A Night With The King

Sophie didn’t think life could be sweeter than it was for her right now, there were so many reasons why she never thought she could feel the kind of happiness that she was feeling in the moment, it was something that was foreign to her. She found love and happiness in the king and what’s more, he was the perfect gentleman who cared for her and he had no doubt about her or how he felt for her. The fact that he believed her so easily and even apologized for thinking their first time was a dream. She had been worried for months that he might not believe her but he did and she was grateful for that, she felt light knowing that it was no longer a secret between them but she also wished that she could bring herself to tell him about her other secret, maybe if she explains to him why she had to do what she did, he would understand and forgive her for not telling him on time. She didn’t have the mind to do it now because she didn’t want to ruin the happiness that she felt but she promised herself that she would tell him soon.

“My lady, good day,”

Riley said which brought Sophie out of her head; Sophie didn’t even notice that she was in the emerald house with her until she talked.

“Riley, I didn’t call for you,”

Sophie voiced.

“I know, I wasn’t busy so I came to check if you need me for anything,”

Riley was diligent and Sophie liked that about her.

“Hmm, I don’t need anything but you can sit down, and tell me what has been going on within the palace, I seem to not know anything that happened,”

Sophie said and Riley took a seat without a word. Sophie waited for her to speak but she wasn’t saying anything and she wanted to hear what had been going on in the palace since she barely got the gist anymore since she started living with the king, even the palace maids and everyone else except Patrick now address her as my lady, she still wasn’t comfortable with the title but she couldn’t tell them to stop because they won’t even listen if she tried.

“Hi, Riley, what’s up with you?”

Sophie asked, she was acting like she was hiding something and it became even more clear when Sophie asked her.

“My lady,”

She mouthed.

“What is going on? What are you hiding Riley? Did something happen?”

Sophie asked.

“Yes, not like it is a bad thing but I don’t know if you are aware yet and I don’t know if I am allowed to tell you,”

Riley responded. If she had not already said that it wasn’t a bad thing, Sophie would have been worried, now she was just curious as to what it could be.

“Spill, woman,”

She urged Riley who looked like she didn’t want to tell which made Sophie start to doubt if it was really not something bad, what she did know was that whatever it was was related to her which was why Riley was finding it hard to tell her.

“A magazine was released and everyone in the palace has been talking about it and there is a rumor going around that the king has requested for the elders to come to the palace, don’t know if the meeting will happen today but I think the magazine might be the reason for the call.”

Riley explained. Sophie didn’t need a prophet to tell her before she knew that the magazine was about her, she should have expected something like that to happen.

“Can I take a look at this magazine? I am assuming it is about me?”

Sophie asked and Riley nodded.

“I will go get the copy I collected from one of the other maids.”

She said and off she went, leaving Sophie on her own with her thoughts all over the place, she didn’t know if she was ready for the content of the magazine, or maybe she should just remain clueless, maybe that would be better for her but she was already so curious and not knowing would make her even more curious. Well, she didn’t have long to think because Riley returned a few minutes later with the magazine in hand.

“Thank you,”

Sophie said when she collected the magazine, from the heading, she knew she was all the magazine was about. They had a photo of her exiting the hospital on the front page, okay, the photo did look good for something that was taken without her permission, plus for some reason, she was smiling. Sophie couldn’t remember what she was smiling for, to be fair, she always had a smiley face. The headline was a whole new experience for her even though what it said was technically the truth with a question mark, it was a new experience because she had never for once thought any news would be about her, not to talk of the headline practically talking about her. It read. “THE KING’S WOMAN IS WITH CHILD, COULD THE CHILD BE THE FUTURE KING OR QUEEN OF OTANO?” Sophie has not once thought of the possibility of her child being an heir to the throne, it never crossed her mind but with the way Lance was treating their relationship and his determination to marry her, it might be the case. She wanted so much to dream big and hope everything would work out just fine for them but she was so used to being disappointed and left alone that she feared it might happen again even though Lancelot clearly loved her so much; she kind of wished she could push the fear away.

She turned the pages expecting to see a lot of writing but there were only a few lines in each page with lots of photos that were taken of her, all taken during her visits to the hospital for her antenatal care. It was as if whoever was taking the photos knew her care schedules and was always at every one of them. The photos looked great but Sophie didn’t like the idea that someone had been watching all her movement, it made her uncomfortable. She suddenly remembered the few times during her visits to the clinic when she felt someone watching her. It must have been the one taking all the photos of her.

“You are so pretty, that’s what everyone within the palace has been talking about, according to some who have been in the palace longer, this is the first time everyone is so invested in a photobook that isn’t official, the pictures all look so nice that it was hard to ignore,”

Riley said. Sophie didn’t know what to say, she always had the looks but she never really got a lot of people talking about her appearance.

“You guys be talking about me a lot,”

She jokingly said.

“We do, and it is mainly just good things, we can’t wait for you to become the queen,”

Okay, Sophie didn’t see that coming, Lance has been the only one so far who has told her he would make her queen, she never thought anyone else would want her to be queen and what more, waiting for the moment that she would become the queen.

“I don’t see myself as queen material though, I am just a normal woman, how am I supposed to be queen,”

Sophie asked.