Even though my father didn't know the real reason for my being ill, it didn't stop him from being angry. It took two servants and Jae-ah to convince him to finally leave me be and save the lecture for later, but even then, anyone could tell he was angry.
My bedroom, although spacious, didn't project his voice like the dining room did. Maybe that made him madder.
Luckily, just like Fernada—erm, Fern—had said, my fever wore off after about 24 hours, and after a couple days, I was feeling like myself again. Dad still grumped around the house, muttering about how I had purposefully gotten myself sick to get out of enlisting, but in the days that followed, he mostly avoided me.
My siblings and I were familiar with that.
But he would have to muster up the best happy face he could, because tonight, we would all be going to the Shiyad estate for a dinner party and an 'important announcement.'
The day started early with the maids gathering Jae-ah and me and dragging us to the prep room on the third floor, where much of our nicest clothes, jewelry, and makeup were kept. Before we had even had breakfast, Jae-ah and I were deposited at neighboring vanities and told to keep still while we were being "prepared" for the party. Maid Huang, out of the goodness of her heart, brought some pastries up from the kitchen, whispering for us to eat quickly in case our father decided to pop in.
Makeup always came first. While we certainly weren't strangers to makeup—no founder girl was—these sort of events called for much more than we usually wore. Most founder girls were assigned a stylist very early on, and they would keep that same stylist for the rest of their lives. These stylists were in charge of creating the girl's image and shaping it throughout her life to garner public approval, interested suitors, and investments from interested parties. My stylist, Hela, had been at my side during almost every important day of my life.
She didn't serve me, though. She would always ultimately serve the head of house, and would style me in whatever way he requested.
And it became clear as soon as she started my makeup today that she had been given a new direction. The usual soft, blown-out pastels around my cheeks and forehead had been traded for intense colors and angular, dynamic shapes that hardened my features. My lips were left pale, almost neglected, while my eyes pierced through a mask of dark geometric liner and flakes of real silver pressed meticulously into my skin.
Jae-ah and I had always had similar makeup—soft, pretty, and innocent. Today was a completely different story.
I set my jaw, staring into the mirror.
My father wanted me to look older and tougher so the other founders wouldn't pity my fate. He wanted me to look like someone who could possibly survive as a companion.
Anger sizzled beneath my skin at the thought.
Eventually, once Hela finished with my makeup, she gathered help from one of the house's maids to do my hair. It, too, was a far cry from the styles I had always worn. The dark curls that Jae-ah and I had so often worn around our shoulders was yanked, knotted, and slicked back until not a single hair was out of place. An ache pulsed between my eyes from the ordeal. Once it was perfectly flat and neat, my loose curls were coiled into a tight bun on the top of my head.
My outfit was something new as well. I wished I could be happy that my father had gone through the trouble to buy me a new dress when I had a massive closet full of them, but the gratitude fell flat. He was really trying to make sure that I looked as capable as possible when he sent me to die.
The dress was completely foreign. Each fabric used was heavy, falling just so around me instead of fluttering lightly in the breeze. Deep bruise-tones, mottled together like watercolors, framed my body, bisected here and there by bands of silver. The bodice was cinched tight, sucking the air out of me, while the skirts flared out ever so slightly around a pair of connected trousers. Even the gloves—or rather, sleeves, since they only went from my bicep to my wrist—shared the same sharp shapes and braided silver designs.
