“What do you think, Elspeth?” Mama asked, nudging her head toward Adelaide.
Elm would be at the ball. This might be my best chance to get him and Adelaide together, to make my sister smile again.
“We should go,” I burst out before I could change my mind.
Prue groaned. “Can I at least bring a book?”
“Well, then.” Mama clapped her hands together. “Tomorrow we’re going shopping.”
Twenty
ELSPETH
Fabric hung all over the dressmaker’s shop. Glittery fabrics, silk, cotton, linen, patterned. It was enough to make my head spin.
Auggie draped a gold fabric over her shoulders, spinning as it caught rays of sunlight.
The dressmaker pointed his wand at Auggie, saying a spell in the ancient language of witches: Ethorial. It was the only language magic responded to and just one reason why casting spells was difficult. All witches learned the language in primary school, but to actually use it to cast spells took much skill. You had to understand each word, each intonation and inflection, or spells could go horribly wrong.
He finished saying the spell, and the fabric lifted from Auggie, then wrapped around her bosom, down to her waist, trailing all the way to the ground. She squealed. It looked like an actual dress, sleeveless, sleek, beautiful with her wavy brown hair and pale skin.
“Mama, look!” Auggie said, gesturing.
Mama appeared from behind some fabric, different types slung over her shoulders as she made her way to Auggie.
“Please do not touch my work,” the dressmaker said to Mama in athick accent that sounded like it was from the southern part of the realm, near the Werelands border.
Mama cleared her throat and twined her hands behind her back.
“What do you think?” the dressmaker asked, pinching the end of his thin mustache.
Auggie posed as she admired herself in the mirror. “It’s beautiful.”
I grimaced. It would cost all our gold coin to buy new dresses. We couldn’t afford this, but when I tried to be the voice of reason, Mama would hear none of it.
Adelaide walked out of a small side room covered by a curtain, and I gasped. She wore a white dress with sheer short sleeves and an A-line silhouette. It hung down her frame, the top layer sheer and revealing silky sparkling fabric underneath.
She looked breathtaking. Like a princess from the human lands. If he hadn’t already, Elm would fall head over heels after seeing Adelaide in this. Her blonde hair fell in soft waves down her shoulders, her blue eyes shining.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“I said do not touch!” The dressmaker swatted Mama’s hand away from Auggie, and Mama harrumphed.
“It’s gorgeous, Adelaide. Where did you find this?”
She shrugged. “It was in the back of the shop. It looked too big, so I figured there was no way it would fit. I decided to try it on anyway, and when I put it over my head, it conformed to my body.”
“It would look perfect with these.” I reached for two long white gloves that sat on a nearby shelf and handed them to Adelaide, who slipped them on. “And maybe a flower crown in your hair?”
She laughed. “Let’s not go overboard. I can’t believe you agreed to this.”
I crossed my arms. “You were there when I told Draven we’d come.”
“Yes, but I figured you were just trying to be polite. For once.”
My cheeks heated.
“Well, we’re stuck here in Thistlegrove, so we may as well make the most of it,” I said.
