body ones.
Shaving cream, spare razors, shampoo, conditioner, pumice stones, and other scrubbing utensils.
It was like being at a store. I was overwhelmed, but I did as I was told.
I cleaned myself, and since I was going to a ball, I decided to shave as well.
I might not have had a ton of choice in what I was doing in the dragon realm, but I could control how I felt while doing it. And I had no idea how long the dress might be.
Feeling properly freshened up, I got out and dried myself off with a gigantic plush towel I just wanted to snuggle into.
“All done in there?” Galli asked through the door.
Snagging a matching robe and tying it tight so that the center didn’t fall apart, I came outside.
“Perfect,” Curi said, taking me by the shoulders and guiding me to a chair. I was promptly pushed into it, and before I could say anything, Tinny was guiding my head back against the wash sink.
That was where my protests died. I groaned as her fingers dug deep into my hair, reaching my scalp and giving it a solid massage as she worked shampoo into it. Then Curi started working on my feet, and I went limp, nearly drooling down the side of my face.
Now, that was heaven. A girl could get used to that kind of treatment.
Galli, meanwhile, was busy taking measurements of just about every part of my body except for my center torso. But she measured fingers, arms, shoulders, neck, a dozen different parts of my legs, and then she double-checked them all.
“Don’t let anyone ever say you aren’t thorough,” I mumbled through the fog of my mushy brain as Tinny brought me to my feet and Galli measured the rest of me. She wanted to do it without the robe, but I refused. I didn’t want anyone else to see that part of me. The scars were mine to deal with.
Next, they plunked me down into a stylist's chair, and Tinny truly got to work. She didn’t do much actual cutting, just ridding me of some split ends and then adding some very large, loose curls, giving me beautiful waves of hair that cascaded down every time I turned my head this way or that.
Then, before I could protest, Curi started applying my makeup.
“You know, I’m quite adept at doing this one myself,” I said, rather proud of the skills I’d developed with my war paint.
“That’s not the point, dear,” Curi said. “We know what your final look is going to be. You don’t. So just sit back and let us prepare you. Trust me, the prince will be floored when you arrive.”
“Especially,” Galli said, “when she arrives wearing something like this.”
She held up the initial sketch of a dress she’d come up with.
“Oh, my,” Curi said.
“Oh, my,” Tinny echoed.
“Oh, dear,” I said with a gulp.