Page 17 of Gilded Curses

They’d also chosen a black dress for Elsa with a sweetheart neckline and red bodice that hugged her curves. The black skirt fell open to reveal her thighs as her friend strode toward her. They’d pulled her chocolate-colored hair into a knot on her head; coiled strands fell free to frame her pretty face.

“You look beautiful,” Elsa said.

“So do you.”

Did they dress us up to kill us? She suspected she wasn’t the only one with this question on the tip of her tongue.

Another door opened, and Loth emerged. The brownie pulled at the lapels of his brown suit as he glared at the guards filling the dressing area. When he spotted them, he kept hold of his lapels as he strode toward them.

“Ladies,” he greeted.

“You look very handsome, Loth,” Sahira told him.

His smile didn’t reach his eyes. Pip and Fath emerged next. Fath also wore a brown suit, but Pip was in a maroon dress. She didn’t look happy about it as she tugged at the collar.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Pip in a dress,” Loth remarked.

As was his way, Fath remained quiet but watchful while their friend approached. A few more minutes passed before Orin emerged from his room.

Sahira suspected Orin had taken so long because he was being difficult as he liked to do. This was confirmed by the scowls on the women’s faces when they followed him from the dressing room.

Sahira barely managed to keep her mouth from dropping, but she couldn’t stop the extra thump of her heart as it hit her rib cage. She’d always known he was handsome, no one could deny it, but he also looked debonair in the perfectly tailored tuxedo that hugged all his lean muscles.

His freshly cut hair revealed the tips of his ears. His shaved skin shone, and the smile that could incense her, as easily as it melted her heart, was in place while he glided forward.

When his eyes fell on her, he faltered a step, but his smile never did as his head tilted to the side in that endearing way he had of examining her. As his eyes raked over her, hunger blazed in their black depths.

That look caused her to sway instinctively toward him as her nipples puckered and an ache spread between her legs. It had been too long since she’d been with him.

She was still angry at him for all the games he’d played with her, but she yearned to touch him again and to have those arms around her. He could make her feel safe while she forgot all about this place for a bit.

Shaking her head to clear it of her wayward musings, she reminded herself that others surrounded them. Otherwise, she might have rushed over, grasped his hand, and dragged him into one of the dressing rooms.

Her gaze flicked toward a closed door as she briefly contemplated it before returning to reality. No way would that be allowed; they had a role to play here.

She wasn’t entirely sure what that role was, but they were actors on a stage to entertain these immortals. When their entertainment value wore off, it would become an issue.

Orin stopped before her and extended his arm. “You look beautiful, my enchantress.”

A shiver ran down her spine, and though it shouldn’t, being called my by him made her happy. She was still irate with him for everything he’d done, but things were different between them; she didn’t know how or what it meant, but they were.

However, he was still a dark fae and Orin; he could easily stomp all over her heart and not realize it. She had to be so incredibly careful with him.

He’s also completely fucked in the head.

His admission in the bathroom had proven it. He had no idea how to handle the possibility he might have feelings for her, so Orin continued playing games by pretending he’d slept with other women.

The hurt he’d inflicted when he drank beer from that nymph’s chest, the night after they first had sex, was still a dagger to her heart. She reminded herself that even if he did care for her, his inability to process those feelings might send him running into the arms of another, instead of embracing her.

Still, she couldn’t stop herself from hooking her arm through his. “You look very handsome tonight, Orin.”

“I look handsome every night.”

She chuckled as her fingers gripped his arm. Leave it to Orin to remain overly confident and a bit of an ass while they were pretty prisoners in a gilded cage.

Another door opened, and Zeth finally emerged. He looked handsome in his tux, but the sleeves didn’t go to his wrists, and his pants stopped at midcalf. The jacket looked like it would split apart if he yawned.

Two women fussed around him as they pulled at the holes they’d cut around the hooks in his shoulders. “We’ll have something tailored for you tonight. It will be ready tomorrow,” one of them said.