Chapter 32
SADIE
Abox arrived three hours before the Hunter’s Ball began. Elix and I stared suspiciously at it sitting on my bed. I hadn’t begun getting ready yet, even though most people had started from the moment breakfast ended.
It was more than a big deal, this ball, it was like Easter, Halloween, and New Year’s Eve all rolled together. Lunova as a realm celebrated the Hunter’s Moon, and they celebrated big.
The academy had gone all out, not just the marquee and the dancefloor I saw the professors erecting the week before.
There were old-fashioned carnival games, their signage freshly revived in a number of bright jewel colours.
A stage had been set up for poets, actors, and musicians to perform in the heart of the grounds.
Booths and stalls were occupied by vendors from the nearby village, selling anything from dresses of cotton and velvet and silk to huge wheels of cheese to knives far more beautiful than the basic weapons in the academy stores.
Strangest of all, a giant orange cake stood on a pedestal, reserved for the winner of the tournament that would take place at sunset, before all the dancing and revelry began.
I’d been watching them through the windows all day, my curiosity blotting out my anger at being trapped in this world, and overwriting the idiotic yearning I had to fight every day to resist going into the forest. For once, I didn’t want to run away from this place.
I actually wanted to stay and see how tonight played out.
For once, I was curious and even, dare I say, excited.
When I opened the box on my bed, and beheld the dress within it, a giddy rush went through my stomach. There was a note sitting on top, written in slanted cursive, at once pretty, elegant, and difficult to read.
You’re welcome, it read. Rogue.
When I lifted the dress out, it shone like moonlight in the dark, like the stars above my old home. Silver, but with navy blue and turquoise and pink and gold when the light hit in the right direction.
It fit like a glove, if the glove had a deep V and exposed way too much cleavage. Luckily, the skirt had enough volume to balance out the scandalous bodice.
The door opened, and Paige barged her way inside.
“Paige, I cried, aghast. “What if I’d been dressing?”
She took my hand and guided me into a spin so she could see the entire effect of the dress. “Damn girl, if I had tits like these, I’d have them out every day.”
Elix smirked. Well, that’s one way to pass classes.
“Hey,” she protested. “Are you calling me a hussy?” Before Elix could reply, Paige went on, “Thank you for noticing, great observational skills.”
Elix snickered. What’s that? she asked.
“Oh, this old thing,” Paige replied coyly, unrolling the ball of fabric in her arms to show a slim, wine red dress. “This, madam, is for you.”
Elix’s face went pink. She shook her head. I can’t wear something with THAT neck line.
“Sure you can, look at Sadie. She’s showing off all the gifts that God gave her.”
I held up my hands. “Hey, this is the only dress I have. Take it up with Rogue.”
Paige arched an eyebrow.
“She’s just being kind,” I sighed. The eyebrow arched further. “You’re seeing things that aren’t there.”
“Mmhmm,” she said. Only that, nothing else. Just mmhmm. I gave her my middle finger, and proving she was one of the greatest people I’d ever met, she threw her head back and laughed.
“Trust me,” she said to Elix. “You’re gonna look killer in this.
You’re hot, girl, and you deserve to have one night where you feel confident and sexy.
” She shimmied when she said sexy, making her chest jiggle in the tight black dress she wore, nowhere near as long as the ones I’d be given or the one she brought for Elix.
I had a feeling she had taken a pair of scissors to the original dress, and she was going to scandalise the people of Lunova. I couldn’t wait.
Elix sighed, and accepted the dress, hurrying into the bathroom to change into it. Two minutes later the door opened a crack, and her notebook thrust through.
I can’t wear this.
“Why not?” I asked. “Scared to give all the men of the Academy a heart attack when they see how incredible you look?”
In reply, Elix thumped her head against the other side of the door. And in reply to that, Paige began to chant, sending a snort up my nose so suddenly that my hands flew to my face and I almost tripped over the hem of my dress.
Get your tits out for your friends, Paige amended the familiar laddish chant, and once again I got that feeling that it was worth coming here, even with the death and the danger, to have friends like these.