The Forbidden Talent (ON HOLD)

Chapter 11

A few days later, there was a knock at the door. I hadn't done any drawing since my portrait of the queen; I was so anxious about what the king would say. Of course, there was school too, I couldn't miss that. I finished my project, I actually got up on time, and school was mostly boring. At least compared to what I had just been through with the king. I wanted to tell someone, anyone, about what had happened (especially Mr. Z, I think he'd be kind of proud of me) but I'd probably get into even more trouble. [Author's Note: Mr. Z (Zabinski) is Alexis's super cool problem solving teacher that I haven't mentioned in like forever. Just in case you forgot.] Stupid rules.

Anyway, one of the king's guards was at the door. He and my mom were talking kind of quietly so I couldn't hear from my spot on the stairs. After a minute she closed the door most of the way and told me to follow her outside, so I did. We got into the car that the guard was waiting in, so I assumed we were going to hear what the king had to say.

--at the castle--

Turns out, I was right. The doors were open again, but obviously the king was expecting us this time. We walked in and bowed as usual. I spoke up before my mom did. "You asked for us, Your Highness?"

He replied, "Yes. I have made a decision and am telling you like I promised. You see that hallway over there?" He pointed beside him to a long, dark hallway. We nodded. "Down at the end of it is a bunch of old art supplies that my family and I used to own. I kept it for reasons of the..let's go with sentimental type. If you can go find them and use them to create a portrait of me that is of no lesser value than the one you made of my wife, I will allow art to be made again. Of course, I am very upset and disappointed that you broke the law but I suppose I can understand why. Here's the key to the room. It's the very last one on the left. Everything you could possibly need is in there. Oh, and I forgot to mention, you have two hours. That starts right about...now. If I don't approve, you can kiss your art goodbye."

My mom and I looked at each other for a second and literally ran down the hallway to the last room on the left. I had the key so when I got there I shoved it in the keyhole and jiggled it open. The room was oddly bright; I was expecting more of a movie-like thing where it's all dark and spooky. There were huge windows, easels, paint, pencils, and lots of other things everywhere. Also dust. I walked in and sneezed. I wanted to experiment with the paints and charcoals and everything else but I knew there wasn't time, so I stuck with what I knew best.

About an hour later, I had lightly drawn the king's portrait on a canvas. Luckily I had quickly found a nice picture I could use as a reference. My mom had helped by finding the supplies I needed and providing criticism where it was necessary. I still really wanted to mess with all the other supplies but I knew I could do that anytime if I did this right. I decided that since acrylic paints didn't seem too difficult to understand, I could try to paint his portrait. I found a spare canvas and some brushes and experimented for a bit.

I found that I love paint.

It's so flowy and you can make it three dimensional kind of and you can add stuff like hair and cloth and feathers and things to make more textures and everything and it's just amazing. My horse stuff would look so good with paints, I just was blown out of my mind.

After about fifteen minutes of playing around with them, I had gotten how they work. Generally. I was ready to finish this portrait.

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Author's Note

Merry (late) Christmas my lovely peoples! And if you don't do Christmas, happy holidays. And if you don't do holidays, then happy winter. Although where I am it hasn't exactly felt like winter. *cough*80 degrees Christmas eve*cough*

I was planning on updating for Christmas and it kind of didn't work out. So I'm doing it a couple days late, sorry.

Anyway, I'm planning on finishing this book in the next chapter or two. And no, there's no sequel. Don't kill me please, there'll be an epilogue! That'll explain what Alexis's life is like after she finishes with the king. That may end up being her current life of no art, or it may be a new life. You'll just have to see. Mwa-haha-ha ha.

Vote, comment, follow, whatever, and enjoy! :)

I just realized I forgot to edit and reread this chapter (oops) but I have stuff to do so I can't do it now. I'll do it later maybe but if you read it before I do then please ignore or let me know about any typos or things like that.