literature

Clockwork Princess - Chapter 8

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The next morning, after the clock had struck nine, the door opened and light streamed into the wardrobe.
Guy screamed and dropped Sebastian’s shoes.
The prince started to laugh, and explained between gasps, as his valet picked himself off the floor, “Oh, Guy, she’ll be staying there at night.  I’m dreadfully sorry, but I forgot to write a note for you before I slept.”
Guy tried and failed to hide a glare, and dusted himself off.  “Very well, my lord, I’ll keep that in mind,” he said through clenched teeth as he went back to the wardrobe.  Marie smiled at him.  “Good morning, my lady,” he said, as he grabbed a dark green satin coat.
“Good morning, Guy,” she chimed back.  “Are you all right?  I saw you fall.”
“I’m fine, my lady, nothing to be concerned about,” he said, and shut the door.  He stiffened, and asked, “My lord, is it all right that I shut the door?”
Sebastian shrugged.  “I don’t see why not, Guy.  Belloch won’t be free until this afternoon to give her etiquette lessons, and he can come get her himself when it’s time.”
Guy assisted Sebastian with his coat and adjusted the epaulettes.  “Very well, your highness,” he answered, though deep down he felt sorry for the little doll in the cupboard.  It just wasn’t how you treated a lady, even if she was only clockwork.
Two weeks passed.  Every morning Princess Marionette would greet Guy with a smile, sometimes handing him a distant coat, and he would shut the door again.  In the afternoon Belloch would come for her and take her into one of the parlors to teach her about court manners, dancing and music.  She learned the history of the royal family and the customs of different lands.  Marie would then sit with Sebastian while he ate supper and he would go over her lessons with her.  He would sometimes have a cart come in loaded with various things so that he could check her progress with handling certain materials, or quiz her on table manners and different kinds of wine.  When they were finished, he would send her off to René’s shop for more lessons.  René taught the princess about clockwork, math, and science.  He explained how the seasons changed and how plants grew, and she wandered the castle with him as he told her its secrets.  When it was time for bed the princess would retire to her wardrobe, after saying goodnight to Sebastian.
Hours later, after the clock had struck midnight and she knew everyone in the palace was fast asleep, Marie would cry.  Her tears were red as blood, and she would wipe her face on the sleeve of Sebastian’s heavy black winter coat so no one would see.  Belloch has said a princess was supposed to be laughing and gay, so whatever it was her eyes were doing she knew wasn’t allowed.  She didn’t feel happy at all; she felt like her insides were tearing apart, like her gears were covered in mud and rusting.  It got worse every time.
Marie wanted to leave, but Sebastian had told her to spend her nights in here.  She was having trouble moving, and she was feeling strange these past few days.  What was wrong with her?  She wiped the last of her tears away; the coat sleeve was getting crusty and it felt scratchy on her hands.  She’d have to start using the other sleeve.  Marie sighed, and leaned back against the wall of the closet.  She felt better, resting like this.  The darkness seemed to get closer, softer, and she felt light and airy, like she was falling.
Sebastian stirred in his bed as a soft thud echoed from inside his wardrobe.  He blearily opened his eyes, and looked around.  It was probably Scraps chasing a rat in the hall.  He turned over, and went back to sleep.

René was just finishing breakfast when his door flung open and Sabine ran into the room.  “René!” she cried, “Come quickly!  The princess collapsed!”
“Collapsed?!” he echoed, leaping out of his chair and following her down the hall.
“Yes,” Sabine huffed, as they trotted down the steps, “This morning Guy found her, unconscious.”
“Where?” René asked, carefully keeping pace so as to not leave Sabine behind.
“Sebastian’s chambers,” she answered, and the clockmaker shot off like a bolt.
René stormed down the hallways and up the steps to the prince’s chambers.  How could she have collapsed?  She didn’t need fuel; her energy was perpetual.  She hadn’t complained of her joints sticking, so it couldn’t be a shortage of oil, and she didn’t need sleep.
The clockmaker jogged into Sebastian’s quarters, panting heavily.  The princess was laid out on Sebastian’s bed; the prince was sitting in a chair at the bedside, holding her hand.  There was a doctor there as well, a clockwork listening horn in his hands.  Sebastian sighed with relief, “Thank God, René.  Can you help her?”
René struggled to catch his breath, “Doctor,” he gasped, “Can you tell me anything?”
The man shrugged and shook his head.  “I don’t know what to tell you, clockmaker.  Whatever runs inside her is still running, but I can’t tell you how far off normal.  Here,” he handed René his horn.
René took the listening horn and set it on Marionette’s chest, over her pump.  He could hear it going, but it was very slow.  It sounded like it was sticking a bit, as well.  He stood and gestured for the doctor to listen again.  “Has it slowed any since you arrived?”
The doctor squinted.  “No, it hasn’t, but it didn’t sound like that, either.  Sounds like its having trouble.”
René nodded.  “It is, it’s sticking.”
“Does she need more oil?” Sebastian asked.  He was honestly a little panicked.
René knit his brow.  “I don’t think so, but we can check.  Doctor, if you would, help me check her joints.”
The man nodded and they began to bend her limbs, even checking her toes.  “She seems fine to me, clockmaker,” the doctor said, “Limp as an old cabbage leaf.”
“Yes, that what concerns me,” René sighed.  She didn’t need oil, her pump was going, and yet she wasn’t moving.  “You’ve checked her eyes?”
The doctor nodded, “Yes, and they respond to light.  It’s as though she’s fainted but smelling salts didn’t work.”
René looked at Sebastian, mussed and still in his dressing gown.  “Is she still warm?”  The prince nodded.  René mused aloud, “Well, her joints work so she doesn’t need oil; she’s still warm so the chemagical reactions are still working, and her pump’s going so that means the lightning hasn’t given out.  The only other thing we needed was…” René’s eye grew wide.
Sebastian gasped.  He knew it, too.  “Blood.  She needs blood.”  The prince took off his robe and started to roll up his sleeve.
The doctor shook his head, “Oh, no, your highness, we don’t know that.  Please, stop and – “
“He’s right,” René said, “And doctor, if you would, would you attend the prince during the procedure?”
The doctor sighed.  “All right, but you know it’s risky.  It’s only been two weeks since last time.”
René nodded, “I know, but she needs help before everything stops, and who knows what’ll happen after that.”
“I understand,” the doctor answered, as he started to rummage in his bag, “I’ll get everything ready while you get your equipment.”
“Thank you, doctor,” René said, before sprinting back out of the room and gesturing for the cart by the door to follow.  
Sebastian and the doctor moved Marionette to one side of the bed, even putting her under the covers in case the heat might help.  Sebastian got in next to her, and tossed around a bit to make himself comfortable.  He’d probably be in bed a while, anyway, and she might as well be next to him.
Moments later René came back, the clockwork bellows jar on the cart behind him.  Sebastian winced.  That had been the worst pain of his life, and he wasn’t eager to repeat it.  The doctor caught the prince’s pained glance, and asked, “Clockmaker, is it all right if I give Prince Sebastian something to help with the pain?  Maybe make him sleep?”
René thought a moment.  “I don’t see how it could hurt.  Your highness, would you like something to help?”
Why hadn’t René thought of that last time?  “Yes, I would!  Knock me out.  I’ll wake up tomorrow and everything will be all right,” the prince said, secretly relieved.
“All right,” the doctor said, and handed over a small blue vial.  “Drink all of this in one go, your highness, and you’ll be asleep before you can hand it back.”
“Perfect,” Sebastian said, taking the tiny bottle and uncorking the cap, “Cheers.”
The doctor grabbed the vial in midair as the prince slumped back on the pillows.  “Nice work,” René said, impressed.  
“Handy stuff, this,” the doctor said, putting the empty vial back in his bag.  “Now, lets get started.”
Before long, Marionette’s eyes fluttered open.  She was in a bed.  Sebastian’s bed, and there was a strange man standing next to her with René.  There was a stinging in her arm, and she turned her head, which felt so heavy, over.  Sebastian was asleep next to her, and there was a cloth draped over their arms, and a large jar at the foot of the bed with what looked like blood in it.  “What’s going on?” Marie asked.  She felt so weak.
René leaned forward, “It’s all right, Princess.  You just collapsed, that’s all.  You ran out of blood, and we’re putting more in you.  We’re almost done.”
“Ran out?  How?” she asked.  She felt different.  Not only weaker, but more…  Sensitive.  Her voice had changed in tone when she spoke, and she was feeling strange.  Confused.  Maybe even…  Frightened.
“I’m not sure, Princess, but I plan to find out so it doesn’t happen again, all right?” René said.  He sat down in a chair next to her.
“Is Sebastian all right?” Marie asked.  He was giving her his blood, and she knew people had a limited supply.
René smiled at her.  “He’ll be fine, my lady.  Isn’t that right, doctor?”
The other man was buttoning up his white coat.  He smiled at her and said, “René’s right, your highness, he just needs to sleep and have a good meal when he wakes up.  You’ll make sure of that, right?”
Marie smiled.  “I will, doctor.  Thank you.”
“That’s a good girl,” he said, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have more patients to see.”
“Thank you for your help, doctor,” René said, as the doors closed behind him.  He turned back to Marie.  She looked different.  “All you all right, my lady?”
“I’m still weak, but you’ll be done soon, right?” she added, “It hurts my arm.”
René took her free hand, “It’s all right, Princess, we’re almost done.  We didn’t need as much as we did the first time, so Sebastian will be feeling better by tomorrow.”
Marie smiled.  “That’s good.  May I rest here with him until he wakes up?”
There was a small clicking noise coming from the bellows jar.  “Oh, we’re done!” René said, standing up to pull the needles from their arms.  As he bandaged them up he answered, “I don’t see why you can’t, your highness.  I know you two aren’t married yet, but it’s so close I don’t think anyone will mind you spending the night in his chambers instead of yours.”
“Well, I always spend the night in here, just not in the bed,” Marie confessed.
René sat back down once he was done.  “You don’t spend the night in your chambers?”
“No,” Marie said, “I don’t have a room of my own.”
“Do you sit next to the bed?” he asked.  That’s odd.  Sebastian had ordered a slew of dresses, shoes and jewels made for her.  Why weren’t the queen’s chambers prepared for her as well?
Marie shook her head. She felt her throat tightening up; oh no, it might happen again!
“Well, my lady, where do you sit?” René asked.  She looked somewhat distressed, so he took her hand in his.
“I don’t sit anywhere.  I stand.  In the wardrobe,” she said and gripped his hand slightly.  She didn’t want to cry again, and certainly not in front of anyone.
René didn’t flinch, though her grip was surprisingly strong.  His jaw tightened and he tried not to growl.  “The wardrobe?”  Of anyone Sebastian should know how to treat a lady!
She nodded.  “I stand in the wardrobe until my lessons, and I go back in at night when Sebastian goes to bed.”  She felt better having told him, and the tightness went away.
René glared at the sleeping prince.  Sebastian wasn’t such a terrible man, but there were times he really made him sick.  “That’s not how one should treat a princess,” he said, trying not to let too much venom into his voice.
“It’s all right, René,” she said, although she knew it was a lie.  “I’m clockwork.  It’s boring and lonely in there at night, but I’m going to talk to him once he wakes up and we’ll see if we can’t come to a different arrangement.  Until then, I’m going to enjoy the bed.”
René sighed, and stood.  “Very well, my lady.  Good luck.”
“Thank you, René, but I have one last question,” Marie said, “Can I sleep if I want to?”
The last of René’s anger left his face as he thought a moment.  “I don’t know, your highness, but you can try.”
“I think I will,” she said brightly, and snuggled under the blankets.  They were so soft and warm!  “I’ll let you know if it works.”
“Have a good rest, my lady,” the clockmaker said, and left the room.
Hours later, back in his workshop, René was still fuming.  “The WARDROBE?!” he spat to himself, as he was bending some brass filigree into shape.  Scraps looked annoyed.  “How can he keep the greatest invention ever in with his coats?  I mean, I put everything I have into her and she works better than any of us ever dreamed and he has her spending the night in his closet!  Bah!”  René sat back and looked at the poison-detecting goblet.  He just had to solder the filigree into place and it would be done.  He had never finished anything like that so fast in his life.  
“Rage is good fuel,” he mused to Scraps, “But it’s really tiring.”  He sighed to himself and picked up his soldering iron, dipping it first into some chemicals.  Oh, well.  The sooner he had this done the sooner he could get back to his own experiments, assuming Sebastian didn’t have any more outlandish demands.  He took a deep breath, and went back to his work.
In the other end of the castle, Marie was standing up and having a good stretch.  She HAD been able to sleep, and she had even dreamed!  She had tried to sleep before, in the wardrobe, but it had never worked until now.  Sleeping was nice, she decided, and she would definitely have to do it some more, but not in her corset.  It just wasn’t comfortable.
Sebastian was still unconscious.  She took a moment to arrange the blankets and fluff his pillow a bit like she had seen Guy do the first time he had been out like this.  He was so handsome lying there, like an angel she had seen in the frescoes around the palace.  Maybe he would let her have her own chambers, like a real princess should.  She would have to ask Belloch about that.
Princess Marionette looked at a clock and realized that it was time for her lessons, anyway.  She looked in the mirror and sighed to herself.  Her hair was a mess and her dress was all rumpled.  She had heard that Sebastian had had other gowns made for her.  She would ask Belloch where they were and summon some help so she could get dressed properly.  She tried to straighten her hair, but one thing she hadn’t been taught was how to arrange it.  A bit out of frustration, she pulled out all the pins and combs until it fell in long waves down her back.  Marie had no idea her hair was so long!  She smiled to her reflection and walked down the hall, her combs and pins in her hands.
Marie found Belloch in his office, enjoying a glass of wine and reading a book, which he almost dropped when she entered.  “Princess!” he exclaimed, looking at his clock.  “I-I heard you’d fainted, and I had no idea that you’d be up and about so soon for your lessons, I mean, no one told me you were well already or else I would have been up to see you because you know I thought that you might need your rest and, and how are you doing?”
Marie couldn’t help but smile.  Belloch was such a nervous little man; she wondered what he was so afraid of.  “I’m fine, Belloch, and Sebastian will be, too.  He’s still sleeping.”  She sat down in the chair on the other side of his desk and put the hairpins on his blotter.  “I need to learn how to use these, or get a servant who can.  I also need a different dress, because this one is all wrinkled from being in bed all day.”
Belloch blinked, and sat back in his chair.  Sebastian had said the three girls he had found for her were too frightened of the princess to work for her and had been sent off to some of the other nobles where their talent wouldn’t be wasted.  The prince hadn’t said anything about finding more, but she was the princess, after all.  “Well, I don’t know anything about hair or women’s clothes, your highness.  Sabine is the only one I can think of who does, and she’s busy in the kitchen right now.  I had tried to find some servant girls for you before you, ahm…  Woke up, but they were frightened at the idea of a clockwork lady for some strange reason.”
Marionette leaned back and thought for moment.  “Belloch, how about we go out and find some today?  I’ll have Sabine help me get ready to go out, which will give you time to send a messenger into the town square.  We’ll take the royal carriage, and by the time we get into town I’m sure there will be some ladies ready to talk with you.  The ones you think are fit, send into the carriage, and I’ll speak with them and see if they don’t mind serving me.”
Belloch opened his mouth, then closed it again.  Sebastian was asleep, so he couldn’t ask him, and he didn’t dare refuse her.  “That sounds fine, your highness, but what about their quarters?  I mean, you don’t even have your chambers prepared yet.”
“Then you’ll have to get the servants to prepare them while we’re out, won’t you?” she replied, standing up and gathering her hair things.  “I’m going to the queen’s chambers and calling Sabine to help me get ready, then.  I’ll be back down here when I’m finished.  You’ll have the carriage ready?”  The advisor nodded; to him, it sounded more like a command than a question.  Marionette smiled, “Good.”
Things are getting interesting...
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unreal-hunter's avatar
O_O we needs it
^^ she cries blood, beautiful
i wanna read more...MORE I TELL YOU