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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ellery

Grasping my shoulder, Scarlet steered me over to my full-length mirror and stopped me before it. While they’d broken many of my things in the raid on our house, the mirror had survived.

I’d returned all my clothes to the closet and thrown out the broken weapons and pieces of plant pots they’d shattered. I’d swept up all the dirt, repotted my plants, and cut many of them back to help them focus on growing new roots. The plants had all survived, but the indoor sanctuary I’d created in my room was much smaller than it once was.

I stepped in front of the mirror, and my eyes widened as I took it all in. Scarlet was an artist at making clothing and wreaths, but she’d also made me look fresh-faced and chipper when my body screamed for a nap. Instead of looking ready to collapse, I looked beautiful .

She’d dusted my face with a powder that brought a glow to my cheeks and made my skin shimmer. The dress’s material glittered in the light, giving it an ethereal quality that reminded me of the moon glistening off a lake.

Scarlet had pulled the sides of my hair back and into twists she’d interwoven together. The rest of my hair flowed down my shoulders and back in soft ringlets.

“Amazing,” I breathed.

Scarlet stepped in front of me again. “You’re ready for the ball.”

Gripping her wrists, I pulled them away from my hair. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”

Scarlet’s doe-brown eyes warmed as she grasped my arms. “Anything for you, Lery.”

When tears burned my eyes, she tsked before releasing me to wipe them away with her thumbs. “No tears. It will make your face blotchy.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’d die. That’s what you’d do. You’d go out there and get yourself killed with your recklessness.”

I laughed as I blinked away the tears; Scarlet handed me a tissue.

“You’re probably right,” I agreed.

“I usually am.”

“I don’t want to see Ryker. I don’t want to see any of them.”

I’d told her all about what happened with Ryker in the tree house and afterward while she was helping me dress. She’d listened like always but didn’t condemn me for my bad choices.

The idea of seeing Ryker again was bad enough, but knowing I would have to deal with the duke and king made my stomach churn. The sheriff would most likely be there too, which only made things worse.

Scarlet squeezed my arms. “It will be tough, but you will get through this.”

I took a deep breath and lifted my chin. “I will.”

I didn’t have any other choice. Scarlet studied me before releasing my arms and going to gather her things. I took another look at myself in the mirror. I may not have felt very stable or regal right then, but thanks to Scarlet, I at least looked the part.

I would get through this even if it killed me.

When I turned to face Scarlet, she had her battered sewing basket in hand. The sheriff’s men had dumped out all her supplies and stomped over them while searching her home, but she’d managed to save a few things and had glued the broken pieces of her basket back together.

“Thank you so much for this,” I told her.

She waved a hand absently through the air. “Try to have fun and not think about all this for a bit. Have a drink and dance with someone for me.”

“I’d like to have ten drinks for you, but I’m afraid of what I’d do if I got drunk.”

She chuckled. “Probably fall flat on your face or stab someone, so I think just one is the best way to go.”

“So do I.”

“Come on, my mother’s probably about done helping yours get ready. It’s time for you to go.”