Chapter 85 Taera
Taera
“Strip.”
“Everything?” I shuffle nervously.
“Obviously.”
“I didn’t have to take off everything when Nikolai—”
“I’m not him.” Annie crosses her arms over her voluptuous chest. “You only left me an hour, so strip off those robes and let me see what I’m working with.”
I shed my clothes.
If Nikolai paints in watercolor, Annie sketches with charcoal.
Her designs are seductive and bold, fit exactly to my body, drawing emphasis to curves I never knew I had.
Yet they are elegant in their simplicity.
Soon, Omi and I are both blushing at the dust and leaves and feathers that Annie waves over me, which somehow look more scandalous than outright nudity.
“Everything tonight is going to be over the top. Which means that to stand out…” Annie discards, much to my relief, a vibrant green dress that drags behind me for days.
Once again, I’m left standing naked in front of them.
If Taera from a month ago could see me, she would be astonished by my confidence.
“You want to be the opposite,” Annie muses.
The conduit flicks her hand, and dark mist trails down from my shoulders and sinks into a gown of shadows.
The midnight mist curls and wisps around my breasts and creases between the seam of my legs when I move.
Shadows criss-cross down my back, indecently low, drawing the gaze downward.
But while my shadow-clad figure emanates a sexy mystique, the gown is elegant.
It’s the darker, more daring version of the nebulas that Nikolai once clothed me in.
“This one,” I whisper.
Annie smirks. “I thought you’d like it. Now you just need…”
Translucent wings blossom on my back, the delicate, laced wings of a moon moth, shimmering like golden dust in the air.
“Can they be silver?” I ask. Annie smirks and flicks her chin toward me.
The wings flicker to silver, flapping gently behind me. The barely there webbing reminds me of the silver threads of the moon where Nikolai laid me down.
A matching set of wings flutters and then unfolds into a mask around my eyes.
A mask so thin it appears as nothing more than shattered glass, its veins shimmering like spider silk.
Two dazzling glass moths flit below my ears, catching the light.
And my hair is lifted high above my neck, spun and held by glass flowers and tiny moon moths with fanning wings.
The wings of my lashes flutter with silver, and what’s visible of my eyes behind the mask is smoked with shadow.
I look like the Halls.
Elegant. Stunning. Just an illusion.
I’ll never forget that last part again.
“I think you’re ready,” Omi breathes, their eyes wide.
Annie steps back, hands on her hips, admiring her work. “You’re going to owe me a desert-load of power after tonight.”
I shrug, wings rustling as cool evening air kisses my back. “I have magic to spare.”
Annie smirks at me. “Now show Jezebel the magician she’s messing with.”