The Darkest Dawn

Chapitre 13

You would've expected your makeup artist to be wearing makeup, but Daniel insisted that he refused to wear makeup daily because it would seep into his pores and create pimples and blackheads. Instead, he practiced on foam mannequin heads. He took Lucien behind the divider. It turned out there was a hot bath waiting there. Daniel cleaned Lucien, despite his protests that he could scrub himself. Once clean, Daniel let Lucien dry himself off with the lavish towel that hug off the end of the tub.

Daniel wrapped a neutral toned robe around Lucien as they walked out from behind the divider. While Lucien waited in front of the vanity, Daniel and Harper spoke in hushed tones to each other. Lucien turned and peered into the mirror for a second time that day. Without all the dirt covering his skin, he realized he was quite... okay. Okay was the word because he didn't really think of himself as attractive but he wasn't devastatingly ugly.

"Lucien, doll, we have a plan." Daniel said. Lucien tore his eyes from himself and turned toward his beauty gurus. "Are you egyptian at all? Any relatives, close or ancient?" Daniel asked.

"Uhm, no? I don't have any blood relatives I know...." Lucien admitted. "I guess I could be?"

"Right, it doesn't matter if you do or don't. You look like an exotic egyptian beauty, and that's all that matters." Daniel chuckled. Lucien's face flushed red at that comment. Egyptian beauty? Lucien never considered being anything but french before. "So, we're going to cover you in gold and black. You'll look like an egyptian god by the time we are done." Daniel boasted.

Holding still was Lucien's specialty. Daniel expressed his love for personal slaves, because they could hold so still. Lucien was a chore slave, but he did Audie's duties when he was sick, which was often. Lucien could feel the smooth and cold liquid foundation spread upon his cheeks, forehead and nose. There were powders, many of them. The first powder was dabbed on his face over where foundation had been applied. Another over the lids of his eyes and etc. Then there were wet drawing tools. He had no idea what they were, but Daniel applied them over more than just his face.

He stood on the pedestal in front of the taller mirror. He was allowed to watch as Daniel painted gold designs on his body. The cold sensation was odd and ticklish. Gold over his arms, over his chest, down his back, and down his legs. Then the black paint began. Tracing his eyes then running over one cheek. There was extensive time put into his arms. Lucien watched Daniel paint hieroglyphics with a determination in his expression.

"Can you read those?" Lucien asked. He knew in the Third Millennium, egyptologists finally cracked all hieroglyphics.

"Yes. You curious what I'm writing?" Daniel smiled up at Lucien. Lucien nodded. Daniel paused, then smiled wider. "It basically me just writing about the egyptian god Ra. You're a walking piece of mythology." He returned to drawing. Lucien peered into the mirror to see what harper was up to behind him. She was using a sewing machine to stitch together gold and white fabric.

"How did you learn to read those?" Lucien asked, curious of Daniel's apparently extensive cultural knowledge.

"Ever been to Egypt?" Daniel mumbled as he drew a symbol akin to a cat. When Lucien replied no, the other clicked his tongue in disappointment. "I have." There was a brief moment of surprise as Lucien looked down at Daniel, whom finished a few more symbols.

They waited until the paint was dry before setting him into his outfit. He was shirtless, the only fabric he had to wear were some very short brown trousers and a long white skirt that only covered his front and rear, keeping his legs revealed. Daniel placed jewelry on him and finished with last touches of gold glitter in the hair.

The siblings wrapped up their stuff and retreated from the room after telling Lucien to expect them back around forty minutes. Lucien turned and faced himself in the mirror, admiring Daniel and Harper's work. He was still barefoot, but he assumed shoes were not apart of the costume. Then he remembered and averted his eyes from the mirror like he had been scalded. They did this to him for the Pageant. That's why Darius was having a panic attack.

Back in the tree when they had only just ran away, Darius had recited a Teasdale poem. Lucien looked back into the mirror, surprised by his angry expression. Darius was being forced to be put through the traumatic experience again and it was Rhaelra's doing. Lucien scowled. "There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground/And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;" Lucien recalled the poem. He touched the mirror, feeling his fury well up like a lake behind a dam. "Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree/If mankind perished utterly/Even spring herself, when woke at dawn/Would scarcely know that we were gone." Lucien skipped to the end. He decided that if anyone needed to survive this ordeal, it was Darius. It was time to make amends to Regina.