Notice: This story contains elements of sister/sister incest
This story has less of the genie in it and less magic use overall. Not to worry; it'll come back, but if you recall from the previous chapter, she needs some recovery time.
Continued thanks to readers and especially those who vote and comment on the stories. Feedback is appreciated, but overall I hope people are simply enjoying the story.
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It took her what she thought was an embarrassingly long time to get herself into her dress. In the shop she'd had both Jenny and the sales rep's help to make sure she wasn't accidentally flashing anything she shouldn't. She managed it, but for the first time she wished she could have just asked Jenny to wish her into the outfit.
Despite that, the look on Trevor's face when he saw her in the dress was somewhat worth it. When they first met, it took him a week or so to get to the point where he wasn't constantly walking around with a slightly disbelieving grin on his face at the prospect of having both girls essentially at his beck and call. And he'd certainly shown a range of appreciative expressions when he got their clothes off. But now for the first time he seemed to be completely dumbstruck at her appearance.
Jaya slowly crossed the room to where he stood, gaping at her.
"I clean up nice then?" she asked.
There was another moment of silence and Jaya briefly worried if she'd triggered a heart attack in him but he eventually smiled and said, "You are living proof that clothes can enhance a woman's beauty, even if she's already perfect."
Jaya blushed and let him lead her out.
The event was officially a ball for the Miriam Redmond Antiquities Endowment. Based on what Trevor told her on the limo ride over, the widow Redmond was committed to repatriating antiques that had ended up in private collections; she'd publicly taken her late husband's collection and freely returned the items back to their original countries. The ball focused on several items she'd apparently convinced private collectors to release for much less than their value, but they needed more funding to continue the effort, hence the charity event. Jaya privately thought this event would have been right up Lincoln's alley, if the prices on the various items and donations didn't equal or exceed his yearly salary.
She was thankful that the event apparently didn't draw enough attention for actual news photographers to hover around the entrance; Trevor assured her the people there were either supporters of the widow's work or paparazzi hoping to score a lucky shot of someone out with a person they shouldn't be. Still Jaya flinched away from the cameras, hugging herself closer to Trevor. Her aversion was real but she also thought to herself that Jenny would have approved; her behavior certainly didn't give the impression of an independent, forceful woman.
The ballroom was very nice but also more or less what Jaya had expected. Chandeliers with lots of glass or crystal, cream colored stone flooring, columns near the walls, alcoves with food and drink, and plinths scattered around the room with either items or images of items on display. Large, small print placards gave history for each item along with a "repatriation amount." Each amount was mind-boggling to Jaya, but she guessed Trevor could have picked up half the items in the room before his accountant would even blink.
Trevor greeted and chatted with several people, and that was when the genie's explanation of her role really sunk home for Jaya. Trevor introduced her as Mariah, but gave no indication of what their relationship was. To a person, whoever he spoke with greeted and then ignored her, sometimes only pausing long enough to admire her figure. To his credit, Trevor did seem a little annoyed at the people who practically ignored her, but he still didn't force them to interact. As Jenny had tried to tell her, she was an accessory for Trevor, given as much attention or thought as his tie or watch. She did at least see a number of women and several men essentially in the same position, though all of them were dutifully attending to their partner; there wasn't any sort of "trophy partners room" for them to commiserate.
Since no one wanted to talk to her she spent time while Trevor talked by examining the artifacts around the room. Some of them were from time periods or cultures she'd never studied, or only known in passing; if someone showed her a Chinese vase she wouldn't be able to tell them if it came from the Ming dynasty or Chairman Mao's talented cousin. However, some of the artifacts purported to be from the fertile crescent area, or the modern middle-east. As she read the placards and looked at the items, she started noticing some inconsistencies.
She was about to mention them to Trevor when his next introduction stopped her cold.
"Mariah, honey, this is Jasmine Gazdar, a rising star in my marketing firm. She was given the lead on marketing for this whole endeavor."
Jasmine reached her hand out and Jaya responded automatically. The first contact between them felt like electricity and Jaya expected to burst into flame. She felt her face reddening as Jasmine turned a 1000-watt smile on her. Her blood sister was dressed in a deep blue floor length gown with a flowy skirt bottom and an obvious seam marking the top of the skirt. The top of the dress was tight to her hourglass torso and came all the way up to her neck, though it tapered at the top leaving her arms and shoulders bare.
"It's nice to meet you! Trevor here has hinted there was someone new in his life but he's been stingy with the details. And now I know why; I might try to steal this one from you boss," Jasmine said.
"Now, now, Miss Gazdar, I'm not the boss anymore," Trevor corrected her.
"You keep telling yourself that," she said, "Now is he treating you right? Because if you need shelter I have a nice warm bed you can hide under. Or in."
Jaya couldn't respond. Partly it was because she was so used to being ignored and Jasmine was the first one to talk to her, but mostly it was shock. She wanted to apologize for not telling her she was with Trevor, she was shocked because Jasmine was clearly flirting with her, she wanted to chastise her because she was flirting with her sister, and a part of her it was much harder to ignore in the genie's body wanted to take her invitation very, very literally.
"Sorry," Trevor said, after Jaya's non-responsiveness got to awkward levels, "I think she's a little overwhelmed by this; she's not used to my fancy parties."
"Oh don't worry honey," Jasmine told her, "after the first three you realize these are basically the high school prom with way more money and older attendees." She patted Jaya's wrist and Jaya wanted her to slide the hand up higher, then everywhere.
"It looks like this'll be fairly easy to promote and get attention for?" Trevor prompted.
Jasmine finally released Jaya's hand and Jaya almost reached to snatch it back but stopped herself. "Yeah, I mean as campaigns go this is a slam-dunk. Normally things like this are tricky with all the high-rollers throwing around money most people never see but nobody's buying these things; they're all donations and it's tied to a popular movement. Basically all we have to do is put out Mrs. Redmond's information about the event and dress it up a bit, then give her a couple of opportunities to talk about it. NPR and a few morning shows are shoo-ins, we're working on some news outlets. Digital is tricky; we've got the audience but Redmond isn't really with the times. She's said she doesn't want to waste time on the "World Wide Web" and the fact that she's still calling it that tells me it's going to be a tough conversation."
Jaya was amazed by her sister in "business mode"; it was a side of her she'd rarely ever seen. She seemed so confident and assured that Jaya suddenly felt embarrassed playing the trophy girlfriend in someone else's body, but then Trevor said something that caught her attention.
"I was looking at a few of these pieces around here and was thinking of taking care of this lot. I could sink a lump endowment into this group and make that part of the campaign, saying I'm taking care of one block of artifacts."
"And get a room in a Turkish museum named after you maybe?" Jasmine teased.
Trevor wagged a finger at her. "Jasmine, you know I don't want that. Sending the artifacts back-"
"They're wrong," Jaya suddenly blurted.
She covered her mouth immediately as both Trevor and Jasmine looked at her.
"What do you mean they're wrong?" Jasmine asked, looking at the carved statue behind them as if she could see something like chipped paint.
Jaya dropped her head and willed herself to disappear, but even if she spoke the wish aloud she knew the genie couldn't do anything. Even if she could somehow hear her from back in Trevor's house, she was still recovering.
"Mariah," Trevor said, lifting her head gently, "If you know something I want to know it too."
"It's silly," Jaya said, "I mean I'm not even a professional and I'm sure they had solid archaeologists look this over and-"
"Mariah," Trevor cut her off, "Just tell me."
Jaya took a breath and started trying to think of what life after Trevor would look like. "This artifact says it's from the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine empire but...there's way too much Islamic symbology on the carving, and a lot of it has an Eastern bent to it. This is almost definitely Ottoman, which makes it at least five hundred years newer than the label says."
Jaya was taking a breath to continue but saw that she'd said enough. Jasmine had a worried expression on her face now and looked to Trevor. Trevor's face was wooden and unreadable. He looked to Jasmine and said, "Go find her."
Jasmine hurried off and Trevor turned to Jaya. "I'm sorry," Jaya said, looking at the floor.
"For what?" Trevor asked.
"I wasn't...you didn't bring me here to make a fuss."
Trevor smiled slightly. "Despite what you may think, Mariah, and despite our...arrangement, I don't just want a pretty girl to show off. If I thought you were just doing this to get attention I might be upset, but I can tell you believe this."
