Page 16 of Seraphina (Castle Omega)

“So,” Violet calls over the low partition of her dressing room, the curtain fluttering slightly, “are you planning on finding a pack?”

I quickly peel off my sweater and leggings, laying them down as if they are designer pieces. They aren’t, but they are mine, bought with my hard-earned bakery money. “Nope, I only want to dive into their buffet like a trash panda.”

“Girl,” she groans, her coiled hair visible over the partition, her eyes peering down at me. How is she tall enough to see over these walls? “What about your heat?”

I roll my eyes, even though she can’t see it. “Let’s not go there right now, okay? Tonight is about fun, not about my... biological clock.” I grab another dress from the rack, this one a deep blue and all glitter, and start to try it on. “Let’s just focus on finding something fabulous to wear.”

The dress sparkles like a sky full of stars, but the fabric feels all wrong against my skin. I slip it off almost as quickly as I put it on.

“If we don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist, right?” I quip, carefully hanging up the dress and reaching for a velvet wrap number. It’s nice to the touch but nowhere near gala-level glam. “Ugh.”

“Can you look at this?” Violet’s voice interrupts my thoughts, followed by the sound of curtains gliding on rods. She flings open my curtain, standing there in a sleek, black silk dress.

“Freaking silk,” I spit.

“What’s wrong with silk?” she questions.

“It’s all I ever wore at the castle,” I grumble. “Silk, silk, and more silk. It’s not that I hate it. I’d just rather not.”

“Well, I think it looks nice, but does it work?” She does a little spin in front of my mirror.

Before I can respond, the gamma sales associate interjects. “No, no, that won’t do,” she says, piling more dresses into Violet’s arms and ushering her back to her dressing room, then she turns to me. “No, take that off.”

“Agreed,” I say, quickly shedding the velvet dress.

From her dressing room, Violet jumps back into our earlier conversation. “Seraphina, you really need to think about this.” Her eyes peek over the partition. “I think you should consider looking for a pack tonight. They set up this gala because you made waves by leaving.”

I grab another dress, her words echoing in my mind. “I’m not totally against the idea.”

“Oh, thank the Fates,” she murmurs, relief evident in her voice, making the gamma chuckle from the other side. “I was about to knock some sense into you with a frying pan.”

“That wouldn’t work,” the gamma says, popping in again like a dress ninja to hand me more options. “Your hormones would just wake you right up.”

“That’s awful,” Violet comments, but she sounds more intrigued than horrified, the traitor. “What about Max?” she suddenly asks.

“What about Max?” I retort as I eye a corset dress with intricate beading along the ribs and an enticing off the shoulder cut.

“Girl, I know you liked him,” Violet replies sassily, tossing a dress at my head. “Don’t even try to deny it. If you could really scent him, you’d know you’re a match.”

I scrunch up my nose, a wave of denial ready to spill out, but deep down, I know she’s right.

“And what about the twins?” she continues, touching a nerve I’ve been trying to ignore.

The thought of the twins, especially Avery, stirs a flutter of nerves in my belly. It’s been over a year since I last saw them. Avery and his twin were deployed the day after... well, after that night in the service kitchen. The idea of seeing him at the gala crossed my mind, but... “I don’t know,” I mutter, slipping into the corset dress. “We knew what we wanted then, and that was that.”

No big deal, right?

“Bullshit,” Violet protests.

“Language,” our gamma associate scolds from somewhere nearby.

Violet is undeterred. “It’s true though. You blush every time you mention his name.”

“He’s somewhere else, not here,” I counter, letting the dress fall around me. I twirl and—damn it all to hell—I look like royalty, and I absolutely love it.

I fling the curtains back to show off.

“Oh yes, that’s the one!” the gamma exclaims delightedly.

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