Chapter 11
Deryn stood as still as she could, trying to hide her shock. Mazie pulled on the strings of the 'corset', or 'woman killer' as Deryn preferred to call it. It seemed appropriate at the time.
"Ow! Barking spiders, but does it need to be so tight?" Deryn panted.
Mazie gave another brilliant tug on the strings, before tying them up.
"Yes," she answered softly. "It makes a lady look more ladylike."
"Well, Mazie, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm not exactly the ladylike type. Next time someone tells me I'm a princess, I'm gonna go ahead and tell them to shove it." she muttered to herself.
Mazie giggled a little, before she covered it with a straight face.
"You can turn around, Highness," Mazie said.
Deryn reluctantly did, only to wish she hadn't.
Mazie stood in front of her with a pink frilly thing.
"Wh-what is that?" Deryn asked, nervously pointing at the thing.
"It's a dress. The Queen has instructed you to wear this to meet the Prince."
"That's not a dress, that's a barking frill! I'm not putting that thing on." Deryn replied, crossing her arms stubbornly.
"Please, Highness, be reasonable! The Queen will be greatly angered if you don't wear this! She had it customly made for you!"
Deryn stared at the young girl for a moment, before sighing.
"Let me see the stupid thing." The maid looked hopeful for a minute, then it changed to suspicion as she watched Deryn walk to her discarded breeches.
Deryn dug inside one of the pockets for minute before triumphantly shouting "YES!", and pulling out a knife.
"Miss, what are you doing?" Mazie asked, alarmed.
Deryn's reply was simple.
"Redesigning."