Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen
Miridath had brought me many beautiful dresses.
A lot of them.
I stared down at the spread of fabric laid neatly across the bed, my fingers hovering over the different colours, textures, and cuts like I didn’t know where to start, and truth be told, I didn’t.
I let out a quiet breath, rubbing the nape of my neck with my right hand as I contemplated my choices.
“I’m more of a pants person myself,” I muttered under my breath.
There was just something about dresses that seemed so…restricting. Especially for someone like me who had to dart between offices with stacks of papers and documents at a time, pants had grown on me because of how freely I could move.
And truth be told, I’d never really been the type of person who liked being restricted, especially within my own body.
Still though,
My fingers stopped at a particular dress, they brushed over the fabric, slower this time.
I had to be grateful for the thought put into this. Moreover,
“I wouldn’t be staying long away,” I murmured to myself as I lifted up the dress that had caught my attention and held it up against the lights with a gleam in my eyes.
Deep Violet.
Just like my eyes.
Soft, velvety fabric that flowed. It was light enough that it looked breathable, but not so thin that it would rip if I moved too much. It draped easily between my fingers, catching the light just enough to make the colour shift, darker in some places, softer in others.
And if I could describe it in a single word, I’d say it was stunning.
For some reason though, it looked familiar. Like it wanted to invoke memories from my past that were not clear yet. So, I put them aside. They probably weren’t as important anyway.
“Alright, I guess we’re doing this,” I murmured as I put the dress aside and began to strip myself out of the oversized shirt. I carefully undid the buttons, my fingers slipping every now and then, but I got it all and allowed it to fall off my body and pool around my legs.
My face twisted into a grimace when I saw how frail my body was, ribs poking through the flesh like I was malnourished for months. I let out a sigh and picked up the dress and stepped into it. When I pulled it up my body and adjusted it over my shoulders I was surprised to see that it was an exact fit. It hugged my frame in all the right places, flowing gently over my hips and falling just right. It didn’t cling to tightly though and I’m thankful for that, but it still showed that I had curves.
It felt strange. Wearing something so…delicate? It felt like I was playing dress up. But there was no denying that it looked good.
Still, one question gnawed at the door of my mind.
“How did they know my exact size?”
It was a very valid question that would have bothered me if I weren’t so embarrassed by Aquila’s words that were only just beginning to come back to me now.
Miridath had seen my naked body during the time I’d been unconscious. Maybe Aquila and Asher too.
My pale cheeks bloomed a bright shade of pink. That would mean they knew how skinny I was. That shirt I’d been wearing did well to hide that fact so it hadn’t been all that obvious.
“For crying out loud.” I groaned softly, dragging a hand down my face.
Great. Just flipping great.
I thought to myself as I took in a deep breath to steady myself and turned back to the mirror. The dress really was something out of a fairy tale and if they really existed, I’d like to imagine this was what a princess would’ve worn as she sat idly by her open window waiting to be swept off her feet. Except that I was not a princess. I was, and am, a human rights attorney and I had to hold my head high because no one was coming to rescue me. And I’ve been through worse already…
No, you haven’t.
That nagging voice in my head said.
Maybe I haven’t been in this exact situation before, but I was a hard nut to crack. I haven’t met a problem I couldn’t talk my way out of.
This thought was enough to lift my spirits a bit. All I had to do was hold on to it and whatever was left of my sanity.
“Oh well, no use crying about it now, I guess.”
As if on cue, my stomach groaned louder.
“Alright, alright,” I muttered to myself. “Message received.”
I moved towards the door, hand hovering over the handle when I stopped.
“Wait. Did she say she’d come get me, or do I have to find my way around?”
I pressed my lip into a thin line as I contemplated what to do. The last thing I wanted was knocking over another thing that was probably more expensive than what I earned monthly. Besides, it’s not as if I lived here that I knew the layout. Technically, I was still a prisoner in everything but name.
Tak
Taking a deep breath, I squared my shoulders. “No I can do this.”