The Crown's Obsession

Madeline had to remind herself that Calhoun knew nothing about James who was possibly still in the castle, making his way out. James had mentioned about him being the tailor so even if he were to be checked, he would be accounted as a man who was here to serve the King and the other people in the castle.

Answer him! Madeline told herself, but her mind was feeling dizzy with the thought that Theodore had caught her chasing James before his intervention.

"I was walking in the castle and thought I saw something," she responded to his question.

Calhoun stared at her, and she could only hope that he wouldn't find out about James coming here, "What did you see?" he asked her. On the King's question, the man in the court who was earlier talking stopped talking for the courtroom to turn quiet.

She should have known that it would be his next question to be asked, and she wondered what could be the most believable lie. She then answered, "It was a spider."

"A spider got your heart racing?" Calhoun raised his eyebrow at her, "I wish I was the spider," and he then turned to look over his shoulder to speak to the man, "Who asked you to stop talking?" The man bowed his head and continued to talk about the matter he had come here, for the other people in the court to listen. The King turned his head to look back at Madeline.

"When you are scared about something, doesn't it get your heart racing?" Madeline chose her words to question him back so that he wouldn't ask too many questions.

Calhoun's eyes assessed her expression before he said, "I am not sure about that. I have never been scared to have my heart racing, not that I remember." Of course, thought Madeline to herself. He wasn't the one to get scared because he was the one to instil fear in a person, "Wasn't the maid with you?"

"I asked her to get a glass of water for me."

"The spider must have found it to be a convenient time to crawl into your space," hummed Calhoun and the little gulp of Madeline had Calhoun stare at her, "Did you miss me?"

How was she supposed to answer the truth without offending him? The look in his eyes told her how he was enjoying asking her question in front of everyone. She had to remember that this wasn't any man but the King, who could by one word of his change the life of a person- for better or worse. Madeline wanted to leave this castle, and this man was speaking about her missing him?

Even though the man in the courtroom was talking to other men about the death in the village and the disputes, Calhoun's attention was held by the human who was now looking at him with her brown eyes, "I don't know," she answered, being vague.

"You don't know? Shall I take it that you couldn't wait to spend your time with me then?" asked Calhoun, his eyes raking the dress that she wore, "Go to the gallery in the high tower. Wait for me there," he said before looking at Theodore, "What took you so long to bring the files?"

Madeline turned pale on that question, and she wasn't sure if Theodore was going to let Calhoun know what he saw. Theodore bowed his head, "The files were placed in your study."

She turned around to look at Theodore, who was looking at Calhoun without looking at her. She didn't know for how long Theodore would keep it a secret because he was closer to Calhoun. It made her question why he didn't reveal about James being in the castle. The maid who named Agnes came to lead her out of the room, and Madeline left.

When she was out of the courtroom, Madeline felt the heavy atmosphere being lifted from her shoulders. Her knees were about to give away with the pressure and fear she had felt in there. Her heart felt heavy at the thought that James was here, yet she couldn't leave the mansion with him. She wouldn't have been able to leave from here, not with the guards searching the carriages.

"Milady, I was looking all over for you, but you weren't there," said the maid with a confused look as if she had got back to the wrong corridor which wasn't the place where she had left the lady.

"Pardon me, I think I got sidetracked," Madeline apologised.

"That's alright, milady," responded the maid before asking, "Would you want me to get you a glass of water?"

"No, that won't be necessary." With Calhoun in the castle, there was no point in her getting away from him because he would find her.

Once they reached the high tower, the maid took leave from there, leaving Madeline alone and she looked at the gallery that had many more paintings than some walls of the castle. There were paintings of landscapes, people, buildings. There were some paintings that belonged to the old villages which made her take a step forward to take a closer look at it. It seemed out of place, yet it felt something she could connect to. The paint on it looked like it was made of oil as some parts had a shine.

She started to move to the next painting, her feet taking slow steps until she found a canvas that was placed the other way round. She walked around and her eyes fell on the painting, and she gulped.

It was a girl whose blonde hair was sprawled on the pillow as if she were laid on a bed, her eyes that were half-open looking to the side with her lips parted. There was only a crumpled looking sheet that covered her body until her chest that left her shoulders bare for view.

The girl was no one but her.

She didn't have to know who had painted her.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" came Calhoun's voice next to her, making her jump in shock as she had not expected him this soon.

Madeline took a step back to get away from him not noticing the cans of paint that were near her leg and when she did, she tried to avoid it. Instead, she ended up knocking the canvas and lost the balance of her footing to almost fall down. If it wasn't for Calhoun's arm that went around her waist to stop her falling down along with the canvas and the stand.

The objects fell with a crash on the ground. Madeline had knocked a small can of oil on the ground before which was the reason she had missed her footing.

Her heart started to beat faster out of the sudden course of events that took place in seconds and she heard Calhoun say, "When you do things you are not supposed to, that is one of the times when your heart beats because the person is scared."

Madeline didn't know what exactly he was trying to insinuate but when she tried to get away from him that only made his hold tighter around her waist.

One side of his lips pulled up and he said, "You keep trying to get away from me to only get back in my arms."