are so odd.” Then he looked at my ruined dress and exposed ankles, frowning in disapproval. “Get your dress fixed. No one should serve my family wearing rags.” He turned, pulling Ameline into the palace after him, leaving me shaking.
My earlier joy was shot down like an arrow to the heart as anger took over.
Chapter Five
Lifting my skirts, I turned to catch up with Pru, who I had seen walking through the hall. In her arms were reams of fabric, and behind her were three women, each holding four or five gowns each. Where she had procured the dresses, or the seamstresses, I didn’t know or care to ask. It seemed they weren’t as busy as I had been led to believe. I grabbed a few bolts of fabric from Pru to help relieve her burden.
The guards met us at my own door and let us in without much ado. The one from earlier met my eyes and leaned in to whisper confidentially, “I understand now, what you go through. She is a horrible monster of a woman.”
“She is?” I asked, confused, before remembering I had led them to believe that I, the horrible witch, was still inside.
“Yes, you should have heard the fuss she was making. Be careful. She may take out her anger on you,” he warned.
I stilled at the lies he spurred forth. Yes, I might take a switch to him. My eyes narrowed as I prepared to whisper a curse. Pru caught my wild glare and reached back, grabbing my wrist, then pulled me into the room after her and slammed the door behind us.
“How dare he?” I fumed, tossing the bolts of fabric on the table before I turned to grasp the door handle. Pru had placed herself in front of the door to prevent me.
“My lady,” she begged. “Please, do not give Fagen another thought. He is mindless and was only trying to prove he was your friend.”
“By spreading lies,” I snapped.
“No more than the ones you yourself uttered a few hours earlier.” She winced as if she expected my hand to follow her outburst. But it didn’t. Her gaze flickered to the women standing still in the middle of the room, their mouths open as they no doubt realized I wasn’t some servant but the lady they were to serve.
Closing my eyes, I released the glamour and sighed. Releasing a glamour was like breathing after holding your breath too long. It wasn’t a comfortable spell, unless you possessed an item from that person or you were my talented sister Eden, who could fall asleep maintaining a glamour.
The ladies gasped when they saw my servant dress transform into my emerald-green gown with missing trimming. I banished my anger and tried to recover my composure. Once I was sure I had my mask of indifference in place, I looked over the women and the fabrics and said, “Let’s begin.”
Under my supervision, we were able to get quite a few dresses altered to fit me, and I was pleased with the color and cut of most of them. For dinner, I had chosen a deep purple velvet dress that accented my dark hair, which was curled and pinned with long tendrils flowing down my back. The seamstresses learned my bark was far worse than my bite, because after an hour of intense silence, they relaxed and began to talk amicably amongst themselves.
I did, however, notice the milk in my saucer was gone. Which meant a fey had taken my offering and agreed to serve me. With all the hustle and bustle of the ladies in the room, I had yet to see what kind of fey it was, and none presented themselves for introduction. I wouldn’t fret; some only came out at night, and I knew I would just have to be patient.
When it came time for my meeting with Gaven, I felt nervous and sick to my stomach. It was the lying that was bothering me. I didn’t like to lie or deceive anyone, but it was clear that most of the palace had already come to their first impressions of me without having even spoken to me.
My head was already throbbing from my overuse of glamour, which meant I would be paying for my choice dearly later on. Pru and the seamstresses had excused themselves, taking their work with them and leaving me to await the dinner hour by myself.
Taking no chances in case of a changing of the guard, I touched my beautiful