Dressed to the Nines
The days had been getting noticeably cooler and shorter, but the leaves on the trees were still green as the entire household helped prepare the three Parker ladies for their debut in Krakovian high society. Not only did Maria and Tess need expensive dresses, too, but Michael and Max needed fancy clothes of their own.
To help keep up Max’s disguise, even though he was risking his identity by going out in public, he and Michael had decided to explain their military prowess by having them both wear the full-dress uniforms of officers in the army of the Duke of Borussia. Technically, Max is in that army, as its commander-in-chief, but for the dance he would claim a much lower rank. With Michael being more than ten years older, he would need to claim a somewhat higher rank, which would be perfectly legal because Max could give a position in his army to anyone he wanted.
On the last day before the ball, Lord Parker had had his servants pull his best carriage out and clean it from top to bottom, right down to the horses’ tack. Lastly, Max had given his and Michael’s boots the gleam of oil on steel with a pair of quick molecular rearrangements.
Finally, it was time.
Elizabeth had to be ready early because Prince Kyle had to pick her up and have them back to the palace before the first guests arrived, so he could be there in the reception line with his family.
The maids started on Elizabeth by spending a couple of hours working on her hair after lunch. It went from long and straight, to being swept up to the top of the back of her head, and then allowed to tumble down her back in a combination of heavy curls and ringlets. Next up for her was a lavender-scented bath. The maids scrubbed every inch of her flesh to a rosy pink before drying her and then getting her into her underclothes.
Wanting to be able to fit into her corset, she had eaten very little at lunch, and she knew she’d be ravenously hungry by the time the banquet portion of the evening’s festivities began. Even with her slender figure and not having eaten much, Elizabeth still had to suffer a bit as the maids laced her corset up the back. Her figure meant she didn’t require many whalebone stays in her corset, but the garment still restricted her breathing and movements quite seriously. Once her dress was pulled over her head and into place on top of several layers of underskirts, all that was left were her cosmetics. The maids went the full nine yards for this occasion, even using belladonna to dilate her pupils and make her eyes look larger and brighter.
Once ready, Elizabeth stayed upstairs until Kyle arrived in a massive gilded coach which was pulled by eight horses. Tess and Maria swallowed hard when they saw that coach sitting in front of the manor, as they’d never seen something so grand. Or maybe they were just looking at the grim-looking set of guards that accompanied it.
As Kyle entered the marble-floored entryway, Max walked up to keep him company as they waited for Elizabeth to make her grand entrance down the main staircase that ended right before their feet. Lord Parker had planned on joining them, but a last minute letter was keeping him in the library.
“Just another ball, eh, Kyle?” Max asked. His question was rhetorical, and both men knew it. While the girls were in for the biggest night of their lives, this was just another in a long line of social engagements for the two princes.
“So are you really going to try and get your parents to accept Lady Elizabeth as your bride?”
Max slowly nodded his head. “I am determined.”
“Good luck.” Kyle remembered the Evanses from his time in Alemannia, and he wasn’t especially fond of either one. “You are going to need it.”
Just then, Elizabeth made her appearance and all conversation between the men stopped as they watched her seem to float along the railing one floor above them. When she turned to start down the upper stairway and her entire outfit came into view, the two princes both uttered quiet murmurs of admiration. Wearing the most expensive dress she had ever owned, Elizabeth was moving much slower than usual, in an attempt at not falling and ruining such a creation.
“You are a lucky man,” Max breathed.
“That I am,” Kyle agreed, without moving his eyes from Elizabeth. “For one night anyway. Which of the other sisters are you escorting?”
“Lady Tess, the younger one. Michael is taking Lady Maria.”
“Ah yes…the fabled Black Knight. I am going to get to meet him, correct?”
“Besides the normal warm introduction in the reception line?” Kyle rolled his eyes, as both men knew that in the reception line you were doing good just to hear the name of the next couple coming in. Forget trying to really meet someone. “I will make sure of it. Remind me if I do not.”
Elizabeth kept her eyes on where she was walking to keep from falling, but when the stairway made a ninety degree turn to face the men who were waiting for her, she saw the twin, open-mouthed stares of two men who were unabashed in their appreciation of the female form…or at least, of her female form.
That caused an apprehensive Elizabeth to smile widely, and her smile pushed Max to say, “Remember. Touch her in a disrespectful way, and there will not be any place you can hide from me.”
Kyle’s mouth was bone dry, though whether from Elizabeth’s beauty or Max’s pleasant-sounding death threat, he wasn’t sure. “I will remember.”
Kyle was dressed in the red, silver, and black full-dress uniform of his father’s elite troops, the Household Guard. A short, stiff red collar edged in black with silver scrollwork climbed halfway up his neck, and there was silver braid running across his chest in parallel lines from button to button on the double-breasted coat. Cinching his coat at the waist was a black leather sword belt from which a scabbarded long sword depended. The cuffs and hem of the coat were also edged in black, which matched the color of his knee breeches and knee-high glossy black boots.
But as handsome as he looked, Elizabeth stole the show. Her dress was blue velvet, again with the currently in fashion deep, square neckline and puffed shoulders. As Max had predicted. Lord Parker had insisted on some of the baubles for the dress, the result of which was that the deep blue of her velvet was set off by the occasional sparkle from one of her diamond chips. Even she had to admit the combination of the two had an utterly eye-catching effect
Though her dress didn’t have sleeves, Elizabeth wore a pair of long white gloves that closely fit her arms and didn’t come to an end until they were midway between her elbows and shoulders. The dress’ waistline was just below her breasts, and the rest of the dress was allowed to drape itself naturally over her figure.
Between the glorious dress, her glossy, bouncing chocolate curls, and the enhanced beauty of her face and figure, Elizabeth was ready to be the belle of the ball, just as Max had hoped.
Both men bowed to her as she reached the floor, and were answered by her curtsey. Max knew it was time for him to bow out and let Kyle and Elizabeth get on with things, but as he rose from his bow, he stepped forward and said, “You look…magnificent. Spectacularly gorgeous.” He started to lean in as if to give her a kiss, but then looked back at Kyle who was, after all, her date.
“Go on, M…Zan,” Kyle said, as he caught himself just in time, “go on with it so Lady Elizabeth and I can leave.”
Max’s eyes just about leapt from his head when Kyle almost slipped up, but then he turned back to Elizabeth and just lightly brushed is lips against her cheek as he tried to avoid mussing her makeup. “I will see you at the ball, Milady. Maybe I will manage to steal you from him long enough for a dance or two tonight.”
“Maybe…but since you will not let me know what you are going to be wearing,” Elizabeth pouted, “how will I know who you are? There will be so many men there to sort through.”
Max leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “Just look for the guy who loves you like no other. Some say it is in the kiss, but it is really not. With me, my eyes will let you know long before I touch you.”
As he stepped back from Elizabeth, Kyle said, quite amiably, “You two are the real thing, correct?”
“Oh yes, Your Highness,” Elizabeth said. “I could not possibly imagine anything better.”
As the doorman opened the door and Kyle led Elizabeth to the massive gilded coach, Max could just hear Kyle say, “Please, Lady Elizabeth, call me Kyle. It will look strange if we are together tonight and yet not on a first name basis.”
“Okay,” Elizabeth replied, “then by all means, please call me Elizabeth.”
Max stood in the entryway, watching through the a small side window as Kyle handed her up into the coach and then followed her inside. Not having been around a palace and its accoutrements for roughly three months now, Max wondered silently if the coaches his family used at their summer and winter palaces looked as overly extravagant as that. He searched his memory and concluded they might actually be worse.
He then raced for his rooms to begin his preparations. By now, Michael was done with his bath, and the servants were setting up the tub with fresh wash water in his room. The whole time he was being washed Max smiled, as he tried to imagine Michael submitting himself to the indignities of having servants wash you…everywhere.
Max did manage to wrestle his clothes away from the servants, however, as he wanted some time to himself to think. It was plain Kyle knew Elizabeth was off limits. Remembering what she had said about Tess, he wondered what he could do to let her know he was off limits, too. As he pulled on his military uniform, he looked down at the jacket and smiled. It was the uniform of an officer in his own army in Borussia, just like the ones in one of his closets back home, only much less ornate.
It was a green uniform coat, but that was where the similarities stopped. Instead of gold brocade twisting up his arms from his wrist to above his elbow, he had limited the tailor to a one-inch band on each cuff.
Instead of a mass of gold brocade that nearly covered his chest, the tailor had once again been held to a one-inch border along the hem, and then up the center where the two halves of the coat overlapped. And where the two halves pulled back and the wide coat lapels became evident, the lapels would normally be solid gold in color for him, but not for a simple lieutenant, so his were solid green with a thin rim of gold piping around the edges.
Like Kyle’s coat, Max’s had a short, stiff collar, but it was solid green with more gold piping and a lieutenant’s rank insignia embroidered inside in gold. On top of the shoulders were two gold-edged green shoulder boards with more golden rank insignias embroidered in the middle.
And finally, to show that he was a staff officer for the Duke of Borussia, which at his rank meant he was a gofer but one with a future ahead of him, Max had two loops of gold braid attached to his right shoulder in front, passing under his shoulder, and attached to his right shoulder in back. The uniform pants were white knee breeches and the molecularly altered boots were now a glossy black.
Michael wore the same uniform, except he had a higher rank. Max figured Michael’s greater age required a minimum rank of major, so his coat had three inches of gold brocade wherever Max’s had one and his lapels, collar, and shoulder boards had a little more gold than just a rim of piping. The only things exactly alike were the two loops of gold braid around the right shoulder.
“You know, Max, I am a knight, but my last official military rank was a captaincy in the Royal Mountaineers.”
“Well, my friend, welcome to the world of noble privilege. I can make you any rank I want in my own army, and I figure you are too old to support a captain’s rank, so that’s why you have a major’s insignia on your collar and shoulder boards.”
“When do I start getting paid what I am most obviously worth?” Michael teased.
“As soon as my treasurer back home tells me how much a major makes these days.” Max cracked another smile. “You are going to have a lot of back pay coming once we get home…unless you give me some lip and I bust you down to private.”
Just before the two men left their quarters to wait in the entryway for Maria and Tess, they strapped on their sword belts, which were white, the traditional color for a knight, and hung their scabbarded swords from them.
Max looked down at Michael’s elaborate Cipangan sword. He knew the blade was slightly curved with a single, razor-sharp edge, and he could see the hilt was wrapped with carefully knotted cords, but he couldn’t remember seeing Michael wear it since they’d come here to Krakovia.
When Max commented on that, Michael half smiled and replied, “Oh, I wore it once.”
“When?”
“Back when you scared the shit out of me and got yourself attacked on the road.” Michael felt his heart race just reliving that moment. “I knew it was a life or death situation when your guards left the instant the uninjured guard came back to raise the alarm.”
“You know,” Max replied, “I still do not feel anything for having killed those men. I keep thinking I ought to feel guilty or something, but I do not. Maybe it is because they either wanted to kill me or do something bad to Elizabeth, but it bothers me that I’m not more upset about killing that many men.”
Michael stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to face Max. “The fact that you’ve taken the time to stop and think about whether or not your actions were appropriate means you’ll be okay. Believe it or not, there are times when the wholesale slaughter of your enemies is the only course of action available to you.”
Max thought back to a few of the stories of the Black Knight he’d heard over the years. “So…what happened in the Rouchka Pass was…necessary?”
Michael grunted and restarted his way down the hall. “Zan, you don’t even know what really happened that day. Don’t make the mistake of judging me based on hearsay evidence.”
Once they reached the entryway, the two men took seats on a small bench that sat just inside the door. Being men, they were used to waiting for women who were intent on looking their best. Neither man was dumb enough to complain, especially given the results. The two sisters came out together, but they came down the stairway separately, with Maria coming down first.
The dressmakers apparently knew what Elizabeth didn’t, since the dresses the two girls wore both complimented the uniforms of their escorts very nicely. Maria wore a dress that was a warm brown in color and had a healthy dose golden embroidery along her neckline that paired nicely with Michael’s forest green coat. Maria marched down the stairs with loads of confidence, just daring either man to find her less than attractive. Both men had stood the moment the ladies appeared, with Max looking briefly at Maria to see how she was before turning his gaze to Michael to see his friend’s reaction.
Michael seemed to be entranced. Better you than me, Max thought, before wondering just how long it had been for Michael to have shown any kind of romantic interest. In any case, his problem with Maria is the exact opposite of my problem with Elizabeth. I have too much rank for Elizabeth, while he doesn’t have enough for Maria.
Tess was next to come down the stairs, and while Maria’s brown had gone together with Michael’s green to make an earthy combination, Tess’ dress color went for complimentary. Purple and yellow are complimentary, as are orange and blue, and green and red. Since Max’s coat was darker, a forest green, her dress was a lighter shade of red that was not quite pink.
Max had to admit to himself Tess was almost as lovely as Elizabeth, but she could’ve been more lovely than Elizabeth and it wouldn’t have mattered, since nothing about Tess caused him to feel that essential spark. He knew he needed to make sure she knew he was taken, but one look at her big, hopeful smile stopped any thoughts he might have had about raining on her parade now. It was her first big event; he couldn’t possibly be cruel enough to crush her feelings. He’d just have to be careful to not encourage her during the evening and then let her know later he was with Elizabeth.
As the men complimented their ladies on their appearance, linked arms with them, and led them out to Lord Parker’s carriage, both men checked their pockets to make sure they had their invitations on them, as they were positive they’d never get in the front door without them.