Deadly Beautiful (SuperCorp Medieval AU)

Part 14

or the one with the aftermath and Kara is much too hard on herself

The castle guard ran a full sweep of the palace on the king's orders. When he arrived to the doctor's work-room, he pulled an amazing rendition of his 'concerned about my sister' act. Kara could see none of the emotion ever managed to touch his eyes. He paid her a cursory visit to receive a retelling of events from her perspective. She told it play-by-play in her most neutral and emotionless voice, possible, humbly prepared to accept whatever punishment the king thought appropriate.

"My sister's story matches up, though she told it in a light much more flattering to you." he said with a light sneer, dusting his hands off as though even just being by her bedside somehow made him feel unclean. Lex Luthor swept out of the room without a goodbye or any thanks.

The wound was not as serious as it had initially come across. It was not as deep as the amount of bleeding had suggested, only requiring a handful of stitches. Kara had been banned from any training with the injured arm for fear of tearing the stitches loose. She listened carefully to the physician's orders with a practiced ear. Kara had experience with similar injuries from her fighting days. They were hard to come back from, but it wasn't impossible.

As soon as her wound was dressed, Kara sat up with a grunt and re-tied her breast-band more securely with a wince. "Hold on . Hold on and I'll help you with that." Lena stopped her as Kara started to pull on the ruined shirt. The blonde visibly brightened and relaxed when she saw Lena enter the room, Maggie hot on her heels.

"You're okay? You're safe and unharmed?" Kara asked, jumping to her feet, one hand holding her dressing in place. She barely betrayed a wince as the women rushed to help her back to the cot.

"Of course I'm okay; you're the one who was stabbed, love. It's taken me forever to get them to let me come and see you." Lena said, sitting gently beside of the other woman and tenderly tracing the barrier of cloth over the wound with with one finger. She mistook Kara's breath catching in her chest as pain and jerked back, though Kara's eyes would have betrayed her, had Lena been paying attention.

"I'm fine, my lady," Kara said, edgining away from the princess slightly. "I only regret I did not recognize the presence of an intruder earlier. Things could have been handled much more smoothly if I had been on my game."

"What do you mean?! You were brilliant, Kara. You saved my life." Lena protested.

"Yes, ma'am but I had to hurt you in the process and that was unacceptable." blue eyes were deadly serious and intense, despite her pain.

"Don't call me ma'am, Kara. You protected me, you did your job, and now we need to take care of you." Lena said as she gently helped Kara to slide into her shirt, working it carefully over her injured arm.

"If that hadn't been so nice, I would have thought you sounded like an actual princess, my lady." Kara scoffed. "I don't know if I like it when you sound like one."

"You're my hero, Kara. I owe you my life. You've got to let us take care of you now, at least for a little while. Do you think you want to get clean and go to bed? Would you be able to make it to the bath-house?" Lena asked as she pulled the shirt the rest of the way down, taking note of the bruises. They were swirling shades of blue and green Kara probably didn't even notice when compared with her shoulder injury.

"Will you do my hair again?" Kara asked, a blush rising into her cheeks.

"Of course I will. Your shoulder probably couldn't take the stress of reaching back there." Lena said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Kara stood shakily.

"I'll go fetch you some clean clothes and a hairband. The princess will hopefully keep you from doing anything the doctor wouldn't approve of." Maggie said, giving Kara one of her most withering looks.

"I will make sure she doesn't get herself into any trouble." Lena promised.

"And I will make sure that no more trouble finds the princess." Kara added, cradling her arm against her chest.

"I'm beginning to think the two of you might be trouble together." Maggie snorted, but left the two to get into it anyways.

"We don't mean to be." Lena grumbled to herself.

"She acts like I got myself stabbed on purpose." Kara murmured in agreement. "I've got scars on my scars, so I don't really go looking for them anymore. Unless it's strictly necessary."

"Did you used to?" Lena asked, looking at Kara earnestly. "Go looking for scars, that is."

"I didn't exactly stay out of trouble, as Maggie would have said. Alex, my sister, was a handful when she was younger. I used to follow her around like a lost puppy and discovered a love of fighting. That's how I ended up in the stadiums. The Danvers family loved me but couldn't handle how angry I was and I was another mouth to feed. I was a burden, so I left." Kara shrugged it off, as though the hurt wasn't still plain on her face.

"I'm so sorry, Kara. Everyone deserves the chance to grow up in a home where they feel loved and accepted unconditionally. After losing your birth parents the way you did; it's completely understandable for you to have been angry." Lena said comfortingly, resting one hand on Kara's good shoulder as they headed slowly down the hall, two men a respectful distance behind them in case someone else tried something. Lena chafed at the feeling of being watched, but Kara had insisted. They left the guards at the door to the bath-house.

"You know, I felt alone as a kid, until Alex, but I think I have a real home here now." Kara said with a half-smile.