The Royal Seamstress | ONC2020

Chapter 3: The Audience

I walked stiffly into the public rooms, where the King sat on his throne, receiving people from all over the continent. Nervously, I curtsied as I reached the end of the room and stood before him. I saw he bore the coat I had made for him just a few months earlier.

"Your Majesty," I said. "You have summoned me?"

"Yes," he said and rose from his seat. Walking down the few steps from his seat he was penetrating me with a fierce stare. I knew something was wrong. He probably was going to tell me he had an arrest order on me. I got even more nervous, when my thoughts crossed a thought, I had suppressed all morning. I hadn't got rid of the catholic relics in my room yet. If he was going to tell me I was going in the Tower, I was sure my head would be decapitated, as they naturally would search my room and find all my relics.

"Seamstress Webb," he said in a clear voice. "I have a job for you. I want you to make three dress for her Majesty, Queen Jane. One must be made of sunshine, one of moonlight and the last of starlight."

"You can't be serious," I exclaimed, then remembered this was the King and I had just address him an improper way. I had to hope for mercy for my words. "I'm sorry, your Majesty. I was just a little surprised at the task you'd given me."

He was close to me now. Only a few centimeters from me face. He stared at me with a strict expression. He lowered the voice as he began to speak again.

"I'm very serious, seamstress Webb. If you can't make what I ask, you will be my mistress without any opposition. Do you understand?"

"What if I fulfill your requirements and manage to make this impossible task of yours. What will happen to me then?"

"You will be free to choose, whether you want to be my mistress or not, and I will accept any answer you give." He grinned an evil grin like he had already won. "You do know that task is impossible to solve?"

"I know, but I will do the impossible. I'm going to solve it," I said stubbornly. He was not going to win this time. He always won. In jousting. In tennis. In riding. Everything. This time he would lose, and it was going to be at my hand.

"You are a fiery young woman."

"I am, your Majesty. I'm never giving up. Not without fighting."

"Have you fought much in your life, Elizabeth?"

"Yes, when you aren't of noble birth and born with easy access to money, life is hard and brutal as you have to earn a living to survive."

"If you solve this task, I will make sure you never have to work yourself down anymore. You will never have to fend for yourself again."

"Why are you doing this?" I whispered. "I don't understand."

"I like you, Elizabeth Webb. You have a fire burning inside your very soul and I would do anything to see you use that in my bed. Use it on me. Letting me see how much you can enjoy yourself."

I fell silent. Didn't know what to say. He would like my naked body underneath his. That thought was forbidden to me to even consider, but it kept running through my mind. He was the King, but he was also married. I couldn't commit adultery with him. He and I would never share a marriage bed. It would be sin. Pure sin. Nothing else.

"You must make sure to win then, your Majesty, if that's your wish," My cheeks were flushed. He had embarrassed me by his talking and when he finally let me go, I almost clashed with a gentleman in the hallway as I ran from the King and his inappropriate words.

"I'm so sorry, Sir," I said hastily.

"It's okay," he said, and I looked up. It was Lord Surrey, the gentleman who came last night. He was the man I had seen through the window as I'd tried to sleep. The mystery I had been so curious to see solved, was now solved and the man stood before me. "Are you okay, Miss?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a little overwhelmed by the task given to my by the Sovereign Lord."

"Is it something you can't handle?"

"He wants me to make three dresses."

"You're the seamstress, I presume?" he asked. "That shouldn't be impossible for you, given it's your profession?"

"No, it's not that it's three dresses." My voice was strained. "He requires I make them of sunshine, moonlight and starlight. I can't catch a star and squeeze the stardust from it. How am I going to do that, My Lord?"

"Perhaps you just need some inspiration. And interpret the task as you like," he said very politely. "What is your name, Miss?"

"Elizabeth Webb," I answered quickly. "Do you really think I can interpret it as I like?"

"Sure, you can. I don't think the King means you have to catch an actual star and sew it on the dress."

"I don't even know what a star looks like," I said and hid my head. Compared to these noble men, I felt like a stupid little child. I didn't understand politics nor the world. The only thing I had learned was to make dresses and count the little money, it had made.

"None of us does," he said. "Don't bother your thoughts with such thinking. Just make your dresses and save yourself."

I smiled. Thanked him for his advice. Maybe I could do this after all. Maybe the task wasn't as complicated as I thought. Which things on earth could be equal to starlight, sunshine and moonlight, and then the idea struck. I ran down the hall. Almost flew down the stairs. This was going to be the masterpiece of my life.

Word count: 1001 words.

Total word count: 3672 words.