“Ready for?”
“For the woman who will love him, of course! He is quite Goddessblessed indeed to have captured one who is a Goddess herself!” He darted around the room, adjusting a candlestick here, the corner of a rug there. “Mistress Reshina, I do hope this room is to your liking.” He fumbled with his hands again. “I’ve gathered all the necessary amenities you’ll need and with just afew minor color adjustments, I believe you will be most comfortable for your time here.”
I exhaled softly, sitting by the fire. “That won’t be necessary, Piffle. The color of the room is most agreeable.”
“Oh!” he shouted, slapping a hand across his mouth and running to the tall armoire in the corner. “No! I meant for these!” He flung the doors open wide, a rush of brilliantly hued fabric swishing out from behind them. Pinks and pale greens, patterns of florals and shades of sky blue fell from the hooks one by one as he yanked them to the floor. “These would never do, never, never do,” he mumbled, gathering the gowns in his hands and tripping more than once as he crossed the room. “Forgive me, Goddess of Beauty, I assumed the Cursebreaker would wear something similar to Mistress Marianna, but, oh! Foolish Piff! These are not for you at all!”
Rubbing a hand across my temple I held in a yawn. “It is not necessary to obtain a new wardrobe as I will not be here long enough to need one.” I glanced down to the tears in my black silken skirts and the snags in the lace of my sleeves.
A shame to be sure.
I loved this dress.
“I…I will find you something suitable to sleep in, Mistress. Although I do not see how you could fall in love with the man and that Beast in less than a day, but I am not an expert in such things, either.”
“I’ll find another way to leave,” I said, setting my cup on a small table and bringing my legs up onto the cushions and closing my eyes.
“PILLOW!”
The yell hardly sounded before a stuffed velvet pillow found its way underneath my head, jolting me upwards. “What in the…” I trailed, finding Piffle’s face across the golden cushion.
“You said to warn you before I changed. Was that not whatyou meant?” it said, slightly muffled and with a bit of stuffing coming from the corner of its mouth.
“What? I—no—” I released a huff of air. “Piffle, I do not need another pillow. I need to lay down for a bit. You may leave now.”
He was a fae again, bowing low and backing out of the room. “Of course, Your Radiance! If you need me, you shall only call my name down the hall and I will be with you?—”
“Thank you,” I interrupted. “That will be all for now.”
With an enormous grin, he backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. And with the soft click of the door, I fell across the settee, sleep overtaking me faster than expected.
CHAPTER 9
Arthur
“She is settled, then?”
Piff nodded in irritating jubilance. “Indeed! And she said the colors of the room were very agreeable!” He meddled with the pillows along the headboard of my bed, folding back the blankets he’d just worked so hard to tidy. “Those dresses will never do, never ever do,” he muttered under his breath. “I’ll need to send an order into Riche for darker fabric. Black and perhaps something evergreen, or a deep mulberry wine?—”
“Piff,” I interrupted, sipping on my fourth glass of yagsmead for the evening. “Reshina cannot break the curse in the way you’re hoping she can. I’m sorry to inform you, old friend, but I will be leaving you soon.”
“Oh, Master!” he laughed, shaking his head and patting at the sheets. “Your threats don’t fool me. You’ve been at the yagsmead again, and?—”
“You don’t understand,” I rumbled, falling forward with my head in my hands. “Reshinaisthe Cursed Goddess of the Veil. She is cursed to never love another.”
“Reshina?” he gasped, picking up her book at my bedside table. “Reshinais…”
“Yes. That book was originally penned by her. To tell her story.”
“So you mean?—”
“Yes.”
“And she can't?—"
“She cannot.”
“So that means you?—”
