Emilie of the Royal Heart

Chapter 33: The Tailor and The Princess-to-Be, Sitting in a Tree

 She considered it. She considered it late at night, lying in her bed. She even brought a pendant into the sheets with her to hold it over her face and watch it swing.

Even weeks after the Southern Tour where Tiago poisoned her, there was no word about any consequence. She had even written a formal letter to the judge, explaining exactly which codes Tiago violated and which codes protect her as an immigrant of Fellen, but nothing came back. She told Aurora about it and he even went to the judge and pressed him about the poisoning, but when he came back to Emilie, he told her that Tiago was protected under the Keepers of Tradition and they couldn't challenge the Keepers unless they wanted Fellen to crumble.

So, yes. Emilie was considering doing a lot of things to Tiago. Some of them violent, but some of them...

She watched the pendant swipe just above her nose. The others would approve of using her skill in this manner -after justice had been denied. But Emilie wasn't a part of the temple anymore. She was someone new these days. She wasn't sure if the new Emilie would go to these lengths to protect something factual from being revealed.

When she rose in the morning and her attendants dressed her and twisted up her hair, spraying a light perfume over her, Emilie hesitantly made her way down to the Tailor's workshop. She barely had to think about where she was going and she would've stayed oblivious of all the little directions she followed to get to Cedric's door, had Aurora not passed her in the hall.

He managed a small smile for her and then his eyes crashed into the wall and the door she was heading to. The smile fell and he looked away from her, quickening his pace until he passed her. Emilie felt a sting of guilt, but Aurora knew there were others interested in her and he agreed to number among them until she chose one of them. It wasn't as though she was outrighly betraying him.

Emilie knocked on the door and stepped inside without an answer because she had status now. Inside the workshop, Cedric was hunched over his work station and there were a few others working around the room. The second she entered, he knew, and he stood up from his desk and turned to her.

"Good morning, Emilie," he greeted with a bow.

"Good morning, Cedric," Emilie replied in a less chipper tune. She took discreet steps toward him, glancing about before she studied him and whispered, "can I talk to you somewhere private?"

"I am working, but I'm sure my boss would excuse me for a moment," he inclined his head toward her.

"Yes, I think she would..." she feigned lightness, though she didn't feel it anywhere in her body, "um... I don't know the palace as well as you do. Do you know somewhere we can go where no one will hear us?"

Cedric stared at her, pursing his lips and rocking back and forth on his feet. He sucked in a breath. When he answered, he spoke louder than she wanted, saying, "so that we can discuss the dress you wanted to keep a surprise for the Prince's birthday, right?"

Emilie faltered, but then she caught on and kicked herself for forcing him into such a delicate position. She nodded and declared, "what else?"

"Come this way."

Cedric took her toward the forest, but in the daylight she could see a trail lined out. The path was dirt, but it didn't matter because Emilie was wearing the second Zuhian dress she requested and the skirt stopped at the ankle. Her slippers might suffer some soiling, but she needed to speak with someone about this badly. She and Cedric walked in silence with the trees like pillars on either side of them. The birds sang overhead.

"You said you wanted to talk about something?" Cedric prompted, sounding like he wanted to say something else as soon as she answered him.

"Yes. I'm not sure what to do about something. I'm not sure how the people of Fellen will react. But you remember how Sir Tiago hates me?"