them clear as day, and this dinner party is with my father, and the Devil, and the Sins. And did I mention my father?” I stress again. “I can’t be nipping out like this the whole night.”
“Ohhh,” Lousen says, finally getting it. I smile in relief.
She pats me on the shoulder and leans in conspiratorially. “I can assure you, they all like nipples,” Lousen tells me, and that smile just wipes right off my face as I just stare at the demon. No wonder Miss Nipples at the Sin party had her goods showing. The dressmakers in this realm just flaunt them all willy-nilly.
Vudu chuckles in the corner of the room. I shoot him a look over my shoulder, but he’s not cowed at all. He’s decked out in a linen tunic with holes in the back for his wings and espresso-colored pants that look like they’re made of suede, which he changed into while I was getting my hair done.
Ire and Toreon are off getting dressed themselves, but Vudu refused to leave me alone with anyone we didn’t know, regardless of the powerful references that Lousen listed off to him for the first hour of this awful dressing session.
So my gentle giant has been leaning up against the wall, with his arms crossed over his chest, watching over me and sometimes, like when I’m naked, just plain watching. I may have shimmied my hips a little more than necessary when I was putting this thing on, hoping he’d send Lousen out of the room and put his hands on me, but no such luck.
I look down at the satin dress I’m wearing, nipples primed and shouting hello, and then over to the other option that’s hanging from a rack. Lousen only brought the two dresses with her, and this one looked way comfier than the layered thing hanging in the corner of the room, but I need to reconsider.
“Okay, can I try on the other dress? This one just isn’t going to work,” I tell the demon stylist.
Her brow dips. “But this dress is perfect! I’d press your back to a table and fuck you myself,” she announces. I blink for half a second, not sure why she thinks that will make me feel better.
“Um...noted,” I finally answer. “But again, I’m going to a dinner with my Sire and his old ass founders of Hell friends, so fuck me on the table is not the look I’m going for,” I explain, exasperation hammering through me.
I swear to the Origin Stone itself, if I can see any body parts that should not be shown at a family gathering in the next dress, then I’m going in sweats. Lousen and Tazreel can just deal with it.
Lousen huffs and stomps over to pull the other dress from the rack. I slip out of the barely-there satin number, feeling Vudu’s eyes on me the entire time, and then step into the flowy layered skirt of the other gown. I try not to sulk as Lousen fits it to my bust and starts buttoning up the back beneath my wings.
When she’s done, I turn to look at her. “Well? Is it okay?”
She looks me over with scrutiny. “It’s missing something…”
“Nipples?” Vudu snickers from the corner.
“Shut it,” I reply before I move away from Lousen to walk over to the large mirror that an imp carried in here. I step in front of it, fully prepared for sweatpant plan C, but my reflection stops me. “Oh.”
“I agree,” Vudu says behind me, his red eyes dragging over my body so intensely that it makes butterflies start to flutter in my stomach.
The dress is strapless, and it matches the color of my eyes. The bottom is made up of layers of tulle. The top is a corset with cups that lift but hold everything in. There’s a darker gray velvet that outlines the boning in the top, and I’m cinched in but completely covered, aside from a little cleavage. It’s beautiful.
I let out a sigh. I guess no sweatpants for me.
Clearly attuned to my varying emotions, Ire’s voice pops into my head. “You okay, Snarls?”
“Yeah, I’m just glad my nipples are covered,” I say.
I feel him pause. “What? Who’s seeing your nipples?” he demands.
I turn around as Lousen comes to spray my low side-bun updo one last time, a few dark purple tendrils hanging around to flatter the shape of my face.
“Oh, Sablepierce, I’d fuck you in this dress too,” Lousen tells me with a decisive nod.
Ire