Work Text:
Penelope paced around her chambers. Pearl had just fallen asleep due to the sedative she had been given earlier, the knight protested, but the princess insisted that Pearl sleep in the princess’s own bed for the night. Normally it would be unacceptable for the knight to remain in the same room with the Princess overnight, as it was her job to remain outside her quarters in case danger reared its ugly head. The princess had requested that none intrude upon her quarters for the rest of the night. The princess’s face was stained with dry tears that only recently had stopped flowing.
Her mind wandered to her mother, who hadn’t been seen in years. she had no idea what would happen if Pearl left Penelope in the same manner, either by her own accord or by the hands of a bandit who got lucky.
While most of her wounds had been tended to, Pearl’s face was dirty, her side covered in bandages that had not yet finished bleeding. Penelope gently removed the wet bandages so as not to wake the sleeping knight. While reapplying the bandages, the princess’s cheeks once again were damp with tears. The sheets of her bed were stained in dried blood. Every time Penelope gazed at the sleeping form of her beloved knight, the thought of losing her became all the more real to her, from something that happened in her worst nightmares to an incident that could have already occurred had her wounds not been treated to in time.
The stress and exhaustion hit Penelope all at once. She woozily paced over to her knight, and after planting a tender kiss on her forehead, sat by her knight’s side, letting sleep come to her.
The knight only woke once that night, peering over the side of the bed to see her princess asleep next to it. Pearl wiped away the wet tears from her cheek, and the princess in her sleep kept the knight’s hand in its position along her cheek, undisturbed until the sun rose from behind the castle walls.