Lady Carolina was not pleased at all. Having a phoenix was, of course, not a bad thing, but Alex couldn’t control it and the bird was making an absolute mess of the meticulously designed interior Carolina’s apartment. Not to mention the incessant caws and screeches that echoed off the marbled walls and hurt the Sultana’s sensitive ears. She would need to find a place to put the creature before it caused irreparable damage to her fine silk furnishings. It was also time for Alexandra to get her own apartment, since it was obvious she would be staying here for quite some time.
“Honestly, girl,” Carolina said, throwing her manicured hands in the air as she plopped back on a silk cushion. “Can’t you control the creature?”
“Sorry,” Alex said, wiping at her forehead. She was working up a pretty healthy sweat chasing the gilded bird around the room, trying to cage it. It had flown out of Alexandra’s reach and rested comfortably on a wooden rafter that supported the ceiling. “I’m trying to catch it.”
“Maybe that’s your problem,” Carolina said. “You should command it. You are the bird’s caretaker. It must listen to you.”
“It’s not going to listen to me,” Alex said, shaking her head and looking up at the bird. It blinked its little eyes and looked down at her with its head jerking from side to side.
“Give it a try,” Carolina said. She picked up her glass of wine that sat on the table next to her and took a long sip.
“Come here,” Alex said, motioning with her hands for the bird to come down to her. She was rewarded with a loud shriek as the bird ruffled its feathers.
“It’s laughing at me,” Alex said, throwing her hands in the air and turning away to look at Carolina. “The damn thing isn’t going to listen to me.”
“Not if you speak to it so softly. Perhaps you should give it a name,” Carolina said, rubbing at her temples as the bird cawed again. “It’s a female I believe.”
“It’s a female?” Alex asked, looking thoughtfully back up at the bird. “How do you know?”
“I don’t,” Carolina said with a shrug, taking another sip of her wine. “It looks female though.”
“Yeah, I guess it kinda does,” Alex thought for a moment. She looked up at the bird, with her tiny two toned eyes that watched Alex’s every move. It had beautiful golden tipped feathers that shone in the sunlight filtering into Carolina’s apartment.
“Peta,” Alex said, “It means gold. I like that name for her.”
The bird made a cooing sound and spread out her wings as she leapt off the rafter. She landed on the floor a few steps in front of Alex. It tilted its head to the side and looked at Alex with its red eye. Alexandra looked pointedly at the bird.
“Come, Peta,” she said, with as much authority as she could muster. To her surprise, Peta hopped forward a few steps and cooed again. Alex grabbed the cage and set it on the ground in front of her. “Get in, Peta.”
Peta ruffled her feathers a little but she continued to hop forward and eventually made it into the cage. Alex shut and locked the little metal door with an exhausted sigh.
“I’m afraid the room will need to be entirely redone,” Carolina said. A tisk tisk sound echoed off the marble of the room as she stood up and picked her way around the piles of overturned furniture and silk cushions. “How can such a small creature cause such a disastrous mess?”
“I’m really sorry,” Alex said, biting at her lower lip. “I guess Peta’s pretty strong for such a small bird.”
Peta cawed loudly in her cage, causing Carolina to wince and raise a hand to her ears.
“What’s done is done,” she said, waving her hand in dismissal of the bird. She walked over to Alex and linked their arms together. “No sense dwelling on it. We should go prepare for the Taj Festival.”
“I am so not wearing that,” Alex said, shaking her head at the eunuch that was holding out an outfit expectantly. It was a beautiful, deep green silk that was embroidered with golden threads and studded with tiny diamonds in a decorative floral pattern. But it was also little more than a bra, with a high slit skirt that sat low on the hips. The ensemble was incredibly gorgeous but Alex couldn’t see herself wearing something so revealing. Carolina looked amazing in her outfit, which was cut very similar to the one she had picked out for Alex. Her’s was a peach color and was studded with tiny auburn colored gemstones. The demoness wore it with such grace and elegance that it was hard for Alex to take her eyes off of her.
“Why not?” Carolina asked, examining her hair in the mirror that sat on the wall of the harem dressing rooms. An army of eunuchs shuffled around them with ointments and implements, preparing all the Ladies of the Harem for the Taj Festival. “It’s the perfect color for you. Unless you’d rather something in red. That would look fabulous on you. Although, green is my son’s favorite color.”
Carolina winked at her in the mirror. Alex ignored the comment and turned back to the outfit in question. She didn’t want to think about Balthazar right now. It was bad enough that she would have to spend the whole night in the same room with him. Her feelings for him were so confusing. One minute she couldn’t stop her body from trembling with desire when she was around him. The next he was being mean to her and making her so mad she wanted to punch him. He would see her in this outfit. She ran a few fingers over the skirt. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that.
“It’s beautiful, really,” Alex said, “but I can’t wear something like that. What about a robe or something?”
Carolina waved off the eunuch that was fussing over her hair and rose from her cushion with a sigh.
“This is a formal occasion,” Carolina said, stepping over to Alex. She took the top from the eunuch and handed it to Alex. “And this is formal wear. Everyone else will be dressed similarly. You simply can’t wear a robe. The idea is ludicrous. Especially if you’ll be sitting at my table.”
“Yeah, but—“
“But nothing,” Carolina interrupted with a stern glare. “If I have to, I’ll dress you myself. Now, hurry. We still need to have your hair and makeup fixed.”