Chapter 756: Noble Fashion

“Don’t tug on your collar like that,” Severina admonished Jay as she reached over and adjusted her cravat. “It will come undone.”

“Would that really be so bad?” Jay whined as she let the Seraphim retighten the stiff material. “If I got rid of this, maybe I could set a new fashion trend. By next summer, V-necks and sundresses could be all the rage.”

“In fact,” Syd commented from where she sat opposite of Jay, “I’d love to see you in a sundress. I bet you’d be stunning.”

“Compliment and cajole me all you want,” Sev replied as she settled back into her seat next to Syd. “You will not make me regret exercising my right to wear armor when you cannot.”

“You mistake my goals, my dear lady,” Syd used her poshest of voices as she took Severina’s gauntleted hand and brought her steel knuckles to her lips. “If I can get you to wear a sundress, it won’t be to take you to a formal function at the palace. I’ll want you all to myself.”

While she did narrow her eyes at her suspiciously, Severina still blushed a bright pink as she met Syd’s heated gaze.

“Be sure to keep your hands and your innuendos to yourself once we are in the palace,” Severina took her hand back. “…you can tell me more about sundresses when we return home.”

The grin that spread across Jadis’ faces could not be diminished by any number of uncomfortable collars.

Jadis didn’t ordinarily like to wear dresses; even back on Earth she had usually avoided them in favor of pants or shorts combined with a t-shirt, or maybe a hoodie in the winter. She did sometimes wear skirts when the mood took her, and she had a few dresses intended for formal occasions like weddings, but those were also back on Earth, just like her shorts and hoodies. On Oros, Jadis did have a few dresses as well, but she went out of her way not to wear them unless forced to. If she had the opportunity to wear something informal, or if she could wear her armor, those were the options she chose.

Neither informal pants nor armor were allowed at Princess Lynn’s tea party, but a third option had been open to Jadis, one that had required the services of an expensive, fast moving, and highly skilled tailor. And, now that she was about to wear said option into the royal palace where she would be surrounded by who knew how many noble ladies, Jadis was starting to wish she had gone with a dress.

Men’s formalwear among imperial high society reminded Jadis of the sort of suits that were popular in Europe during the early eighteen hundreds. Had that been called the Regency Era? She wasn’t quite sure, but she thought that was what had come before the Victorian Era. Or she was confusing the two names with each other. Either way, the style focused on the three-piece suit; a coat, a vest, and pleated pants. The look was a lot different from the modern men’s wear that Jadis was used to, but not wholly unfamiliar either, since she had definitely been into the sorts of historical fashion that came up in fantasy novels. None of what she had seen on Earth was exactly like what they had on Oros, but it was close enough to draw easy comparisons.

While the general style of the three-piece suit had not changed for noble men in literally centuries, the particulars did tend to go through cycles, with different aspects and details coming into focus or fading depending on the current trends. Vraekae’s habitual military-style suit was a good example. The sparse, almost utilitarian design that the magistrate favored had grown in popularity at the start of the Demon invasion, though it had not been what most men or women with the inclination had worn before the war had begun. Nor was it exactly the fashion that had come into play that summer. The old style had involved tight waistcoats, long tailcoats, and the sorts of overly embroidered lapels that made the wearer look like a peacock had exploded on them. The newest style wasn’t as bad, but there was definitely a lot more embellishment than there had been on the suit Jadis had seen Vraekae wearing when they first met.

The biggest differences were the high collars and the cravats. Unfortunately, Jadis was not a fan of either. They were tight and forced her chin up to avoid poking herself, which she supposed was probably half the point. The neck cloth also felt stuffy, despite being made of silk, and she had no idea why anyone would think it was a good idea to wrap their necks up with a lot of fabric when it was still summer and hot out. Well, she supposed that Eldingholt was a much cooler environment than Volto or elsewhere in the north of the continent, but still. She would have preferred clothing that was a little looser. The only real consolation was the fact that Jadis had to admit that the suit did make her look really good, if a bit like some kind of giant vampire.

Made of some kind of imported material that had cost way too much money, the dark blue suit fit snugly without being so tight that she felt like she couldn’t move. The vest was an off-white ivory color and had fine gold and silver thread creating tiny patterns along the edges, while the silk cravat was a violet to match Jadis’ eye color. Since her hair had grown quite a bit, Eir had styled her with a simple yet elegant braid that pulled all but a few purposeful bangs out of her face. The ensemble had included a light cape that matched her suit color on the outside but was violet on the inside, but Jadis had eschewed wearing the piece since the tea party was being held during the day and considering the skies were clear and sunny, there wasn’t much need for additional cover. The only major change to the suit that greatly differed from what most noblemen in court would be wearing were the pants. Jadis’ height meant that most people’s heads were somewhere around crotch height. Since her “size” was extreme, tight pants called attention to her groin area even more than was otherwise happening naturally. That wasn’t the kind of attention Jadis liked to call to herself, at least not when she was trying to be serious, and especially not when there were children around. So, as a concession meant to accommodate her biology, Mistress Rohese had altered the traditional design of the suit so that Jadis’ pants were loose and had wide legs. The waist was still high, which meant a wide belt had been selected to complement the look, but otherwise the pants were a great deal different from the current trend. Jadis thought they looked good, though, and Rohese had seemed proud of her work, so she figured that even if she wasn’t exactly setting a trend, she at least wouldn’t be embarrassing herself by looking silly.

While Jadis was overall pleased with the look that the tailor had managed to put together for her three bodies on very short notice, she still wished she could have worn either something more casual or her armor. Unfortunately, the palace rules were strict when it came to attire for such functions, and the only one of their invited party who had the right to wear armor was Severina, owing to her status as one of Prince Kestil’s official advisors. Everyone else was wearing a dress, which, when Jadis looked at the three beauties who sat with her Dys self in the second carriage, was nothing she would ever think to complain about.

The dress that Mistress Rohese had tailored for Alex was everything she had promised and more. With a form-fitting upper body and a flowing skirt, the dress had been designed with lattice of petals that went through a range of blues, dark to light, giving the gown the appearance of a flower. Thankfully imperial fashion did not favor the huge dresses with insane amounts of petticoats that European fashions had preferred in their time, so rather than looking puffy or overblown, Alex’s dress was sleek and chic. The design reminded Jadis of something fanciful, like a fairy princess, though the fact that Alex was a three-eyed, four-armed Demon Lord did spoil that image a little.

Spoil might have been the wrong word, Jadis realized on second thought. Enhanced? Improved? Altered into something undeniably sexy? If she were German, Jadis was certain that she would have a word that would describe the effect more accurately.

Like Severina, Eir had also been invited to the tea party due to her noble station. Severina was the representative of House Lumen since her parents were still in their home territory, and while Eir wasn’t the lady of house Aedraheill, not with Svana in town, she still got an invitation since she was the only daughter of the household. The rest of Jadis’ harem had not been invited to the function since none of them were imperial nobles, and the party had what Eir called a “select” list. Truthfully, the formal tea parties that Hraustrekr’s wife regularly held were generally just for the wives and children of the nobility; husbands had their own functions to attend with the prince. Jadis wasn’t Alex’s husband, not in a legal sense nor by her choice of title, but she was the Demon’s partner and the parent of Hope, so she had received the invite to join.

Somehow, Jadis had the feeling that even if she had been a man, she probably would have been invited anyway, since she couldn’t imagine the royal family inviting Alex to a tea party without an escort.

It was annoying that none of her other wives had been invited, since Jadis felt that they were all due the same courtesy that she received, but none of them were complaining about being left out, so she resolved not to let it bother her. Instead, choosing to look on the bright side, Jadis appreciated the lovely visage of Eir in a beautiful white and purple sleeveless dress that made her look like a true elven noble. Jadis didn’t know if Mistress Rohese worshipped Lyssandria as her patron deity or not, but she felt like convincing her to switch faiths if she wasn’t, as the gorgeous craftsmanship that she had put into the gown made Eir look like the Goddess of Beauty herself had descended from heaven and was riding in the carriage next to her. An assessment that Jadis felt she was uniquely qualified to make.

And of course, there was no way Jadis could forget about the happy little hellion who was bouncing up and down on Alex’s knee.

“She really does look good in orange,” Dys commented as she reached out and let her daughter grab hold of her finger. “Sort of makes me think of fall leaves, but not Halloween.”

“Halloween?” Eir asked with a raised eyebrow.

“A local Nephilim holiday,” Dys explained, knowing that Eir would easily catch on to her euphemism for Earth. “It’s a fun tradition, but the costumes that people wear for the, uh, festival have a very unique style that can be a bit… extreme, at times.”

“Extreme? In what way?”

“Well,” Dys paused, then turned a sly grin onto Alex. “A lot of people like to dress up as Demons. Sexy Demons.”

“That sounds… Fun…”

“Not just Demons, of course,” Dys turned back to face Eir. “Sexy healers. Sexy witches. Sexy priestesses. Sexy elves. I’ve even seen a sexy chicken before.”

“How, pray tell, does one dress as a sexy chicken?”

“Feathers placed in very strategic locations.”

As Jadis, Alex, Eir, and Severina laughed and joked together, the two carriages they were riding in came to a slow stop as they reached the end of the long bridge that connected the mainland of the city to the island palace located in the middle of the river. There, amongst the roots of the giant tree that overshadowed Eldingholt, a parade of carriages waited their turn for entrance into the palace. Every noble in the nation who had a wife, mother, or child present in the capital had been invited to the princess’ tea party, so despite the efficiency of the palace guards, it took a bit for them to get through the line. By the time Jadis’ party got through the gates, there were another twenty carriages waiting behind them.

“How many people are going to be here at this tea party?” Jay asked as she politely helped Severina out of the oversized carriage that the palace had sent to collect them. “Are they normally such a big event?”

“Including children, the guest list is four hundred and fifteen,” Severina replied as her wings floated her gently to the courtyard cobblestones. “Normally, the turnout is around three hundred. However, there are more noble ladies in the capital right now than normal thanks to the emperor’s march to war. Also, I imagine many who would have begged Princess Lynn’s pardon and declined the invitation are in attendance because of you, Alex, and Hope.”

“We do draw attention, don’t we,” Jay murmured as she caught sight of various ladies and servants who had already arrived doing their best to stare without looking like that was what they were doing.

“Remember,” Eir said quietly as she, Dys, and Alex moved up to stand next to the rest of Jadis and Severina. “Be polite and be circumspect with what you say. The ladies of the court hear everything, and there is no rumor too small that they cannot grow into a bountiful harvest for their rumor mill.”

“Well, I’ve been here a while,” Syd drawled as she swept her gaze over the growing gathering that was slowly being escorted through the wide stone arch that led into the palace gardens. “I’ve traded words with magistrates, generals, nobles, princes, dragons, Heroes, an emperor, and even a god or two. I mean, I literally battled the Demon Lord a month and a half ago. I think I should be able to keep from embarrassing myself at a tea party.”

“Good day to you, Lady Ahlstrom.”

Jadis and her lovers all turned to see Lady Vanessa Brunholt, wife of General Egilhard and daughter to Duke Colgrave, approaching them. Behind the stately woman trailed Elodie, her daughter and Ludger’s fiancé. Elodie wore a placid expression, though her eyes were screaming a warning that Jadis did not miss. Vanessa, on the other hand, had the cool composure of someone who felt that everything they were about to say was entirely true and justified.

“So wonderful to see you attend the tea party today, along with your mates and your… spawn. I’m so happy you were able to find the time, what with how busy you’ve been taking the Hero away from protecting our people from the ravages of the demonic invasion menacing our borders. The tales you will have to tell of your exploits will be thrilling, I’m sure.”

Before Jadis could even respond, Vanessa had already swept past them, a mortified Elodie following obediently behind.

“Motherfucker,” all three of Jadis quietly cursed in unison.

“Ma-faka!” Hope jubilantly agreed.