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“What?”
Shaking myself out of my stunned state, I shrugged. “Why would you do that for me?”
He stood and walked to the door. “I can’t change the past, I can’t ease your pain, but I can help you with this.”
Then he was gone.
This morning’s plans had gone fairly well, and I’d put fear into the heart of an Elemental of all beings. So, why was I failing to keep him under my control? I hated him. Plain and simple. Yet, I’d agreed not to lie to him anymore. I should be lying to his criminal face every second! What was wrong with me?
Groaning, I left the room and went downstairs.
“Tessa, you look beautiful!” Nathaniel gushed over my dress when I stood at the bottom of the stairs. “See, I told you that dress would look nice on you.”
I wanted to stick my tongue out, but Jeff called to Nathaniel and a light knock came at the door. Nathaniel was already engrossed in whatever Jeff had said, so I slipped to the door, opened it a little, and grabbed the dress bag from a humored-looking Dalton.
Closing the door without a word, I fled up the stairs to change. The dress was red and hot. A note pinned to the bag from Grace stated she hoped I liked it.
Slipping the dress from the bag, I slipped it on after removing the other from my body. Good riddance. When I looked back at the mirror, my face broke out in a large smile. It was exactly what I’d wanted. Nathaniel was going to kill me, but I was going to wow tonight.
The skirt of the dress was long, resting on the floor even with my height. Multiple billowing layers of fabric ended with a longer sheer layer on top of the fabric. Another shorter sheer layer lay on top of that. A mid-thigh-length slit finished the skirt off in front of my left leg. The bodice fit comfortably, and fabric around my neck held the dress up. The back showed more skin than Nathaniel would like, but only from mid-back up, and the V-neck only showed a little.
Nerves ate at me. I never defied Nathaniel. My mom had always done what she wanted, and I’d vowed to be just like her, but after her death, I’d lost my spark. Defiance ran in my blood, but I’d always been so afraid to disappoint my mentor that, when I came out of my grief-induced haze, I’d forgotten who I was. Maybe it was time to find me again.
Smile on my face, I went back to finish my makeup and thanked whoever had put the thought in my head to bring the bright red lipstick I never wore. It matched the dress, and I looked stunning, if I did say so myself.
A knock at the door told me it was time to go. I walked out of the bathroom as Jeff stuck his head in the room and his jaw hit the ground.
“Like it?” I couldn’t help but be flattered at his reaction. A girl, even one bent on revenge, liked to know she looked good.
“I owe Grace a favor whenever she calls it in.” Not the answer I was expecting and I found myself a little disappointed.
“Why?”
“Her condition for the dress was I’d owe her a favor if you looked stunning in it, meaning she succeeded. I now owe her a favor.”
A flush covered my cheeks. Why was my body reacting to his praise like this? Why was I smiling? I wanted to kill him! How, in twenty-four hours, had he gotten me to go from poisoning his cookies to preening at his praise?
“It’s time to go, Tessa. There’s no time for Nate to make you change back.”
I took in a deep breath as I grabbed up my clutch and pushed my shoulders back. “Okay.”
“Tessa!” Nathaniel’s mouth hung open as he noticed me start down the stairs. I stumbled, watching his expression, but Jeff caught me easily around the waist and righted me.
“Here, take my arm.” He usually wanted nothing to do with touching me, so I couldn’t figure out what was going on with him.
Slipping my arm through his gave me more support, and we made it easily to the bottom of the stairs. I usually didn’t need support, but my mentor usually wasn’t gaping at me like he was now.
He cleared his throat. “I’m not sure where you got that dress, but while you look beautiful, I’m not sure it’s appropriate for tonight.”
“Shut it, Nate.” Jeff’s voice had my head whipping to look at him. It had deepened and sounded like a growl. “She looks beautiful. Leave her be. We need to go anyway.”
Nathaniel led the way to the door, and I followed him only to be hit by a gust of wind.
“Brrr…I forgot the weather.”
“Do you have a coat?”
“My robe. It’s upstairs.”
