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“Fine.” I slowly remove my weapons and set them on the floor while Danel does the same.
“Come with me,” the guard says, leading me at gunpoint to a cell. Craning to look over my shoulder, I watch as Danel is dragged in the opposite direction.
CHAPTER 13
TANIA
“Where’s the Atroxian pearls?”
“Shit, the headpiece just broke off.”
“Well, fucking glue it back on then! She’s walking in five.”
Backstage of the Glimner’s Fashion Week is utter chaos as girls buzz like bees in a hive honeycombed with models, accessories, and scrap synthfabric. All in the service of our “virgin” queen, Sathior Havani.
For a moment, I just take in the madness, too overwhelmed to move. My pockets are full of rescued scrap synthfabric and I’m functioning on less than five hours of sleep. It’s the first day. I have a whole week to go running around in a blind panic. How will I survive this?
And then Alice shoves a dress into my hands.
“Can you get that to Clytemnestra over there?” She nods to the Kaleidian model on the other side of the room. The woman stands waiting in her undergarments and looking a little lost.
I know exactly how she feels. I’ve been dreaming of Glimner Fashion Week for all my life, but actually being here feels a bit like standing in the middle of a windstorm.
The weeks leading up to it have pushed me far beyond my limits, and I’m exhausted to a point where I wonder if I’m coming down with something. I’m not allowed to get sick until after the show, though. After the push of Fashion Week, we’re all given a week off to rest before we have to start preparing the next collection.
“Special delivery,” I say as I approach her with the garment.
The Kaleidian model looks barely out of her teens, and she smiles nervously as I help her into the dress and begin adjusting the accessories. “Is this your first fashion week?” I ask.
She laughs. “Am I that obvious?” The white of the gown compliments the azure hue of her skin, and it reminds me of Garet. The thought sends a pang in my chest. Everything has been leading to Garet, lately, but a nice Kaleidian is rare enough that I can’t help but think about the other one I know. Wherever he is, I hope he’s doing okay, and that I didn’t mess up his dream job.
“Nah, it’s just my first one too. I recognized that look of panic from my reflection in the mirror.” I fasten an oversized, glittering bow into her silvery hair. At first glance, the white of the bow resembles the white of her hair, but then, it catches the light, and rainbow prisms cascade down her white dress.
“I mean, it’s not my first show, just my first fashion week.” She tilts her head curiously. “Usually, it’s Petra who dresses me for Sathior’s shows. Is she okay?”
I swallow, my throat dry. A part of the reason that things are more chaotic than Sathior’s typical shows is that Petra got pregnant.
As workers in her virgin chic line, we must be chaste. We’re not allowed to take male lovers. It’s too much of a distraction and cuts into our productivity. To be fair, if we’re not too obvious, they would look the other way if we took a female lover, especially someone already working for her.
This is because the worst thing we can do is get pregnant. If that happens, we’re basically useless to her. We selfish sluts would lose her so much time and profit between the doctors’ appointments, medical leave, and actually raising the baby.
Everyone knows this, but yesterday, we were brutally reminded of the consequences of breaking the rules.
I was just finishing up the embroidery on a glove when the yelling started.
“Out! Out, out, out!” Sathior shouted as she practically dragged Petra by the hair through the room and threw her to the ground.
“Miss Havani, please!” She sobbed, curling protectively around her slightly swollen middle. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry is useless.Youare nothing but a useless slut.” She turned her back to the weeping woman. “Let this be a lesson to you girls. Don’t take lovers, and if you whores absolutely cannot control yourselves, don’t be stupid enough to get pregnant.”
I opened my mouth to speak up, but Alice grabbed my arm. Her eyes met mine and she shook her head. This wasn’t right, but what could we do? We would lose our jobs, our homes, everything.
So, I watched with tears welling in my eyes as Petra shakily got to her feet, grabbed her things, and left.
We all know the rules, but we didn’t expect her to be fired so quickly and so ruthlessly for her infraction. Petra used to be one of Sathior’s favorites. But Sathior is as fickle as fashion trends and doesn’t care about people beyond their usefulness.
Clytemnestra is still waiting for an answer to her question. Finally, I force a smile. “She had to leave. It’s a family thing,” I say, and it’s not a complete lie. She did technically leave due to a family issue.
