Penny sat in front of the dressing table, looking at the mirror where Damien stood behind her with his hands in her hair as he weaved them first with his hands and then to brush them. While Penny was drying her hair, Damien had got himself dressed.
The dress she wore was light peach in color with short flap sleeves, showing off her arms. The last time he had got the dress from Lady Maggie which made her wonder if this was hers too but she had never seen her wear it before. Maybe people who were rich had a lot of clothes, enough to survive for the whole two months without having to repeat what they wore. Like Damien himself who had one side of the wall made of the closet for his clothes. The man lived like a king without following anyone’s word but his own.
This made her wonder if the man feared anything at all. It was as if he were fearless.
“What is running in that little mind of yours?” he asked as he continued to brush her hair.
“Just looking,”she whispered looking back at him through the mirror.
“Then look properly. Meet my eyes, Penelope,” he challenged her and this time she couldn’t move her gaze away from him. It was as if he had locked her down with just his eyes. Penny didn’t know what was going on but she was sure the wind had changed in the atmosphere. After handling Damien who liked handing down punishment, this sweet side where he continued to speak directly aiming at her, she could hardly hold on to her dear life.
Penny instead of looking at his hands and her hair stared into his eyes as their gaze never broke from each other. But she could feel every scr.a.p.e of his nail that ran gently on her scalp and the pull of her hair as he braided at the side of her hair, “Where did you learn to braid a girl’s hair?” she asked him.
“Maggie liked to be pampered by my mother. My mother often did her hair, never repeating anything more than once in a week,” she could hear the fondness that his voice carried when it came to speaking about his mother, “I just happened to pick and learn without having to practice it,” did that mean she was the first one to ever have his hands style her hair? He continued to braid her hair at the said, stopping to see how it looked he pinned it up. He did the same on the other side of her head before pulling it up and turning it to a messy bun.
“You can make a living out of it,” she complimented to receive a chuckle from him.
“Thank you for the compliment. I still wonder why you haven’t been hit before. Didn’t you have customers who came looking for you after the theater?” he questioned without a hint of curiosity while in truth he was curious.
Penny looked at him with a slightly stunned expression, smiling at him as if she were up to no good, “There were some,” of course, there were some, thought Damien in his mind.
“And?” his voice continued to be nonchalant as he spoke, “Don’t end the story when it hasn’t even begun. It is hard to think that you don’t have a man in your life.”
“I am an average looker, master Damien. Didn’t you see other actresses’ on stage?” she raised her brows in question.
Walking around her to pick up the hairpin which he had asked the butler to bring from another room he went back to gently push them into her hair. As he adjusted it to make sure it was still visible, he replied, “It is because I have seen them I ask you the question. Beauty isn’t something that comes with the mere attention to what people get on stage. The actress might receive a lot of applauds but she was once a side actress too unless she is the owner’s daughter. You are more than beautiful. Do you think my standards are so low that my heart would pick any walking passing person in front of me?”
What did he just say? Penny was shocked, this man was confessing his heart and she looked at him. Following his actions as he picked something else on his dressing table to stand in front of her now.
“Part your lips, sweet,” Penny gulped, listening to his words as she continued to stare at him. This time Damien was busy looking at something in his hand and then at her lips. Rubbing his finger in the little box he brought his hand on her lips, gently swiping the gel on to her lips, “Don’t you look beautiful,” he murmured looking into her eyes, one corner of his lips were pulled up to smile.
When Penny’s eyes darted to the mirror, she saw that Damien had applied something red in color on her lips making her face brighter than before. She did look pretty which made her feel even more pretty.
Before stepping into the carriage to go to Lady Sentencia’s mansion, Grace and others who had been at the beginning of the hallway couldn’t stop staring at Penny. The slave girl from wearing a vegetable sack who was the lowest of the low being in their mansion had turned to look like a fine lady. Grace’s lips twisted in irritation but who could blame the young vampiress as Penelope looked prettier than she did right now.
Maggie, on the other hand, had her eyes strained on the dress that Penny wore. She hadn’t seen it before. It neither belonged to her or any other vampiress in the mansion which made her ponder on if her brother had bought the dress exclusively for the girl so that she could wear it.
Passing the wandering eyes, Damien placed his hand on Penny’s back as her steps had slowed down. Getting out and inside the carriage, they rode to Damien’s friend’s house which wasn’t too far from where Quinn’s mansion was located.
