Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
But he brought me a Captain Jacques’s chicken schooner, for goodness’ sake.
And he was Prince Aleksei, my deepest crush, right here, on my couch…with me.
So yeah.
Okay.
I could be his, for a time.
“Laura?” he called.
I pulled myself back to the place I was with him, here, in my flat, eating greasy fast food, and I reached for my schooner.
After I dipped a fry in the aioli, I said, “I guess five hours did it.”
Hearing that, he smiled fully for the first time, and let me tell you, it was so glamorous, it was heart-stopping.
I doubted mine was either, but that didn’t stop me from smiling back.
Chapter 7
Dream
I was in my closet, and, as holograms beamed through my fabulous new tablet, so were Gayle, Cat and Monique.
“I cannot believe this is happening,” Cat breathed. “I mean, Madam Garwah!” she cried. “Dad tried to get her to train me before my presentation, but her waiting list is years…years.”
“I still cannot believe we’re in holo. This is so freaking cool. I am one hundred percent asking for a DY5000 from Mom and Dad for Dead Winter,” Gayle put in.
“I cannot believe I haven’t taught you, no matter what, slap your cosme-mask on for a natural, day look the minute you finish brushing your teeth,” Monique groused, taking us back over old territory, seeing as this was her refrain last night. “You never know what’s going to happen. If you need to pop down to Mr. Tanugu’s and you run into your mate. Or, I don’t know, say, the True Heir of Night’s Fall shows up at your door with chicken oars.”
Monique, by the by, was a human, though she had some witch blood in her, along with some fae. This made her a wee bit magical and was one of the reasons why she was such a sought-after aesthetician.
She was also mocha-skinned, willowy, had a Nubian nose, round violet eyes that denoted the bit o’ fae in her, and a head of thick, wild black curls.
And yes, I envied all of that about her.
Mon, too, came from money, but again, those humans expected their young to make their own way. And Monique, like Gayle, was all over it.
“Tell us again about how interested he was in your books,” Cat urged. “I’d heard that about him. He’s a collector of vintage things. It is so mega you two share that in common.”
“Right?” Monique asked. “And the cooking thing.” She turned back to me. “Who cooks anymore? You do. And I cannot believe the prince does too. And he suggested you do it together.”
“What I like, outside the Captain Jacques’s sitch,” Gayle began, “was how into the Glade gown he was. I mean, he probably didn’t care, but he asked about it, at length. How many males give that first crap about what your passion is? They’ll go on and on about some pit ball game or ring ice match, and how fab it was they landed that huge account they’d worked so hard to get, but do they care about what you’re into? No.”
It was the next evening, and obviously, the one before, I’d filled in the gals about my lunch with Aleksei, which did not end with the consumption of our chicken oars, but with him asking to take a tour of my loft.
And yes, he seemed really interested in all of it.
But in a little under half an hour, a craft was being sent to take me to meet Madam Garwah so I could attend my first royal protocol lesson.
In other words, I had other things on my mind.
Yeah.
I’d decided to go with this.
In for a credit, in for the entire line.
They were supposed to be helping me pick an outfit, because, after I spent an hour with Madam Garwah teaching me how to curtsy, Aleksei was picking me up to take me to dinner and then the Royal Catalogues (as per the comm I got from Allain confirming the plans Aleksei suggested).
As such, important matters were at hand.
Thus, I whirled on their ’grams and reminded them, “Stay on target, females. This is a critical decision.”
“Go back to the mask, program it to cleanse your natural, night, semi-casual in pinks and have it change it to night, semi-drama, in browns and wear that chocolate jumpsuit,” Monique advised.
I made a face.
Cat explained my face. “Jumpsuits are super out, Mon.”
“The cleavage that one gives will never be out, Catla,” Mon retorted.
Cat shook her head. “Change the face to blacks and grays, and go with the silver, faux leather pencil skirt and gray mesh top with your shiny chrome high-heeled boots.”
“She doesn’t want to look like a bot,” Monique retorted.
Cat scowled at Monique.
Gayle chimed in. “The sheer blushy top with the medallions sewn in, and that flirty, flowery skirt that hugs your ass and thighs but has that little flippy thing at the hem. The strappy red sandals. And the pink satin trench coat. It’s girlie, like you. The top is long sleeved, so it works for coming autumn, but we’re still in summer, so it works for that too. And it goes with your face’s current color palette and your hair being down, which looks awesome by the way. What setting did you use for that?”