Page 65 of Stalk the Dark
She shrugged. “Look, after the fright I’ve had, I’m owed a little normality.” The carriage clattered to life, and she handed me a pack of wet wipes. “I was just finishing supper when that bat thing busted into my house and kidnapped me. I woke up in this carriage with the dress I’d already dropped off at your place an hour or so before.”
I cleaned the blood off my face and neck, then set to work on my hands. “I don’t understand how Godor could have known I was in danger. And to pull it all together—the dress, you, and the hunters…”
“I’ve heard nobles talking,” Agatha said. “I have a few elite clients, and they say Ezekiel has eyes and ears everywhere.” She handed me a hairbrush. “He must value you.”
“Yeah. I’m his shiny new toy.” I yanked the brush through my hair, detangling it the best I could.
“Interesting color,” she said.
“The silver is my natural color; the gold was out ofa box. It’s growing out now, though.” I turned my head this way and that. “Did I get all the gunk?”
“I think so,” she said, examining me. “Now let’s get the dress on, and if we have time, I’ll pin your hair up.”
Getting dressedin a moving carriage was no easy feat, and all the hooks and lace didn’t help a damn bit. By the time we were done, I felt like sausage meat squeezed into a tube.
“My tits look huge in this.”
“I know!” Agatha clapped her hands, delighted. “But you see how the gauze I added to the top stops it from being obscene.”
“Yeah, sure it does.”
There was no denying the dress was beautiful. It was a deep shade of blue with silver thread embroidered along the hem and the corset part. It fell nicely to my ankles, the material not too heavy. She’d even added pockets like I’d asked. I slipped my daggers into them now.
“What about this?” She held up the holster housing my sword.
“Crap. Leave it in here.”
One thing I’d learned about our swords was they always found their way back to us.
She set the sword down and reached for my hair,fiddling with a tendril that had escaped the pins she’d dug into my head. She’d managed to put half of it up, leaving the rest to tumble about my shoulders.
“You look perfect.” She clasped her hands together beneath her chin, looking like a proud mama.
There was no mirror here, so I’d have to take her word for it. “It’d help if I could breathe.”
“Small shallow breaths,” she instructed. “No exerting yourself.” Her attention flicked to the window. “Looks like we’re here.” Fear flashed in her eyes as she settled into the shadows of the carriage.
“How will you get home?”
“That thing that picked me up. Godor…He said he would get me home.”
“Well, I’m not leaving you until he shows up.”
We passed through iron gates onto a smooth driveway. I stuck my head out of the window as we approached a four-story mansion lit up like a Christmas tree. There were carriages ahead of us, moving at a trot to round the opulent fountain that sat in the center of the drive. People exited, and carriages drove off one by one, drawing us closer to the front.
Something landed on our carriage with athud,and a moment later, Godor’s upside-down face appeared at the window.
Agatha let out a squeak and covered her mouth. His gaze settled on her, bright and probing. “Godor not hurt you. Godor take you home now.”
Shenodded. “Um…Thank you.”
We came to a halt, and Ordell opened my door, eyes flaring wide at the sight of me in my finery.
He held out his hand to help me exit. “Bloody hell,” he whispered, tucking my arm through his. “You’re making me extremely hard right now.”
What the…had he just said?—
“This way please,” a liveried man instructed, ushering us away from the carriage and up the steps to the house.
