The Love He Stole

A Rococo Transformation

Her new room, or holding cell as she saw it, was a lavish bedroom on the east side of the building. The walls were cream colored with gorgeous golden damask molding and the floor was shiny hardwood in a diamond and triangle pattern. It had a beautifully carved white framed bed with a cream tapestry canopied over top, fine silk sheets, and a thick wool blanket to match the canopy. Nightstands sat on both sides of the bed and a desk by a large window had parchment, ink, and quills on top. There were little decorations, mostly just empty shelves. A wardrobe stood by the door filled with a couple of dresses, along with a large mirror, and next to that was a soft, cream colored couch. There was also an alcove in the corner covered by a floor to ceiling curtain.

Samuel looked at Lily, expecting a happy reaction to her luxurious, Versailles-esque room but was only met with her dismay. He sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose.

“I know this is not the life you had planned, and that you had some important school exam coming up, but you must forget all that,” Samuel said.

“I can’t. This is my life we’re talking about,” Lily replied.

“Well now it’s our life. I don’t like it either!”

“Then why are you doing this,” she yelled at him, getting in his face. She broke down into tears again, pleading to be returned to her life. He paused and tried to let his anger go, feeling sorry for her.

“I will lose my title and be exiled if I don’t find a wife. My father wrote it into his will.” He stepped back from her, and put his hand to his forehead. He was clearly upset too. “I have no choice either. I’m sorry.”

“But that doesn’t explain why it has to be me,” she snapped. He grabbed both of her shoulders firmly.

“Because it just has to be. I said it is so and it is. That is the end of this discussion!” He let go of her and stormed out of the room, and she heard a lock turning before he walked down the hall.

She sunk onto the bed, allowing herself to cry until she ran out of tears and fell into an exhausted sleep.

The next morning, she awoke to a gentle female voice softly calling her name. She slowly roused awake and saw a nervous blonde girl in a simple dress and apron holding a tray of food.

“I have your breakfast, Miss Lily,” she said with a light smile. Lily sat up in bed, realizing at some point she had burrowed into the sheets. She reached out to take the tray and sat it next to her.

“Thank you, Miss… um, what’s your name,” Lily asked.

“Oh, my name is Poppy, my lady,” she said curtsying. Lily was taken aback by the formality. Poppy was a pretty girl with big, almond eyes, clouded with anxiety but she had a polite smile on her face. Lily felt sorry for her and wondered how she was treated here.

“Just Lily is fine, you don’t have to be so formal,” Lily replied.

“Oh, but my lord would never allow it, my lady. Please enjoy your meal,” she said. She curtsied again and left the room. Lily was ravenous from going to bed without food, and scarfed down everything on the tray.

Lily laid back into her lush pillows, disappointed at the interaction with Poppy. Though she hadn’t had friends in a long time, she wanted company this morning, someone to tell her troubles to and connect with. She resigned to her old habits and sprung out of bed, walking over to the desk to write it out instead.

She had never used a quill and ink before but it did give her a little excitement to try it for the first time. She sat down and took the top off the inkwell, picked up the feathery old pen, and began to vent to the parchment. She sat there a good long while, lamenting about the tests she’d be missing come Monday and her anxiety about the possibility of never going home. She realized it wasn’t something she could do on her own even if she wanted. Samuel had said “this realm.” She didn’t want to believe she was transported somewhere besides Earth but the way that strange man, Damien, had healed her wound… That would be impossible on Earth. She had to find a way to convince Samuel to let her go back.

As she wrote, her left hand wandered to her neck, where a dainty gold chain with a “L” charm dangled. She held the charm and thought of her mother. This necklace was the last birthday gift she ever got from her mom. She wished she could sit and have a plate of her delicious baked spaghetti and tell her all the insane things happening to her. She sighed, pushing her grief into the darkest corner of her mind, as she always did when the pain threatened to overtake her.

She was still scribbling away when she heard her door unlocking. She turned around and saw Poppy accompanied by two other girls dressed in the same dresses and aprons. One of them was carrying a big woven basket filled with garments. Lily folded up her papers and stuffed them in one of the drawers so they wouldn’t see her complaints and stood to greet them. They all curtsied as she approached.

“My lady, we are here to bathe and dress you for my lord. He is expecting you for dinner tonight,” Poppy spoke softly.

“Okay,” said Lily. “Just tell me what you need me to do.”

Poppy started trying to disrobe Lily but she stiffened uncomfortably and pulled away.

“Oh… you are going to bathe me… I have to be n***d in front of you,” Lily said. The girls all quietly giggled at her bashfulness.

“Yes, my lady. We are your lady’s maids. Of course we do this for you. You just relax and we’ll get you beautiful for my lord,” Poppy said. “These clothes are very different from anything I’ve ever seen, my lady. We have something way more beautiful for you to wear.”

Lily was nervous but she didn’t see a way out of any of it. So she allowed the girls to take off her clothes, though she had to help them figure out her jeans and b*a as they had never seen these things before. As she stood there n***d, she felt as if her very soul were on display, every part of her bare for these girls to see and judge but the girls did not. In truth, they barely looked at her in this instance, respectfully bowing their heads as they discarded her old clothes.

“Do you want to take your necklace off, my lady?” Poppy began to reach for it and Lily recoiled away, instinctively touching the charm.

“No, I never take it off,” Lily said. Poppy nodded apologetically.

Poppy motioned for her to follow and led her to the curtained off alcove and drew back the red velvet fabric. Behind the curtain was a big marble bathtub and to Lily’s surprise, a modern toilet and sink. Poppy turned a knob on the bathtub and water began to flow from the faucet and filled the tub.

“Oh, wow! There’s indoor plumbing here,” Lily said with shock and wonder as she hadn’t seen anything electric since she arrived.

“Master Damien arranged this for you. He and my lord wanted you to be comfortable in your transition to his manor house,” one of the other lady’s maids said. Lily thought that was incredible and also a little silly. So much effort all for her.

“And the toilet? Does it actually work?”

“I believe it does. Master Damien is a skilled practitioner. It should work the way you are used to,” the maid said. It was clear it was as foreign to them as the concept of being bathed by others was to Lily. She was thankful she wasn’t going to have to use a chamber pot, especially when one of these ladies would have to empty it by hand. She felt relieved for them as much as herself.

Once the tub was filled up, Poppy and the other lady’s maids helped her step in and began to scrub her and clean her hair with fragrant oils. It had a very pretty floral and herbal smell, like roses and rosemary. Lily began to relax at the care they took for her, sinking deep into her subconscious where her anxiety couldn’t get to her.

When they were done scrubbing her whole body, they helped her stand up and out of the tub. One of them flipped a switch and all the water evaporated out of the tub in seconds. Lily was amazed at all this magic and it didn’t faze the girls at all. This must be quite common at the manor, Lily thought.

Poppy wrapped Lily in a fluffy robe and put soft slippers onto her feet and sat her down at a vanity with a large mirror atop it. The girls brushed her hair and put lotion over her whole body. They used various products as makeup to highlight her eyes and blush her cheeks. Lily was fascinated by the vintage makeup, though her lady’s maids were gushing over how they were the best new beauty products that gold could buy.

They left her hair to air dry wrapped around wooden rods and began dressing her in a complicated deep green gown with delicate lace details, and gorgeous golden embroidery work. It required a corset, layers of petticoats, and a hip pad for extra width. Lily was shocked by how many layers it had and how everything was its own piece, very different to the one piece dresses from her time but similar to the 18th century from her world. It seemed so strange that fashion could be so similar and she wondered if they too would someday wear jeans.

After almost an hour, she was finally done dressing. The girls put the finishing touches on her hair which now fell in loose ringlets with two small braids on either side of her face meeting in the back. They set an intricate gold headband on her head to complete her transformation. Lily looked in the mirror and felt like a toned down version of Marie Antoinette. She tried to hide it but she was geeking out inside. She had always wanted to step into her books set in the past eras and wear the beautiful clothes her heroines did. Now it was her reality, but it came with dreadful tidings.

The sky was already getting dark once they were done and the idea of dinner with Samuel was starting to sink in. Lily’s stomach was growling for the food to come but she felt anxious for the conversation she knew was coming. She had to go and sit with him to eat but more importantly, she had to convince him to let her go.