Free Revelations by Melissa de La Cruz

to go away and come back.”
    Bliss slumped into a nearby seat. “Are you serious?”
    “Is this your first time walking for Rolf?” another model asked, overhearing their conversation. Bliss recognized her as Sabrina Sorboba, the Eastern European giantess, who was the current designer darling.
    Bliss nodded.
    “He’s always late. Last year Brannon Frost actually left the show without seeing it, she was so annoyed to be kept waiting,” Sabrina told them. Brannon Frost was the Blue Blood editor of Chic, the most powerful fashion magazine in the world. Brannon snaps her fingers, and suddenly everyone’s wardrobe is out of style. Snap! Volume and pouf. Snap!
    Wasp-waists and skinny pants. Snap! Shifts and round heels! Snap! Crochet and platforms!
    Snap!
    “Midnight? That’s in three hours!” Bliss complained. What were they supposed to do, just wait around? She noticed some of the models were playing cards, although most were on their cell phones and BlackBerries.
    “Champagne?” Sabrina offered, lifting a magnum of Laurent-Perrier and pouring two glasses for Bliss and Schuyler without waiting for an answer. This was the answer to waiting: drink, smoke, and wait. As a concession to the latest are-models-too-thin scandal, there was a delusory spread of stale crackers and moldy cheese to provide “healthy” foods for the girls.
    As if! Models lived on fumes: smoke and air.
    “Anyway, because of what happened last year, this time they called all the editors of Chic, Mine, and Jeune and told them to go get a drink or dinner and come back later.”
    Bliss nodded. “So who’re those people outside, then?”
    “Nobodies.”
    Figured. Of course all the important people would be warned, but as for the lesser echelons, they had to fend for themselves. She tucked her bag underneath the counter and was about to ask Schuyler a question, when a harried man— finally someone who looked and acted like they had to put on a show in a few hours—burst into the models’ waiting room.
    “Bliss! There you are. We need you in hair and makeup.”
    Bliss flipped through the latest issue of Arena Homme, smoked a few cigarettes, and drank too much champagne while a curt hairstylist and his equally tense assistant teased and brushed her hair into a huge billowing creation, and a mellow makeup artist slathered on the spackle. It always amazed her how little effort modeling was. All she had to do was sit there.
    Then she had to stand. Then walk. That was it. Of course, one had to be breathtakingly beautiful to make it all “work.” Still, it wasn’t enough to be jaw-droppingly gorgeous. The best models had a certain air of languor and mystery that was innate to their personalities.
    There was only one Kate Moss, after all.
    When the beauty team was satisfied with their work, two eager design students, who were part of the large volunteer army that shouldered the actual physical labor and made fashion week happen, accosted her next. “We have to get you into your first outfit. Rolf wants to see it.”
    The two students helped Bliss into the tight black corset dress. One of them pulled and tied the ribbons in the back while the other helped Bliss into a pair of ankle-length velvet boots that crisscrossed in the front. The dress hugged every curve, and the peekaboo black lace lent the dress a smoky sexiness. The corset bodice dipped so low in the front, Bliss blushed at how much of her skin was exposed.
    “What’s that?” one of the students asked, pointing to the shining emerald necklace nestled in her cleavage.
    “It’s mine.”
    “I don’t know if Rolf is going to like it,” the other student said hesitantly.
    Bliss shrugged. She didn’t care what Rolf wanted. She would never take it off.
    Fifteen
    At exactly five minutes to midnight, Mimi and Jack Force entered the Armory to a torrent of flashbulbs. Mimi leaned on Jack’s shoulder, pulling her fluffy zebra-striped sable coat closer and hiding behind a pair of extra-large