Chapter 391: Dressing Room

"Corset," she said. "It’s on the chair."

Kuri did not move. "Your maids are two doors down. You could have called them."

"My maids are asleep, and they would be no use if they were awake." Aurora turned from the mirror at last, her hands still on her hips. "They bow so low that I spend an hour talking to the tops of their heads. Every sentence begins with Your Highness and ends with Your Highness, and when I ask whether a colour suits me they say yes, whatever the colour is. You, at least, will tell me when something looks terrible."

"I haven’t said anything."

"You were thinking it. Your whole face does it for you."

That was the entire reason Kuri was here, and she had given up arguing with it a long time ago.

In the palace, Princess Aurora was served by twelve maids in grey uniforms who stood in a straight line whenever she entered a room, kept their eyes on the floor, and breathed as quietly as they could.

On the nights like these, she sent them all to bed at nine and called for Kuri instead.

No one else in the palace knew.

The maids believed their mistress dressed herself in the evenings.

And Kuri, who had never wanted to be anyone’s maid, came up the hidden stairs every time she was sent for, complained the whole way, and did the work well.

"Fine," she said, and took the corset from the chair. "But I’m not calling you Your Highness."

"I would be disappointed if you did." Aurora reached out and pinched her cheek. "My little house spider. There is cobweb on your ear."

Kuri slapped the hand away and plucked the thread off without looking. Aurora laughed, low and pleased.

"You’ve grown again," she added, eyeing the front of Kuri’s black top with open interest. "Another month and that thing will give up."

"It’s the same top."

"That is exactly my point." Aurora reached out, cupped one breast in her palm, and weighed it with a thoughtful hum.

Kuri jerked back and smacked her wrist. "Stop that!"

"I was only checking. A princess is allowed to inspect her staff."

"I’m not staff."

"No?" Aurora tilted her head, smiling. "Then you are very talkative furniture."

Kuri opened her mouth, shut it again, and rubbed her wrist. Aurora turned back to the mirror, still smiling.

The corset was black satin boned in silver, with a long row of laces down the back, and it was heavier than it looked.

Aurora set both hands on the frame of the mirror and leaned forward, pushing her bottom back toward Kuri and pressing her chest against the cold glass until it spilled over the top of the lace cups.

One bra strap slid down her shoulder. She left it where it fell.

Kuri stepped up behind her and fitted the corset around her waist.

She had done this a dozen times and had stopped noticing anything but the laces.

"Breathe out."

"I am breathing out."

"More."

Kuri planted a foot on the dais and pulled.

The boning creaked.

Aurora hissed through her teeth, then laughed, breathless, her cheek against the mirror. "Again."

Kuri pulled again, tied the laces off in a double knot, and stepped back. Aurora straightened, turned one way and then the other, and studied herself for three full seconds.

"I look like a shelf."

"That’s what a corset does."

"Then take it off."

"I just put it on."

"And now it comes off."

Kuri looked at the ceiling for a while. "I hate this job."

"You adore it." Aurora lifted her arms so the laces could be undone. "Quickly. The silver stockings next."

The corset joined the blue gown on the pile, and Aurora sat on the edge of the dais and stretched out one long leg.

The stockings came in a flat paper box and were so fine that they were almost transparent. Kuri knelt on the floor, gathered the first into a small ring of silk, and took the ankle in her hand.

Aurora leaned back on her hands and lifted the leg, toes pointed at the ceiling, so that the lace of her panties pulled tight across her hip and her bare thigh stood out all the way up to the garter strap.

She hummed to herself and watched the mirror.

Kuri rested the heel on her own knee and rolled the silk up from ankle to calf to thigh. She hooked the clasp to the garter strap and reached for the second stocking.

Aurora’s free foot found her cheek and prodded it. "Smile. You’ll get wrinkles."

"Move your foot."

"Make me." The toes slid under Kuri’s chin and tipped her face up. "Look at me when you frown at me. I like to see it."

Kuri knocked the foot aside with the back of her hand and caught the other ankle.

The second stocking went on faster than the first, and the last clasp closed with a small, vicious snap.

She sat back on her heels and let out a breath. From the floor she could see the whole length of the hall, and the one thing in it she had not noticed.

At the far end, apart from the other gowns, a single dress hung on its own stand under its own lamp.

It was deep midnight green velvet, with a high collar and long sleeves stitched with tiny seed pearls, and a thin silver chain circled the waist.

On the left side, hidden in the folds of the skirt, was a deep pocket. It was exactly the right size for a knife.

Her eyes went wide.

Velvet. Seed pearls. A knife pocket. I could live in that dress.

"That one is not for you," said Aurora.

"I wasn’t looking at it."

"I know where your eyes are at."

"I was looking at the wall."

"There is nothing on that wall, Kuri." Aurora leaned down and tapped her on the nose with one finger. "If you take it, I will know before you leave the palace. Then I will have to do something about it."