Valiant Valerie (the Ballad of Valerie of Mor Book 1)

Chapter Five

The coronation for her father was very different to the one for Edmond. For starters, Henry's coronation happened eight days after Edmond's death. Secondly, the coronation ball did not happen for almost three weeks after the actual coronation.

The coronation itself was a dismal affair. The bare minimum of witnesses were in attendance, which amounted to Valerie, Jeanna – who passed the crown on in her late husband's stead – the Privy Council, Sir Gillam and the most senior knights, three nobles who had been able to make it in time, Jonathan as Valerie's support, and of course the priest to oversee it all.

It was a quick ceremony. Jeanna stood in Edmond's stead, silent tears pouring down her face, her black mourning dress crumpled. Henry was stony-faced, also still in mourning black, and looked as though he would rather be anything but king. The priest looked as dour as usual as he performed the ceremony, which really just involved taking the crown from Jeanna, placing it on Henry's head as he promised to do right by the kingdom and its people, and those gathered agreed they witnessed his oath. There was then some signing of documents to ratify the oath witnessing, and Henry was deemed king.

Yuletide passed with very little fanfare. Henry held a dinner for all the servants and landowners, as the king did every year, and spared no expense for them. The courtiers' dinner was barely worth mentioning to anyone, but none of the nobles seemed to mind given the circumstances of the previous year.

The coronation ball was held on the eve of the new year as much for the fact that the castle had already planned a ball for that night as anything else. With nobles and dignitaries coming from all countries, it was decided to just combine the two.

Valerie was hoping to avoid the making of a dress for the evening, but her father would not allow it. Jeanna of course was no help and, though Valerie understood, she was also frustrated. So, she decided to enlist the help of Jonathan.

"I really do not know how much help I'll be," he complained, dragging his heels.

Today they were meeting with the seamstress in her Princess Room and she had needed to change after training.

"You will be more help than me, and that is the whole point," Valerie huffed. "She has a pattern to suggest and we just have to choose colours and embellishments."

"How hard could that be?" Jonathan laughed.

"Shut up." Valerie grabbed his arm and pulled him after her. It was a rare occasion when she was moving faster than him.

The seamstress had a mock-up of a dress made in plain material. Valerie let the seamstress pin up the mock-up around her body. It had thick straps that dissolved into a v-shaped neckline. The bodice was another of the ridiculous body-hugging type, ending at her hips. The skirt seemed to balloon out to then fall gracefully to the floor. The seamstress spent a few minutes pinning the dress here and there, making sure it fit perfectly.

Valerie watched Jonathan in the mirror. He watched the seamstress work, nodding every now and then, and once or twice shaking his head.

"Because you know so much about dress-making!" Valerie laughed.

"You'd be surprised," replied the seamstress.

Valerie looked at her reflection then back to Jonathan, who was pointedly looking away. She scowled, but thought perhaps they were jesting with her.

The seamstress stepped back and indicated Valerie twirl around, which she did, then sighed.

"I suppose it will do. Though it is not very exciting," the seamstress said, turning around and picking a book off the table. "Have a look through here and choose a fabric. Jonathan will be able to select the embellishments."