Josefine_4852

She was kneeling on the cold stone floor of the main hall with her hands tied behind her back. Not daring to face the intruders she kept her head low and her gaze fixed on the ground. 
She was only wearing a nightgown and her messily tied hair had started to come undone, causing lose strands of auburn colored hair to cover her face. She was thin; way to thin as most would probably say. Her beautiful features were concealed by sunken cheeks, dark circles and a dull complexion. 
Beside her was the rest of the family, all of them kneeling in a row with their hands tied back. She hadn’t gotten a good look but from the corner of her eye her father had appeared to be badly beaten...

*** 

The man who had killed her family that night had been truly terrifying. His face was entirely unfeeling as he beheaded them and he did not flinch when their bodies hit the floor.
So why had that man defied the king's orders just to spare her life? 

Amelia thought that her miserable life would continue being filled with nothing but abuse. 
She had not expected that she would be treated kindly, both by him and by his servants. And she had certainly not expected that she would slowly begin to let her guard down aroud him.

***

(Cover art from pinterest)

A thorny path

Adeline began flipping through the folders in the box that she had placed next to her on the sofa. From what Amelia could see from across the table there were quite a lot of them.


"Ah, here we go. Please have a look through this and tell me if there's anything that catches your fancy." Adeline picked up a brown folder and passed it to Amelia over the coffetable.


"Please excuse the sloppiness, as you may know I did not have a lot of time to prepare."


Amelia layed it in her lap. The covers where made of soft, likely high quality, leather and in the center was a tag with her name written on it. The paper inside was as white as snow which was rare to see even amongst nobility. It was glaringly obvious that Adeline's shop was an exceedingly profitable one.


Amelia couldn't help but wonder why such a designer had agreed to meet her on such a short notice.


The designs that Adeline had prepared were not sloppily drawn as she had suggested. Rather they beutifully communicated her vision down to the last detail. Every single dress was absoulutely splendid, all of them practically oozing money. They were colored in light pastels, mostly pinks and yellows, and every inch seeming to be adorned by frilly decorations. They were perfect, except for the off-the-shoulder sleeves and necklines that were even lower than on the dress that Adeline herself was wearing.


'There's no way something like this will look good on me.' Amelia thought.


Even though she had gained a bit of weight in the short time since she'd been taken in by the duke she wasn't even close to having the womanly figure that such dresses where designed for. She continued flipping through the pages in hopes of finding something different but every dress had the same basic shape with variation only in color, embellishments and sleeves.


"Is it not to your satisfaction, miss Ainsworth?"


Amelia was surprised that Adeline noticed her hesitation as she was certain that she had not revealed anything on her face.


"Ah... It's not that I do not like the designs, they're all absolutely beautiful, truly. It's just...I'm just not sure that they will suit someone like me..." She lowered her eyes. Even though it would already be obvious to anyone who saw her it was embarrassing having to bring attention to her lacking figure.


Adeline tapped her chin and hummed, making it almost comedically obvios that she was pondering. "Hmm, I see what you mean. Although this shape is in trend at the moment I believe that something more understated yet elegant would suit you better."


It was impressive how Adeline managed to brush over the issue so smoothly. 


'She's truly a skilled businesswoman' Amelia mused. 


"I don't want to waste your time, miss Ainsworth, but considering that the dress needs to be done as soon as possible would you mind if i scetch a new design right now?"


Amelia could not believe what she was hearing. Adeline was going to make a whole new design? She would think it'd enough to just edit one of the existing designs, or to simply add a shawl to cover the shoulders. 


"Of course, I'm in no hurry." Amelia waived her hands assuringly. 


At her response the designer did not waste any time. She swiftly spread out the necessary material on the coffetable, picked up her drawingpad and began to scetch right away. Adeline did not even look up from her drawing as Gordon returned and began to pour their coffee. When he left them once again the room fell completely silent except for the scratching noices of the pen against the paper. 


Amelia tried to drink the coffe while she was waiting but found that it was way to bitter for her, even after adding more sugar and cream. She opted to look out the window to pass the time.


When Adeline finally layed the pencil down the coffe had since long gone cold.


Meeting with a designer (3)