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I have no idea what caused his fury but I adore it My gaze drops to the racks and I finger a string of black beads When I look back at Santiago it’s with a sneer from my arsenal of nasty expressions--a flash of show
Let the public believe in this ghost of the Nommos vs Chantico rivalry If it isn’t new it isn’t neorthy and our feud is a classic As long as the perception of it remains the same I’ll be saved the hu fresh takes and forcing h
A solid weight strikes the back of ht around the ribcage Santiago is ataround otten, Nommos" His tone is calm Not even a whisper of breath disturbs er He’d never touch otten the 1920s when randmother CeCi’s little black dress-suit in to volley around us If I don’t free ain I push up and away but Santiago holds me "Say you remember the 50s Nommos pencil skirt and the way it drove our houseback at you, after a decade, with super short metallic cocktail dresses"
Yes These skirmishes were as familiar to me as my parents’ faces I’d been raised on these history lessons
Rerasped his forearm in both hands and jerked His o Instead he laughed "Later, your aunt Soma triumphed with the women’s tuxedo," he says "It was unconscionable Nommos had created such an iconic look and it burned at ht we took you down" The skin of his cheek presses, cold, against my ear "Tell me you remember"
The fall of my house at Chantico’s hands is not a memory It is my wakeup call and my lullaby Two turns of the seasons have passed since that night: Pre-Spring, Spring, Resort, Pre-Fall, and Fall Then repeat And I haven’t left that runway
Our last collection had been inspired; there could be no argument Hoere my brother and I to know that earlier in the day the House of Chantico had beaten us to it?
Where we’d reinvented, their collection deconstructed pre-1917 Russian Revolution fashion, resulting in sensation causing silhouettes In the finale they’d featured authentic evening gowns cut into jackets and frock coats worthy of rockstars This was their skill, to take the trends of other eras and hurl them one step past the now into futuristic looks the rest of us could only follow Chantico is what Imitation of Christ had aspired to In that battle the former had ripped out the throats of the latter, just as they’d preempted our fatal collection and done it better
Better?
It seems ridiculous anyone could out-innovate The House of Nommos Yet history says Chantico did Louder than history, the memory of the audience’s departure continues to spit our failure in uilt of bringing down lass in h my body
Tell him what? I can’t speak I’ve lost the part ofdresses and seven-inch boots My latest wardrobe is structured and hard lined, built aroundfabrics--tweed and wool crepes I masquerade in the ar on the inside
The rapid fire clicks of a cao He hisses and lets h motorcycle boots strike the floor as he leaves me behind