Spirit of Shadows

| Chapter Twenty Seven |

The next morning, everyone had sprung into action. Kachina and Jonah had gotten their uniforms and our dresses and we set to work on preparing ourselves to look presentable in the castle. In fact, the only one who wasn't in the living room, making arrangements, was Matthias' little sister–Adabelle.

"Which dress are you deciding on wearing?" Kachina asked, suddenly pulling me from my thoughts.

I glanced down toward the dark-colored sofa where all of my dresses had been laid out for selecting. They were all quite beautiful and to my relief, simple. As silly as it was, I didn't care for big, gaudy things with huge ornaments or jewels dangling off of them. No, I preferred to keep my wardrobe on the down-low so I wouldn't attract any unwanted attention.

"I'm not sure." I admitted, glancing back over the dresses.

Kachina stood beside me and eyed them, her mouth pulled into a thin line as she thought through something.

"Maybe the sea foam green color one?" She asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Maybe but shouldn't the dress be a little more...inconspicuous?" I suggested.

Kachina looked back at the dresses with a nod. "You're right. Ooh! What about this one?" She quickly stepped toward the selected dress and pulled it up, admiring the stitching.

I eyed the dress warily. Only because it was exquisitely beautiful and completely 'out of my league' as it were. The dress was an elegant white, seemingly silk, and fragile-looking. It had two thin straps that would hold around my shoulders, with a sleek front, and a low dipped back. To complete the look was a beautiful ribbon to be tied in the back and trail along. The dress was entrancing and airy but I felt odd at the idea of wearing it.

"Are you sure it's not too much?" I asked, hesitating on taking the dress from Kachina's fingers.

She looked at me as if I had grown another head. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth instantly opened.

"Of course not! It's so gorgeous and–I just think you'd look absolutely beautiful in it, Em!" Kachina said.

I held back my concerns about fitting into the dress and dirtying it, and took the it into my hands when she held it out for me.

"How should I do my hair?" I asked, hoping to change the topic before Kachina would call me out anymore.

"Let it stay down. Maybe we could curl it slightly?"

I nodded and hurried up toward the bathroom to change out of my simple 'poor-folk' Mistshore attire. That meant, swapping out trousers and a plain shirt for a silk dress. Also, I'd have to put effort into doing my hair and apply some makeup to my face. This was going to be a hard habit to learn.

...

After I had finished tying the ribbon on my dress, I spun around and looked at myself in the mirror. The person looking back at me, couldn't be me. There was no way. She was clean and refreshing looking. Her hair was slightly curled, a hint of subtle makeup to make her features (that she didn't even know she had) pop, and that dress. Why, the dress was something entirely new itself, yet it was the highlight of her look.

A knock at the bathroom door startled me from my thoughts and I quickly shooed them away, a small blush tinting my cheeks. What nonsense, I thought, to think of myself as something other than a poor orphan.

Suppressing the thought, I pulled the door open and was pleased to see Matthias standing on the other side, dressed in his new uniform. Matthias was disguising himself as a Kings Men along with Jonah, although, they were also our escorts, and their uniforms were quite handsome.