A Shade Darker ✔️

{Chapter Twenty Four}

A Bubble Bath Fit For A King

June 26th, 2017

Ashley

The headache seems to be coming back as I trudge my way back up the stairs. The wind is blowing the curtains wildly in the rooms that I pass, the screen being the only thing keeping the rain at bay.

I imagined that the roof was my head, and that the rain and the wind that pounded down on it were all the things circling about my mind.

Like Lucile and her comments that always seem to be about me and Mike going to bed together. The stress that makes my chest feel tight because I'm keeping the secret of our fake consummation. The fear that Liz has been distant and may have told of the secret I only told to her. The stress of how people of the colony are counting on me to be loyal. But how do I do that? Will I know when the time comes? And in the back of my mind is always the tiny fear of Prince Billie and what he will do when he gets out of the prison in just a few months.

But at the very front of my mind is Mike. He's there because everything just seems to constantly revolve around him. Whether it deals with his siblings, or his events, or even just him period.

With a sigh, I untie the sash of the robe around my waist and let it fall to the floor.

I sit on the edge of the large tub and begin to run the hot water, listening to it create waves like a waterfall would. A soapy waterfall that is.

Thank god these maids know what bubble bath is and where to get it.

Slowly, but generously I pour the lilac smelling soap into the water and watch as the stream coming from the spout begins to turn over the water until bubbles appear.

Lightly, I grab at the straps of my camisole in order to drop it to the floor, but with one strap sliding off my shoulder the door knocks and I jump, startled.

Slowly I walk towards the door and open it, only to find the face of my husband staring back at me.

"Yes?" I raise an eyebrow, watching as his eyes gazed behind me at the bathtub full of bubbles.

His eyes snap back to mine, a mischievous grin sporting on his lips.

"Am I interrupting your serenity?" Serenity? Since when was that a commonly used word?

Oh right, I seem to forget that my husband was born centuries before me.

"No. What are you doing here?" I hug the door closer to me, only in my thin camisole that I said earlier-doesn't cover much-.

"I came to bathe, but I see you beat me to it. But what kind of husband would I be if I didn't at least offer to help you with your duties?" A laugh escapes me, I take a step back.

"Why do you feel so persistent in asking?" He smiles at me, a genuine smile that makes my heart beat a little faster.

"You washed my back for me when I was in pain, wouldn't it be right of me to do the same?" I cross my arms over my chest and glance back at the tub full of thick bubbles.

Looking back at him I give into the smile he wears.

"Fine. I'll tell you when to come in" I close the door and my heart races as I slip off my camisole.

It falls down my body and to the floor next to my robe.

I step into the bathtub and sink down into the water until I'm covered by the bubbles.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

Mike

"Come in" Her sweet voice calls, beckoning me to enter the room of which she bathed.