CHAPTER IV #8
A young human girl greets the door after I knock, her eyes widening as she takes in my Court of Knowledge attire standing at the threshold. I peer around her shoulder and notice the handful of Warrior dresses in the room behind her, sighing in happy greeting as I quickly explain my request.
“Let’s see what you came with, then,” she smiles and turns to the room behind her, “I’ll be back, Ambra. Keep working on Lady Cristine’s dress for tonight.”
My brows quirk up at the command. The girl is too young to be issuing a request like that. She can’t be older than eighteen.
“After you, Lady.”
“Um…” I bite my lip and look around the hall, “right. I think my room is this way.”
The girl does her best to hide her laugh and gives me a friendly smile.
“You’re probably in the guest wing. I can lead us.”
“Thank you,” I nod.
It becomes obvious in the few moments we’re walking that she knows of a faster way to get my room. My door quickly comes into view after only a few halls and staircases.
“Let me show you the dresses,” I smile and let us in, offering her the small armchair in the room as I move to the armoire. I pull out both of the floor-length gowns and lay them on the bed, turning with an apologetic smile when the girl comes to stand at my side.
“I’m new to Gaumond and very unaware of its trends at court, but I’ve seen what the ladies wear in the southern cities of Warrior and the city below us…”
The girl reaches for the dresses on the bed, her fingers brushing over the gown made of emerald silk with a frown.
“There’s too much fabric on these, Lady.”
I let out a small laugh and nod in agreement.
“Yes, I get that impression too. The alterations I want for both of these gowns will ultimately end up removing that fabric. I will pay you handsomely to get one done tonight before court and another by tomorrow night.”
The girl looks at me in silence for a small moment before a sly smile graces her lips.
“What do you have in mind?”
Gail worked tirelessly all afternoon, pinning and slicing the green emerald gown until the sun started to set through the window in the room.
At some point in the early night, far quicker than I had anticipated, Cal stopped by my door asking if I was ready to leave.
I told him to go ahead without me, twice, and assured him both times that I was okay.
We heard him sauntering off with Holis and Mana through the door, the three of them mumbling under their breath about girls taking too long to get ready.
While Gail prepared my dress, I took the time to get everything else ready.
I applied a small amount of coal to my eyes and ended up brushing my straight hair so thoroughly that it shined under the torches in the room.
I was just finishing buckling my smaller dagger to my thigh when the girl finally announced that the dress was complete.
“I think this is it,” she grins, beckoning me to her, “can you undress, Lady Alexis?”
I strip bare before the young girl and watch as she takes the hem of the fabric and gathers it in the middle.
She lifts up on her toes and reaches her arms up high, letting the dress fall over my head before she tugs it in different places along my chest and waist. Every now and then as she nods as she makes her adjustments, then she finally takes a step back to admire her work.
“Oh.”
“Oh?” I ask nervously, hands running across the silk as I look down at my body, “oh good or oh bad?”
“Definitely good, Lady Alexis,” she grins, “very good.”
Nerves trickle down my spine as I take a deep breath and turn towards the mirror, instantly gasping in awe at her work.
The satin has been cut off completely at the top, leaving only two thin straps that rest on my shoulders and nothing else.
The straps fall down past my collarbone to the top of my chest, the thin material reaching for the rest of the fabric that barely covers my breasts.
The dress cinches underneath my boobs and remains tight all along my body, the emerald green hugging every curve I have before it loosens in a beautiful flow around my legs.
“You left the length,” I smile appreciatively.
The dress isn’t cut short like the Warrior dresses and instead falls to the front of my toes.
It does have something special added to it instead, a slit, as Gail called it, so that my left leg is exposed quite literally from my hip bone down to my ankle.
I blush at the addition yet admire how the dress is both a mixture of modesty and pure sexiness.
For the most part I’m covered like the women of Knowledge, while the eye-catching swells of my breasts and the slight vee of my hip is exposed like the women of Warrior.
It’s perfect.
“I owe you too much,” I stare at myself in awe, “this dress is one of a kind, Gail. You have so much talent for your age.”
Gail gives a glowing smile, “I thought you’d like the cut down your leg. Let’s you be you, only sexier.”
I couldn’t explain it better myself.
I smile at the young girl and pay her in full, laughing when she packs up my gold dress and promises to return it at an earlier time tomorrow night. She’s just about to leave when I stop her at the door, my confidence high right now but not high enough to brave the maze of the castle.
“Gail, if it’s not too much trouble, would you mind showing me the way to court?”
She must hear the slight desperation in my voice because her smile is too knowing for her age. She nods her head with a tilt and urges me out the door.
I quietly run my hands through my straight hair and pull it forward, the style simple but worn as an ode to humans.
I know full well that every Discerni woman will be wearing their long hair down their backs in curls tonight, but I’ve opted to let my golden brown locks frame the front of my face and fall just above my breasts.
Gail walks us to the main entry of the castle, stopping before two sweeping double doors on our right that are opened wide to the loud court within.
I give her a small hug and thank her for showing me the way, then flatten my palms on my stomach as I smooth out my dress.
The noise from inside is more raucous than what we heard in the city, the clanking of mugs against tables and the sounds of laughter carrying throughout the castle.
I watch from afar as hundreds of grins line the faces of the people inside, everyone already seated and conversing in excitement for the night to come.
But even as welcoming as the court looks from the outside, for some reason I find myself stuck at the doors and unable to join.
I’ve never been so nervous before- my heart is literally beating its way out of my chest. I’m about to reconsider the whole night when a familiar sound at my back has me taking a deep breath, my heart finally settling as I turn to greet Golem and lunge into a tight hug, hopefully conveying what it means to see him right now.
Golem’s arms move around my back without pause, the coolness of his magical being pressing against my body and lending it’s calm.
I give him a tight squeeze and then step back with a smile, the two of us turning together to embrace the court that lies just beyond.
“I think I’m ready, Golem. How about you?”
I swear I see a small grin grace his clay lips in answer.