Fighting For What?

The Morning After

Tugging again at the warm, silk sheets, I try to hide within the bed. The streams of sunlight breaks through the windows and dances across the floorboards. My white night gown feels weightless on my skin as I readjust my body. My white night gown shifts beneath me as I completely rotate to face the opposite direction. Preston is sitting on the edge of the sheets, shirtless. His golden brown hair is messy from the long night and his muscles tense as he stretches. He stands up and raises his trousers to his waist before noticing that I'm awake. He smiles boldly and crawls back onto the blankets beside me. 

 "Good morning, Your Majesty." 

 "Majesty? I'm not queen yet, My Lord." I insist with another tug at the sheets.  

 "You're my queen." Preston pulls the silk away from my grip, forcing me to sit upright. "And I don't understand why you continue to address me as 'lord' if you're going to be my wife, Ivy." 

 "It doesn't feel natural to call you something so casual, My Lord." 

 He engulfs my body with his arms. I snuggle close to his chest and place my head beneath his chin. His heart beats rhythmically through my ear as I embrace his comfort. He strokes my spine gently over my white night gown. 

 "I love you, my darling," he whispers into the silky sheets. 

"I love you as well." 

 "Good. Now get up!" He jumps to his feet upon the bed, his black trousers hugging his legs. "Your brothers and sister will be here at any moment." 

 "What about your family?" I lay motionless on my back against the white silk as he towers over me. 

"What does the great king have for you today, my love?" 

 "It doesn't matter because you are my highest priority, Princess.""I wasn't a princess when you met me." 

 "Yes, but that is only because you were lying to me." He falls to his knees, drawing his face closer to mine. He reaches for my face and cups my head in his hands and plants a passionate kiss against my lips. My right hand wraps around his neck, pulling me into him while my other runs through his hair. 

In one swift motion, Preston leaps back to his feet and lifts me into the air just as a knight rescuing a damsel would. The sleeves of my night gown drape loosely around my arms while my skirt hands over his arms. My blonde hair bounces behind my shoulders as I laugh. My green irises reflect in his brown gaze as I press my forehead to his. We're happy together, here in this morning moment. 

 But our moment eventually comes to an end, and surprises up both with the opening of the grand oak doors. Meredith saunters through the entrance with a silver platter of breakfast gripped in her hands. Preston assigned Meredith to me as my maid when I first arrived at the castle. Only a few years older than I, her wisdom and beauty are astonishing. She always keeps her red hair tied in a ball atop her head with a ribbon across the top to keep the strays in place. She walks with a confidence about her work no other can imitate. 

Only ever working for the Lustrian crown, her clothes are completely elegant. Her black skirt and bodice are simple with tasteful lace and her white apron is stuffed with trinkets and needles for any emergency. Even though we've only known each other for a few weeks, I feel as though I've grown up with her watching over me. As she approaches the bed, her head stays tucked down. She is staring blankly at the polished cover of the silver platter. 

 "Good morning, Princess Ivy. I've brought you—" 

 Preston hops down from the bed onto the wooden floorboards with me still gripped in his arms. The loud thump interrupts Meredith's sentence. She looks up from the platter in her hand to see me gripped in my beloved's arms.