Iridescent

Chapter 7

Stasia

"Meredith," I started as she slipped the light fabric off of me, "Do you know a guard called Finn?"

She shrugged and wrapped an arm around me, fitting the proper corset on for dinner, "No."

"He's a new knight," I noted, watching her lace me up in the mirror.

She murmured a small acknowledgement, gripping the lace with her teeth for a moment. Irina was digging through my armoire for another dress to dazzle Nikolai with, but I pushed that thought aside with, "He's from Boden."

That made her look up.

"Stay away from him."

Well then.

I crossed my arms and she reached around, asking me to relax them and breathe outwards for a moment. I tied my forearms across my chest again, knowing it would make her look up at me through the mirror. "He's harmless, Mer."

"How long have you known him?" She scoffed, "Five minutes?" Her gaze seemed to pin me in the chest through the mirror and I raised my eye brows in defense.

I tapped my foot a little, feeling a sliver of embarrassment into the pit of my throat, "Five hours." Cue a look. "But, that's beside the point."

"There's no such thing as a knight in shining armor, Stasia," Meredith grunted, "Believe me. It's better you learn that sooner rather than later."

I started believing that a long time ago.

"I know that," I sighed, wanting to roll my eyes, "But—"

She tied my corset, and didn't let me finish, "He's no good—stay away from him."

Who made her corset too tight?

"What makes you say that?" I asked, turning around to face her. She waved her hand and brought a rag to her lips as the cough fought at her chest for a moment. I watched as she hunched over at the punch of the cough and reached towards her, feeling the sickness of pity pull at the center of me. She refused it, pausing for a moment, and continued to move towards the vanity.

When I sat before the mirror, looking at her through it, she started to pin my hair back loosely. Her hands were always so delicate when it came to my hair, as I barely felt them when she did it. A somber look washed over her face as she worked quickly—which was another red flag. Braiding and styling my hair was her favorite part of all of this nonsense.

She wasn't telling me something.

The extra metal clasp she held in her mouth muffled her words as she sighed, "Well, for starters, nothing good has come out of Boden for years." She was quiet for a moment and then shook her head, continuing with my hair, "You don't want to know about it, Stasia."

"Why not?" I furrowed my eye brows.

She pinned the last curl away from my face and glanced towards Irina to nod at a maroon sleeveless gown. Going through the same routine to touch up my makeup, she sighed again when she realized I demanded a response.

"Stasia," She dug through the drawer with a flat look, "No more of this."

I released my arms from the tight fold over my chest and wondered, "What could possibly be so bad about it?"

"We have to get you to dinner," She lifted me from the seat and grabbed the cream shoes I was wearing earlier from where I left them in the lounge area, "We are already late as is."