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“Perfect. Reo?” Eisley looked toward the corner of the store.
A tall, elegant fae man stood up. He had a mass of curly hair that looked like actual art, brown skin, and eyes that glowed lavender. Unlike the other fae males, he was wearing full-length pants and a fancy shirt. “Ready?”
“Yup. Our little human is trying to gain some weight, so it’d be great if you could leave her some room to grow.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
They led me into a room, and I tried not to feel weird when the man measured my waist, breasts, and hips with a thin rope, making notes on the wall afterward. My eyes moved over the wood and widened when I saw hundreds of sets of measurements, all written in different places on the wall. Mine was off to the left side, near the middle vertically.
“You keep track of people’s sizes?” I asked.
“Of course. I don’t want to remeasure when they need new clothing. Take your current dress off; I’ll need to alter the clothes while you wear them to make sure everything fits right.”
I looked at Eisley for help, and she just nodded.
Guess I was stripping for the stranger.
He stepped back, and I pulled the dress on. He tsked his tongue as it fell into place. “You have a lot of weight to gain, my dear.”
“Yeah.” I bit my lip, cheeks flushing.
“You’ll likely need new dresses in a week or two with more fabric than these have. They’ll need to be custom. Do all humans starve?” There was some kind of morbid curiosity in his eyes.
“Reo,” Eisley protested.
My cheeks flushed hotter. “It’s fine. No, most humans don’t starve. The others trapped me because of my magic, so they could use me.”
His curiosity was replaced with pity. “Welcome to Jirev then, human. What’s your name?”
“Nissa.”
He wrote it next to my measurements while I tugged the first dress on.
I watched in fascination as he focused his magic to create needles of ice, threading them in the process. He began tucking some pieces of fabric and untucking others, altering the dress’s waistline a bit and adjusting the sleeves so it fit my shorter human body. He left the skirt portion’s length where it was when I asked him to, without batting an eye at the request.
A few minutes later, I changed into the next dress and we restarted the process.
After Reo had finished with the final two dresses, Eisley paid the man, and we headed out. Two of my new dresses and the one she’d loaned me were tucked inside a cloth bag that hung over my shoulder. My bright orange dress swayed around my legs with every step I took, and I found myself enjoying the soft motion.
Maybe I liked wearing bright colors and short dresses.
I was feeling much more hopeful about everything after my trip into the dress shop. Something about the way Reo acknowledged me without insulting me made me feel a little more confident in my place with the fae.
My connection with Kierden was… a mess. One I had no idea how to deal with. We were civil most of the time, but friendliness wasn’t a thing. All we had was lusty attraction and forced nearness, both of which were useless considering that developing feelings for each other could lead to us gettingmurdered.
But my issues with him didn’t mean I couldn’t fit in with the fae. My magic was the opposite of theirs, but it was still magic. And I had a bonded esu who already saw me as one of them, so I belonged.
I did.
I just needed to stop letting my fear control me and start acting like it.
So, as we walked to a cute little shop serving food that looked like some type of soup, I lifted my chin and put my shoulders back.
I hadn’t escaped the way I hoped, but Ihadescaped. I wasn’t a prisoner anymore, and I wasn’t hiding either.
We sat down at a table, and I felt eyes on me.
One glance around the room proved it was alotof eyes.
