Morning Glory-Francis (Reign)

Chapter Nine

Whenever we worked in the throne room, more gossip floated through us than normal. It was common sense, we were around more people, especially the kitchen staff, who had more access to fresh gossip as it was.

Despite the fact that I did sleep last night, at least a little, I was exhausted sitting in my seat, working on the skirt on the table in front of me. Every few seconds, my focus would slip for a moment, and my needle would stab my finger, instead of the fabric. Eventually, I shut out all the conversations around me, in order to keep my attention on my project.

As they worked, the girls chatted around me, but I did my best to not let any of my brain power go to analyzing their conversation. I simply didn't have enough to be divvying it up today. After a few minutes, I had successfully sunk into my own little bubble, the only thing I could see was the designs slowly being sewn onto the blue fabric, and the only thing I could hear was my foot tapping gently against on my chair's legs.

However, if I had been looking up, I would have noticed Francis had entered the room. I also would have noticed him scanning the rows of servants along the sides of the walls. Also, I would have seen his eyes stop on me, taking in my tired posture, and my no longer bright red hair, before I would have seen him smirk slightly before turning away and approaching a courtier.

Lucky for me though, the other girls, Alice and Breelyn in particular always have an eye out for me.

"Anna," Alice hissed, her voice poking through my solitude focus bubble. I did my best to ignore her.

"Anna!" Breelyn whispered from my other side, grabbing my arm to jostle me out of my focus.
"What?" I growled back, fighting off a yawn.

"The Dauphin was looking at you." Alice said. To her credit, at least she said it quietly.

"Wonderful." I answered, in a bored tone, before hunching back over the blue skirt. They were not fazed, nor deterred, by my unenthusiasm.

"Isn't that exciting?" Alice asked.

"What do you think it means?" Breelyn wondered at the same time. By now, our conversation had drawn the attention of Isabella and Millie, and I was sure that I could see that Liesel had inched her chair over in order to better hear what we were talking about.

I, however, was determined not to look up, should they be right, and Francis was still watching me. Though, if I hadn't been so stubborn and had looked up to see, I would have seen that Francis had turned back to look at me again, and was laughing slightly at the attention I was receiving though my body language showed I really didn't need or want it.

"He's looking again!" Millie gasped, patting Alice's arm. I rolled my eyes, tying a knot in my thread and cutting it free.

"Come on, Anna." Breelyn groaned, picking up her own work again. "You act like its no big deal that you're receiving attention from a prince!" After some consideration, I decided to just not answer. As Anya, the Tsesarevna, it really wasn't a big deal. Back home, I received attention from princes on a daily basis. The princes might have been my brothers, but same principles.

However, as Anna, the seamstress, receiving special attention from any member of a royal court would be a big deal. Anyone in court could change her life forever, for better or for worse.

"Will you all just hush up?" I asked, with a heavy sigh, holding back another yawn. Millie and Isabella giggled slightly at my frustration. Pushing my chair back, I hung the blue dress over my arm, and walked over to Liesel.

"I finished the Countess's dress." I held it up for Liesel to see.

"Thank you, Anna." She smiled at me. I could tell she could see how tired I was. "Why don't you go back to the workroom and hang it up. Then go back to the servants' quarters and have nap. You look exhausted." She offered. "We'll come wake you for dinner."

"Thank you!" I breathed out, giving one of my first smiles of the day.

"Of course, Anna. We can't have you getting sick." With one more thank you, I scurried out the side door of the throne room, making my way back to the work room with a new found energy.

If I had been listening closely, I would have heard a new burst of chatter from Alice and Breelyn begin, but I wasn't paying attention.

The halls leading down towards the workroom and the seamstresses' quarters were deserted, and rightfully so, considering all of my peers were up in the throne room, fawning over the courtiers. In the workroom, I quickly hung the newly completed blue dress over a rack, and properly put away the threads I had been using, in the cabinet where they were organized by color. Then after sticking my needle into the pin cushion in the center of the table, I walked back out into the hallway, where I had a heart attack.

"Francis! What are you doing here?" I hissed, after I recovered from the shock of finding the Dauphin, leaning up against the stone wall of the corridor.

"I followed you." He said, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Okay, but why?" I asked, again.

"I wanted to see you again." Standing up straight, he spoke again. "I wanted to ask you a question."

"Well, here I am." I said, leaning against the opposite wall.

"Why do you make your hair brown?" He asked, pushing a hand through his own blond curls.

"It draws less attention." I answered, simply. "You remember your own reaction to by red hair. I'm trying to keep a low profile here." Francis chuckled.

"I hate to tell you, Anna, but I wouldn't exactly say you're succeeding."

"You're definitely not helping."

"You were so focused on your work this morning, you probably didn't notice, but there was a fair amount of gossip going around this morning, about how my bed was still made this morning."

"You still slept in your room last night. Besides, no one knows I was there."

"The servants don't care. They just like to gossip. And your friends did catch me looking at you."

"By the way, thanks for that." I said, sarcastically.

"It was my pleasure." A comfortable silence fell over the pair. "There's still something I don't really understand." Francis said after a moment.

"What's that?" I asked.

"You say that you darken your hair to keep attention off of yourself." I nodded. "But why do you need to do that?" He took a step towards me. "Why don't you want people to see you?" He took another step towards me. "Why are you hiding?" Another step. There was only a breath of space between us now. The hallways weren't very wide. "What are you running from?"

I took a deep breath to steady myself.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness," I kept my voice as calm as I could. "But you'll have to forgive me when I choose not to answer your questions." I turned to the side, in an attempt to duck away from him. Anticipating my move, Francis slammed a hand up against the wall, blocking my escape.

"You'll have to forgive me, My Lady," Now that I had turned to the side, his voice was right in my ear. "But I'm not exactly used to not getting what I want."

"We all have to learn eventually." I sighed, before stepping backwards, into his other arm. When my back hit the barrier, Francis smirked, but I didn't let it faze me. Instead, I ducked forward under his arm and took off running down the hall. Why I didn't just turn into the sleeping quarters and lock the door, I will never know why.