This week had been hell. Lael had no other words to describe the chaos in the palace. She sat next to the princess's bed and felt her heart ache. She had kept this vigil ever since last weekend. She closed her eyes and sighed as her mind recalled the memory of what had happened to Serenah at the hands of the king and her sister.
Lael bustled about the castle, doing her usual rounds of assisting the house staff while Serenah was sleeping. When the princess came home from the dance, she was aglow with happiness. Lael couldn't have been more pleased. Her lady had not had much to be happy about as of late.
She blamed the crown princess for her lady's woes. The two might be twins, but they were vastly different in personality and how they treated others. Amanah ruled with an iron fist, much like the king, while Serenah was unbiased and fair.
She sighed. She was trying to find a way to save her lady from the hell known as the palace. Lael finished her tasks and headed toward her lady's room. She was nearly there when one of the king's guards stopped her.
"Lady Lael, come with me."
She stared at the guard for a moment, a sense of unease stealing through her. Was her lady in danger?
"Yes, of course," she told him and followed quietly behind him.
When they entered the punishment area, Lael's heart constricted. She prayed to Autem that her lady wouldn't be too badly injured. The guard escorting her greeted the one standing by the door.
The one at the door took out a key, unlocked the door, and stepped aside.
Her escort guard went inside and gestured to a prone figure on the floor. Lael entered the room at a run. "My lady!"
She halted beside Serenah's unconscious form. Her eyes didn't know how to understand all the damage to the princess's body.
"My lady," Lael sobbed as she knelt next to Serenah and gently stroked her hair. She took a shuddering breath and stood.
She turned and gave the escort guard her infamous glare. He flinched. "You will help me move the princess to her bedroom."
The guard nodded and grabbed a sheet from the nearby table. He gently wrapped Serenah in it and stood. Lael spun on her heel and marched from the room with the guard in tow.
They made it to Serenah's room. Lael opened the door and directed the guard to gently lay the princess on her bed.
"Thank you," she stated firmly, her expression telling him to get out.
The guard nodded, went out the door, closing it quietly behind him.
Lael went into the bathroom, grabbed the medicinal supplies, and went to the bed. She placed the bowl of warm water and cloths on the bedside table. Taking a deep breath, she gently peeled back the blanket. She forced her tears not to fall at the sight of Serenah's destroyed back. She was grateful that her beloved princess was unconscious.
Steeling her nerves, she carefully and precisely began cleaning the wounds. She would pause every time Serenah moaned or whimpered in pain. It took Lael an hour to clean Serenah from head to toe. Her princess's body would be forever scarred. Lael hoped that Romeo didn't care about such things. If she had been allowed to tend to Serenah sooner, some of the scars could have been prevented.
She finished slathering the healing and numbing salves on Serenah's back. Satisfied, Lael went to the bathroom and dumped out the fourth bowl of bloody water, and ran more water. Now that she had finished Serenah's back side, she would do the front.
She slowly turned Serenah over on her back and gasped. Lash marks crisscrossed across Serenah's breasts, belly, and legs. She also had marks on her right cheek. Cursing silently, Lael got to work applying the salves. Again, she paused whenever Serenah made sounds. Thirty minutes later, she wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Lael stepped back and assessed her princess. Now all that was left were the bandages. She gathered them up and moved swiftly to complete her task. Once she was done, she called for a guard to hold Serenah while she changed the bloody sheets and removed the blanket. After she was finished, the guard placed the princess on the clean bed and left.
She cleaned up the area, dumped out the bloody water, and put away the medicines. Lael pulled a chair over to Serenah's bedside and settled in to wait for her beloved princess to wake.
Lael paced back and forth. Serenah was still unconscious. Worry was eating at Lael. Was this just like the time when they were first transported to this world? Was the princess going to sleep for another year? No, she couldn't let that happen.
She stopped pacing at looked at Serenah's cell phone. Making a snap decision, Lael grabbed it and dialed the one number in it for the person whom she prayed to Autem would be able to help Serenah.