The next morning Katherine woke up in Sarah's bed next to the most lovely person to ever exist. She remembered how she got there too.
There had been a kiss. Sarah's lips had been dry and cracked after her ordeal with Pulitzer and the well, but Katherine still felt something from their touch. There was an ascension within her body like the center of her abdomen was being tugged up to her heart. It wasn't the feeling that Katherine usually got from kisses either. It wasn't the feeling of lust where there was warmth in her hips but not in her heart; Katherine wouldn't call it love; she wasn't ready for that yet, but it was more than lust and surpassed affection. Whatever the feeling was, it felt good.
Katherine could marry Sarah. She could picture waking up next to a woman so lovely every morning, and kissing her at the end of every day. It could be perfect. That could be her life with Sarah.
Katherine was talented with more than just swords and romance; she had always possessed the talent of thinking three steps ahead and adapting to changes of plan with considerable ease, so when the well wasn't really enchanted and couldn't give her a wife by magic, Katherine figured she might have a shot with the brown haired girl she found inside.
After the kiss the girls had stayed up talking. Sarah had told Katherine about her brothers, Prince Les and King Davey. Technically now that Sarah was back home she was the queen because she was the oldest of the Jacobs siblings. Their parents, Ester and Mayer lost their lives in the fight against Pulitzer.
Katherine was going to leave. She said she felt tired, and it wasn't untrue either. Sarah dismissed her, but just before Katherine left, Sarah called her back. "Katherine," she had said, "do you mind staying a little longer? I can't really sleep."
"I'll stay," Katherine had agreed. That's how Katherine had ended up getting the best sleep in her life. They had laid side by side like knives in drawer. Katherine didn't try to increase the physical intimacy, rather it happened naturally. Sarah fell asleep first and Katherine second. When Katherine woke up Sarah's limbs were wrapped around her; it was comforting. No one but Miss Medda had ever held her so warmly.
It was perfect and it was peaceful, and the Sarah woke up and it got even better. "Good morning Sarah," Katherine whispered.
Sarah groaned sleepily, "Morning Katherine." She took a moment to take in her surrounding with an anxious fervor. She awkwardly locked eyes with Katherine, "Sorry I was just trying to make sure I was home. I've been waking up in a lot less pleasant places as of late.
"Well at least you're not up to your knees in stagnant water this time."
"That well was disgusting."
"No place for a princess to be." Katerine fingers tickled Sarah's chin and her eyes sparkled with sincerity.
"Katherine?"
"Thank you for staying with me," she paused, "and for rescuing me. Do you think that maybe you might stay longer? At the castle I mean."
Katherine's heart swelled with warmth. "You want me to stay?" She intertwined their fingers together.
"Of course I do." Sarah's hair glew with morning light. She tilted her head up to lock eyes with Katherine. "Do you know how beautiful you are Katherine?" she remarked.
"I don't think anyone would ever consider me beautiful," Katherine answered. And why would they? As far as Katherine saw she was nothing more than tight cords wound too tightly around a weak concept of a girl crammed into a suit of armor drenched in blood. She had killed Pulitzer without hesitation and she had killed others before him as well. That was life. Katherine stunk of smoke and grime and death and a poor girl without parents who had been pitied by a kind woman of no blood relation to her. No. There was more to hers and Medda's relationship now than pity; there was mutual love and support between the two. Medda was the only mother that Katherine had ever known.
"Well that's just silly," Sarah's musical voice rang clear through the slew of Kath's dark thoughts. "You're the prettiest girl in the kingdom. You really would be suited to be a queen, more so than me."
Katherine scoffed, "Maybe I'm the second prettiest girl in the kingdom, but I know who holds the top spot. As for being queen, I am grossly unqualified for a position like that."
"That's exactly how I feel Katherine," Sarah said revealing another piece of her tender heart.
"You seem pretty qualified to me Sarah."
"I'm not ready. My parents should have led this country for many more years. They were taken from us far too soon." Tears trickled down her cheeks and Katherine wiped them away.
"I'm so sorry Sarah." Katherine gave Sarah a comforting embrace. "I never knew my parents, Medda's the only mother I've ever known."
Sarah dried her eyes. "Then I must meet her." She gently kissed Katherine on the forehead, and then on the lips.