The Stepsister Who Followed Me Through the Shrine Gate novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Saint's Robes

The saint's robes came in a cedar chest, and they took two temple maids an hour to carry in.

Odile left them on the bed with a polite cough and a look at the ceiling.

"The Temple will witness your book in four days," she said. "The Saint wears these. Try them now, while there is time to mend them."

Then she went out and shut the door.

Hinata stood in the middle of the room, in the white and gold and crimson, and did not move.

There were seven layers.

Mai had counted while she dressed her, one at a time.

They ran from the thin silk slip to the stiff outer coat with the sun embroidered on the back.

The gold sash was as wide as her hand.

The collar stood up around her throat.

Hinata's long chestnut hair had been pinned up under a veil of white gauze, and her cheeks were pink with the weight of it.

"I look like a cake," she said.

"You look like a saint."

"A saint who is going to faint."

"Stand still."

Mai knelt to check the hem, and found that she could not look at it properly.

The crimson silk lay in heavy folds around Hinata's ankles.

Under it, Mai knew, there was nothing but a slip and the woman she loved.

She knew exactly how that woman tasted.

"Mai?"

"The hem is fine."

"You've been looking at it for a minute."

"It's very well made."

Hinata laughed, soft and breathless, above her.

"You're not looking at the stitching."

Mai tipped her head back.

Hinata looked down at her from under the gauze veil, with her dimples out, glowing in all that white and gold.

"I'm twenty-two and a saint and your fiancée," Hinata said.

"And you're kneeling at my feet in my own bedroom. What are you going to do about it?"

Mai's heart kicked.

"Take it off," she said, "slowly."

"Please do."

Mai rose to her feet.

She lifted the veil from Hinata's hair first, with both hands, and laid it on the chair.

She took out the pins one by one and let the chestnut waves tumble down past Hinata's waist.

Hinata sighed and leaned into her palms.

Next came the collar, with its tiny gold hooks.

Mai undid them one at a time.

She kissed the soft place under Hinata's jaw each time one came loose, until Hinata was making small impatient noises.

"You're doing that on purpose."

"I'm a careful person."

"I know you are. It's driving me out of my mind."

The great outer coat slid off Hinata's shoulders and landed with a heavy, whispering thump.

Mai untied the gold sash, unwinding it from Hinata's waist, round and round, until the long end trailed on the floor.

She did the five inner layers the same way, a ribbon and a knot at a time.

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