Chapter Six
The day before the party passed quickly, with a note from Alister apologizing for not being able to see her but assuring her that he was looking forward to a dance. On the day of the ball, Taya and Cassi took a half-day off so Taya could return to Jayce's shop for last-minute tailoring and grooming.
'Good, good,' Jayce murmured, seeing them come in shortly after noon, accompanied by a famulate hairdresser. 'We're still finishing the sewing, but I'm glad you're here early.'
'Do you have plans for Taya's hair?' Cassi demanded, pushing Taya down into a chair.
'Nothing that requires a particular style.'
'Good.'
'Bad,' the hairdresser objected. 'Look at how short this is! What am I supposed to do with it, then?'
'Make it gorgeous.' Cassi turned to her nephew and began grilling him about the dress. The hairdresser rolled her eyes and combed her fingers through Taya's loose curls.
'Well,' she said, 'at least the color is interesting. I don't work with auburn very often. Mareaux, are you?'
'On my father's side. He was born a citizen,' she added. To some Ondiniums, that mattered.
'Good you inherited his fair skin, then, ain't it?' the hairdresser commented, holding her coppery hand against Taya's hair. 'Could be worse.'
'I'm glad I'm not a complete disaster,' Taya said.
'But it could be better,' Jayce shot over his shoulder. 'You could have green eyes. Or blue. I could work with blue. But red hair and jet-black eyes? Lady save us from mixed blood. And your figure!'
Taya slumped in her chair. All right. So she was a complete disaster.
By the time evening arrived, Taya understood why vigilante heroes in plays wore masks. She'd been poked, pinched, pinned, primped and put down to within an inch of her life. The next time she rescued someone, she was going to sneak off without telling anyone her name. That way she wouldn't have to dress up for a thank-you party.
'I can't do this,' she said with despair, setting down the bowl of soup that Cassi had handed her. 'I'm going to say something stupid and embarrass myself.'
'Oh, don't be silly. You're the guest of honor.' Cassi leaned over and patted her knee. 'Exalted Octavus owes you her life, so short of throwing up all over the banquet table, there's nothing you can do that's going to offend her.'
'Great.' Taya looked at her bowl. 'Is that why you're making me eat now? So I won't throw up?'
'No. I'm doing it because you're not going to be able to eat a thing once we strap you into that corset. Besides, it's more ladylike if all you do is nibble.'
'Ladylike.' Taya groaned. 'I don't think I can do ladylike.'
'You will do ladylike,' Cassi's nephew commanded, in a voice like steel. He walked up, the dress draped over one arm. 'You don't have a choice. Cassi, I'm going to sew her into this. You'll have to cut her out of it tonight. Use the back seam.'
'So much for seducing that handsome decatur,' Cassi said with mock sorrow.
Taya's cheeks burned.
'Once you're out of this dress, you're not getting back into it.' Jayce pondered a moment. 'However… it would be good for business if you seduced a decatur while you were wearing it. Very well. I give you my permission. But you'll have to wear something of his to get back home. And for the Lady's sake, bring me back whatever scraps you can salvage.'
'I'm not going to seduce anyone!' Taya protested, her blush deepening.
'Well, I'm sleeping on your bed tonight,' Cassi warned her, 'so if you don't come home, I expect to hear all the details.'
'What kind of person do you think I am, anyway?'
'A sexually deprived one,' Cassi said, archly. 'You and Pyke never got anywhere.'
Taya drew in a sharp breath. 'Did he tell you that? I'll kill him!'
'Ah-hah! It's true!'
'Cassi!'
'I was just checking,' her friend said, sounding complacent. 'I don't want to sleep with someone you've already slept with. It'd be tacky.'
'Ladies,' Jayce snarled, 'we have two hours until the party. Divvy up your men while I sew.'
One hour before the party, Taya stood in front of a mirror feeling more frightened than she had at any point during the aerial rescue.
'I don't dare move,' she said, staring at herself.
Jayce and his assistants had decided to dress her in white and gold because 'exalts always wear jewel tones. I want you to stand out.' The top half of the dress was a slender, low-necked sheath that hugged her chest and waist like a second skin, growing looser on her hips to become a slit skirt that gave her room to walk. A tight corset beneath the dress kept her back straight and pulled her waist in another inch. Taya blinked at the unaccustomed sight of her cleavage being pushed up and out. Maybe she wasn't as flat-chested as Jayce had led her to believe. Of course, she couldn't breathe, but she thought the trade-off might be worth it.
Jayce had sewn a tight but delicate line of gold-edged white feathers up the dress, coiling along the bottom hem, over one hip, between her breasts, and up the low neckline to her shoulder. The dress straps were as slender as he could make them and still cover the healing wound on her shoulder, and her arms were bare.
She turned and looked over her shoulder. The line of feathers wound down to her waist to complete the circle around her body. Every time she moved, feathers rustled against each other and the feathers over her shoulders brushed her bare arm. The sensation was strange but pleasant.
Jayce had insisted she wear long white gloves to cover the healing cuts on her knuckles and to make her bare upper arms more striking. He'd found long, soft crosslaced white boots for her legs that hinted at an icarus's much more utilitarian footwear, and he'd run a line of white feathers down their sides. 'Unusual. A little defiant,' Jayce had said with approval, looking at her. 'They'll be easy to dance in, and the fabric hides your calves.'
'What's wrong—'
''Muscles aren't ladylike.'' Cassi rolled her eyes at Taya. 'Don't pay any attention to him. Jay-jay likes his women plump and cuddly.'
'A man who prefers women with hard bodies might as well sleep with another man,' Jayce retorted. Cassilta swatted her nephew across the head.
'Watch it, brat. Chicks might be cuter than eagles, but it's the eagles who bring home the dinner and defend the nest.'
'Barbarian.' Jayce placed a delicate gold net over Taya's hair and began weaving white and gold feathers into it, pulling them behind her ears. Taya stood motionless, watching as he created narrow, swooping wings from brow to nape. Cassi had already done her face for her, pulling a surprising number of tiny jars from her purse.
'You carry all this with you?' Taya had asked, amazed, holding up a small jar of lip paint.
'You don't?' Cassi had countered.
Now they both looked at her reflection as Jayce stepped back.
'That is a completely outrageous dress,' Cassi said with delight. 'I've never seen anything like it. Jaws are going to drop.'
'I don't know about this,' Taya fretted. She hardly recognized herself. She looked like she'd just stepped off the stage of some fairy-tale opera. Alister's joke about exalteds and their layers of embroidered robes returned to
