CAGED (#3, of Crows and Thorns)

Chapter 91

It was almost impossible to sit still while the stylist backcombed my hair. I bit back a curse of annoyance at the too-rough tug at a lock of hair being frizzed. Fidgeting with the long end of my robe's belt, I wound it around a finger as I squiggled on the stool and tapped a frustrated rhythm on the soft carpet with a foot, wishing they'd hurry the hells up.

Earlier, Lila had provided a pair of stylists, who upon making their entrance, nervously bowed before me. While the stylists set themselves up, Penn had hustled me into the luxurious bathroom and its shower, politely requesting that I soap and scrub my body clean. After I'd dried myself, I'd been hauled into a whirlwind of preening. My eyebrows were plucked; my nails manicured and coated; my skin buffed and oiled until I shone. And now I sat with my back to the antique dresser, facing the hairstylist as she worked at my hair.

Nearby, Penn watched from where she stood next to the Crowthers' steam trunk. She unconsciously fiddled with the cuff of a sleeve, something I'd noticed her do before. She always wore long sleeves, even in the heat. It triggered a thought, fleeting and fast, of Evvie, but the memory and worry came and went like a leaf seized by a gust of wind when, instead, Lila caught my eye. She drifted lazily around the room, layers of her ivory dress trailing behind as she watched with those strange eyes of hers. Amongst her long waves of ocean-blue hair was a hairpin slipped into the curls near an ear. My curious gaze skimmed the ornate shape of a wing studded with pink and yellow diamonds—a dragonfly.

Lila caught me staring.

Our gazes collided and my heartbeat stumbled.

I wet my lips before offering lamely. "I like your hairpin."

A flash of a smile ghosted Lila's lips. "Thank you."

I had the distinct impression she was just as curious of me as I was of her. Exactly how the both of us had been when we first met eight months ago. Like then, her Prussian blue eyes seemed to hold a galaxy's worth of secrets. Prussian blue was a color that had been synthetically created, and in a way it complimented her. Her appearance had been altered by those trapped behind the fortress of trees for reasons no one but Lila knew. I wished I had an afternoon to sit in her company and ask a gazillion questions. Unfortunately, right now, my nerves were twisted up like a left-over skein of wool and I had little time to indulge myself before I'd be ushered away to deal with what lay ahead of me at the Emporium.

"Do you remember speaking with me?" I asked Lila.

Eight months ago, on a rare excursion off my family estate, I'd accompanied my mother and Evvie to the birthday celebrations of the Matriarch of Upper House Zielenski. Lila Simonis had been there too.

"I certainly do," Lila replied, wandering closer. "You were most curious about my time spent in the Godsbane Prison."

Yes, I had been incredibly intrigued by her life in the forest prison serving an incarcerated Horned God. As a small child, Lila had been chosen for this duty. She'd not only survived her indenture but she'd been freed too.