The Silver Crown

22.

Niva came into the room holding something and, with her awkward gait, it was obvious she was trying to hide whatever it was from me. Niva stopped next to Maurice, still blocking my line of sight to the item, and asked her, "Which one of these would go best with the dress?"

"What are those?" I demanded.

"No matter, milady." Maurice said. She came over to examine my ears. "We need to make the holes, milady. It will only be a moment."

I sighed, "Get on with it, Maurice."

A dark haired woman walked in and immediately curtsied to the captain and me. I cocked my head, confused. "I am Daria, milady. Niva said that help was needed."

"I remember you. You were here that first day," I said. She nodded and curtsied again.

"I'm glad you're here, Daria," Maurice said as she readied a small piece of metal, heating it in the fire. When it was hot she passed it to Daria. "My hands aren't steady enough. I need you to do it."

Niva held my head still and held my earlobe still. "I'm not goin' to move," I protested the firm hold.

Daria got close and lined up the metal rod and then she stuck it straight through my lobe. The pain flared for a moment but I didn't even change the expression on my face; the captain was watching. Daria reheated the metal and did it again.

Niva brought some earbobs over to Maurice who chose small silver loops. She put them in my newly pierced ears.

"Someone could tear 'em out," I commented.

"No one is going to tear out them out." Maurice countered.

"What torture is next?" I asked. Brinian flinched almost unnoticeably at the word torture. Apparently he still felt bad about his previous treatment of me. And so he should!

"Captain, can you please wait in the next room?" Niva asked nervously.

Brinian stood and inclined his head to me before leaving.

"Now why did you do that?" I asked. What new torment were they going to introduce me to that was so awful that the guard captain had to leave?

"Milady, it isn't proper for him to be present while you dress," Daria remarked.

"Oh."

Daria lifted the dress she had brought and I stood in outrage. I had just told myself that I could make sacrifices but this was too much. "No way! I am not wearing that."

"Just try it on, milady."

I didn't agree but I also didn't argue when Daria and Niva began to put the dress on me. I just looked up at the ceiling, bit my tongue to keep some very crude words from escaping, and waited.

The dress was blue and heavy with all the embroidery. It had a sheer gray overcoat with embroidered flowers. I hated it. I couldn't move underneath all the layers and the sleeves were tight and restricting, not at all what I was used to. I usually wore sleeveless tunics in the summer and layers of loose coats in the winter—if I could get more than one. The tight-fitting sleeves meant that I could barely lift my arms higher than my shoulders. I knew because it was the first thing I tried.

Maurice tied the strings on the back of the dress and pulled them very tight at the waist. Niva brought blue shoes that she helped me put on.

Daria found a silver necklace with a charm on the end and hung it around my neck. The charm fell an inch above the embroidered neckline of the gown, which, I was furious to discover, was cut uncomfortably low. It showed the slightly lighter skin—a scar—from the slave collar that had adorned my neck for a few months when I was young. Also, the scar above my right breast from a knife cut in a fight two years ago was prominent. I had never worn something cut lower than my collarbone before.

Daria opened the door that connected the dressing room and my bedroom. I walked through to see Brinian looking out the window. He turned and looked me up and down—his eyes lingered for a long time on the scar from my collar. Finally he nodded. "You look nice, Princess."

"I feel stupid and like a bumbling idiot. I can't move in this infernal thing and there's no place to stash my knives," I complained. "Someone could beat me with a stick in this thing or just choke me with this chain." I held up the silver chain around my neck. "There is no way I am wearing this thing."

"Milady, it is what is proper for a woman of your standing to wear," Daria explained, almost pleading. It would take her some time to get used to me.

"I am not wearing it." I said stubbornly. Suddenly I brightened. "Can I wear what he's wearing?" I asked, gesturing to Brinian. The captain wore a gray tunic and black trousers. A leather belt with silver inlays held his sword and dagger. Tall black boots graced his legs.

"You must wear a dress, milady," Niva explained.

"Fine. I'll wear a dress, but it has to have no sleeves and no fancy threads on the front, top part," I said, waving my hand around my chest area, gesturing to the intricate embroidery that donned the cloth covering my chest.

"The bodice," I heard Daria say under her breath.

"Milady," Maurice protested.

"Then I will cut the sleeves of this dress," I threatened and went over to the bedside table to grab my knife.

Maurice frantically instructed Daria to pick a simpler dress, worried that I would carry through with my threat to the expensive dress. Daria hurried back to the dressing room to pick a different dress that met my requirements.

She returned a few minutes later with a red dress that had a gold overcoat and only a simple design embroidered on the hem and neckline. It was sleeveless.

"That will work as long I don't have to wear the overcoat," I finally conceded.

I went back into the dressing room and let them put the red dress on me without complaint. Niva even found black shoes for me to wear with it. I complained about the shoes but put them on anyway. I also grabbed my little knife and clipped it to my breast band when no one was looking. I guess that was as prepared as I was going to get for my breakfast with the rulers of Arovia who still believed that I was rightfully their daughter.