Queensmen

Chapter 29

~Debut~

After minutes of running around, Oris finally ordered the girls to stop. It was not that she wanted to cut the fun short, but there were other things left for her to do. Already, she was tired of laughing and panting, and as much as she valued exercise, she was still tired.

If she had to face the Empress Dowager again, she'd need her strength. Already, she has been cheated of a good night's sleep. It was time to start planning.

"We still have the selection to prepare for," she told her maids and pushed her body into the nearest piece of furniture, which just happened to be the chair in front of the dresser.

"Andrea, Seline, you two prepare what the mistress will wear," Mayree told the two girls and smoothed stray strands of hair back into her bun. "I and Keziah will stay here and get her ready."

Andrea nodded and grabbed Seline by the hand before walking out of the room with her.

"Mistress, let me apply medicine to your wound," Mayree said softly, holding up a porcelain bottle the size of her hand. "It was poor of me to forget about it till now."

Oris shifted her attention from her reflection to the red cloth-stopper sealing the bottle. "Where did you get it?"

"Don't worry Mistress," the maid said. "It was prescribed by the royal physician but I bought it outside the palace."

"You can leave the palace?" Oris asked, surprised, then returned her gaze to the bronze mirror in front of her. She inched her head to the right and examined her wound, watching it gape slightly as her skin was stretched.

It was inflamed, an angry red against the rest of her pale skin; hot to the touch and painful. It would undoubtedly leave a scar and that fact nearly made a sigh pass Oris' lips.

"If we're crafty enough, us maids can squeeze through the cracks of any entrance," Mayree answered, her voice filled with pride. "We can go anywhere."

Keziah scoffed from the other end of the room where she stood at the foot of a bathtub. "You," she said as she filled the tub with the buckets of hot water she had left out in the hallway, "make it sound so righteous."

But her voice didn't carry far, so no one heard her.

"How many bottles did you buy?" Oris asked and stood up, the sheer robe she wore tickling her skin as she did. While running, she had somehow lost her gown and was now left in the nearly transparent underwear.

She found it a convenient method of undressing.

"Twelve, to be applied thrice a day for half a month according to the physician's prescription," Mayree said.

"Pour six of them into that potted plant over there," Oris instructed as she walked over to the tub. "I will not be using any medicine for the next three days."

Mayree was about to protest but Keziah held her gaze and shook her head, stopping the words before they left her mouth.

"It is only a precaution," Oris said to reassure her. "If nothing happens to the plant, I'll apply the medicine to this wound. As it is, I just need to prevent it from getting infected and it will slowly heal with time. Don't worry."

"Okay, Mistress," Mayree said, her shoulders falling as walked to the decorative plant and turned the medicine into the soil that fed its roots.

Keziah took her mistress' hand and helped her up the wooden steps into the steaming water, careful to not let any of it splash to the floor.

Oris shut her eyes as she descended into the bathtub, the temperature was just hot enough to be uncomfortable, as she had ordered.

She let out a breath, feeling the robe cling to her skin as the water engulfed her body. She could feel sweat already beginning to form at the bridge of her nose.