Lexi gulped as she ran her hands over thesilky material again. The bodice was formfitting. It hugged herwaist in, while emphasizing and pushing up her breasts. It wassleeveless with gold chains across her shoulders that fell to herupper arms.
She felt beautiful in the dress and couldn’twait for Cole to see her in it, but she couldn’t help fearing itmight be the last thing she ever wore. And then she hated herselffor being so morbid.
With a sigh, she shifted her attention backto Amaris and the others. As they worked, they talked about thingshappening around the palace and how fast the new homes were goingup.
When she finished on the dress’s hem, Amarisrose, stretched her back, and beamed at Lexi. “We’re almostdone.”
“It looks amazing,” Lexi said for thehundredth time since she’d tried it on today.
“I have something to show you.”
Amaris walked over and lifted a sketch padfrom one of Cole’s sitting room chairs. She opened it and startedflipping through the pages as she approached Lexi.
“I know you haven’t set a date yet, but Icouldn’t help sketching out some ideas I had. If they’re not whatyou want, let me know, and I can do whatever you envision, but Ihad to get the ideas out of my head,” Amaris told her.
When she held the sketch pad up in front ofLexi, her eyes widened, and her mouth parted as she gazed at thebeautiful wedding dress on the page. It was far more elaborate andbigger than she’d imagined, but it was gorgeous.
Amaris talked as she started flipping throughthe pages, showing dress after dress. “We can do so many differentthings with your hair, but I think it would look so lovely up andaway from your face to show off your features.”
When she flipped to the next page, Lexigasped at the stunning, simple dress on the page. It hugged themodel’s body to the waist before falling to trail on the groundbehind her. The lacy design was simple, the scalloped neckenticing, and the simple gold chains around the middle,eye-catching.
“You like this one?” Amaris asked.
“It’s beautiful.”
“And simple on you is the best option. You’refar too beautiful for anything more.”
A blush burned Lexi’s cheeks as she bowed herhead. “That’s very kind of you.”
“It’s the truth,” Amaris said as she closedthe notebook and turned her brilliant smile on Lexi. “As soon asyou have a date, we’ll get to work on the dress.”
“I’m looking forward to it. You’re extremelytalented.”
Amaris looked up at Lexi from under her thicklashes. “Thank you.”
As Amaris hurried over to put her sketch paddown, Lexi found herself hoping she got the chance to set a date.She and Cole hadn’t really discussed their wedding; they were bothtoo focused on surviving this “celebratory” ball.
She lifted her head to stare out the windowat the Gloaming. She could see the rolling fields and some newlybuilt homes from her position. The echoing sounds of hammershitting nails reverberated across the land.
“I heard it’s going to be a big ball,” one ofthe women said as she stepped back to survey her handiwork onLexi’s dress.
“How exciting,” another murmured.
Lexi didn’t find anything exciting about anyof this. Ever since reading the invitation, she felt like a frogthat had jumped into the frying pan.
The Lord had commanded one of his dragons toeat Cole’s father and killed hundreds of pixies to prove a viciouspoint. Now they were going to walk into Dragonia, where they wouldhave to pretend to be happy the murderous bastard was throwing thema party.
She wasnota good actress.
And it didn’t help that she could feel thedarkness and anger churning incessantly inside Cole. The shadowsmoved and responded to him, even when he wasn’t paying attention tothem.
She wasn’t the only one on edge about thisball; he was too. The shadows were using that as their opportunityto grow stronger and become more a part of him. She was terrifiedthey would one day take him over.
The only thing she could do was hope the Lorddidn’t try something. Cole would call on the shadows then. He’ddraw them in, and they would latch on and dig their way deeper intohim.
But she highly doubted this ball was going togo through without something horrible happening. The Lord had beenlooking for an excuse to go after them. Their engagement, and thetraitor ortraitorsin the Gloaming, had handed it tohim.
Both she and Cole believed Becca wasreporting back to him. She hated Lexi and wanted Cole for herself.She also craved power and would do whatever it took to get it, evenbetray her king.
