Bondage (formerly Escape from the Obstinate Prince)

“Can I meet her now?” Mad whispered outside of Ami’s room.

“No.” Jack scowled. “She’s sleeping. The physician is done and told me to let her rest.”

“I wanna see her too.” Freya tugged on Jack’s trousers. “I think she’s pretty.”

Jack sighed. “Not now Freya, she’s sleeping and she hurt her ankle. You want her to get better, right?”

Freya nodded. “She’s really pretty. Can I see her? I want to be pretty like her.”

Jack glanced at Madison. “When has she been talking so much?”

“Oh since the past couple of weeks. Ever since you left.” he grinned.

Jack rolled his eyes and picked up Freya. “Alright but you have to be very quiet and don’t say a word.”

“I’ll be quiet” Freya nodded solemnly “Very quiet.”

He opened the door of Ami’s room and let Freya peak inside.

“Don’t you know how perverted you seem?” Mad whispered. “Looking upon your bride while she’s sleeping, before you’re wed. Tsk tsk, Jack.”

Jack turned to glare at Mad and brought Freya out of the room. “She’s pretty.” Freya wriggled down from Jack’s hold.

Jack looked at his little sister. He had to admit that Ami was pretty, but that did not mean her character was flawless. In fact it was far from flawless.

“Did she really break her ankle?” Mad picked up Freya.

“No, turned out that it was just a sprain. It will take a little while and so she needs all the rest she can get.” Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets. “You hold Freya too much.”

“Says you. You’re just jealous that Freya wants me to hold her more than she wants you to hold her.” Mad squished Freya’s cheek gently before looking back at Jack. “Will her ankle be better before the wedding? It’s not that far off in the future.”

“I hope so.” Jack said. “The physician said that he was pretty sure it was just a minor strain, so she should be back to walking in a week or two. Mother might end up changing the physician’s mind and Ami might be better in a few days.”

Mad nodded. “Well hopefully she gets better before then.”

“Or maybe she won’t get better and I won’t have to marry her.” Jack grinned. “Besides, if she made a big deal about the minor sprain, it just shows that she’s overly dramatic. Not a good quality to have in a wife.”

Mad raised an eyebrow. “Remind me, what did she do to be dramatic? They way I heard it she was begging you not to take her upon your horse. And besides, don’t you remember that time when you fell from your horse and hurt your arm? You cried like a baby just because you got a scrape and you saw blood.” he snickered slightly at the memory. “You still can’t handle blood, can you?”

Jack glared. “Yes I can. And I did not cry like a baby. I might have let out a scream, but if you remember, I had also broken my arm as well. A very good reason to yell.”

Madison shook his head and a smile crept onto his face.

“Why doesn’t Jack like the pretty girl in there?” Freya frowned and held onto Mad’s tunic with her chubby little fists.

“He does like her,” Mad replied with a smile, ignoring the glares that Jack was sending, “he just thinks he doesn’t like her. You see, Jack is a very proud boy and he thought he didn’t like her, but he found out that she was quite a charming young lady and-”

“Alright that’s quite enough thank you.” Jack intervened and snatched Freya from Mad’s arms. “No Freya, Mad is wrong. Don’t listen to him.”

Mad scoffed. “Freya, my dear, you have a very stupid brother -excuse my language- and you’re lucky that you have me to look after you.”

Freya looked from one boy to the other. Then frowned. “Jack isn’t stupid.”

Madison shrugged and sighed before muttering. “I knew I shouldn’t have said that.”

Jack snickered.

<><><>

Ami blinked several times, trying to make the world seem less blurry before she sat up on her bed. She gazed at her surroundings. Oh yes, I’m in my room. My new room, she smiled.

“Good morning, Your Highness.” Portia curtsied.

Where did she come from? Ami glanced at her warily.

“The Queen sent a message.” she held out a silver platter with a piece of parchment that had red candle wax sealing the note.

Ami kept her eyes on Portia, making sure she didn’t fling the platter in her face or anything and took the letter off of the silver plate. She broke through the red wax, a few little flakes crumbling onto her bed.

My dearest Amélia,

As I’m sure Jack has already informed you, we request your presence as soon as you are feeling able to stand so we can have your tailor make your wedding gown, as well as all the other gowns you are to wear. I’m very sorry that your ankle hurts so much and I do hope that it will heal quickly.

Love from the Queen

Ami looked back up at Portia. “Did you perchance hear when the physician said I could walk?”

Portia shrugged in an indifferent manner. “I wasn’t there. I was still in the servants quarters unpacking.”

Ami sighed before leaning her head back down on her pillow. Then she sat back up suddenly. “You don’t live in the servants’ quart-” she glanced around the room to see a flash of Portia’s dress flowing out the door..

She shook her head. That girl was quite strange and mysterious and very unlikable. “I’ll need to find another lady-in-waiting before long.”

She put her left foot on the floor, and then put her right foot on the floor, just then noticing the absurd amount of bundling the physician had done to her ankle. She vaguely remembered him putting all sorts of herbs and oils on her ankle before bandaging it up until her foot was twice its normal size.

She sighed and slowly stood up, hesitant to put her weight on her foot. “How am I supposed to get anywhere dressed like this and how am I supposed to get anywhere with my ankle?”

Just then two servants in drab colored dresses burst through the door carrying a tub full of water. “Excuse us, Your Highness.” the set the tub down and curtsied. “The Queen’s orders. We’re to bath you.”

Two more servants came through the door with stacks of brightly colored material. Then the Queen came through the door. “Hello my dear Ami! Jack told me that he calls you Ami, may I call you that? Good. That aside, I was thinking about that note I sent you, I assume Portia delivered it? She’s quite the darling, but anyway, you shouldn’t be walking much at all, but you do need those dresses so I thought, if she can’t come to me, I’ll go to her!”

Ami looked wide eyed up at the Queen trying to comprehend all that she just said.

“And since Freya is still too little for me to dress up and all of that, you shall be like a second daughter to me.” the Queen started holding up different bolts of material. “Hmm, very disgusting color.” she set aside a very dreary looking brown. “Ahh! Emerald! It would go so well with your-” she paused, realizing that Ami had blue eyes and not green, “-hair! You have beautiful hair by the way. I always wanted yellow locks like yours when I was younger. But then again, don’t all girls?”

Ami just nodded although she didn’t. She had always wanted dark brown hair. And straight. Not like her curls. The Queen was very talkative and had a very bright, bubbly, personality.

“Lillah, Heather, please help Ami take a bath.” the Queen clapped her hands. “You’re alright with that, aren’t you Ami?”

Ami nodded. “Quite alright, thank you.” It would be nice to wash all of the grime away. She hadn’t had a bath since she had left Rhone over a month ago. She wrinkled her nose. And she’d been on a ship, an inn, and through rough terrain. She was filthy.

By the time the girls had finished washing her, the water was a dirty brownish-gray color and the water was only lukewarm.

“Here my dear.” the Queen re-entered the room and held up a sapphire colored dress. “I had the tailors cut out the material before you came, and then had them guess your size as soon as you got here and they were working on this overnight.”

Ami stepped out of the filthy water, letting one of the servants rinse her one last time with clean water before she stepped out and wrapped up in a cotton towel. “Thank you very much, Your Majesty, but I assure you that you needn’t go through so much trouble for me.”

“Nonsense.” the Queen waved her hand. “It’s no trouble at all. I enjoy having you here and caring for you.”

Ami shook her head in defeat, but couldn’t help smiling at the Queen’s enthusiasm.

“Beautiful.” the Queen clapped her hands together and looked slightly teary-eyed at the sight of Ami in the dress. “You look beautiful, my dear. Come, let’s get your ankle dressed before you go and meet the little Princess.”

Ami glanced down at the dress. The Queen must have looked into Rhone’s styles and fashions before ordering this to be made, she noted that it was not as bad as Jack had described and figured that he had either been lying to scare her, or else she had not yet seen the worst. She wanted to believe the first option.

The maids took out the material and the tub quickly and efficiently before the physician knocked on the door.

“You may enter.” the Queen quickly pushed Ami onto the bed so it looked as if she had been sitting the entire time.

Ami struggled not to laugh at the way the Queen acted for being, well, a Queen.

“Good morning, Your Majesty, Your Highness.” the physician bowed to the Queen, then to Ami. “How is your ankle feeling?”

“Better. But it still hurts if I stand up and walk too much.” Ami shrugged.

“Splendid, splendid.” the physician nodded and lifted up her ankle onto the bed. He opened some bottles most likely containing oils and other ointments and started rubbing them on her ankle.

“How long before she can walk on it?” the Queen inspected his work.

“She should wait at least a week, preferably more like two or three, Your Majesty.” the physician glanced nervously at the Queen, knowing full well that she wouldn’t like the answer.

“But her wedding is in two weeks! She has to be fitted for her wedding gown and she’ll have to stand for that!” the Queen frowned. “Can’t you do something to make it heal faster?”

“I-I’m doing all I can, Your Majesty.” he fiddled his thumbs. “The most she can do right now is to just rest it and not use it at all.”

The Queen attempted to glower at him, but it looked more like a pout.

“I’m sure that you could just take this dress I’m wearing and make the wedding dress according to these measurements.” Ami suggested.

The dress she was wearing fit. To a degree. The shoulders were a tad bit too large and the dress was just a bit too wide at the waist, then there was the matter with it being a little bit too short for her liking, displaying part of her ankle.

The Queen looked as if she was considering it. “But what about the final fitting? We want the Princess’ wedding to be perfect. Don’t we?” she nudged the physician with her toe.

“Yes, yes, of course we do.” he finished bandaging up her ankle and tucked in the end of the cloth under another piece before knotting it.

“Then she will be able to walk by the morrow, will she not?” the Queen gave a look to the physician that dared him to argue with her.

The physician apparently decided that a lengthy argument would not be worth it and it would be easier to just give in to the Queen’s wishes, whether or not it was good for Ami. “Yes, yes. She’ll be able to walk by the morrow. Although might I suggest that maybe I have some crutches made for her, or else you can have servants carry her places most of the time?”

“Very good.” the Queen smiled. “You may leave.”

The physician bowed once more before leaving the Queen and Ami in peace. “I will go get the tailors working on your dress and you can be fitted tomorrow.”

“Wonderful.” Ami forced a smile for the Queen. “I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.”

If the Queen noticed Ami’s lack of enthusiasm, she didn’t mention it. Instead she seemed as if it were her own wedding and her own dress. “I remember when I was about to get married to the King. Well, he wasn’t a king at the time, but once we were married he became king and-”

Ami leaned back in her pillows and tried listening to the Queen’s talk, but after a while her eyelids drooped and she could no longer make any sense of the Queen’s words, even though she was sure her stories were quite entertaining.