316 Solace- Part 1

She wore the inner petticoat first, and upon which she had worn the gown. Its sleeves went up to her wrists and the neckline of her dress was turned to a crescent shape. The back of her dress went down until the midway of her back in V shape to be buttoned down. 

"How do you find it, milady?" asked the female assistant who stood in front of her with an expression of awe on her face. 

"It is lovely," replied Madeline, moving towards the mirror that wasn't too far away from the divider so that she could take a look at herself, "It's beautiful," she murmured, running her hands over the fabric of the gown which was made of silk.

"You will be a beautiful bride, milady," whispered the assistant. The female assistant had worked in Mr. Heathcliff's shop for some years now, and they had stitched many wedding gowns. Gowns of different fabrics and style, and she was the one to go and help the bride try it out before the wedding. But in these many years, she had never seen someone who looked in this beautiful in the gown. It was hard to tell if it was the gown or the girl who wore it, that made the whole thing outstanding. 

This might have been one of the best wedding gown that they had ever made, of course, it was for the future Queen. It had to stand out. But that wasn't all to the story. The wedding gown had been designed by James Heathcliff out of his affections he had towards Madeline which the assistant wasn't aware of. He knew he would never be able to have her next to him, and somewhere along those days of making the gown, he had made his peace or had tried before going ahead to make the gown with his assistants. 

"The veil will be delivered tomorrow as its work is still in progress. This is the completed wedding gown," informed the assistant, "Is there any other alterations you would like us to do before we wrap it for the big day?" 

"No, this is fine. Thank you for this," Madeline thanked the assistant who gave her a bright smile. 

The assistant had seen the young daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harris before, the sister of the beautiful Elizabeth Harris. Compared to her elder sister, Madeline had always been gentle, always offering people her kind smile. It was good to see that she was to be the Queen of Devon. 

Once the gown was removed from her body, it was placed in the box, Madeline changed herself to her regular clothes before stepping out of the wooden divider to see Calhoun's eyes watching her, "Everything good?" he asked her. 

"You did a good job on the dress. I will make sure you are paid well for it," said Calhoun to have the assistant bow her head. 

"It is all thanks to Mr. Heathcliff, my King. He is the one who designs the clothes before we start to work on them," answered the woman, keeping the box on the couch. She took three steps away and asked, "Have you heard anything from Mr. Heathcliff?" she asked worriedly. 

Madeline's eyes moved to Calhoun, who said, "Unfortunately, nothing so far. The charges that were against him have been dropped as it was Markus Wilmot who killed the girl. We have let the nearby villages and towns know about it. Hopefully, the news will reach to him, and he will get back to work again," he offered a kind smile. 

The assistant had a look of worry, and she nodded, "Mr. Heathcliff was falsely blamed, and it must have been too much for him especially with his father's death. Thank you, my King and Queen," she bowed her head, "I will have the veil delivered by early morning tomorrow," and she left the room. 

Madeline wondered if James would be able to get back to his human self ever again because he hadn't changed back from his werewolf form. If his condition continued, it was good to say that he would never return and would forever live as a werewolf until someone would come to hunt him down.

"Thank you," Madeline thanked Calhoun, who turned to meet her eyes with a perplexed look on his face on why she was thanking him, "For clearing his name." 

"As I said, I would do anything for your happiness. Also, you should keep it in mind that I did it for my gains," said Calhoun to her, "I wanted to get rid of Markus and used that opportunity to deflect the blame on him. The timing was perfect with an opening which Markus gave to me." 

Since Madeline had started to see Calhoun in a different light, she noticed the little amount of quirkiness that he held in his words and the way he looked at her. She was happy that Calhoun had saved James from being put under execution, which could have been done if he wanted James dead. It wasn't only that, but Calhoun was showing himself to her for the person he was, and it was something Madeline appreciated. 

"Do you think it would be alright to go and visit James today?" she asked him, her eyes searching in his red eyes for an answer. 

"To wish him good morning?" joked Calhoun, his eyes slightly brightening. 

"I want to see if he can turn back. I will be careful," said Madeline. She knew that there were high chances of James not listening to her words as he was in his werewolf form, but she still wanted to try and help him. It wasn't in her nature to leave the person to rot in the cage. 

"Okay," agreed Calhoun, "You can go and visit him, but keep a good distance. I can ask Theodore or Raphael to accompany you there."

Madeline shook her head, "No, that will be okay." 

Knowing Raphael was someone who Calhoun trusted, she had entrusted the man with her sister Beth, who continued to sleep. At first, she had been worried why her sister had not woken up. It was then that Raphael mentioned that it would take until the time of evening before Beth would wake up. That was almost two days of continuous sleep. It reminded her of a story where the prince kissed the girl to wake her up. On the other hand, Theodore was busy attending Calhoun. She didn't mind going alone to the cave. 

Calhoun lifted his hand to tuck her hair behind her ear as he continued to stare into her brown eyes. 

"Before everything else, I would like to steal you away for some time," said Calhoun to her.