Page 38 of When Wishes Bleed

She answered before I could even knock, grabbing my wrist and tugging me inside. “Wait until you see what we’ve made!”

Hanging on a rack was a nude-colored gown with intricate, black velvet patterns and slick beads all over it. The swirling patterns included candles. Tea cups. Crystal balls. Tarot cards. Palmistry. Wishbones. I lit up as I brushed my fingers down the fabric. “How did you do this?”

She shrugged. “It’s what we do. Right, fellas?” She gingerly sat her glass spiders on a nearby table and breathed a spell over them. Obeying her command, they froze in place. Their legs curled in as if they were dead, and they tipped over onto their sides and rolled onto their bulbous backs, one scarlet, one cyan.

“You have jeans and a t-shirt in your room for tomorrow. During the day, you can dress casually.”

“I’ve never worn jeans.”

She winced. “They aren’t nearly as comfortable as dresses, but they’re all the rage in the lower twelve. Everyone wears them. The tighter, the better. And all your t-shirts have Thirteen stitched on them, so people can tell you ladies apart.”

“Like they wouldn’t know which sector I’m from?” I laughed, assuming she was joking.

“You have to wear them,” she said gently. “You’re supposed to wear the cuff he gave you, too.”

“I’ll do no such thing. It’s appalling that the Prince of Nautilus cannot devote the time to learn thirteen names.”

Her eyes widened. “What did the Prince say this evening?”

“Not much. But the King said plenty.”

“King? You met with him again?”

I nodded. “He’s worried about Tauren.”

“He knows someone is out to…”

“No, he thinks Tauren might get his princely little heart broken if he likes me,” I said disbelievingly. After pausing a brief moment, I decided to tell her the rest. “He knew my mother. He knows about hand-fasting.”

Her lips formed a tiny o. “So, he knows you can’t marry his son.”

I scoffed, “He thinks his guards can thwart any attempt on Tauren’s life. I’m supposed to leave if I think he’s ‘becoming too fond of me’.”

“Should we pack our trunks now?” she asked, her eyes widening.

I shook my head. “He doesn’t have feelings for me. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Sable, I hate to be the one to reveal something obvious to you, but he had a room painted and decorated for you, he gave you a necklace from the crown jewel collection, and whenever you’re in his presence, you’re all he can look at.”

He was all I could look at, too, if I admitted it to myself, but it didn’t matter how he or I felt. We could never be. We were attracted to one another, but that was all it was or could ever be.

Mira yawned. “Sorry,” she said, covering her mouth.

Happy for the change in subject, I replied, “Don’t be. I’m tired, too. See you in the morning?”

“Your royal schedule should be delivered first thing tomorrow.”

“Great.”

“I’ll trim any stray threads and bring the gown to you in the morning.”

I walked to the door and stepped into the hall. “Thanks, Mira. For everything.”

She fought another yawn as she closed the door behind me.

I pulled my key out of my dress pocket and slid it into the lock. Lying on the floor just inside the door was a slip of white paper.

I broke the familiar seal to read:

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