Deals With the Devil

The Dress

At four thirty on the dot, Molly and Adira were sitting on Molly’s bed, waiting for Matilda’s sweet little knock. They knew it was coming, and they both wanted the waiting to be done. Even the most patient people can become impatient at times.

There it was. The long awaited knock. But this soft, simple knock caused the two girls to jump. Adira’s hand instinctively dropped to her waist, where her dagger used to rest. And it wasn’t like she didn’t still have a few on her. After the slightest hesitation, she stood up and opened the door.

“King Seth sent me for your answer, Miss Adira,” Matilda said in a voice as soft as her knock. “Are you going to join me and accept King Seth’s deal?”

“I’m afraid not, Matilda,” Adira replied, almost regretfully. “I just can’t accept the deal this time.”

“Why not?” Matilda’s voice lost its sweet charm as her voice shook slightly with disappointment and what sounded like a hint of fear.

“He wouldn’t dare hurt you for my decision,” Adira growled quietly, but forcibly.

Matilda laughed with her beautiful laugh. “My brother wouldn’t hurt a hair on my head even if it meant he was to be free!”

Adira froze, causing Molly to glance up. While she didn’t hear what was said, she could tell that something was not right. When Matilda realized what she had said, her eyes widened and her hands flew to cover her mouth. The only thing that kept her from sinking to the ground was Adira’s hands under her arms.

“I am so sorry,” Matilda mumbled, tearing up slightly. She mumbled a series of nonsense before regaining her composure.

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Adira murmured.

“Don’t tell Seth that you know. Please?” she begged, her eyes pleading just as much as her voice.

Adira pouted slightly. “But that means I can’t tease him. I swear that I won’t let him know that you told me.”

“Does that mean you’ve changed your mind?” Matilda asked hopefully. “Seth really enjoys your company. I haven’t seen him this happy in years.”

“I don’t know. I mean, I enjoy your brother’s company too, but - well, I have trust issues. My childhood messed with me a lot.”

“Don’t tell him that I told you, but Seth’s childhood hurt him too. I don’t know much because I was too young to remember. All I know is that someone hurt a person he loved.

“I never would have guessed.”

“Please, Adira. Please let me take you to him. He’s not expecting you to come, but he’d love it if you did.”

Adira held up one finger, told Matilda to wait, and hurried into the bathroom. She returned with the bag that she had come to the compound with. “For my clothes.”

“Come on! We can surprise him!” Matilda cheered, grabbing Adira’s hand. She half dragged Adira across the compound, leaving a surprised Molly behind them.

Matilda led her down the hallway that led to the kitchen. She then took a left down a short hallway that ended at a set of golden double doors. They had various, intricate designs etched into the door. Every little detail was etched with the utmost perfection. Adira stared at the beauty while Matilda just chuckled.

“Stay here until I nod,” Matilda giggled as she positioned Adira just outside of what would be King Seth’s line of sight. “Then come up beside me. Got it?”

“I got it, Matilda.”

Taking a deep breath, Matilda knocked on her brother’s door. King Seth must have been standing right beside the door because he instantly pulled the doors open.

“Guess she said no, Mattie,” King Seth murmured. He didn’t look surprised, but there was disappointment hidden behind his eyes. “You’ll just have to take her gown to her room if that’s okay.”

Matilda nodded. King Seth turned to pick up the dress from the back of his chair, but Adira was at Matilda’s side before it was an inch above the chair.

“I don’t think there will be a need for that,” Adira said softly, her kind voice carrying to the king.

King Seth quickly spun around at the sound of Adira’s voice, dropping the dress back onto the chair. His face held more surprise than either girl could handle, and they both started dying of laughter, the continued peals of laughter from the other egging them on. King Seth glared at them while they struggled to contain themselves.

“It was not that funny,” King Seth grumbled as he invited both girls into his room. “Just remember that payback is a bitch.”

“I’m sure it is,” Adira mocked teasingly as she looked around the room.

The bedroom was nearly identical to Adira’s except that his only had a single bed, clad in navy blue. His room was surprisingly clean. Not perfectly clean, mind you, but it was neat and had no clothes scattered across the floor. But the item that really caught Adira’s eye was the dress that King Seth had dropped. It had to have been the dress that Molly had seen.

Adira couldn’t help but walk closer to the dress. As Molly had said, it had a deep red background with little black roses spread throughout. When she picked up the dress, she realized it was made from the finest silk she had ever felt. It had the same neckline as the dress she had worn the night before. But this dress had skin tight sleeves that would end halfway down her arms and the skirt went all the way down to the ground. The biggest plus, in Adira’s opinion, was the matching belt that she could see looped around the hanger under the dress.

“You should go put it on!” Matilda gasped, for she had yet to see the dress as well. She pointed to the other open door. “The bathroom is through there.”

Adira took the dress into the bathroom and locked the door. She glanced around the bathroom before beginning to undress. Although she was ninety nine percent certain that she could trust King Seth, she still wore a pair of spandex shorts underneath the dress. By this point, it was a habit, and felt weird to omit this undergarment.

When Adira finished zipping up her dress, a task that took a few minutes, she bundled up her clothes and turned. Seeing another woman, she froze, and the clothes in her hands fell to the ground.

The woman standing in the full length mirror in front of Adira was breathtakingly beautiful. Her first thought was, who is this beautiful person? But she quickly realized that it was her own reflection. After all, the woman she saw not only wore the exact same dress as Adira and had identical, golden waves cascading down their back, but the woman also waved her left hand when Adira did. She just couldn’t believe how beautiful she looked by just putting on this dress.

It was only once she regained her composure that she took a closer look at her dress. The dress fit her curves perfectly before flowing loosely to the ground. As she tightened the belt around her waist, Adira noticed that there was a place where the leather was thinner; a built-in spot to hold the sheath of a dagger without it running the risk of sliding around.

“Adira? Is everything alright in there?” King Seth’s concerned voice broke through the fog of Adira’s mind. “You’ve been in there for nearly fifteen minutes.”

“Oh! Yeah, I’m fine. I kinda just surprised myself,” Adira said with an embarrassed chuckle. She quickly regathered her clothes and left the bathroom. “Thanks for the spot for a sheath, but it kinda needs an actual dagger to be useful.”

“What do you think that box is for?” King Seth motioned to the large box on the bed that Adira had missed when she had first walked in. “You get fifteen; exactly half. I still can’t believe that you managed to carry at least thirty blades.”

Adira shoved her clothes into her bag. “Actually, I get eighteen because I get an additional three weapons from the deal where you get to start calling me Adira.”

“I forgot about that one,” King Seth grumbled before turning to Matilda. “How about you grab your makeup and hair bag, Matilda?”

Matilda nodded and slipped off into her own room. Adira went to the box and instantly grabbed her beloved dagger and slid its sheath onto its place on her new belt. She also grabbed her sword before beginning her weapon count. She picked up sixteen more weapons, inspecting them carefully before placing them in her growing pile.

“Your sister is very nice,” Adira murmured as she worked.

“What?” King Seth’s eyes widened. “What did you say?”

“I said that your sister, Matilda, is very nice. She looks a lot like you.”

Before King Seth could say another word, Matilda came back into the room, carrying two large bags and a midnight blue dress. She placed them on the table and walked over to where Adira was sliding various blades into hidden sheaths. The only weapon left on the bed was the sword.

“Do you need help putting that one on?” When Adira nodded, Matilda turned to King Seth. “Grab your suit and change in the bathroom.”

Surprisingly, King Seth did exactly as his sister ordered. He grabbed the suit that had been lying on the back of his other chair and walked to the bathroom. Once the bathroom door shut behind him, Matilda beamed at Adira.

“How can I help?”

“First, can you unzip my dress? But only to just below my ribs.”

Matilda did as she was asked. She also helped Adira slip her arms out of her dress sleeves. Then Adira explained exactly what they would need to do. Matilda held the sword flush against Adira’s back while Adira fastened the straps. One went around each of her arms while the third went just below her chest.

“There. Now it should stay up.”

Adira slipped her arms back into her sleeves with Matilda’s help. Once they finally got the dress zipped back up, Adira helped Matilda into her own dress. Her dress was nearly identical to Adira’s, with the exception of the color and hers had stars instead of roses. When they had finished, the girls reluctantly allowed King Seth to return to his room.

Matilda pulled her hair supplies out of her bag and glared at her brother. “Come do my hair like you promised,” she demanded in a way that seemed out of character to Adira.

However, within twenty minutes, King Seth had his sister’s haird braided into a neat little bun. Adira watched as he expertly added the finishing touches to Matilda’s hair.

“Can you do that to my hair?” Adira asked as he sprayed her hair down with hair spray.

“I don’t know,” King Seth said reluctantly. “This is pretty difficult to do.”

“Seth,” Matilda warned, turning to glare at her brother.

“I was just kidding. I was already planning on doing your hair as well, Adira.”

The two girls switched seats. While King Seth braided Adira’s hair, Matilda set out her make up. She laid out the brushes and started on her own make up while she waited.

“There,” King Seth said, holding up a mirror after spraying Adira’s head with hair spray. “How does that look?”

“It looks amazing!”

It really was. Instead of her hair being pulled into a bun like Matilda’s, King Seth pulled it back into a ponytail with multiple braids going into it. Two of the braids were braided to the end and wrapped around the hair tie.

“Come over here, Adira! I have a few make up ideas that you might like.” Matilda attempted to drag Adira’s chair closer to herself. “Since someone won’t let me test out my amazing ideas on him, this might take a while to get just right.”

“I’m sitting right here, Mattie!”

“So? It’s true!”

King Seth glared at the giggling girls. Contrary to what Matilda led Adira to believe, she was done with Adira’s make up within a few minutes. And it looked even better than her hair! Nothing to the extreme, but just enough to make her eyes pop.

“I think we’re ready to go once you get that stuff put away,” King Seth said. “We need to be in the Dining Hall in ten minutes.”

Matilda was tidying up her various supplies when she stubbed her bare foot against the table leg. “Where did you put our shoes?”

“Give me a moment to find the boxes.”

The two girls chuckled while they watched King Seth search the room for the shoes. Eventually, he found the two boxes stacked neatly beside the bathroom door. He grabbed the boxes, lifting the lids to see which pair belonged to which girl. Then he tossed one to Matilda and gently handed the other to Adira.

“Why did you throw my shoes? You could have broken them!” Matilda cried, glaring at her brother.

“Look inside the box. Your precious shoes didn’t break.”

“How would you know?” When she peeked into her box, she growled and threw the empty box at her brother. “Where did you put my shoes, Butthead?”

He dodged the flying box with a chuckle. “Right here,” he said, holding up a pair of black heels.

Throughout their whole argument, Adira pulled on her own black heels and started placing her daggers in their hidden sheaths. King Seth held out his arm, but Adira didn’t take it right away. She took her final dagger and slid it into the hidden sheath at the bottom of her right heel.

“How did you know that was there?” King Seth grumbled.

“I noticed it when I put the heels on.” Adira took his arm as she stood up, but she still stumbled. “Damn heels.”

“I’ve got you,” King Seth said softly, helping her stand. “We’ll take it slow.”