Chapter 54

The cool air of the room brushed past my face as I took a filling breath of air. My eyes were heavy, and my mind felt at peace. The calm spread through my limbs, starting from my toes and moving up into my legs, before reaching my chest, and finally flowing through my arms and head, all the way to the tips of my ears. My body relaxed fully into the comfortable chair, allowing my thoughts to come freely for a moment. And then letting them drift aside to begin my search for the mana within me.

The click and creak of the door to the room reached my ears, and my meditative trance came to a quick halt. I blinked my eyes open to find Camilla closing it behind her, several pieces of clothing hanging along her arm.

Had she gotten something tailored? I stretched my arms up, feeling surprisingly relaxed still, considering that I’d only just gotten started. Though, at least Camilla had finally showed back up, which put my worries at ease. I gave the sorceress a relieved smile.

“Good to see you’re taking your meditation at least a little seriously,” she said.

I eyed her, trying to decide if that was some kind of insult or not. I was taking it plenty seriously, wasn’t I?

Camilla cleared her throat, stepping toward me. “I bought you something.”

Tilting my head, I looked back at the bundle of white, black, and red fabric draped along her arm. They were for me? As she approached, I stood from the chair to meet her.

“What is it?”

“A new outfit.” She shot me a suspiciously devious grin, and my eyes narrowed. “Here.”

Tentatively, I grabbed the offered piece, the dress, and twisted it around until it flowed out in front of me, upright. The neck line swooped low, connected to cute and thin little sleeves that only barely covered the shoulder. Then the dress narrowed toward the waist, before widening once more into an exceedingly short, pleated skirt.

I blinked and gave it a small shake, as though expecting the rest of the skirt to fall down below from somewhere within. It took several seconds before I could really comprehend just what I was seeing. It was short, really short. All the dresses I’d ever worn or seen others wear went down to the feet. Even men didn’t really show off their legs, despite there being less of a taboo about it. It was an easy way to get dirty or pick up injuries. But this… It would leave the lower part of the legs completely nude—no, it was so short that it would be somewhere up above the knees, I realized, as I stared in horror. My cheeks flushed with enough color to rival the deep red in the dress, and I gazed back up at Camilla with parted lips.

“Well? Are you going to try it on?” she asked. As though nothing at all was wrong.

“Y-you. This is… You can’t be serious. Where’s the rest of it!?” I demanded.

“Well, there’s also a nice belt and headpiece that goes with it, plus a cute little apron.” She shook the offending items to emphasize her point.

I glared. “You know what I mean. This is barely a dress!” I hissed out. “I might as well wear a towel around the mansion. It would probably cover more of me.” I waved the skimpy bit of fabric at her.

She grinned. “That would certainly be a lovely sight. But really, what are you saying, Pearl? Don’t you like it?” My eye twitched, and she continued, “Surely you can give the lovely little dress a try, after I went through all that trouble to get it made and all the hard work the tailor went through to design and create it?”

I spluttered. “You—this. That’s not fair.” I bit my lip and looked down at it once more. My warm face caught fire at the idea of actually trying it on, and my legs fidgeted and wobbled in place. “I can’t possibly wear this.”

Camilla let out a gasp and gripped her chest dramatically. Her fingers passing through the opaque shadows as she swayed, as though physically wounded. “Oh, my poor, vulnerable heart. Crushed so absolutely. My gift tossed aside and forsaken.” Her other hand moved up to shadow her eyes.

“That’s not…” My voice trailed as I frowned. “I—I’m not saying I don’t appreciate it.”

In an instant, she bounced back, another grin on her face as she leaned forward. “So then, you’ll try it on?”

A sigh escaped me. I was going to regret this.

“Fine.”

Sharp teeth shined my way, and she took a step toward me. I took a step back, knowing exactly where this was about to go.

“But I’m putting it on myself. Alone.” I’d been a dress up doll far too much lately. It was time I put my foot down for once.

Camilla’s smile faltered, but not completely, and she shrugged. “If you wish.” Her tone was nonchalant, but it was obvious she wanted to ‘help.’

My eyes flickered around, trying to find somewhere to change with some amount of privacy.

The sorceress ogled me, not even bothering to hide her indecent grin. “I can turn around, if you’d like.”

I bit my lip and then frowned before giving in. “Okay, but no peeking.”

I gestured for her to turn, and she did so dutifully. For a moment, I stared at her back, wondering if I should trust her. Then I realized I was being silly. She’d already seen me naked, and more. Why was I so embarrassed after everything else we’d already done?

That didn’t stop me from shyly turning my back to her as I stripped and then slipped into the dress. I tugged at the lower ends of it, ends that I could easily reach, up above my knees. Cool air breezed across exposed skin. My naked legs seemed to agree with me, fidgeting and rubbing together in the cool, open air, wishing for something to cover them. The sleeves of the dress weren’t any better, covering none of my arm at all and basically being lacy shoulder fluff. Even the ‘neck’ of the dress curved downward, dangerously close to my small chest. If you could even call it the ‘neck,’ considering that it was nowhere near mine.

“How did you convince anyone to make this?” I muttered. That poor tailor. I hoped she survived the ordeal. Evine was rather conservative in her thoughts on clothing, from what I remembered, and this was on the level of quality that a noble outfit. Were it not so scandalous.

Camilla took this as permission to turn her head. Her eyes lit up like a lightning storm on a dark night as she stared. The red gaze followed the dresses curves and along each indecent line as cloth gave way to naked skin.

“It looks to fit you well. Really accentuates your budding curves. And the white lace lining along the top shows off those cute red cheeks just like I thought they would.” She met my gaze, and her smile devoured me.

I twisted around, fearing that if my face got any more heated, I’d begin feeling faint or I’d rise up like a heated balloon.

“It’s not too tight anywhere, is it?” she whispered from my back, inching closer. Her hands slid up around the fabric at my shoulders, and I let out an embarrassing squeak.

“C-Camilla!” Face steaming, I turned to face her. Her hands trailed down to my sides, making sure it wasn’t too snug. “It’s f-fine,” I mumbled.

“It’d look wonderful with a corset,” she said. “We’ll have to get a nice matching one that can help push up your chest.” Then she placed a lacy headband through my hair and tied a frilly red and white choker around my neck. Taking a step back, she eyed the whole thing together—from the frilly white lace curving around soft cotton fabric, to the bright red and black detailing that drew the eyes. It wasn’t like a normal dress that a maid would wear, something well-made for wear, easy to overlook, and touching the feet. Instead, this one grabbed your attention, from the bright colors, to the naked skin so boldly on display. I fidgeted once again, rubbing my legs as Camilla’s gaze continued to bore into me, full of raw, heated desire.

“I don’t suppose that, for dinner tonight, there would be a chance that you’d—“

“No.” My head shook vehemently. I gave her a scolding glare, my voice stern and leaving no room for debate. “There is not.” I was not wearing this to dinner tonight. Not even if she got on her knees and begged me. Though that would certainly be a sight.

She brushed it aside with a wave of her hand. “I guessed as much. Couldn’t hurt to ask. You’d look so…” The side of her lip quirked upward as her face warmed. Then she let out a steamy sigh. “Probably for the best. I’d be tempted to lay you out across the table and do things best not shown in ‘polite’ company.” Her sharp smile shined in the light of the room.

I knew it wasn’t a serious request. Probably. Word of it would reach the Praevus, if he wasn’t at the dinner himself and, well, I wasn’t honestly sure after that. Would it be a bad thing? Was it possible that it could work in our favor? Make him believe that I was doing my job of getting on her side? Or would he just become suspicious instead?

I shook my head. It didn’t matter. There was no way I was doing it, regardless. It was a silly idea. And both the Praevus and Silas would probably be there. I gagged at the idea of them both ogling me. No. Way.

“I’m going to change back, then.”

Camilla gave a disappointed ‘aww’ but didn’t object as I began to untie the choker and told her to turn back around. With quick fingers, I escaped the skimpy little dress and put back on something sensible. As I pulled it over my head and slipped my arms in, a crinkled slip of paper fell to the floor beside me.

“Oh!” I said with a start, and bent down to grab it, as the rest of the dress fell around me. “Rosetta had this for you. I’ve, umm, already read it.” The small note detailed what happened during the talk with her uncle, ending with the fact that he’d insisted on communicating with the secretive smugglers himself rather than letting her get directly involved with them.

Camilla took a moment to read it over, tapping her side.

“Better than the worst-case scenario, at least. Though not ideal.”

I nodded. “What are we going to do now?”

“It’s too dangerous to do anything too obvious.” She began to pace back and forth. “Right now, he’s our only connection to them, and as much as I’d like to talk with him directly, it’s too risky as anything except a last resort. We may have to just wait and see what he has to say tomorrow.”

I sighed. “More waiting.”

“Unfortunately,” she said with a nod. “But once we have a way to safely contact them, I expect things will begin to move quite quickly.” Camilla stopped her back-and-forth stride and looked my way. “There’s a small bag in the wardrobe. When the time to run comes, you’ll need to quickly stuff it with what clothes you can. Have whatever you’re going to put in near it and easy to place in. Just don’t make it obvious in case anyone searches the room. The previous room has been searched three times since I’ve arrived.”

I blanched. “Th-three times?”

She gave me a smirk and said, “Not including your disastrous bumble through the first time, yes. Three, or perhaps four.” She tapped her chin. “I’m not as sure about the last one. Either way, we can’t make things too obvious, understood?”

I nodded, and she stepped in front of me to ruffle my hair. I shifted away from her indignantly. She’d really taken a liking to doing that. And it was annoying how it make my ears give that weird flickering twitch.

Camilla stared closely down at my head and let out a hum. “It’s hard to say for certain just yet, but your ears do seem to be shifting downward, I would guess. They’re definitely growing too, from what I can tell.” Another hand came up to touch one, and I begrudgingly allowed it. “Can you hear anything out of them yet?”

“No. Do you really think I’ll be able to?” Imagining hearing out of another set of ears just seemed strange.

“Highly likely, yes. Let’s hope they don’t have a sudden growth spurt anytime soon. Have you noticed anything strange with your normal ears? Them shrinking, or anything like that?”

My fingers felt along my regular ears, wishing I had a mirror handy. “I don’t think they have. But it’s hard to tell, honestly. I’ve been so caught up in the other changes to my body and everything else happening that I haven’t been really looking at my ears.” My breasts felt just a bit squishier just about every day. Though perhaps that was my imagination. They were clearly growing, though, having become small, but undeniable breasts at this point.

“Do you really think it’s a mistake to learn this cultivation stuff now?” I looked up at her with worry filled eyes. “I really want to, but,” I paused. “I worry that you’re right—that it’s just going to put us more in danger.”

My request to learn magic had admittedly been a selfish one, I realized, and made in ignorance of just what it would entail. That self-serving childishness was something that I was trying to move away from. The truth was that Lena wasn’t the only one of us who needed to be more considerate of others, a point she’d made when we were having our fight. In the heat of the moment, I’d demanded to learn cultivation from Camilla because I wanted to feel like I was doing something. And now that I was slowly learning, I still felt useless.

Had I learned nothing from becoming marked or the disastrous argument with Lena? I couldn’t keep pretending that my actions didn’t have real consequences—that I could ‘adventure’ my way out of any problem. I had to face the reality in front of me, rather than continually trying to dream up another and accept the truth of who and what I was. A powerless fool. The causer of numerous problems. Someone reluctant to leave the fantasies of stories and fake dreams.

A man.

Felix.

“I wouldn’t fret over it,” Camilla said, and ruffled my hair again before I grumpily pulled away. “It’s not going to make much of a difference before we need to leave, which could be any time now.” Her eyes shifted toward the wall, narrowing. “At this point, I’m wondering just what the Praevus is waiting on. He’s holding back for something, and I hate to admit that I’m not certain of what that is.”

I could agree with that. Figuring out what was going on in his head seemed like a rather impossible task.

We stood in silence for a moment; then her gaze turned back to me. “But let me worry about that. How was the talk with your father?” she asked, changing the subject.

Oh. Right. I hadn’t yet mentioned to her the small little detail of me telling my father all about the dangerous secrets of what’s been happening the last few days and of our plan to find a way to safely escape town. Camilla raised a curious eyebrow, and with a gulp, I prepared myself for the storm of wrath that lay ahead.