The Beauty in Pain | Book One of In Pain Trilogy *EDITING*

37. Dining to Impress

As soon as the door closed behind her, she released her breath with a soft whoosh. That had been ... intense. She hadn't expected herself to go off on him like that. All she had been planning to do when she saw him sulking – and he was definitely sulking – was to give him a bit of consolation, tell him she was sorry for everything, get all that pressure off her chest.

But instead, all she managed to do was to embarrass herself. Now he knew everything. He was a smart man. He knew that she had feelings for him; he knew that she thought about him every minute of every day and he knew that she was drowning in her guilt after what happened between them. And that only served to make her angrier.

Who did he think he was? He thought that just because he was the devilishly handsome prince he could do anything he wanted with her heart? Her heart was too precious an item to be given out to just anyone; he should be grateful! He should be honoured!

Mynera boosted herself away from the door, stalking away to her bedchambers. She would show him. She would show him just what he was missing out on. She would show him that she wasn't simply Lady Mynera Antarian of Typena. She was also the Lady Mynera Antarian, the dangerous Arcadian priestess. She didn't need him. She didn't need anyone.

Her lingering rage pushed her down the halls until, at long last, she reached her bedchambers. There she lingered just behind the door, replaying the horribly embarrassing encounter in the Archives and, feeling another boost of anger, rushed over to draw herself a bath. She spent little time in the water, scrubbing furiously at her skin until it was rubbed raw and burned even more when she dipped her skin into the boiling hot water. It was no matter to her, though. She welcomed the pain. She felt like a phoenix rising from the ashes after all that happened. And she had to let the phoenix be seen.

Stark naked, Mynera rushed over to her wardrobe, threw the double doors open. She stood there, scanning her clothing, trying to select the best dress she could find. Her hand reached out to take up the deep purple one, her instinct always to reach for purple, but then she drew back. No, not good enough. She needed something better. Something that would set everyone's hearts on fire.

Finally, she found the perfect dress. It was a deep red, lined with black and it clung to dip in her waist and flared beautifully at her hips. Mynera stood before the mirror, admiring the way it dipped in front, revealing enough tantalizing cleavage but not so much that it became indecent. The dress was long, running along the floor and dragging behind her. She gave a little twirl, laughing victoriously. This was it. This was the dress that would make Saenar think twice about rejecting her.

Mynera turned and sat at her vanity table. She scented her skin, pinched her cheeks and set about doing her hair. At first she had thought to leave it out but then decided against it. Leaving it out may have an alluring effect but she had worn that style every day since she arrived in Arcadia. She should do something different, to draw more eyes. She reached up and began braiding the front centre of her hair into two, stopping when she was halfway to the back. Then she pulled the sides of hair up to the middle and pinned it down. The rest laid heavily on her back. Then she smiled.

Watch out, Saenar.

Suddenly, there came a knock at her door. "Come in," Mynera called.

The door opened and Madeline slipped in. When she saw her, she folded her arms. "Where do you think you're going looking like that?" she demanded.

Mynera turned back to the mirror on the vanity table. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean," Madeline said, coming up behind her. "You're obviously trying to impress someone in a dress like that. And you did your hair too."