Page 39 of Alien Orc's Prize
I wondered how many times I’d have to ask that question before she actually answered. Maybe she was getting tired of me repeating it, because she turned around, rustled the bag in herarms, made a celebratory trumpet sound between pursed lips before grandly announcing, “I’m here for your wedding!”
“Um… My what? Lyric,” I said gently, not wanting to hurt or offend her when I was so fucking happy to see her, “I’m already married.”
She shook her head.
“Prince Gal tracked me down and contacted me at my new job. He told me your first wedding wasn’t good enough and he wanted a do over. He said that you’ve mentioned me and he thought you’d want me there. I guess it’s all supposed to be a surprise or something. He negotiated time off with my bosses and everything.” She opened the bag and pulled out what looked like liquid gold. “He had this dress commissioned to your exact measurements. I said I’d bring it up to you and help you get dressed.”
“It’s… It’s a wedding dress?”
It felt like the room was spinning.
“Yeah. I guess an orc wedding dress can be any colour, but he wanted you in gold because he said it would look nice with your hair and eyes. And he also said something about it reminding him of the way you looked the first time he saw you.”
The gold and green dress. The one he pulled the pins out of, grumbling the entire time.
I miss him.
The thought hit me like an arrow between the eyes. I would have fallen over if Lyric hadn’t hustled over with the dress and started bugging me to put it on.
“To see if it fits?” I asked dazedly.
“No, silly! The wedding is today!”
“Today.”
“Yup! Chop chop, buttercup!”
There was never any arguing with Lyric. I stripped out of my clothes and let her help me into the gown. If I’d thought that firstgold dress was beautiful, it was nothing compared to this one. Every inch of the bodice was decorated with hand-sewn pearls that spiraled down in elegant swaths at the full skirt. The sleeves were made of the finest lace I’d ever seen, sheer and iridescent as spider’s silk. The neckline gave an ample glimpse of my cleavage, and for the first time in three days, I laughed.
“I can definitely tell Galbrath helped design this to his liking,” I said, pointing at the bare expanse of my chest.
Lyric whistled.
“You look fab. And, yeah, I have to agree. He didn’t make it, but he was definitely in charge of the dress. It sounds like he’s basically single-handedly planning this entire wedding.”
“He’swhat?!”
It would have been just as outlandish if she’d told me Galbrath had grown a tail and planned to become a cowboy just so he could use it as a lasso.
“Well, maybe not entirely single-handedly. I met his sisters. They’re the ones who gave me the dress downstairs. But they seemed kind of put out that he was doing so much wedding planning and leaving so little to them.”
Galbrath. My Galbrath. My grumpy, grumbly, horny, arrogant, idiotic husband was planning ourwedding.
It made me want to cry. In the best possible way.
He knew I was hurt about what he’d done. He knew I was sad about not having a real wedding.
And he was trying to fix it.
Once the dress was on and fastened – it fit like a dream – Lyric got to work on my hair.
“I can’t believe you’re helping me get ready for a wedding you never even approved of,” I said as she twisted and pinned my hair in a pretty chignon, leaving some strands free at the front.
“That was before I talked to him,” she said through a mouth full of hair pins. The same ones Galbrath had pulled out of myhair after I’d fallen asleep on him that first night. “The man sounds absolutely gone for you, Luna. As he should be! But seriously. He adores you. It’s so fucking obvious.”
I watched my cheeks grow pink in the mirror. It was a good thing Galbrath wasn’t here, or he’d probably be preening over how my scent had changed in response to what Lyric had just said about him. I cleared my throat and changed the subject.
“What about you? How’s the nanny gig going?”