Shadow wolves: The Prince's Servant (Book 4) - Complete

Chapter 14 - A new way of living

Emily

After finishing our lunch, Lilith cleared the table and the creator paid her. We left the tavern, and walked down the street to a shop decorated in bright pinks and blues. The sign at the door was in beautiful writing, but I couldn’t read that type of script.

“Madam Felicia’s.” The creator smiled.

“Oh, sounds exotic.” I pulled a face.

“Stop pulling that face, she is a very nice lady.” As we walked into the store, a little bell rang, making me jump. A lady in a bright red dress came walking in from the back of the store. It wasn’t as lavish as what the Queen wore. In fact, it was simple in comparison. Most of the ladies in town wore this type of dress, but they were colourful. Her outfit was finished off with a pair of gloves and an extravagant hat, you wouldn’t be able to tell much of a difference between them and the ladies of the court.

“Creator! How I’ve missed your company!” She walked up to him, kissing him on each cheek. “The men in this town are so boring, they just want two things.” She blushed slightly.

“Felicia, I’m afraid I’m not here on a social call. I need you to fit my student Emily here. She will require two dresses at least, for now. I would like one in that ocean blue you have on display and perhaps one in green that matches her eyes. As quickly as you can possibly have them done.” He smiled.

“Well, of course, anything for you, my darling. Over here young lady.” She pointed me to a circular type of step to stand on, taking measurement after measurement. “I do believe the dress in the window will fit her perfectly. The green dress will have to be made.” She called for a girl at the back who quickly removed the dress, grabbed my hand and dragged me to the back. Helping me climb out of my rags and into the new dress without ceremony, dragging me back to the front. I looked and felt slightly violated standing in front of the creator and Felicia in the new dress.

“Perfection.” He smiled at me. Felicia took my hand and guided me to a mirror.

“Ow wow! I never … Thank you.” Tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t know who to thank first, running to the creator, giving him a hug and not wanting to let go, then finally turned to Felicia for a hug. Smiling with tears in my eyes, I returned to the mirror, spinning and looking at myself. I never imagined I could try on a dress like this. “It is beautiful. Thank you. I will quickly change. I am sure there are still many things we have to do today.” I looked at him.

“No Emily.” He frowned.

“What do you mean, no?” I frowned.

“You can’t go and change. Your rags have been taken away.” He sighed.

“But why? I need them. I can’t walk around town naked!” I exclaimed.

“You aren’t naked.” He smiled.

“I don’t understand.” I frowned again.

“The dress is yours, my darling,” Felicia intervened.

“It can’t be. I have never owned anything this beautiful.” I gasped. We said goodbye once all the yelling and excitement died down. Two shops down, he walked into another shop filled with shoes.

“Now Emily, I will be buying you a pair of shoes. They are yours. Do you understand? You can’t be walking around with a beautiful dress like that and not have a proper pair of shoes.” This time shopping for shoes went a lot smoother, and we walked out of the shop in half the time. I didn’t know how I was going to clean these shoes, but at least he let me keep my old shoes this time.

“You will not be cleaning. We have staff to do that. You will be learning how to be a lady, which will be required of the moon goddess.” He explained as we walked.

“Darn it! I keep forgetting you do that!” Thinking a dress and shoes were more than enough, he walked into his shop. There were two men behind a counter smiling.

“Welcome back, sir.” They greeted him in unison.

“Gentlemen. Please find Miss Emily a day umbrella to go with her outfit. Follow me, Emily.” He walked to the back of the shop where things were just putting themselves together. I stopped. My jaw was hanging on the ground.

“But this is witchery! Who are you really?” I felt my stomach turn into a knot.

“I told you I am the creator. I create things.” He smiled as his arm waved through the air.

“No, you don’t! Things create themselves from what I can see!” I exclaimed.

“Come Emily. We have a lot to talk about before dinner!” For the first time that afternoon he sounded frustrated and impatient. Following him up the stairs, I felt even more confused. There was no second floor to the shop! Walking down a passage, he opened a door. “This is your room.” I walked into a bedroom made for a princess, or at least that is how it made me feel. Everything was bright and so delicately beautiful. Soft baby green was the main colour of the room. I put my old shoes down on the floor. There was a small mirror on a dressing table in front of the window. A single bed, with soft chiffon curtains around it hanging down, tied back with green satin bows. Across from the bed was a white rocking chair next to a small table, looking out over another window. The view out into the forest was breathtaking.

“Will this do?” He asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“It is amazing. Thank you.” I blushed.

“Good, now let me go show you our study.” He turned and walked down the passage. I had to jump to keep up. The next room was dark wood with rows and rows of books and a fireplace with two huge comfortable chairs in red velvet. A round wooden table stood proudly between the two chairs. To the right of the seating area were two desks with seats behind them. One covered in books, some open, others closed and piled up, one on top of the other. The desk across from it was empty. “The empty desk, if you haven’t guessed yet, is yours. Now I want to show you the magic chamber.” He walked into the office, a set of circular stairs were in the back corner which went onto the roof, looking as if they were going nowhere. I followed him, waiting for him to tell me to go back, but again he walked through an invisible barrier and disappeared. I followed and walked into a room looking like a chapel. The windows looked like different star constellations. The room was a beautiful night blue colour, the centre shining a bright yellow with clouds … Was that clouds?

“Yes, those are clouds.” He smiled.

“Oh!” I was in shock.

“This is where we will be spending most of our time. From here we can watch all my creations, study them. Then you will write down their destiny in their life-book downstairs. It will be a lot of work in the beginning to get everyone on track, but once you have them all following the flow of life, it should be beautiful in colour.” The creator looked happy.

“What is a life-book?” I scrunched up my nose.

“Let’s go back downstairs.” He nodded. Reaching his desk, he showed me one of the books lying open on his desk. Closing the book, I saw my name was on the cover. When he opened the book on the last page with writing on it, I read how he had just opened the book and showed me my own life-book. “It is a book recording the life of each of my creatures. It is also a book where you can write their destiny. Their story the way it should be. If they choose a different road, the colour of the handwriting will change and the wording will change to what they did.” He explained.

“Wow, this is all so much.” I sat down on the side of the desk.

“I know it is a lot to take in Emily, that was why I thought saving you from the Queen’s death threat and spending the time on something productive was a better idea, than losing you.” He seemed so sincere.

“And I still have a choice about if I want to do this or not?” I frowned.

“Yes, you do, just like all of my creations.” He looked nervous for the first time since I met him.

“Is it okay if I still take a year to think about it? I will take the time to spend here and learn like you requested. But I will need time to get to know Julius to make an informed decision. I don’t want to choose this and disappoint you down the line.” I felt nervous that I wouldn’t be good enough, but he smiled at me.

“I would have it no other way.” Phew, I thought he was going to fight me. Keep me prisoner like in my kingdom.

“Your freedom is yours, Emily. Feel free to explore the town. Get to know the people. In fact, study them if you can. All I ask is that you attend classes. There is a lot I need to teach you.” He smiled.

“Deal.” I held out my hand to shake his. He hesitated and then shook my hand, realizing it was the human custom to agree on something.

Julius

Trying to rush the guards after lunch, I tried to reach my room. With the door securely closed behind me, I pulled open the note.

“Highness, Emily has left with the creator. She is very safe with him. I am not sure when she is to return, but she asked that I let you know.” The creator? Who the hell is that? I needed to get to the library, without my guard standing too close to see what I was reading about. Opening the door, I looked right into the eyes of one of the guards.

“I would like to go to the library.” I informed them.

“We can go. It is not one of the places her Majesty said you can’t go.” They stood at the ready and escorted me to the library. Once there, I had a guard watching which books I took off the shelf, taking note of the title, hovering over me to see what I was reading about, when finally, I lost my patience and shouted.

“Do you mind!? I can’t read with someone breathing down my neck!” I glared at the guard who took a step back.

“I needed to check in-case her Majesty wanted to know. Problem is …” The guard blushed. “I can’t read highness.”

“Well then go away!” I lost my temper. Under normal circumstances, I might have felt sorry for the guard and arranged for him to get reading lessons, but I was not going to do anything of the sort anymore. I started searching for any references to the creator. Most books are either religious or mythical, explaining the creator as a type of god. What would a god want with Emily? Why would he save her? Having to stop my research to prepare for dinner with my mother, I lost my temper and slammed on the table again. I hated that my mother was treating me like that. Being ordered around by guards when I was the rightful King. Walking into the dining room again, my mother was at the head of the table and on her left this time, the bishop had joined us. I had to join her on her right, due to the hierarchy. She discussed her inauguration arrangements with the bishop, very cleverly talking about the incident as previously discussed. Referring to when I, according to her, tried to kill her.

The bishop looked nervously at me every once in a while, almost as if he was waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. I could not give anything away. My mother couldn’t find out what I was doing. If I could find the creator and hopefully find Emily, we could marry, and my mother could do nothing about it. She had already doomed the kingdom. What difference was it going to make if I became a commoner before she lost everything in any case? King Angus was not going to let her live very long. He would want a young wife that could give him an heir. His daughter would not be able to rule the vast kingdom he had acquired. She might be a manipulative little wench, but she had no knowledge of running anything. After dinner, I excused myself to go to my room, wanting to go through some of the notes and books I found on the creator. Mostly myth, but I just had to find him.