Page 28 of Kiss of Ice

“There now. All done.” Ruth went to the rack of clothes and started flicking through them. “I’ll have the perfect dress for you in a jiffy.”

“Don’t you want me to try anything on?”

“No need. It’ll fit perfectly.” She dragged out a yellow dress. “No, terrible with your complexion.” She put it back and pulled out a pink one. “Hm. Better, but still not right.”

Ren watched, bemused.

“I like black,” she volunteered.

“What, are you expecting a funeral along with your dinner?” The wiccan tutted. “You’re too young to wear black. Ah, this is the one.” She pulled out a long silk dress in the palest of lilac. Ren saw immediately how the colour would warm her skin and bring out the cool grey of her eyes. But she also knew there was no way she’d fit into it.

“It looks a little small,” she ventured.

“Have faith, my Lady. Try it on.”

Great. Another miserable experience of wriggling pointlessly into a piece of clothing that wouldn’t even go over her thighs. But the old woman was holding out the dress and she didn’t want to be rude. Reluctantly she stepped into it and allowed Ruth to pull it up.

She was surprised when it slid easily over her hips without sticking. Even more so when the wiccan fastened it without a single grunt of effort or a ‘breathe in, my Lady’. She looked down at herself in bewilderment. She could have sworn it wouldn’t fit.

“Is it magic?”

The wiccan winked at her.

“All great dresses have a little magic to them. Take a look, tell me what you think.”

Ren turned to examine herself in the full-length mirror.

“Seven hells!”

“I told you so.”

Thirteen

Kam paced irritably. He had told her to come to dinner, hadn’t he? What in the name of the gods was taking her so long?

She would have to become more punctual. He was the Emperor, he deserved more respect. When she was his wife, she would be made to learn she couldn’t keep him waiting.

When the doors opened he swung round impatiently, ready to speak his mind. The words died in his throat.

Ren’s silver hair was piled on top of her head and artfully pinned to leave softly curled ringlets framing her face. Her make-up was minimal but cleverly applied; her eyes seemed huge, framed by darkened lashes, and her rosebud lips shone with the merest hint of colour,

The lavender of the dress gave her pale skin an ivory hue. It revealed the delicate bones of her clavicles and accentuated the narrowness of her waist before flowing out again over the swell of her hips.

Kam was momentarily transfixed.She looks like a goddess.He gathered himself.

“Finally,” he said. “I was about to send someone to get you.”

“Sorry. It took longer than I thought to get ready. Thank you for the dress. Do you, um, do you like it?”

“It’s an improvement on the old one.”

They lapsed into silence. Ren cleared her throat.

“Your Majesty, can you tell me what the plan is? When are we to wed?”

“We’ll have our formal engagement party tomorrow. I propose we marry after the obligatory six day courtship following that. I believe that’s the minimum time period.”

Ren was taken aback.

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