Page 13 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

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 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?”

“Night, casual, elegant, windswept, sophisticated, stylish, dinner date,” I shared, poking the control panel with my finger, trying to find my sheer blushy top, because I was thinking Gayle was onto something.

“Holy Lilith . And the mane-mate didn’t short circuit? I never put that many settings in,” Cat remarked.

“Oh, queen, you have to load ’em up,” Monique educated. “ The more challenges you give them, the more the algorithm works for you, if you don’t put it back on and change it right away.”

“Really?” Cat asked.

“Totally,” Monique replied.

I put the top and the skirt on up and down valet rails, setting the red sandals on the floor under them, stepped back, took one look, and shrieked, “ Eureka ! Perfection ! ”

Nova slunk to the shoes, sniffed one, then, starting with her ear, rubbed most of her body along it before she collapsed on both.

Nova approved too.

“I cannot believe you’re going out on a date with Prince Aleksei ,” Monique said.

“I can’t believe he brought you Captain Jacques’s ,” Gayle said.

“I can totally believe both, because, look at her,” Cat demanded.

The three holograms looked at me.

“Mm-hmm, he read you like a book,” Monique declared. “ That Captain Jacques move was so smooth, CJ should make it a sauce. Their flybys would be jammed, north to south, east to west, sea to sea.”

“I’m still recovering from it, and it didn’t even happen to me,” Gayle put in.

But I had my eyes on Cat . “ What do you mean, look at me?”

I got three identical eyerolls.

“Here we go again,” Gayle mumbled to Cat .

“Totally not going there,” Cat replied.

I turned fully to them. “ I’m learning how to curtsy then going to see troll skin, something I never thought I’d touch in my life.

It’s the enchanted moonstone of the textile world.

And I’m eating dinner with a guy who doesn’t have an M and R in front of his name, but an HRH . And he might kiss me.”

Gods, I hoped he kissed me.

And Gods , I was terrified of the same thing.

“So humor me,” I finished. “ What did you mean?”

Cat stood.

Gayle reached out to her, even if she couldn’t touch her ’gram.

Cat shook her head. “ Nope . No . Not gonna do it,” she said irately, then bent her head, stabbed at her Palm , kept stabbing at her Palm , Monique , Gayle and I exchanged a variety of glances, and then Mr . Truelock’s tall, straight body blinked into my closet.

Eek!

Well, good thing I’d put on my robe.

“Hello, my lovely,” he said to me. Then he turned to Monique and Gayle . “ And my other lovelies.”

Lilith, but I loved this male.

“Hey, Mr . Truelock ,” Gayle and Monique singsonged in unison.

He smiled at them and came back to me. “ Cat shared last night, and I’m absolutely delighted, but in no way surprised you turned the True Heir’s eye.”

Oh boy.

“Mr. Truelock —” I began.

“Quiet, darling,” he said gently.

I shut up.

He moved to me and lifted his slightly-brighter-than-normal, just-that-teeniest-bit-see-through hand as if he would cup my jaw.

He couldn’t, but I felt the warmth anyway.

“I would ruin them, if you’d just say the word,” he whispered.

I knew who he was referring to, so I turned my head away.

But I took note, because, man, could Catla stab at a Palm , summoning Mammon Truelock like that.

“Your heart is too kind, but they deserve it,” he continued.

I pulled breath into my nose and looked back at him.

“You’re the best, Mr . Truelock .”

“I’m actually not. I’m just a male. And a father.

I know what they did to you… here .” He moved as if he was touching my forehead, and then he dropped his hand.

“ It isn’t real, Laura . You are beautiful.

You are kind. You are immensely talented.

You’re not my daughter by blood, but I claim you by right, and I’m immensely proud of you.

Set aside what they left you, and know, Aleksei is no fool.

He sees what I see.” He swept an arm out to indicate the females behind him.

“ What we all see, it’s only you who doesn’t see it. ”

“I think he just needs a break from all the super-celebrities,” I shared.

“No one on this planet ever needs a break from basking in the best there is to have, and as such, he is not doing that.”

Oh. My . Gods .

I dug Mr . Truelock so much .

But I couldn’t do this now. He was going to make me lose it.

“Don’t make me cry,” I warned. “ My mask gave me the perfect look.”

He shot me a fatherly smile, something he did a lot, and something that never failed to move me, and then he pulled his Palm out his pocket, said, “ Enjoy tonight, Laura ,” and he turned to the gals, “ Ladies .”

“Bye, Mr . Truelock ,” Gayle said.

“Always good to see you, Mr . Truelock ,” Monique said.

“See you later, Daddy ,” Cat said. “ And thank you, you’re mega.”

Mr. Truelock winked at his daughter.

“Disengage,” he said, and blinked out.

“That was dirty dealing,” I told Cat the instant he was gone.

“You know, you have a mirror,” Cat returned.

“I know I’m not…hard on the eyes,” I forced out.

“Gods, she can’t even say it,” Gayle muttered.

Monique sighed.

“Who says, ‘ I’m gorgeous’? That’s gross,” I sniped.

“Do you know you’re gorgeous?” Cat asked.

Ulk.

I decided not to reply.

Cat did not share my silence. “ You’re thirty years old, already lead costume designer for some big gigs, and have also already been nominated for two, I’ll repeat, two awards.

And they aren’t some rinky-dink awards from some obscure digi-pane.

One was the Golden Screen , and the other was the damned Edgy .

Everyone watches those ceremonies on display.

Everyone . There are parties across all Four Realms when those awards shows are on. ”

“Well—” I tried.

“How many jobs did you turn down to pick this one you’re currently on?” Cat demanded.

“Okay, so I’m good at my job too,” I snapped. “ But I already know that as well.”

“So what gives?” Gayle asked.

“What gives is that you all”— I circled my finger at them—“get totally weird when stuff like this comes up.”

“Stuff like, something good happens to you, and we’re not as surprised about it as you are?” Monique queried.

“Mon, I’m going out on a date with the future king of Night’s Fall . Tell me that’s not something to be surprised about,” I retorted.

“She has me there,” she mumbled to Gayle .

I looked to the ceiling and requested, “ Deliver me, Beelzebub .”

“He’s not up there,” Cat joked.

I set my glower on her.

“You deserve good things happening to you, Laura ,” Cat pressed.

“Yes, if beings are nice beings, everyone does,” I returned.

Cat spoke on like I didn’t. “ And you deserve it without fighting, scratching and breaking your back working for it. Like a hot guy, prince or not, giving you an expensive glass of champagne and taking you to touch troll skin.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t,” I retorted.

“No, you didn’t, but you don’t believe it,” Cat shot back.

“Mm-hmm,” Monique hummed.

“Can we not do this now?” I requested. “ I need to change. I need to accessorize. I need to program a bag switch.” I shook my head. “ This isn’t that big of a deal. It’s not like he’s going to marry me. It’s just a date.”

“And there it is,” Gayle mumbled.

“What?” I snapped.

“Who says he’s not going to marry you?”

I loved them all.

I really, really did.

But they were crazy.

I threw up my hands. “ By the gods! It’s just a date.”

“But you’ve already decided that’s all it’s going to be,” Cat returned.

“He’s courting me. I don’t think it’s all it’s going to be. He’s got me going to this Garwah female, so obviously, for whatever reasons he has, he wants to get to know me.”

“And then what?” Monique asked.

“I don’t know. I’m not thinking about that. But I’m also not dreaming up some impossible dream that I’ll be wearing an extravagant Celestina gown and floating up the steps of the Star Cathedral toward a midnight mass to marry the True Heir .”

“And why wouldn’t you do that?” Gayle asked quietly.

Gods!

They needed to let this go!

“I don’t know, Gayle , because it hurts when you don’t get what you want really, really badly. It hurts a fuck of a lot,” I bit.

“Oo, damn,” Monique whispered. “ She’s cussing.”

“Everybody has to dream,” Gayle replied, still going quietly.

“You can. Cat can. Mon can. But I learned the hard way that if shit happens, it will. Like parents hating you only slightly less than they hate each other…and the whole world. Like you can be walking home after getting yourself a whirly-whip, be dragged into an alley and?—”

“Okay, shh, okay,” Cat soothed. “ Don’t go there, honey.”

I snapped my spine straight and turned to the valet rails. “ I need to change.”

“We really fucked this up,” Monique muttered.

They grew mercifully silent as I shrugged off my robe and headed to my plethora of bottles of perfume (yes, I was old-fashioned there too, I didn’t even have any scent loaded into my bath pod).

I was perfumed, dressed, accessorized, had the bag switch programmed and was seated on my lilac velvet poof, buckling the thin straps on my shoes when Cat broke the silence.

“I just want you to think about the idea that, if this was just a date, if this was just the prince wanting a break from the monotony of his fabulous life, why he’s arranged for you to go through instruction with Madam Garwah .”

My head snapped up to look at her as my lungs compressed all the air out of me.

“I can guaran-damn-tee you, his aide does not call on Garwah for every female he dates,” Cat continued.

“They taught you not to dream,” Gayle said.

“We’re just saying, maybe, just maybe, they were wrong,” Cat finished it.

“Mm-hmm,” Monique hummed.

And I knew, while I was getting dressed, they’d conspired their coordinated exit to punctuate this last point because, completely synchronized, once they delivered it, they all blinked out.