Chapter 24: The Dress

She had closed the box, put them on her table, and gone to bed without much preamble. In the morning, she called Sam and Lynn to her chambers.

“Good Morning, Miss Laurel,” Sam greeted. “How can we help?”

“Good Morning. If you could return all of this to His Majesty that would be wonderful.”

She gestured to the stack of boxes and the invitation’s envelope on top. Sam and Lynn glanced at each other and winced.

“Well…” Lynn started.

“I’d be happy to do anything for you, Miss Laurel,” Sam said, giving her a tense smile. “But we would rather be dropped into a den of vampires without a sword than return what the king gave you.”

“But—”

“No one can refuse the king's kindness.” Lynn shuddered, “Doing so would only make him angry.”

Laurel wasn’t sure what to make of it. Why were they all so afraid of him? The common people’s fear was a bit more understandable, but Sam and Lynn had been on the battlefield with him. Surely, they knew him well enough not to fear him like this.

With a sigh, she nod