The King

FIRST DAY

Bell takes comfort from the sun on her face. Her hair is swaying slightly around her face and she shivers as she feels a coldness in her heart. 

"I will not speak for too long so listen up" the woman says "forget whatever you know or you think you know. About medicine, about the palace, about you and everything in between-" 

Bell looks around the long space with beds lined against both sides with bedside tables and a lot of equipment. She feels out of her depth. They're all looking at her. She swallows. 

"you're in the palace now and everything Is different from now on" she says " we have strict rules that you will learn and adapt with in time. One of them is to not leave the hospital and the arena side of the palace. Any other place is prohibited unless called upon by the elite for assistance in anything. 

You will follow the strict time schedule and you will not complain. You will also be paid a monthly salary but the amount depends on your rank. Right now you're lucky you're getting anything at all. I will show you where you will be staying. Wash up and come here in 30 minutes, you have work to do"  

While Bell bathes she recalls what happened. 

It was the day after the storm. She woke up to an empty room with no Richard or the Boss. Thinking something might have happened, she jumped from the bed and went outside, her heart hammering in her chest. The chaos caused by the storm was horrendous. There were pieces of broken wood everywhere and splinters the size of a knife were lying there just waiting to impale someone. 

There were men trying to gather as much lost material as they could. Cut ropes, wood they could use, nets and whatnot. The sky was clear but not hot. There was no sun, just nice winds. Bell wondered if the storm was just taking a break. The thought of going through that hurricane again made her feel sick. She heard men talking coming somewhere from behind her. She turned around and squinted her eyes.

There was a deck on top of the cabin. She backed away to catch a good look at who was up there.

She saw the boss's back, George and...Richard?

That was when she felt something flutter in her chest at the sight of him. He was in his boxers, pale and shaky, covered and wrapped in a coat or something like a blanket that only reached the end of his thighs.

Bell felt her face heat up impossibly which made no sense since she had been the one to undress him in the first place. Treating someone who was unconscious and talking to someone standing was very different. 

They were talking. Richard was telling the Boss something as the boss stood there and listened.

She looked away from them and wondered what she should do next. She had decided to go back into her cabin when someone spoke; 

 "what are you doing?" asked Simon

she spun around towards him, she relaxed a fraction when she saw him

"nothing. I woke up and Richard wasn't there.."

"Sir Richard"

"excuse me?"

"Sir Richard" he said "that's how you should address him"

she stayed quite as she contemplated him. He looked like he didn't like her but only to keep a persona. she knew he was young, she could tell.

"Is that what I should call you?" she asked "sir Simon?"

he scoffs "I don't have a title"

"oh"