Lady Laila

Chapter 13: NOTHING WRONG

     Laila had been standing by the door of King Stephan's chambers, shifting her weight from one leg to the other while waiting for him to be done with his bath. He had told her to take a seat and wait for him, but she was not sure if she heard him right since his low tone and mumbling were basically indecipherable. One thing was clear that day, King Stephan was mad when she decided to let Lady Mara have her way. She honestly doesn't know why the king called her to his chambers, her plan was to head to the kitchens and the throne room to make sure everything was perfect for the celebration, but here she is. If anything goes sideways tomorrow the king will certainly not forgive her, he said it himself!

These thoughts disappear when she hears Stephan call her name.

"Y-yes My Lord," she says, snapping her head up to look at him. Immediately, she bows her head upon seeing that he only has a short cloth around his waist, his skin glistening through the candle lights.

"I asked you to take a seat."

"Forgive me-"

"Eyes, Laila"

The young woman gulps, looking up, "Forgive me, My Lord. I wasn't sure if I heard you correctly so I decided to stand in case."

"In case?"

"In case you didn't tell me to sit. I don't want you to upset you."

Stephan nods, tapping the bed. Step by step, she makes her way to him. As she gets closer she realizes she wouldn't know what to say to him, and he might just resort to having sex with her. She's not complaining about it, but she's still sore from yesterday and detests awkward silence unless it's to her benefit. Also, the king doesn't look like he will scold her for what happened this morning, and she did tell Princess Saya that she would listen to her advice. Laila bends down, and removes her footwear, before grabbing the small bowl of buttery ointment from the small table by Stephan's bed.

She gets behind the king, who now has only light shorts on. Kneeling on the bed, she takes some of the butter and massages it on his right shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Stephan asks, his voice deeper than before but doesn't move. The young woman's heart pounds as she does this but accelerates when she hears his question.

"I-I noticed that your shoulders are a bit tensed," she says, continuing her massage.

When the king doesn't reply, Laila is encouraged to continue, as they stay in silence. The lady cannot help but look at the king's scars while moving her hands expertly on his skin.

Who did this to him? They don't look like scars from a battle. Whatever was used to inflict such marks was consistent. King Stephan and King Xerxes had conquered and united the lands when she was sixteen. Since then, she never heard of Sheath or Moore losing a battle, which means the scars date back to when he was much younger. Why would they do this to a young boy?

"Disgusted?"

Laila looks at Stephan but is met with the top of his head, clothed by his thick black hair.

"Pardon?"

"My scars...I can tell you were staring at them," he replies.

"I would never be disgusted by them," she speaks up, gently touching them. "They all tell a story of who you are, what you've been through, what you've witnessed, and what you've accomplished. No one should hate their scars, even though it is difficult to do that. It's a reminder that you've become stronger, you've dealt with such pain and will conquer it if it ever comes again," Laila explains, working on his shoulder again.

The king does not respond, probably letting her words sink in.

Another comfortable silence passes between them, and Laila moves his hair to start working on the other shoulder.