Beetle Queen

There was a gentle tap on the door. ‘Madame?’
Lucretia Cutter turned her head, her lidless eyes glistening like two inky cysts. Her four black chitinous legs clung effortlessly to the white ceiling, the fabric of her purple skirt tumbling towards the floor. ‘Yes, Gerard?’ she replied.
‘The American actress, Ruby Hisolo Junior, has arrived for her dress fitting,’ the French butler said through the door. He was forbidden from entering the White Room unless invited.
‘You can bring her down.’
‘As you wish, Madame.’
She listened as the discreet footsteps of the butler retreated up the hallway. It was thrilling to be able to detect the slightest movement in the space around her. Her new body and heightened senses made her powerful. She hungered for the moment when she could show the world who she really was. And it was coming. Soon.