Paint Me Mad (Mad Hatter love story, Book 1)

Chapter 8: Dresses with hats to match

I really went from rags to riches fast when I was separated from the hatter, and lead into a room. It looked like a changing room and to my surprise, a beautiful red gown, nothing to fancy but fact enough, was laid out for me.

A note was attached to it

Treat it well. I expect nothing but perfection from your trade

-the Queen

I was confused at the oddly kind yet... demanding? Gesture.

There was a small knock on my door and I walked over, peaking out to see who it was, and gave a sigh of relief when I saw it was Alice.

She barely slipped through the door with her abnormally large height but didn't hesitate to pull me into a hug as soon as she was inside.

"Thank goodness your alright." She said in relief, however that didn't stop my sass that come out of my mouth

"Can't say the same for you! Alice your 9 feet tall! What in gods name were you thinking?!"

She scoffed
"Well excuse me for wanting to come rescue my best friend who sacrificed her life for a complete stranger."

I crossed my arms with a "hmp".

"I'll have you know Tarrant and I are now pretty good friends."

She raised a brow
"Tarrant? Since when are you first name basest?"

I chuckled
"Since we shared a ceil together I guess. Behind all the madness hes actually kinda... sweet and dare I say human."

She gave me a funny look that I couldn't read before giggling to herself
"My my who would of thought the great Andromeda Bowstring would fall for a complete mad man."

I froze in my tracks
"Oh don't be ridiculous! Love is for children! Besides I just met this man."

She didn't seem convinced rolling her eyes and glancing at the dress hanging on the hanging rack.
"Wow that horrid woman gave you this?"

I snorted
"Yea I guess bloody big head has some taste."

"Annie... did you notice how weird she was around you... mentioning your mother and that princess..."

I stared at her for a moment before sighing and sitting down on the stool in the room.

"How could I not? Ever since we've been here I've been hearing things about my mother and I, but not anything factual just things about familiarity. However I very much want to know who this so called Lunar Princess is. Maybe the hatter will know?"

Alice shrugged
"No harm in asking. Now come on I want to see you in that dress."

_______________

Alice slipped out of the room, making sure not to be seen by guards, and we both agreed for our safety we don't converse the rest of the day. If the queen or anyone picks up that her and I might know each other they might get suspicious.
After I got changed into the dress the guards came back and marched me to a working room.
To my surprise and utter relief Tarrant was also there.

When he saw us come in his eyes widened and his mouth gaped.

"A-Annie?"

I blushed rubbing my arm subconsciously
"It's to much isn't it? The queen made me wear it-"

"Enough chatting." The king hit roughly pulled me over to a station next to him, and chained my ankle to the table. To my shock I was greeted with roles upon roles of fine fabrics, sewing supplies, buttons, sequins, and so much more.

"The queen will be expecting results by tomorrow. Get to work."

Then they left us.

Tarrant came over to me and rested a hand on my shoulder

"I was going to see you looked absolutely marvelous my dear."

I chuckled looking at his get up which was a strange stripped outfit almost looking like a maids.
"Don't look half bad yourself Tarrant. Now why don't you show me how to make a hat hm?"

He smiled
"Only if you make me a dress to match my hats."

And that's how it was for hours on end. Us lost in the happy silence of our trad. Despite the odd situation I was strangely... happy. No one around to judge me for my work, no proper way to do things. And once again I marveled at my speed of how I was creating the dresses. By sundown I had created 15 on top of sketching and planning each one.

Most consisted of reds and the occasional pink. Some poofy with fine ribbons and sashes, and of coarse the signature hearts of the queen. Some were more slim fitting with fine sequences that glittered when catching the light.

At one point I stood up to admire the dresses and smile at my work so fair when I felt eyes on the back of my head. I glanced behind me to see an in awe hat maker gazing on me with a goofy grin.

He himself had already made several hats one better then the next. Gorgeous beyond belief I must say.

However whatever he found distracting in me caused enough of a distraction to end up sewing his sleeve to the fabric of the hat he had been working on.

"Tarrant!"

He jumped out of his gaze and looked down blushing fiercely.

"Oh dear looks like I'm all tied up."

I giggled and grabbed the thread cutter from my station and walked over to him, grateful my chains reached that fair to him.

"Hold still."

He stiffened when he felt one of my hands gently rest on his forearm, and my other one delectably cut the tread connecting his sleeve to the hat.
We were so close in the moment I could smell the scent of tea, sugar, and old dusty hats, that I have come to identify as simply "Tarrant musk".

"There we are. Let's stick to sewing hats not sleeves shall we?"

He chuckled
"Yes I believe that would be best."

I picked up one of the hats he had made which was a beautiful but frankly large, fedora looking hate with strips and a big flower on it.

"Who taught you how to do all this? These are beautiful."

He distant sad look came on his face
"It was my clans trade. My father wouldn't be to pleased with the style of hat making I produce but at least he'd be here."

I frowned and squeezed his arm which hadn't left the spot since I walked over.
"I'm sure if he saw you now he'd be incredibly proud of you. Sometimes people don't understand a style or why we do things. All we can do is keep pushing forward."

His expression turned into one of gentle happiness
"You are very wise you know."

I laughed
"I wouldn't say that but I've been through a lot to know a lot."

He sat down on the bench he had been working at and patted the seat next to him.
"How about I show you my trade and later on you show me yours."

I nodded excitedly and scooted next to him, brushing up against his side and listened to him go in his manic rants about different hats and go over how each one is made and demonstrate.

His voice had becomes a comfort, and suddenly two days of no sleep was catching up to me. My eyes were getting heavy and soon his words became muffled as I snuggled up against him resting my head on his shoulder, and started to doze off.

Before I went completely under, I heard him pause from talking, lean over and plant a firm kiss on my forehead causing me to smile slightly.

"Good night my shinning star."