Page 1 of Royally Hacked Belle & Flame
ALIX
“Ouch!” I wince and recoil away from the sharp pain stabbing into my side.
The elderly seamstress circling me like a vulture sniffs and throws me a dark look. “Apologies, my lady…but if you would just stop moving…”
I let out a long breath and swallow the retort I’m longing to blurt out. I’m not moving—at least not by human standards. And if I am, it’s only because she keeps stabbing me with her damn pins.
“If it helps, you look amazing,” Odessa says from where she’s leaning against the end of my bed. “You’re almost done. Just hold your breath.”
I wrinkle my nose, but take her advice and hold my breath as the seamstress adds another row of pins to the waist of my gown.
We’re only two days away from my wedding, and I’m standing on a low platform in the middle of my bedroom, while Dessa supervises the stab-happy Fae seamstress putting the final touches on my wedding gown.
Odessa just arrived in Vernallis this morning, having spent the last several months out at sea with her soul-bond, Kastian, and their new crew. I’d been getting a little nervous that they wouldn’t come back in time for the wedding, but I should have known better. Dessa would never want to miss this.
“How are the wishes coming along?” Odessa asks, clearly aiming to distract me.
“We’re nearly done. I?—”
“Don’t talk!” the seamstress hisses, cutting me off as she stabs another pin into my stomach.
I flinch violently again, and my eyes water. “Okay, that’s it. I need a break.”
The seamstress sniffs with disapproval. “Don’t sit down! You’ll wrinkle it.”
“I won’t,” I promise. “I just need a five-minute break.”
“Fine!” she snaps, throwing her hands up and stepping back. “I’ll be back soon.”
She wafts out of the room as I step down from the small raised platform and let out a long breath.
Odessa catches my eye and grins. “Nerine is the best seamstress in Ellender, you know…even if she is a little, um,aggressive.”
“Oh, I know,” I sigh. “Beatrix called in a favor to get her here. Apparently, even a royal wedding wasn’t enough of a drawto make her come out of retirement on its own. There was an unfulfilled bargain involved too.”
“This is your last fitting; you can do it,” she says bracingly. “You know what they say: beauty is pain.”
I grimace. “I’m not sure that’s supposed to be so literal. Do you really like the dress though?” I twirl in a circle, the skirt fanning out around me.
Fae wedding dresses are gold, not white like human ones, and mine catches the light like a living flame. The short sleeves sweep off my shoulders, and the tight, corseted bodice is embroidered with hundreds of tiny silk flowers, glittering beads, and intricate lace that could be etched from genuine gold. The enormous skirt cascades around me in layers of gossamer fabric so fine that when I move, even slightly, the whole gown shimmers.
“Absolutely,” Dessa gushes. “It’s perfect. Isn’t it, Aurelia?”
We both turn toward where Aurelia is sitting on the window seat across the room. Her knees are pulled up to her chest beneath her long skirt, and she’s peering out through a little patch she’s rubbed on the frosted glass. She’s been so quiet, it was almost as if she wasn’t there.
At the sound of her name, Aurelia startles. “Sorry, what did you ask?”
“Just fishing for compliments,” I grin. “What are you looking at?”
“Nothing!” she says too quickly, pulling her gaze from the window. “Sorry. Catch me up. What were we talking about?”
“I was asking Alix how the wishes are coming along,” Dessa says.
She’s wearing black leather pants, tighter than anything I’ve ever seen her wear before, and her red hair has bleached gold from the sun. She looks like a pirate princess as she sits back down on my bed and crosses her legs.
“Good.” I sigh. “Thank God we’re almost done, though. If I’d realized how many weird traditions Fae have around weddings, I would have insisted Daemon and I elope.”
“Don’t let Beatrix hear you say that,” Aurelia comments.
