The Crown's Obsession (WN)

After exchanging some words with Calhoun, Madeline made her way back to the room. Removing her shoes, she went to stand in front of the mirror, which reflected her appearance at her. The girl in there wore rich clothes that she would have never dared to dream in the past as she knew how much she was limited to things like that. Even the rented dress would not be able to give such quality to be worn. She started to take the jewels off her neck and ears which were handpicked by the King,

It was taken that she was living a life of riches, after all, the King was courting her, and it made her question how happy another girl would be if it weren't her in the current position. Girls or women like her elder sister Beth would have been happy. Her sister had been overjoyed that the King had taken a liking towards her when the invitation had been sent out.

But Madeline had stolen the limelight and the King's attention from Beth, which made her think if her sister was still angry about it. Madeline had no control over what had happened, and she had tried to explain it to her sister. She missed her parents and her. To Madeline, Beth was her sister, a friend, someone who she deeply cared and loved no matter what.

She pulled out the dress that she wore to wear the nightdress. Picking up the hairbrush that was lying on the dressing table, Madeline started to unknot her hair by running the comb from one side of her head to the other side.

She let out a shuddering breath. She was worried and anxious and nervous. Every nerve of her fibre dipped in the thought of what was going to happen tomorrow. With Calhoun who had finished painting her, she had thought that the King would let go, but she should have known better.

The King of Devon was a petty man, and he would go to any length to make a statement.

That night Madeline barely slept, and she kept turning in her bed now and then, trying to see what the possibility of tomorrow could be.

When morning arrived, Madeline had a light headache in the back of her head, and she looked tired. Even with a comfortable bed and a quiet room, she couldn't fall asleep worrying herself with what was going to happen to James today. When she did fall asleep for a spare few minutes, she had dreamt of Calhoun holding an axe in his hands and James who was placed on the wood of the scaffold to see Calhoun raise the axe that had woken her up.

Rubbing her temples, Madeline pushed the covers and started to get ready. If James was going to arrive early, it was better to be in the court than having King Calhoun deal with the man before she had an opportunity to do anything.

She got ready quickly and stepped out of the room before the maid had an opportunity to step into the corridor where her room was located. Her feet quickly made its way towards the courtroom to see that Calhoun was already here, talking to Theodore but the other ministers were yet to join or maybe the King didn't summon them here yet.

Calhoun's eyes were quick to move towards the entrance of the court to see Madeline who had woken up early and had dressed, "Good morning, Madeline. I didn't know you were eager to meet me today that you have readied yourself faster compared to the last three days."

Madeline didn't have the energy to retort at him, nor did she forget her manners in front of the King. She stopped her footsteps right away and bowed her head to pay her respects and said,

"Good morning, King Calhoun."

She noticed how Calhoun turned towards Theodore to say something to him and dismissed the man. Theodore bowed his head at Madeline to greet her, and even though she was upset with the man for telling the King on what he saw, she returned his bow to see him walk past her.

"It looks like I don't have to worry about Theodore holding your interest in the castle," commented Calhoun, his hand going to support the side of his face where his elbow rested on one of the arms of the throne. Madeline didn't know what the King meant to hint and he continued to talk, "You glared at Theodore."

Madeline frowned to say, "No, I didn't."

This made Calhoun smile. His lips pulled up wide and his eyes shining with mirth, altogether the expression was somewhere scary or daunting to her.

"You must be upset that he told me about your little meeting that took place yesterday," said Calhoun, his words echoing in the courtroom with no one there except for the two of them, "Am I wrong?"

No, the King was never wrong, and Madeline had the urge to say yes, but then she would only look like an insolent child. She didn't even understand what he liked about her. Was it the face? There were many girls and women of the higher class from his status that he could pick. Daughters of Lords or the Dukes, or a minister, he could have any of them who were more beautiful than her.

"What time is the tailor going to come?" asked Madeline, and she noticed how the smile on Calhoun's lips twisted in amusement.

"Eager, aren't we?" he asked her, "Did you wake up early so that you wouldn't miss meeting him?"

"I thought you were not going to summon him back to the castle," she answered to him. Calhoun stared at her, with the constant maddening smile that made Madeline want to know what was going on in his head but for a few seconds, he just continued to look at her and the nerves in her body only turned more errant.

Calhoun let go of his face that was resting on his hand, and he leaned back against the throne, looking at her, he said, "Why are you worried? Didn't I say he is the castle's tailorman? I don't know what got you nervous. Come here," he commanded.

For a second or two, Madeline felt as if her feet were glued to the floor and she had to push herself to start walking to stand in front of him.

"Closer," said Calhoun when there was still a reasonable distance between them. When Madeline took two steps forward, the King was still not satisfied, and he said, "More close."

Madeline wondered if the King wanted her to sit on his lap and she wanted to glare at him, but he would know that too. Cooling her expression, Madeline took one step further as her body touched the other side of the armrest of the throne where he was seated.

Both Calhoun and Madeline stared at each other. The brown eyes staring intensely while the dark red eyes were calm and unaffected when Calhoun's hand reached Madeline's face to surprise her. He ran his thumb just below her eyes to murmur, "Looks like you barely slept last night."