Page 46 of Queen Takes Queen
“Shhh.” Still holding me, he lay down in front of the fireplace on a bunch of pillows and blankets someone had tossed on the floor. A warm, cheery fire crackled in the stone hearth. With Xin’s arm around my back and Daire cuddled against Mehen’s side so I could feel his purr, I drifted off to sleep on my dragon’schest.
18
Shara
My daysof planning flew by too quickly, probably because Rik insisted I sleep most of it away in order to rebuild my reserves. The day before New Year’s Eve, we were on the jet headed to Mexico City, with a quick shopping trip in downtown Dallas. I didn’t even know the names of the small yet luxurious shops, but Gina had paid them enough to shut down the entire building just for us. We had access to designer everything, at insane prices that made my eyes bug out of my head. So Gina refused to even let me look at the tags anylonger.
I’d never cared about having much money, as long as I had a safe place to hide from the monsters and enough toeat.
But seeing what the Isador wealth could do for myBlood…
I was very grateful for my immense legacy, because I’d never seen anything finer in my life than my seven men dressed in black-tie formal wear. A small army of tailors swarmed over the guys, pinning and measuring, nipping and tucking, until sleek black pants and jackets hugged their impressive bodies perfectly. Each of them picked out a slightly different style, but stuck to simple black and white. Mehen and Nevarre both chose tails, though Nevarre refused to exchange his kilt for pants. The tailors even managed to get Rik’s impressive tree-trunk thighs and massive biceps encased in a slick double-breasted suit that made medrool.
While the tailors sewed the adjustments to the guys’ suits, it was myturn.
At first, it was chaos, because all of them but Rik wanted to pick out the winning dress. I’d never seen so many guys dragging formal gowns up and down the aisles, yelling jokes at each other. When Mehen and Daire somehow made it a competition to see who could pick out the raciest dress, Gina put her foot down. “This is getting us nowhere. They’re overwhelming you with too many options, and ninety-nine percent of their selections areinappropriate.”
She might be human, but my consiliarius knew how to throw her weight of position around. With Rik’s help, of course. He snapped his fingers and gave an alpha tug on the bonds, and all the guys turned at once to look athim.
“Sit down,” Gina pointed at the chairs and ottomans scattered throughout the dressing area, and they did, atonce.
She turned to the woman who’d welcomed us to the store. “Shara, this is Alice Wong, owner and designer. We’re looking for something for several very important dinners, but one specific gown to make an impression, without making the other guests feel as though she’s trying too hard. Red-carpet worthy, but we don’t need to stop traffic completely.” Gina winked at me. “That kind of dress will be used anotherday.”
She didn’t have to say it. I’d need a traffic-stopping dress if I ever had to make a Triune appearance. My stomach clenched with dread at thethought.
Walking around me in a slow circle, Alice asked, “Short orlong?”
“I don’t really have apreference.”
“Your favoritecolor?”
I had to think about it. It’d been so long since I’d stopped to think about something as trivial as color when I had to fight for my survival every minute of the day. I wasn’t a child any longer, but even as a kid, the pretty pink room and frilly dresses hadn’t been my kind of thing. Dad had decorated a room in our house for me, and I’m sure it’d broken his heart when I couldn’t sleep in there with all those windows. Not with monsters outside. “I don’t really have a favorite color. I like allcolors.”
“Try this,” Alice said, her voice a gentle, soothing lilt. “Close your eyes. Picture being happy. Glowingly happy. You can’t remember a time when you felt sobeautiful.”
I did as she asked. Immediately, I was in the grove, staring up at the full moon. The ancient trees whispered around me, dancing and swaying in a gentle breeze. But instead of my house, I saw Isis’s pyramid in thecenter.
“What colors do yousee?”
“Not color, really. Moonlight. Shadows. It’s dark,nighttime.”
“Very good. You can open your eyesnow.”
I did, and Alice smiled at both me and Gina. “I have a particular gown in mind. I’ll be rightback.”
“She should have more than one,” Rik said with ascowl.
“I completely agree,” Gina replied, giving me a wicked smile that made my brows arch with surprise. “This is the most important one, which is why I asked for Alice. Her associates are already pulling other outfits from the racks for our approval and will be hereshortly.”
I groaned. Great. More trying thingson.
“Alice took one look at you and knew your sizes and body shape. There should be very little trying on, unless you want to, of course. They’ll present the racks and you simply select what youlike.”
“Or we can nod and take the whole store,” Daire added. “That’s myvote.”
“I don’t need the whole store. Where would I wear even a fraction ofthis?”
“I don’t mean to frighten you…” Guillaume said softly, drawing my gaze to him. “But your star is rising fast. Mayte is only the first queen to approach you for assistance or protection. Soon enough, all the queens will know of Shara Isador. The invitations and requests will stack up quicker than Gina’s entire team can sortthem.”
