Page 40 of A Kiss From Death
I hear the Empress growing impatient next to me, and my hand starts to tremble with nerves. “Today,dear.” Her voice carries an edge, and I know it’s now or never.
Taking a deep breath, I nod to the Vanquisher, signaling I’m ready to begin. Reaching out, I wrap my fingers around the first blade and visualize each target in front of me. One sits directly to my left, about ten feet away. There’s one directly behind it, around twenty feet from me, with two more to my right sitting at the samedistances. Lastly, three are placed in front of me about fifteen feet away, but they are stacked on top of each other.
I decide to move from left to right until I’ve worked my way through all the targets. I angle my body to what I think is the right distance to my left for the first close target. Drawing my wrist back, I fling the blade with medium effort.
The sound of my weapon hitting its mark puts a small, satisfied smile on my face, but it vanishes just as fast as I reach over to grab my next blade and aim it at the target behind. Hearing the clunk of my blade hitting true for the second time, I pluck three more blades from the table. Adjusting my body to face straight forward now, I fire off three blades back to back, making sure each one is aimed a little higher than the last. Three satisfying thuds ring out, confirming I hit each target.
Two targets remain to my right as I turn my body, praying I calculated the right distance. Swiping two more blades from the table, I let the last two fly, both whooshing before hitting their mark.
Now, for the grand finale. Calming my racing heart, I wrap my delicate fingers around the last blade. I hear whispers around me of people confused as to why I’m holding the extra blade.
Angling my body to face the Bubble’s wall to my left, I draw my wrist back, flinging my arm forward with as much strength as I can muster. Eagerly ripping my blindfold off, I track the rogue blade through the air, ricocheting harshly off the force field and sailing back through the air in front of me. Dragging my eyes with it, just as I hoped, Hade still stands tucked away to my right in the exact place I last saw him.
To my surprise, he doesn’t move an inch as the blade flies through the air. Curving down, it spirals right into the belt holding his sword to his body and rips clean through. His sword falls to the ground in a loudclunk. The entire time, Hade doesn’t move an inch. His eyes remain intently locked on mine without even bothering to check if I’ve injured him. I can’t tell if he truly fearsnothing in life or is lacking brain cells. I don’t allow the festering thought that he might fully trust me to sink its roots into my fragile heart. That is not a blow I could survive just yet.
A feral smile takes over my face as I blow him a kiss and saunter off to Winston to take me back to my room. Cheers erupt around the perimeter of the Bubble, and I almost think I hear a chuckle behind me as I skip out and back to the castle.
“So…don’t hate me, but I sort of ruined Theo’s leather jacket.” Des nervously paces the length of my room, fiddling with her hands as I lounge on my bed, reading a romance book she smuggled for me.
My heart comes to a complete stand still. “You what? Please tell me this is another one of your silly jokes.” I’ve forgotten all about the love confession scene I was in the middle of reading and now stare intensely at Des, who looks like she’s on the verge of fainting.
She takes two deep breaths and carefully contemplates how she wants to phrase her next sentence. “Umm, well, mayberuinedwas the wrong word. Cut up is maybe a better option.” Her voice pitches up at the confession.
There must be steam coming out of my ears now, because her face turns a bright shade of red and her chest heaves. “No, thatdefinitely sounds worse than ruined. Ummm, repurposed… Yeah, that definitely sounds better.”
I raise my eyebrows at her in question. “Explain, now!”
She nods to herself, and a bit of her never-ending confidence starts to shine through. “I think it would be better for me to show you rather than explain it.” I nod in agreement, and she seems to smile. “So you know how I told you I’ve been working on a secret project? Said secret project was your outfit for tonight’s ball marking the start of the Crucible. I wanted you to stand out, but I also wanted it to be special for you.”
“Where does ruining Theo’s leather jacket come into play?” I prod.
“The Empress always assigns a theme for the ball. This year, she has chosen Circus Extravaganza. I wanted to make you a custom, one of a kind piece. I was thinking a red and black color palette would be perfect.Obviously,I want you to stand out, so a red dress is a must. But then, I was trying to figure out how to incorporate black into it, and I remembered Theo’s leather jacket.” She nibbles her lip nervously. “Well, next thing you know, scissors appeared in my hand, and then they were chopping away at his jacket before I could stop myself and…ugh, I’ll just show you.” She turns to grab something from behind the changing screen, muttering under her breath, “Please don’t hate me.”
I’m up in an instant, running over to her as she pulls the creation out from behind the screen. I gasp. “Des…”
She drops her face into her hands, mumbling through her fingers. “You hate it, I knew it.”
“Odessa, look at me right now!” I say sternly.
She slowly drags her face up to meet mine. “I give you full permission to hit me. Just avoid my face, please. It’s my money maker.” She stands stiff as a board, eyes closed and waiting for impact.
“I have no words,” I whisper.
She peels one eye open, anxiously looking at me.
A single tear escapes down my cheek. “I love it. I couldn’t think of a more fitting way to carry Theo’s memory with me tonight. I confessed to you when we met that I would like to feel beautiful for the first time in my life. This creation, Des, is so much more than that. It’s us woven together, something I can cherish forever. I could never repay you for this, even if I traveled through a million lives.”
“I knew it!” Des beams under my praise. “I never doubted myself, not even for a second.” She winks at me while patting herself on the back, and a small, breathy laugh escapes me. Leave it to Des to turn an anxious, emotional moment into a happy one. No, a happypang.
Taking a step forward, I drag my fingers across the cherry-red silk fabric. It feels like butter between my fingers. The thin shoulder straps are made from dainty black chains connected to red silk triangle cutouts on each side. An intricate black leather corset curves under the breasts, made from Theo’s jacket, taking up the middle portion and adorned with vertical bowing and crossed laces to hold its tight shape.
The delicate triangle breast sections are connected to the corset using black metal hoops across the bottom. Sewn into the bottom of the corset is more red silk that tapers tight at the hips and then pools out at the ground. Thigh high slits cut up both sides, making the center panel drape between the legs. Black, glittering feathers dance across the bottom of the hem, making it appear fluffy. The back of the corset has leather straps crisscrossed all the way down to hold it extra tight and push up the cleavage.
“How did you even come up with this design, Des?” She blushes hard now, soaking up every compliment I throw her way. I continue my hand down the dress to swipe against the leather corset, soaking in its familiar feel. Leaning forward, I deeply inhalethe worn leather scent mixed with Theo’s lingering scent and hum to myself. It smells as though he’s standing here with me.
I close my eyes and picture him standing in front of me now, basking in his memory. What would he think of all this? Would he call me crazy? Silly? Maybe brave? Most likely all three, but even more, I know he would call me his princess. He’d make me feel like I was the only woman alive or dead who could hold his attention. My one in a million, my Theo.
“You’re doing it again,” Des grumbles next to me before continuing with her long speech about how this masterpiece came to fruition. “As I said earlier, every good creation starts with a color palette. I really wanted the piece to speak for itself, so I kept it limited so it wouldn’t distract from all the details. I wanted it to be feminine but also sexy, with a little edge to match the circus theme.”
