The Wolf God’s Mate

Chapter Three

In a good mood, Amelia leaves the gardens and makes her way back to the castle. She rushes up the stone steps leading to the front door and right as she was about to push the heavy doors open, they swing open by themselves. Standing at the doorway is a smartly dressed old man in a tail coat. His suit consisting of a tail coat and breeches was black and he had on a pristine white shirt underneath, with ruffles on the neck, peeking out of his neatly pressed buttoned up tail coat. He had on white gloves and on his feet were shiny polished black boots. His hair was completely gray but his posture was upright, and he seemed vigorous- his demeanor completely not matching with his age.

A warm smile could be seen on his wrinkled face as he smiles down at the little lady flushed from the exertion of running around.

"Good morning Princess", he says with a warm smile.

"Good morning Grandpa Jude", she answers with a wide smile at the kind looking old man, coming to a stop in front of him.

"It's Butler Jude, Princess", he admonishes gently.

"Where's Mother, Grandpa Jude", she answers back with a question -stressing on the last two words.

Having had the same argument a thousand times already, he lets it go. Feeling warmth trickle through his heart, his smile becomes even kinder. "She is currently in the drawing room"

Knowing which of the drawing rooms he meant, she skips past him and into the large foyer, calling over her shoulder, "Thanks Grandpa Jude!" and skipping to the last door at the right side of the hall, comes to a halt.

Amelia places a hand on the stylish door handle; pushes open the intricately carved oak door and steps in.

The Queen's drawing room was decorated in pale pinks and creams. The floor was made from light-coloured maple wood- perfectly polished. The curtains were a beautiful crème colour with trimmings in the same colour but a slightly darker shade. The soft couches were the same shade of créme as the curtains and so was the large fluffy rug in the middle of the room. And then dotted around the room, we're articles in pale pink, such as a few throw pillows and some other decorations.

Seated on the high backed single sofa by the French widows with curtains widely open was a beautiful woman. The woman had perfectly coiffured blond hair arranged at her nape, with tendrils falling from her temples and caressing the sides of her cheek and ears. She was seated upright on the sofa wearing a royal blue dress with white lacy trimmings on the sleeves and hem, which perfectly complemented her pearly skin tone. The woman's head is tilted down to look at the embroidery which she was currently making, held on her laps.

On hearing the door open, she raises her head to take a look. What she sees is a little girl looking like she had just crawled out of a pit of mud.

"Mother!" Amelia exclaims joyfully when she lays eyes on the woman. Rushing forward a few steps, she abruptly comes to a stop at the blue eyes that narrow at her.

"That is no way for a lady to walk", Queen Josephine admonishes and Amelia instinctively corrects her posture; back straight, shoulders squared, chin down and hands clasped just above her thighs. She then takes slow, elegant steps towards her mother.

"That's better", the Queen says with a satisfied look and a nod. "Now come here and tell me how you got this dirty when you stepped out those doors less than an hour ago".

Coming to stop beside her mother, Amelia raises her palms up to her face to take a look at them. Confused, she was sure that she had taken the opportunity to sneakily wipe them clean on her Papa's clothes when she had hugged him earlier.

"Not there. Take a look at your clothes Amelia", she instructs, dropping the embroidery she had been holding onto her laps.

Blinking her beautiful brown eyes at her mother, Amelia takes a look at her clothes and a horrified expression comes unto her face.

The Queen looks her up and down and sighs, "You look absolutely silly. Why don't you go on up to room and Martha can get you cleaned up", she instructs.

Pouting, Amelia complains in a whiny voice, "But Mother...you didn't even give me a hug today"

"Not looking like that I won't", she answers in distaste. "After you've changed into more presentable clothes, you can come down and we'll talk about how you got yourself looking like a mess over afternoon tea", adds the Queen. "Now go on", she says, making a shooing motion with her hands, "Heavens forbid any guests see you in such a state".

Done saying her piece, the Queen picks up the piece of velvet she was embroidering and with a needle, proceeds to complete the daffodils she was currently making.

Amelia proceeds to make her way out of the room, knowing fully well that the Queen would just continue to ignore her until she did what she had asked her to do. Gently, she closes the door which she had previously left open behind her.

When the door clicked close, Queen Josephine raises her head, let's out a warm smile overflowing with motherly love and looks back down to her embroidery.

Amelia makes her way across the foyer to the large double staircase. She looks back to see that the Queen's drawing room was still firmly shut and dashes up the flight of stairs, feet making faint thumps on the laid red stair carpet. She then takes a right at the top. She makes her way down the hallway which opens up into a large cozy sitting room decorated in muted beige, brown and white colours- the Royal family's private sitting room. She strides through the sitting room and gets to an archway at the far end. Walking through, she comes to another hallway with doors on both sides. Making her way to the very end, she opens the last door on the left and steps in.

It is a bedroom decorated in pastel colors. There is a large four-poster bed with beautiful draperies in the middle of the room. On the right, there were two large windows each with window seats on the right, and each with curtains widely open, streaming sunlight into the room. A wardrobe was pushed up against the wall on the left and there was a young woman in her mid 20s, dressed in a maid's uniform hanging up dresses into it.

When Amelia walks in, the young woman takes one look at her and hastily drops the dress she was just about to hang up into the large woven basket at her feet. She briskly walks towards Amelia with a horrified look.

"Oh my! Princess Amelia! Whatever happened to you!?" evidently appalled. She had just sent out a freshly bathed and neatly dressed Amelia just a while ago and before long, she had come back looking like that.

Amelia bursts into laughter at the expression on Martha's face. She had actually gone out to spy on her brother three days in a row but because it had rained last night, and the ground was still wet by morning, that it why she had only gotten dirty today.

Walking around Amelia and standing behind her, Martha places her hands on the little girl's shoulders and firmly leads her towards the screen at the far right corner of the room. She then helps her out of her clothes and into a baby pink robe hanging on the screen. Tying the rope at the waist, Martha instructs Amelia sternly,

"Now you wait in the room for me Princess, and don't you go anywhere", knowing just how overactive the princess was. "I'm going to go down to the kitchens to get some hot water so you can take a bath. You look downright filthy", Martha complains some more. And with a final reproachful look, hurries out of the room, not forgetting to shut the door behind her. Amelia sits on a window seat, swinging her feet back and forth as she waits.

Barely five minutes later, Martha comes back, lugging a large wooden bucket filled to the brim, which surprising does not spill at all, into the room. She uses the back of her foot to kick the door closed behind her and takes the bucket behind the screen. A splashing sound is heard as she pours the hot water into the large wooden bath tub situated behind the screen. After she empties the bucket, she drops it and picks another one beside the tub, filled with cold water, which had already been there. A little at a time, she pours in the cold water, pausing to check the temperature of the water in the tub until it was perfect for a little girl to bathe.

She then walks out the again and comes to stand in front of the princess. "Alright, come on", she says, and pulling Amelia's hand, leads her to behind the screen and to the tub. "In you go".

"I can bathe myself now Martha, I'm old enough remember?" she reminds her. Thinking that Martha was attempting to bathe her herself.

Eyes filled with amusement, Martha replies, "Of course Princess, but you need someone to help you wash your hair too. You've got mud in it", and picks up a muddy lock and shows it to her.

"Oh..." Amelia lets out sheepishly.

"Why don't you wash up first and when you're done, I'll help you wash and dry your hair. Is that alright?" she asks gently and Amelia nods, still looking sheepish.