The Veil of Darkness

"Since you left me all alone with nothing for me to do, I decided to utilize my time and prepare a surprise for you," Pristine answered as she got up from the bed and headed toward Annalise, surprising the latter when she suddenly took hold of her hand and pulled toward the dressing table. "A surprise?" Annalise asked as she allowed Pristine to direct her toward the dressing table. She wasn’t really sure about what the woman was planning to do but nothing prepared her for what she saw next.

Pristine started conjuring dress after dress from thin air and once she didn’t like the dress, she kept throwing them on the bed which was already a mess of blankets and pillows.

"Yes, my dear, a surprise that I have spent a lot of time, energy, and power on it. I’m seriously hoping that you will like it after seeing it."

Her words did nothing but only made Annalise more curious about the surprise that the fairy was talking about. She wanted to ask her more about that surprise but didn’t get the chance as Pristine suddenly beamed with happiness and shook a huge lavender-colored dress in front of her.

"What?" Annalise asked while looking at the fairy in confusion. She even had to arch her body to the side in order to look at the woman from behind the huge dress.

"Look at this dress and tell me how is it?" Pristine told her as she once again shook the dress in front of Annalise.

Having no other choice, Annalise decided to do as she was told before continuing with her questioning. She turned her full attention to the dress and let her eyes asses it from top to bottom. The dress was made of pure silk. It had two barely visible straps keeping the dress intact over the shoulders with a shoulder cover that kept the dress modest even though it actually left the entire shoulders and arms bare. The neckline was V-shaped but it didn’t reveal much like the ’non-existent’ sleeves. There were a bunch of very fine plates on the left of the dress near the waistline before the dress was left loose down below in a huge skirt. Though the dress was devoid of any embroidery or external design other than the plates, it still looked nothing less than a beauty that would easily make the noble young ladies of the capital spend gold just to wear it once.

"It’s so beautiful, Pristine." Annalise finally spoke and her words were nothing but the sheer truth that the fairy seemed to have already guessed from her expressions.