It was a relief to know it no longer existed. Everest had destroyed it. But that wouldn’t happen for another three hundred years so it would be good for me to remember to stay the hell out of that forest entirely. I still had nightmares about my first trip inside when I hadn’t realized that was Spot who was actually guiding me back to Avolire safely. Hindsight really changed things.

“María?”

I jumped and spun around, pressing my hand to my chest. “Lo siento. ¿Qué has dicho?”

“It is too bad you are not French. I have picked up a decent amount of French.” Katelin smiled. “But they are similar so I might pick up a few words. Que sounds like what in French, did you ask what I said?”

I nodded.

She did a little happy dance like it excited her to have guessed right. Then he gestured to the rest of the room. “I said, this is the dress room. Every female of Avolire must have dresses and gowns, Sweyn demands beauty at all times. We do not get many newcomers but when we do, especially when they are without their own luggage, Sweyn will provide two items from this room. A gown, for she loves to throw a ball for any reason. Then also a linen chemise and boned stay for night-to-night wear. Sweyn goes through cycles of fashion preference though right now she prefers everyone to wear red. So, we do a lot of dying white linen and cotton.”

I blinked. It was strange to be here as a vampire and to see Sweyn from another light. Not that I was confused on the level of monster she was, it was just interesting. She was just going to give me two gowns to wear. That was more than I was expecting. I’d assumed up until now the vampires in Avolire remained here out of fear but perhaps they felt Sweyn treated them well. That would make fighting them a little more difficult.

Katelin held my arms out to the side and eyed my body then with a nod, she turned and walked over to where red dresses were hanging on wooden posts. There had to be hundreds of them in here. I wasn’t a well-versed fashionista but they all looked super fancy. Katelin lifted a red linen gown similar to the one Tegan had given me when I left Eden. Then she grabbed some kind of corset-looking thing that had shoulder straps and laced up the front and back. It was also red. Then she turned and walked over to the fancier looking gowns, ones that seemed to be made of silk or satin. I thought some of those were called brocades but there was a chance I was making that up.