AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I snorted. “You never pretend you like her.”
“Point still stands.”
Renee rolled her eyes again, and I absently wondered how many jibes I’d need to get them to stay that way. “Abbess Atiana says you’re to meet the Ambassador from Xynin in the lobby at 12:45.”
“I have plans.” I deadpanned.
“Unmake them, Abbess’s orders.” She shoved a small piece of paper in my hand, the bright red ordained seal at the bottom clear proof of the authenticity. “Look, you should be happy to get to escort him. Apparently, he asked for you. No clue why, but here we are.”
I curled my lip, and she pulled her foot away, flouncing her way down the hall, her dark black pencil skirt moving with the deliberate sway of her hips.
Never able to miss out on the last word, Ness stuck her head back out the door.
“Hey, Renee?”
The raven-haired beauty turned, her hip cocked as she folded her arms over her chest.
“I love the sound you make when you shut up!”
Renee’s indignant huff was the only answer as her heels picked up their pace down the hall.
“I never got why she doesn’t like us,” Ness said as she sat on the edge of her bed, breathing in the rich aroma of her favorite coffee and biting into the Boston cream donut I’d pilfered for her.
“Uh-huh,” I responded, licking the front of my teeth as I headed to my closet to dress.
“I mean, I feel bad for her. It must suck not to have anyone as awesome as me in her life.”
“Uh-huh, sure you do.” I rifled through clothes in my closet, multiple options falling to the floor as I carelessly shoved them away. “Just asI’m sure you felt as bad for her when you lifted that bracelet from on Yule.”
“I was just trying to keep it safe for her.” She said around a mouthful of custard cream and chocolate-covered goodness. “I heard there were dread pixies in the keep, and you know how they like shiny things.”
I looked heavenward as if seeking patience. “Or when you charmed Emma into repeating everything she said for a week,”
“Hearsay.”
“Or when you almost convinced Xander to leave her at West Edmonton Mall because you were out of money and too bored to wait for the designated meeting time,”
“Not my fault Xander had an intense craving for Friday night Salisbury steak.”
“Or when…”
“Okay, yeah, it probably makes sense.”
I laughed as I pulled out a dark black dress from the closet, holding it up to my chest as I stared at the floor-length mirror.
“The green one.”
I threw the black dress at my bed and returned to my closet to hastily yank out a green knitted sweater dress, the hanger crashing to the floor as it swung off the rod to join the other unfortunate victims of my less-than-gentle ministrations. Holding it up to my chest, I twisted back and forth in the full-length mirror, holding up my hair for effect as Ness swiped through her illicitly gained iPhone.
“Good sweet Devil below! The dress, not some poor excuse for a knitted parka.” She stared at me, her mouth so wide she could catch flies. “This may be Canada, but it is the middle of June.”
I groaned in exasperation. “It has snowed in June before.”
“Yeah, and I’ve lost at poker, too, but I certainly won’t tonight.”
“Oh yeah, who’s in the lineup this time?” I tossed the sweater onto the other rejected outfits before pulling out the dark green cocktail dress accented with soft pink wild roses and light green swirls at the neckline and hem to lighten the otherwise plain exterior. Ness had bought it for my birthday two years ago, and I’d never worn it besides the day she brought it home.
“The poor schmucks from Helorac seemed only too eager to show a pretty shy thing like me how to use her hand,” she replied, wagging her eyebrows suggestively at me.
