Pink and white, lace and silk, the only things missing from the décor were feathers and beads. The room itself had to be almost eighty degrees, and the scent of White Diamonds overpowered the closed space. Three separate vases of lilies lent a funereal fragrance to the consuming odor. Even Nicolae wrinkled his nose.
She sat at the mirror, brushing hair of spun gold and lost in her own reflection. It was a whimsical schoolgirl’s expression on an old woman’s face. Her hairstyle, ridiculous curls flounced into buoyancy, mocked her age. Heavy makeup was layered over every flaw. If Nicolae’s mother had been the epitome of aging both beautifully and gracefully, Dustin’s was her exact opposite. “Paige, darling.” She drawled in the heavy speech so common among the overly drugged and the self-impo
