The Mistress of the Sea: It was Never a Ship

Chapter 2

Catherine was very talkative as she escorted Delia to a spare room in the north wing. Their arms were still linked together as Catherine asked Delia several questions about herself. Delia gave the same back story to Catherine as she did Charles. Delia did mentioned to Catherine that she was actually picking up supplies at the cartography shop just before the parade and the mugging.

“I thought that was you! I saw you at a glance and something about you caught my eye. Maybe it was your beauty,” Catherine gestured to a passing servant “or maybe I could sense you were a very unique woman.”

You have no idea.

“I hope things go well between you and Charles tonight. It would be amazing if he found a match plus I would love to have someone like you around.” Catherine paused the conversation to quietly say something to the servant. Delia responded, “May I ask why you are concerned with finding a match for Charles? And why you think I could be his match?”

Catherine started off with the story of when she first came to Baltonia. She was princess from the country of Stallis. James had been there a few times on business for his father. The two of them would spend a some time together during his stay. They hadn’t even began to write each other until their fathers had arranged a political marriage for the two of them. Even though Catherine was fawn of James, she still felt out of place. Suddenly she was in a new country and engaged to the future king. There was a lot of pressure that made it hard for them to enjoy each other’s company. It wasn’t until Charles came home from one of his voyages with the navy did things start to lighten up. He would sit with them at meals and tell stories about his adventures at sea. They would laugh and joke around. Every now and then, Charles would some how get all three of them into some kind of mischief. These little moments when the three of them were together helped lighten up things between her and James. Eventually, when it was just the two of them alone together they felt comfortable enough with each other that the conversations would naturally flow on its own. She expressed how she admires James’s loves his country and it’s people. Even though he gets busy with his royal duties he still finds ways to let Catherine know he cares. James even values her opinions which inspires her to be a the best queen she could be.

Delia commented “You are truly lucky to have a found love in an arranged marriage.”

“I know and if it hadn’t been for Charles I might not have been this lucky. After everything Charles has done for James and I, I want Charles to have something similar. Someone that wants to be apart of his dreams. He’s gone a lot with the Royal Navy and I worry that his love for adventure will make it difficult for him to find someone to share that love with.”

“It’s really sweet of you to look after him like this.” Delia just stared at Catherine wondering how could this royal family be so loving, when her own experience with royal families was so cold. It almost hurt Delia; just a little.

“Thank you, but Charles is like a little brother to me. Of course I’m going to look after him.” Catherine stopped walking to make direct eye contact with Delia. “Like I said, Charles is gone a lot with the navy. He loves to travel and he loves to sail. I’m hoping with your shared interest in the ocean and travel it will spark something between the two of you.” Delia felt a little guilty knowing that she wasn’t going to be the answer to Catherine’s prayers. Charles and Catherine lived in a completely different world then Delia. She was here for one reason. After that, it is unlikely that they would Delia would ever meet any of them again.

“Anyways,” Catherine said abruptly “Here we are!” Catherine opened the doors to a large room beautiful room. It had a king bed with elegant sheets underneath a pile of pillows. It is a shame that Delia wasn’t planning on staying the night, the bed looked more cozy then she had ever slept on. On one side of the room was a large bath behind a folding room divider. The part that really interested Delia was the balcony that over looked the ocean, it would come in handy later. Plus the view of the ocean was magnificent.

“Now, I have already sent one of my ladies to fetch one of my dresses that should be appropriate for you for tonight’s event. There will be a servant here shortly to take your measurements, draw you a bath, and take what you are currently wearing to be cleaned. Charles will come get you for the event, just be ready by five. Is there anything else you need?” Delia wondered when Catherine had the time to arrange all this when they had been together the entire time. Looking back at their walk to the room. Catherine did pause for brief moments during their conversation to whisper things to servants on the way up. She was so discreet about it that she probably took care of some arrangements for the coronation as well without Delia noticing.

“Could I get some ink and paper? I’d like to send a message to the cartography shop to hopefully make arrangements with my employer for tomorrow.”

“I will have them bring you some when they bring you the dress. If that is all I will see you tonight.”

“Catherine.” Delia said as Catherine opened the door and turned to look at her “Your going to be a great Queen.” Catherine smiled as she closed the door behind her.

I wish we could have been friends.

Catherine was what Delia imagined what having a sister would be like. She may meddle in Charles personal life but she does it because she cares. It was hard for Delia to fight the need for a sisterly bond. Maybe in a perfect world they could have been but in a perfect world Delia wouldn’t not need to create that bond.

The servant came as Catherine had commanded a few minutes later. The female servant handed Delia a robe to change into, then asked Delia how she would like her bath. The options were anything from adding flower petals or using mule milk instead of water. Delia just opted for just a plain old bubble bath with just soap.

Why would anyone want to bath in mule milk?

While the servant drew the bath Delia slipped out of her dress and into the robe. Watching to make sure the servant was still busy, Delia unstrapped a curved bone knife that was attached to her inner thigh and slipped it underneath the mountain of pillows on the bed.

Delia picked up her dress, tried to fold it, and set it on the table. The servant came out from the dividers. She looked at the balled up dress on the table then looked at Delia. “Your bath is ready. I will take these to be cleaned.” She picked up the dress and refolded it. “Before I go, let me take your measurements for quick alterations to the dress your majesty picked out for you along with the other items you requested.” She whipped out a measuring tape from her pocket then proceeded to take quick measurements.

After muttering some numbers to herself, the servant left the room. Delia grabbed the strap that she had used to halter the knife and the hat she had worn today then opened the balcony doors. She carefully used the strap to attach the hat to the railing. It was strategically placed so that the servant wouldn’t see it when she came back and people outside wouldn’t notice it. After that she went back inside to use the bath, leaving one balcony door open.

Delia let her long curly hair out of a bun before slipping into the warm water. The bath was warm and relaxing. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had a bath like this. As she wiped her self with a bar of soap she thought about the predicament she was in. The plan was to get into the castle using a high ranking navy officer but not someone so high enough that it wouldn’t draw attention to her. Now she’s the date for prince at a very public event with a servant helping her get ready. How was she going to find what she came here for without drawing attention? She pondered a bit more as she finished cleaning her self up. If need to be she had one other trick up her sleeve but needed to wait for the right opportunity.

The servant announced her self as she entered into the room. Delia hopped out of the tub behind the screen room divider to dry herself off then slipped the rob back on. She stepped out from behind the screen to see the servant laying a dress on the bed. “Luckily there wasn’t too many alterations that need to be made.” The servant said before she began to get Delia dressed. It was a bit of a strange for Delia since she hand never put a dress on with this many layers or had someone else dress her. The worst part was the corset. She held on to the bed frame as the servant pulled hard on the strings. It was so tight it made Delia worried she wouldn’t be able to get out of this by herself later. When the last piece was on the servant said, “This fits you pretty nicely, let’s do your hair and makeup”

But why does it have to be so tight!?

The servant didn’t do much to Delia’s hair. She mostly detangled her long locks while it was wet and left it to air dry so it would curl naturally. While Delia’s hair finished drying, the servant put a little bit of makeup on Delia. “Your such a natural beauty.” The servant kept commenting as she sparingly applied natural shades of makeup. “Here, take a look.” She brought Delia over to the standing mirror. The dress was a shade of blue that matched Delia’s eyes. It had white boarders that were similar to the ones on the outfit that James and Catherine were wearing this morning. Even though the dress was tight it did complement Delia curves.

If I wasn’t drawing enough attention to myself already, I sure am now.

“One more thing. Your majesty said that you may keep this.” The servant pulled a side of Delia’s curly blonde hair back, now that it was dry, and pinned with a barrette. The barrette was covered in sparkling white pearls that were clustered together. Delia didn’t recognize the girl in the mirror. Very rarely, did she ever get dressed up and when she did it never this fancy. She thought the dress she had on this morning was fancy but this was another level.

“You should be all set. Wait to put these on until Prince Charles comes to escort you so they say clean longer.” The servant laid a pair of long white gloves on the foot of the bed. Then she made her way towards the table. “Would you like me to stay until you finish your message so I can have it delivered for you?” The servant asked standing next to the paper and ink quill.

“No, I can handle it from here. You have done quite enough for me. Thank you though.” Delia responded looking at the servant through the mirror. The servant nodded and left the room. Delia sat at the table then looked at the balcony door still open. She took the quill and dipped it in the ink to only write a few lines in the top left corner of the paper. The first line was a short description of where the room was. Second line said midnight, hopefully this would give her more time. The third line had coordinates. Delia was reading over her note when suddenly her hat flopped on the table. She looked up to see a colorful bird staring at her with its head cockeyed. “Well hello Stanley.” She said with a smile.

*Raak* *hello* *You have a message?* *chirp*

“Yes I do!” She folded the paper in quarters and tour it into four pieces. The piece with the message was then rolled up the note to tie it to Stanley’s claw with the hair tie she used to put her hair in a bun earlier. Once the note was on tight, Stanley hopped on to Delia’s wrist. She carried Stanley out onto the balcony and said.,“Take this to Gordon.”

*Raak* *Okay* *chirp* *bye bye*

The bird squared as Delia held the pretty bird out over the balcony, it flew off of her wrist and headed towards the coast. She watch for a moment as the colorful bird disappeared pass the castle walls. Her thigh strap was still attached to the balcony so she untied it and went back inside. This time she closed the door behind her. Delia then attempt to put the strap back on thigh. It was a little difficult with all the layers on the dress but she managed to get it back on. Right as she was about to pull the knife out from underneath the pillows, there was a knock on the door.

Delia left the knife under pillows and made her way across the room to answer the door. It was too early to be Charles. Maybe it was the servant girl bring back her dress. It was neither. She opened the door to find Alec in formal attire.

“Cordelia? This is the room you are staying in?” He asked

“Yes.” She said unsure of what was going on “Is there a problem?” She responded back.

“I’m not sure. May I come in?” He asked politely. Delia held the door open wider to allow Alec to come in. Alec inspected the room as he walked through the doorway. Delia closed the door behind him then followed behind him further into the room. “Did you happen to have this door open early?” Alec was looking at the balcony doors.

“I had it opened while the servant was helping me get ready to help my hair dry. I closed it right after she left.”

“How long ago was that.”

“It was a while ago. Why do you ask?”

“I’m sure it was nothing but someone spotted an odd colored bird flying around the castle. Then a servant said they saw it fly onto that balcony.”

“If it did, I didn’t see it. I must have been writing my letter to the cartography shop owner when it flew by.”

Alec looked at the table where the three smaller pieces of torn paper were.

“Did you only use a fourth of the paper?” He asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Definitely wasn’t to strap a note to the bird you are hunting down.

“I used a full piece for the message to the man who hired me for tomorrow and a smaller piece for a note to the shop owner.” Delia explained hoping this would satisfy him.

“Why didn’t you just use a full piece?”

“I have small hand writing and thought it would be handy to have a few small pieces of paper tonight. Just incase.”

“Incase of what?”

“You never know. I normally always have paper just incase I need write notes to remind myself of important details. It’s a professional hazard I suppose.” Delia picked up the three pieces of paper from the desk, folded them, and stuff them in her dress hoping he would stop asking questions.

“I suppose it’s something you picked up from the great Antonio Sterling. You look beautiful by the way Miss Cordelia.” Alec bowed a little bit as he took Delia’s hand to kiss the back of it then stood up with a flirtatious smile.

“Thank you. You may call me Delia. I suppose your right. He always had some paper stashed away somewhere in case he needed to write down some quick details for the projects he was working on. Say, why are you running around chasing a bird? Shouldn’t one of the Princes right had men be doing something more important?” Delia asked hoping the subject change would take a natural detour.

“Charles is busy helping his brother and the castle is a little overwhelmed with all of the guest in for the coronation. I decided the best help I can give is to handle some of the minor security problems so that Charles can get ready.”

“And maybe run into some of the beautiful female guest while you are at it?”

Alec smiled at her comment. “Not gonna lie it is a perk. To bad the prettiest of them all is spoken for by my pale the prince.”

An idea was brewing in Delia. “Alec, how close are you and Charles?”

“We basically grew up together and the three of us went into the navy academy together.”

“The three of you as in you, Charles, and Dex?”

“Yeah. Why? You trying to learn more about your date tonight so your not blindsided again?”

That just made this a little easier on me.

Delia looked deep into Alec’s eyes and said “Alec,” her voice sounded different now. It was soft but compelling, “I need you to do exactly as I say and tell me everything I need to know” Alec looked like he was in a daze. His eyes went glassy and his face softened a bit. “What do you want to know?” Delia walked over to the bed and pulled out the knife that was stashed under the pillows.

“There is a knife somewhere in the castle that looks exactly like this one. Do you know where I can find it?”

Alec looked at the knife in Delia’s hand. It was curved and looked like it was made out of a bone from a large animal. Carved into the sides were ancient markings. “It looks just like a knife that’s in the castle artifact room where they keep all the old things the navy finds in there trip.”

“Is it open to the public tonight?” Delia asked hastily.

“No only certain members of the navy and the royal family are allowed in at the moment.”

This is perfect! This may go smoother then I thought.

Delia began to speak with the same voice she used earlier. “Alec, once you leave the only thing you will remember is you didn’t find the bird and we had a casual conversation, nothing about this knife. You will also convince Charles to give me ‘tour’ of the artifact room because I told you that I love treasures found at sea. At an appropriate time you will find a way to sneak Charles and I out of the party so we don’t draw attention. After Charles and I are alone in there for a while I want you to find some way for you to get Charles out of the room for a little bit. Do you understand?”

“I do, but what do you want with it?” Alec asked still in a daze.

“That’s for me to know and you not to remember.” Delia said as she guided Alec to the door.