Free Web NovelChapter 186: A Dress for the Bridesmaid I
The next few days passed by in a frantic blur and before I knew it, it was already the evening before the wedding.
If I was run ragged by Dahlia’s increasing attempts to plan a picture-perfect wedding, Damon was worse off because Dahlia simply did not give him any respite from her presence. At least I could hang out with Blaise and Darach in the midst of wedding preparations, but Damon was stuck with her all the time. Even when he wanted to spend time with Blaise alone, Dahlia invited herself along, her skin thicker than a rhinoceros hide.
Damon’s face grew increasingly haggard as the days passed. All of us were counting down to the wedding day in fervent desperation but for vastly different reasons. I would imagine for Damon, there was probably nothing he could want more than some sleep.
I had no clue what sort of tricks he had up his sleeve to prevent Dahlia from spending the night with him — not for the lack of her insistence — but according to Blaise, Damon had at least managed to worm away from her steel clutches after bedtime.
"It was something to do with propriety," Blaise said. "Although it’s a real wonder how he got Alpha Thorton to accept his ridiculous statements, especially since everyone who has heard of the name Damon Valentine knows that he and proper do not belong in the same sentence. I guess Dahlia hopes that Damon might lust for her more strongly if she kept him waiting."
We were in our room, hidden behind closed doors. However, if our trip to Ironclaw taught me anything, it was that even private rooms had ears. We didn’t dare to speak too loudly, and despite having swept through the room every night of our stay for cameras and other spyware, we didn’t dare to let our guard down.
"He dug this grave himself," I said with a huff, shrugging my shoulders. "He should’ve known better than anyone that his philandering ways would eventually come with a price tag. It’s already a miracle that it’s not a baby."
"Please knock on wood, Harper," Blaise said with a groan. "I don’t want to even consider that possibility."
Right after Blaise finished his sentence, as if to further increase the impact of his words, a knock rang through the room. The two of us jumped where we sat on the bed, our eyes whipped toward the door. The knock came again, and this time, it was the familiar voice that belonged to Dahlia’s attendant during the dress fitting.
"Miss Harper, are you in there?" Celise called out hesitantly. "Miss Dahlia has requested your presence at the dressing room. It’s regarding your bridesmaid dress."
’Another dress fitting?’ I mouthed to Blaise in exasperation, to which he responded by dragging a hand down his face.
Nevertheless, I cleared my throat and stood up, crossing the room to open the door.
"We’re here," I said, watching as Celise’s eyes watered as though she had seen the Goddess herself descend upon her. I couldn’t help but wonder if she would receive any sort of punishment if Dahlia realized she returned empty-handed. "Could you show us the way?"
***
"Finally!" Dahlia called out once we entered the room. "We’ve been waiting forever!" freēwēbηovel.c૦m
She was on the couch― or more accurately, Damon was on the couch while she was on his lap. Dahlia had a pile of files and catalogs scattered all around her, and in her hands were several sketch-ups of bridesmaid dresses to fit the theme of the wedding.
I scanned around the room, taking note of the racks of pastel gowns, wincing when my eyes caught a hot pink one that stood out from the rest of the color palette. Hopefully, Dahlia wouldn’t think that god-forsaken candlewax dress would be the perfect fit for her theme.
"Apologies, we didn’t know there was another dress fitting today," Blaise smoothly said.
With a face like Damon’s, a smile and some sweet words could easily calm Dahlia’s riled feathers. She settled back into the couch and snuggled into Damon’s arms. Behind her, his expression couldn’t be more forlorn. Through our bond, I could feel endless waves of despair coming from him, along with a spike of jealousy when his eyes landed on Blaise’s hands on my waist.
That went for both of us.
I had to take my mind off the way Dahlia kept rubbing her body all over Damon, always maintaining some form of skin contact even though she was already sitting right on him.
Perhaps if there was ever a need to stay in the world of humans, I could consider becoming an actress. Not only did I have to make sure my face didn’t show it, but I also didn’t want to feel any form of jealousy lest it became problematic.
"Whatever," Dahlia said with a roll of her eyes. "I’ve picked out a few dresses for your bridesmaid dress. It needs to be perfect. Why don’t you try that piece first?"
Just as before, Dahlia gestured to one of the dresses that had been singled out. Thankfully, it wasn’t the awful bright pink dress, but surprisingly, it also wasn’t a pastel color like the others she had selected. The dress was bronze in color and the material was slightly glossy, akin to silk. Celise quickly made her way over and picked up the dress.
"I can handle it," I told her as I took the dress from her. She stepped away without another word, and when Dahlia made shooing motions, she quickly left the room entirely.
"Hurry up, then!" Dahlia barked. "I need to head to bed early tonight. I can’t risk having any dark eye rings on my big day."
I nodded sweetly, masking my intention to stab her through a thousand times with nothing but sheer eye power before tottering behind the curtains. When I held the dress up, I gulped.
The design of the dress was beautiful, simple, and elegant. It had no fancy embroidery, no weird details, and was just a simple gown that was cinched at the waist and would hug my curves without being overly sensual to steal the spotlight away. However, there was just one small issue. freewebnovёl.ƈom
This dress had very thin spaghetti straps, so much so that if it was looked at from a distance away, the straps blended in with my skin. It was one thing to hide the second mark on my body from Dahlia for a few minutes, and another thing altogether to wear this dress for hours to entertain guests.
Blaise’s mark would be on full display. But that wasn’t the issue.
Damon’s would be too.
