Page 62 of Courting the Tiger King
Romi distracted them, stepping back from Wren and admiring her work before easing the material off of him, careful not to disturb any pins, and beckoned Neah. “Up.”
Amused, she stood and passed Wren the bottle as they swapped places. His gaze burned into her as she lifted her arms and turned when Romi instructed.
“Hm, I was thinking gold but…” Romi held a swatch of fabric up, the shimmer making Sonnet and Zennonooh.“I think it’ll wash you out. Something darker would be better.”
Neah was happy to defer to Romi’s expertise. “Sure.”
Romi gestured for Zennon to pass over several other squares of fabric, holding up different squares to Neah’s skin until she found one she liked and nodded approvingly. “This one. What do you think?” Romi grabbed a longer bolt of the fabric and presented it to Neah.
It was a deep, rich colour, not quite red but not quite orange and she knew it would pop against Wren’s green ceremonial jacket.
“I love it,” she said honestly and Romi beamed.
“Well I have all your measurements down, so I’ll get to work and let you know when they’re ready to be tried on.” She began rolling up pieces of parchments, presumably where she’d dotted down their sizes, and tucking away reams of fabric so that they were folded neatly into a large chest. “Enjoy your night.”
Zennon’s head whipped around but Neah didn’t need any prompting. “Oh! You’re not leaving are you? Stay, have a drink.”
Romi hesitated and then let the trunk stay where it was, hesitantly accepting a seat at an armchair that had been dragged over from the balcony area. The mood felt light as they chattered, opening more bottles of wine, and cheering when an attendant brought up snacks at Wren’s request. The mood only soured slightly when they waited to test it for magic and poison before diving in.
“So how specific is this spell?” Skye was asking, examining Sonnet and Zennon’s matching necklaces. “If I pinched your leg, would it react? Or does the intent for harm have to be greater?”
Sonnet’s smile was sweet but the look in her eyes was wicked when she purred, “Touch me and find out.”
Skye, apparently not wanting to risk life or limb, wisely kept his hands to himself.
“You really think someone will try to hurt Zennon?” Romi hadn’t had nearly as much to drink as the rest of them and it showed, her solemn sobriety reminding the rest of the group ofthe seriousness of the situation. “Why?” The word was soft, like she genuinely couldn’t fathom anyone wanting to hurt Zen, and Neah liked the other woman all the more for it.
“Because I’m easier to kill than Neah,” Zennon said, tone joking but words serious. “Better to be safe, than sorry. Right?”
Romi watched Zennon for a moment, eyes dark and troubled, and Neah watched them as Romi tilted her chin and shifted her body so it was between Zennon and the door. “Right.”
Neah was drawn back into the other side of the group when Gabriel placed an empty bottle of wine at his feet, joining two others, and announced, “Hey, didn’t someone say something about strip poker?”
They couldn’t find a deck of cards anywhere in Wren’s room—though Neah did wonder if that was deliberate on Wren’s part. And so, after the wine and snacks dwindled, the others left for their rooms and Neah smiled, accepting Sonnet’s sloppy kiss on the cheek as she walked away, bracketed on either side by Gabe and Skye. Romi and Zen left together too, the latter glaring at Neah in a warning not to comment on the seamstress spending another night.
Finally, it was only her and Wren. His arms wound around her waist, her head fell to his chest, and when he tugged her toward the bedroom she’d begun to think of astheirsshe fell into bed with his arms still around her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
NEAH
Five days. That was how long it had taken Romi to make this masterpiece of a dress—a wedding gown, of sorts, though the mating bond ceremony was considered far more sacred.
It was a ceremony so old that many of the rituals were observed purely because they couldn’t tell what was tradition versus what was essential any more. With Wren’s sanity on the line, they couldn’t take any chances. And so, for the first time in what seemed like weeks, Neah found herself in her old chambers, preparing to spend the night away from Wren before the ceremony tomorrow evening.
A surprising amount of her things had migrated to Wren’s room while she’d been staying there. She hadn’t even realised until she now had to carry most of them back so she could use them in the evening before bed and in the morning after her bath. The thing that surprised her the most was that the thought didn’t bother her. Her old room felt cold, too empty, where she was used to Wren’s presence taking up space.
Romi had found Neah on her walk through the palace, a basket of things in her arms, and had joined her for the laststretch of the journey, seeing as she was there to see Neah for her final dress fitting anyway.
“Are you nervous?”
“Not at all,” Neah had said. “I’m sure whatever you’ve created is stunning.”
Romi had just smiled in response and it was only now, as Neah posed in front of the long mirror, that she realised Romi may have been talking about the ceremony rather than the dress.
“Do you think you’ll get married someday?” Maybe it was prying, but Neah liked what she’d seen of the other woman so far, the way she protected Zennon, they would be good together.
“Maybe.” Romi smiled, ruffling one of the dress’ sleeves. “This colour was the right decision.”
