CHAPTER I #3
I stand up swiftly, remembering myself and the room around me, but both the Prince and Princess are watching the greeting with broad smiles.
“Your Highness,” I bow my head to them both just as Clair takes a strong step forward.
“None of that, Alexis,” she reaches around my shoulders.
I embrace the Princess with a tight hug, watching as her husband moves down the table to greet the rest of the Lords.
“The secret’s out then?” I whisper before she pulls away.
“The secret is out,” she grins, blue eyes twinkling, “due in the Winter.”
“Fitting.”
“It is.”
“Keane,” McQuoid nods before throwing an arm around his back.
The two embrace just before the Pyrenese Prince reaches for the Queen’s hand. Both Lord Daniel and Lord Alexander avert their glances from Clair and I, as do Troy and his Lord, but it’s Keane’s gaze, Ancients, Keane, that has my heart racing and remembering why I’m here in the first place.
I quietly shake my head to the Prince with a small smirk, realizing now that he’s invited me to this meeting purposely, putting any discussion of the seating arrangements for the coronation swiftly to bed.
“Gail?” I laugh in astonishment at the Warrior girl standing down the hall.
She turns around at the sound of my voice with a heavy sigh of relief, her flustered gaze moving off the many doors in front of her to land on mine.
“Lady Alexis!” she exclaims. “I was told the second floor, east wing, but just now realized I wasn’t given a door.”
I smile at the girl and walk towards her, noticing that she’s carrying a large bundle in her arms that sweeps down to the floor.
“Were you waiting long?” I pull the young human teen in my arms. “I’m sorry, Gail.”
“Not long,” she laughs, “though I understand now why you get so confused in Gaumond. This castle is far more simple to navigate. There may be too many doors, but it’s still simple.”
I chuckle with the girl. Simple indeed.
“Come on, we’re nearly there. When did you get in?”
“At the sun’s apex. They have me on the first floor.”
“Good,” I nod, “close to Chef. You’re all settled in then?”
“Yes,” she peers into my small reading room when I open the door. “Will you thank the Prince for arranging the travel for me?”
“I will,” I nod, motioning for her to follow me inside.
I lead her through the arch in the reading room to the main bedroom just as Stormfall pushes off my shoulder and glides to the balcony.
He settles on the railing under the sun and furrows his wings back into himself, the day still too early for him to wake just yet.
Gail moves slowly under the arch and towards the side of my bed, her eyes taking in the small room around her. Her glance darts to the green sheets and the gold emblem of Knowledge resting above the headboard, then to the two armoires that are nestled against each other.
“I knew it!” She turns with a knowing grin, eyes going wide when she spots a pair of Keane’s boots.
“Oh yeah?” I laugh.
She smiles and places the large bundle on my bed.
“Well… suspected, Lady. Does this mean you’ll come live in Gaumond? Or will you and the Prince stay here in Bardot?”
Her eyes dart around my room with a small frown, no doubt considering why the future King of Disce would choose to reside in such a tiny living space.
“We’re going to travel to Woodlands Court after the coronation, but yes, I will be taking residence with the Prince in Gaumond once everything settles down.”
“That explains it, then,” she shakes her head, grinning again.
“What explains it?”
Gail looks down to the bundle on the bed, tugging at the bottom string.
“The Prince requested this some days ago. I was curious about it at first, but now it all makes sense! He asked for more than coronation dresses for you, Lady Alexis…”
I follow her gaze and watch as she pulls back the protective cloth to reveal fabrics of deep green and…
Black.
Fabric upon fabric of rich and heavy black.
“Oh,” I exhale.
I lean down and reach for the silk tops, the material too rich and beyond anything I could ever afford on my own.
Past the deep emerald green shirts are even more that shine in glittering black, the fabric almost winking back at me with the same amusement I see on Keane.
I pull one of the shirts forward and notice that the cut down the middle dips low to the breasts, far lower than I’ve ever worn before.
In fact, nearly all of the new tops have that deep cut down the middle, all of them showing an abundance of skin in the fashion of the women of the Court of Warriors.
I chuckle, knowing that special request definitely came from Keane, and bring the shirt closer as something else catches my gaze.
My heart pounds heavy against my chest as I spot the intricate designs that follow along the deep slit, the black patterns sewn with the likeness of the Shadow Oak leaves.
My gaze moves to the other dark green and black tops with a gasp, realizing that all of them have the black leaves sewn in some sort of fashion.
Some have the pattern down the arms and surrounding the wrists, while others move intricately down the slit in the middle.
They’re beautiful. Proud in their darkness.
And it takes everything in me not to run back to Keane this very moment and show him just how much I love them.
This is our Shadow Oak, our symbol. Nobody else from the Court of Warriors wears a pattern like this. Just Keane. And now me…
I shake away the small shiver about to claim my whole body and look down at a rich, gold blouse under all the black.
It’s the only one not in Warrior colors.
The fabric shines beautifully under the Spring sun pushing through the balcony of my room, the full of it glittering in its own proud shade of gold.
The blouse nearly mimics the one I wore in Fumagalli, the same I wore under our night at the Shadow Oak.
Keane has told me multiple times that he likes the way it looks on me, so his request to have another made tugs hard at my heart.
“Dark riding pants, too,” Gail reaches forward, pulling back the gold blouse to reveal two sets of black riding pants and a single set of deep brown.
I let my fingers run over them, trailing down the sides of the legs where the same black patterns of the Shadow Oak leaves run all the way to the ankle.
Two of the sets, one black and one brown, also have small gold accents in them, a nice touch and ode to the Court of Knowledge and a color I genuinely love to wear.
“They’re beautiful, Gail,” I tell her softly, shaking my head at both her and Keane in small wonder.
“Wait until you see your dresses.”
“Dresses? As in more than one?”
“As in more than one,” she grins.
I watch my young friend rummage past the everyday clothes and gently place them to the side of the bed. Her brown hair falls straight in front of her face, the style different from the curls behind her back she was wearing when I first met her in Gaumond.
“One for the coronation ceremony and then another for the dinner and reception to follow…”
Gail pulls forth a heavy and regal velvet green dress The color is neither a dark green nor a shade lighter, just emerald, perfect for representing all three Courts of Disce.
She lifts it in front of my body, the curve of the bodice hosting no straps but arching perfectly over my breasts in a design that reminds me of the waves of the River Poise.
The sweeping curves fall into to the sides of my ribs where they meet two sleeves that start in the middle of my arms and trail all the way down to my wrists.
The bodice under the chest is tight, and I know just by looking at it that it will accentuate my stomach and the curve of my hips.
The dress continues its tight embrace past my rear to just above my knees, the full of it finally flowing out just slightly in a small attempt to let my legs and feet move under it.
At the bottom rests a pattern of black Shadow Oak leaves, their sharp edges touching the floor as they move up the ankles before slowly fading back into the green velvet.
As always, I shake my head in wonder, truly marveling at Gail’s work. This dress is certainly worthy of Keane’s coronation.
“Gail,” I smile, running my hands up and down the velvet.
“I know,” she grins, gently pulling the dress away to lay it back on the bed. “But wait for the next.”
I nod in anticipation, a part of me knowing that if Keane had any say in the dress for his reception, it will be all kinds of trouble.
Gail pulls out the final fabric from her bundle, the sight of it making me gasp.
Ancients, this dress.
It is not proper for Knowledge.
The first thing that catches my eye is that it is purely black, nothing else.
The top of it has a high neck that looks like it will form a thick, silk collar around the entirety of my skin.
The front flows down from that collar, covering my breasts and tummy while leaving the shoulders and arms bare.
The silk bunches in the middle of the torso, tightening around the waist where a severely high slit rests just under the right side where I know my hip will be.
The black silk then slashes down and across, draping to the side as it falls to the opposite leg and finally touches the ground.
“And the back?” I ask nervously.
Gail turns the dress around.
The black silk collar at the neck is the only thing holding it up. The full of the back and shoulder area is completely exposed until the fabric cinches right above my rear and then falls to the floor.
“Storm will look good on my shoulder in this dress,” I consider, looking out to the black Bird of Ash still sleeping on the ledge.
“You will look good in this dress, Lady Alexis.”
“I will,” I nod in acceptance, “you’ve done it again, Gail.”
“I have,” she smiles. “I also have a new pair of shoes for you to try with this dress….”
Of course she does
“Same heel as the boots you wore but a little different. You’ll see.”