The Kings Mistress Chapter 54

[ … words ]

A surprise contest out of the blue. None of them saw it coming. Even Sierra was stunned. Each princess was given a table, which served as their workstation. Each of them had one hour to come up with a floral arrangement of their choice.

After they were done, a mystery judge would judge the arrangements and pick a winner. The winner would receive a special reward.

“Who’s going to be the judge of the contest, Your Highness?” Sierra asked boldly.

“Is it the King?”

“Oh, I hope it is!”

“Me too!”

The other princesses were getting excited.

“Such clever women we have here,” Roxine chuckled, commenting on the princesses, “I was hoping to keep the mystery but you all guessed it right. The judge will be King Alistair.”

All the princesses erupted with delight. The King was going to judge their floral arrangements, he was going to judge their work. Sierra folded her arms, creasing her eyebrows. She had no idea what sort of flowers he liked.

How was she going to impress him with her floral arrangements? As all the princesses were getting increasingly excited, Miss Marionne called for their attention so that the Queen could continue giving instructions.

“What about the reward, what is it going to be?” someone asked.

“That,” Roxine paused for dramatic effect, “Shall remain a mystery. But trust me, you’re all going to love it.”

Once all the rules were out of the way, the contest began. All the princesses rushed to the center of the table to pick the flowers they wanted. Some took way more than they needed, leaving only a few items for those who remained.

Sierra and Myra were amongst the unlucky ones. They were some of the last few princesses to get to the table. By then, there were only undesirable options left. A quick glance over to Princess Cassandra’s table and it was clear to see she had taken more flowers than she ever needed.

She had a pile that was almost as tall as the princess herself.

“Seriously? Does she need that many flowers for one floral arrangement? What about the rest of us?” Myra sighed as she glanced over too.

“We can’t use any of these either,” Sierra sighed in defeat as she looked at what was left.

Making a white-themed floral arrangement was out of the question. That was only reserved for funerals. Submitting such an arrangement would be the ultimate disrespect to the King. But these were their only options left.

Sierra bit her lip. She knew she had to come up with something. From the corner of her eye, she could see Agnes smirking in her direction. Similar to Cassandra, she too had a large pile of flowers on her table. More than she would need.

When she noticed Sierra looking over, she walked over with her hands on her hips.

“Poor little things, you came too late. All the good ones have already been taken,” she teased them as she glanced over to the near-empty table.

Agnes circled them as if they were prey. She reveled in their crisis.

“I would be more than willing to share some of mine. But you’ll have to do something in return for me.”

As soon as she finished her sentence, Sierra knew she was not having any of it. It was all part of Agnes’ plan to ridicule them in front of everyone. No matter how desperate, she was not about to beg Agnes for help.

Never.

Sierra walked over to Miss Marionne, who was appointed to oversee the contest while the Queen lounged in the shade and watched the competition from afar.

“Princess Sierra. Is there something I can help you with?”

“Yes. Actually, there is. Are we allowed to use flowers that we pick on our own? From the Flower Trail?”

Marionne nodded, “Yes you may, Princess. Please do be careful, some may be poisonous.”

“Thank you, I will take note of that.”

With the information in mind, Sierra turned back to Myra with a plan. She did not acknowledge Agnes’ offer or her presence, infuriating the princess even further. She curled her hands so tightly into fists that her knuckles turned white.

“I’ll get you next time, Sierra. Just you wait!” she gritted her teeth.

On the other hand, Sierra and Myra got a woven basket and a pair of sharpened garden scissors and got to work. They only had one hour to do everything so they had to be quick.

Myra was nervous, she gripped the handle of the basket tightly. Sierra was by her side. She gently placed her hand on Myra’s shoulder to reassure her.

“Take a deep breath,” she instructed her friend, “We can do this.”

With her encouragement in mind, Myra was renewed with determination.

“Right, we can do this,” she echoed Sierra’s words.

The two princesses, with their maids in tow, went from bush to bush, flower patch to flower patch. Each of them had a theme in mind so they simply needed to look for the right flowers to use.

“Do you know anything about the King’s preferences?” Myra asked, hoping Sierra might give her some clues.

“I wish I knew,” Sierra sighed as she gently tapped her head with her palm.

She knew she should have been more attentive to her surroundings when she was in the King’s Quarters. But on every visit, she was more focused on trying to get out of there. She was also more focused on the King himself.

Unbeknownst to Sierra, someone was watching her from the side. Hidden behind two layers of bushes was King Alistair. He did not need a pair of binoculars to observe Sierra, hard at work picking flowers from the bushes on the side.

“She’s so focused on her task, she didn’t even notice me,” Alistair chuckled to himself as he continued to observe.

If Sierra had only taken a break for a fraction of a second, straightened her back, and glanced over; she would have seen him looking at her. But she was so engrossed, that she did not even sense his presence.

An image of Alistair floated in the ocean of her mind. Sierra shook her head vigorously, hoping to shake it away. But it remained there, floating on the surface. Perhaps it was the connection in their hearts and minds that led to this peculiar phenomenon. If only they could read each other’s thoughts.

Once the princesses had finished picking their flowers, they quickly made their way back to where the competition was held.

By this time, most of the princesses had already begun arranging their flowers in the vases provided. Sierra and Myra wished one another the best of luck before returning to their respective tables.

As Sierra methodically removed the flowers from her basket, Ida looked over nervously. Though the maid did not know much about floral arrangements, she could tell there weren’t enough flowers amongst the items Sierra had picked.

“Your Highness, do you need more flowers? I can go and get them for you.”

“No need, Ida. I have everything I need,” Sierra replied with a smile.