Little Red's Riding

Missing?

"You look beautiful, Dahlia." Tansy stood beside her after putting the finishing touches on the updo that she had spent the last half hour working on. They could have had someone else come to do it, Tansy had explained, but she had years of experience doing her own makeup, along with that of a few of her closest friends, and many claimed that she was one of the best in the Capital at that sort of thing.

Dahlia's dark locks were swept up in a simple updo. Her eyelashes were dramatically darkened but otherwise Tansy had left her makeup carefully natural with the exception of Dahlia's blood red lips which were the exact same color as the scarlett dress that she had chosen to wear to the ball. The gown swept low below her shoulders, revealing just a hint of cleavage. The skirt was full, but surprisingly easy to move in, and it tapered in at the waist, which had been made to look even narrower than it normally was with what was the very first really restrictive corset that Dahlia had ever owned.

"I don't know how you wear one of these every single day." Dahlia had barely been able to breath when Tansy had first tightened the laces. She had owned corsets before, of course. But they'd mostly been for show. They'd pushed things up and looked good, but they hadn't made it so she couldn't breath.

"You get used to it after a while. You won't even notice it by the end of the month." Tansy said, waving her hand dismissively.

"I don't think I'm going to give it a chance to allow myself to get that used to it. No thank you. I prefer letting my lungs have all the air that they need. These things are frightful." Tansy had examined her expression in the mirror and laughed as she began to apply her own makeup.

"Well your waist is so naturally tiny, you don't really need one."

Dahlia rolled her eyes. "Like you do? I heard that the mannequins in the dress shops are actually based on your proportions because they're considered perfect. Is that true?"

"You've been here for two days! How could you have heard that already?" Tansy blushed, but didn't deny that it was true.

"I believe I overheard our gossiping guards saying it actually."

"Now that they're talking in front of us, they're worse than old women." Tansy shook her head, but a small smile turned up the corners of her lips.

"Do you think tonight will go as planned?" Dahlia met Tansy's eyes in the mirror, her smile tight and nervous, as she asked the question in a low voice.

"I think it has to." They had had many walks in the garden over the last day and Tansy had slipped away one more time to town, with the excuse of buying more things that they needed for the ball. When she went without Dahlia she was allowed far more freedom and was permitted to go with her own guards who were still loyal to her and would do whatever she commanded including letting her move about the city on her own if she told them she needed to, even if they didn't particularly like it.

The King's overconfidence was to be his undoing, or at least that's how they were planning it. The palace was to be thrown open for this ball. While invitations were required to enter into the inner ballrooms, there was to be a great festival in the outer courtyards for the Wolf's Moon Festival, the start of which happened to coincide with the ball. The plan for it had been in the works for months. There would even be parts of the palace open to the common folks that were quite near the ball rooms.

Silas and his party all had tickets as did many of the Alphas. These had been obtained by Garin. He would have gotten more of them, he had explained in a meeting held in Tansy's tiny room late the previous evening, but he didn't want to alarm the King or his guards before they were ready to make their move. He was going to be introducing the men as his friends, Lords from his own country, but he couldn't realistically bring too many people with him. His relationship with the palace was good, but their suspicions would be raised if dozens of hulking brutes made their way into the ballroom unaccompanied by ladies.