A Court Bright and Broken (Age of Fae #1)

25. Lavender and Lemons

Chapter 25

Lavender and Lemons

R aewyn

Over the next week, I convalesced in Stellon’s private quarters, completely dependent on him for food, assistance back and forth to the bathing room, and keeping the fireplace burning.

It was driving me mad.

Not only was I certain he had better things to do than play nursemaid to a peasant girl, the care itself was starting to grate on me.

I’d never had anyone take care of my needs—well, not since I was little, before my mother had died. And I’d never been waited on hand and foot. It was uncomfortable.

It felt too… good. I didn’t trust it.

And of course I couldn’t trust him , no matter how nice he seemed. I had to keep my guard up, stay sharp, and make sure I didn’t out myself as the would-be assassin he was spending so much time and effort searching for.

I hated being so helpless, unable to feed myself, or get myself from one place to another… or draw my own bath.

Finally, one evening when I could stand it no longer, I asked him to help me arrange a bath.

“Certainly,” he said. “I would have offered earlier but I… didn’t want to offend you.”

That got an involuntary laugh out of me. “I am the one who must be offensive by this point. I’m used to bathing daily in the stream behind my house.”

“You don’t have a bathing room inside your home?” he asked in apparent surprise.

“No one does. No one I know of anyway. We all wash in the stream.”

“That must be cold,” he said.

“It is bracing,” I admit. “Particularly in winter. But we do what we must.”

“Have you never had a hot bath?” he asked.

“Never.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Stellon strode quickly toward the door then turned back with a cheeky grin. “For the record, you do not offend. You still smell as good as the night I brought you up here.”

“Which was following a stay in the dungeon,” I said. “I most definitely need a bath.”

About twenty minutes later he returned and scooped me off of the sofa as usual. Carrying me into the bathing room, he set me on the edge of the bathtub.

Deep and wide, the marble vessel was flanked by a fireplace where a vigorous fire crackled and cast a warm orange glow throughout the room.

Fragrant steam rose from the water’s surface, and it was covered in flower petals.

“What is this?” I asked.

“A flower bath. I thought you might enjoy it.”

“I really do smell, don’t I?”

His eyes were bright with merriment. “Maybe just a tiny bit.”

I’d expected Stellon to leave the room, but he just stood there.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I thought maybe… well, I wondered if you want to uh… take that off before getting in?”

He gestured toward the shift I wore.

“I do, but I don’t need your help to do it,” I said in a sharp tone. “I’m not a child.”

Stellon let out a strangled sounding laugh. “Believe me… I do not see you as a child.”

Then he picked me up again.

“What are you doing?” I shrieked.

Was he going to deprive me of bathing because I wouldn’t agree to disrobe in front of him?

Now that I’d seen and smelled the lovely water, I craved a flower bath almost more than I treasured my modesty. Almost.

“Lowering you into the water,” he said as he did exactly that.

“The tub is deep, and your ankle is unsteady,” he explained. “I wouldn’t want you to slip and injure yourself further.”

For a moment, I was robbed of all speech. The hot water felt so good. Even with the slip on, it soothed and pleasured every inch of my skin. I’d never felt anything like it.

And then I looked down at myself in the clear water—and found my voice.

“Get out.”

Ordering a prince about was bold, but I was in a panic.

My white slip, which had covered me decently for the past few days, had become transparent in the water, revealing the intimate details of my anatomy.

Glaring at Stellon, I crossed my arms over my chest and pulled my legs up until my knees poked out of the water.

The look in his eyes told me it was too late. He’d already seen more than any man other than a husband should ever see.

And no… he did not view me as a child. I was mortified.

“I uh…” he said as he stood there frozen. He shook his head as if to clear it.

“I’ll be back when you’re finished.”

Then he turned and rushed from the room, closing the door behind him.

Once I was certain he was gone and my heartbeat had slowed to something resembling a normal rhythm, I untied the string at the top of the shift and dragged it down and off my body, leaving it to float in the water.

I’d wash it after washing myself and then hang the garment to dry in front of the fireplace. It was my only one after all.

For now though, I enjoyed the unprecedented sensation of lathering my hands and arms and chest with silky, scented soap. It smelled like lavender and lemons. I wasn’t sure how that was even possible.

The soap I’d used all my life had been made of lye and rendered fat and exuded a sharp, acrid scent. This stuff had to be the product of some sort of Fae magic.

Using it to cleanse my entire body, I moved on to my hair. I slid down until it dipped beneath the water then used the soap bar to lather it. By the time I finished soaping and rinsing it all, I smelled like a field of flowers myself. My shift did as well.

For a few moments, I continued to lie there, just enjoying the relaxing effect of the hot water and the warmth and flickering light of the nearby fire.

It was the most luxuriant experience I’d had in my life, and I didn’t want it to end. Delaying having to face Stellon again was a side benefit.

Once the water had begun to cool, it was time to figure out how to get out of the bath, which, as he had pointed out, was very deep.

I tried to do it on my own, using the edge of the vessel to pull myself to standing inside it.

That I managed, but then I realized it would be impossible for me to get out this way. I couldn’t put my bad foot on the bathroom floor, especially as wet as I was—and the stack of fluffy thick towels was on a chair across the room.

The ankle was too unsteady and painful to support me anyway.

Which was why standing on the bad leg while stretching the good one to the floor outside of the tub wouldn’t work either. I was stuck.

Reaching down for my shift, I drew it from the water. It was so wet and heavy it felt as if the bathwater was sucking at it, fighting to keep me from lifting it.

Once I did, I wrung it out as best I could, but it was still very, very wet. Which meant it would be very, very transparent, not to mention drip all the way across the floor and soak Stellon’s sofa or bed.

A knock at the door jolted me so hard I nearly fell back into the bathing tub. My heart climbed up my chest and blocked my throat.

“Do not come in,” I ordered from my position facing the door—stark naked.

“Are you finished with your bath?” Stellon asked through the closed door.

“I am, but I… I’m not decent. And I can’t reach the towels.”

The door opened anyway, and my heart nearly exploded from the adrenaline rush as I hastily sat again so that the tub’s walls shielded me.

When I looked up though, I saw that Stellon’s back was turned to me.

His bare back. He wore only breeches. No shirt. No shoes.

“ Why are you partially undressed?” I managed to squeak out despite my heart flying up to block my throat.

In spite of my consternation, I couldn’t stop my eyes from drinking in the view of his large, powerful form. As he spoke, the muscles in his back moved under the golden skin. It was almost hypnotic to watch.

“Because I’m here to retrieve you from the bath, and you’re wet, which means there’s a very good chance my shirt would get wet while carrying you. I’ll put it back on after I’ve transported you.”

“Oh.” It made sense, but I still didn’t like this development.

My stomach did a crazy flip as Stellon grabbed two towels from the chair near the door and carefully back-stepped across the bathing room toward me.

“Be careful,” I warned when he got close. It would be awful if he lost his balance and fell backward into the tub with me.

“You’re almost there,” I said, a bit breathless from the thought.

He stopped just before the backs of his legs connected with the tub wall then reached behind him, offering me one of the towels.

“For your hair,” he said. “When you’ve got that wrapped up, I’ll hand you the other one.”

I plucked the cloth from his hand and leaned my head back on the edge of the tub behind me, wrapping my wet hair in the soft towel. It was more luxurious than the softest blanket I’d ever felt.

“Okay, I’m ready for the other one,” I said.

But Stellon didn’t immediately give me the towel.

“Do you think you can stand?” he asked. “Or do you need me to, you know, reach in and pick you up? With my eyes closed, of course.”

“I can do it,” I blurted before he even finished what he was saying.

His eyes might be closed but he’d feel … everything.

Heat darted to my breasts and lower abdomen, making me squirm. Struggling again to stand on my one good foot, I asked Stellon for the towel, and he handed it to me. Behind his back, I managed to wrap it around my body.

It was so large it covered me from chest to mid-thigh. Which was a good thing since I had no choice but to accept his help getting out of the bathtub.

“Okay, I’m decent,” I said through a throat that suddenly seemed to contain a boulder.

He turned, and his eyelids flared. But he didn’t say anything untoward. He just swallowed hard, making the protrusion in the front of his own throat lower and rise again.

Then he gave a tight nod and bent his knees, sliding one arm around my back and the other beneath the backs of my knees.

In one quick motion, I was out of the tub and pressed against his chest and upper abdomen, my bare shoulder making contact with his skin. Once again, he felt incredibly warm.

Or maybe I was overheated from the bath—and my inappropriate thoughts.

In this position, the towel rode up my thighs, now covering only the tops of them. I hurriedly grabbed the bottom edge and tugged, but that only served to pull down the top edge, revealing more than a hint of my cleavage.

With my other hand, I covered my chest.

Stellon chuckled. “Don’t worry. Ball gowns reveal more than your towel—at least on top.”

My fist that held the towel’s lower edge tightened until my knuckles were white.

“Besides, I’m not looking,” he said.

Right. “How would you know what I’m revealing if you didn’t look?

“Correction—I’m not looking now. Sofa or bed?” he asked as he carried me from the bathroom toward the sitting and sleeping quarters.

“Bed,” I said.

I planned to close the bed curtains and stay there, wrapped in the towel as I slept. By morning, my shift would be dry.

“I changed the sheets while you were bathing,” Stellon said. “It was my first time. I think I did pretty well with it, if I do say so myself.”

This was so awful. Not only had I lost all modesty, all my pride was gone, too.

I was being waited on hand and foot by the Crown Prince of Avrandar and the Sixlands, who was being required to serve as a lady’s maid and a chambermaid.

What must he be thinking of it all?

When he’d deposited me on the edge of the bed, I looked up at Stellon. He didn’t seem put out in the least.

Still, I cringed as I said, “I hate to ask you this, but would you mind retrieving my shift from the bathing room and hanging it before the fire to dry?”

He smiled. “Happily. But I can do even better. Wait right there.”

He disappeared into the adjoining room for a minute and returned with an armful of fabric, which he dropped onto the bed next to me.

Ladies clothing.

I picked up the dress and fresh shift from him, awash in gratitude. There was even a pair of frilly drawers, which I tucked behind me, blushing hotly.

“How did you manage to get all this?”

His expression was a mixture of shame and amusement. “There are many ladies staying in the palace at present. I paid a visit to the laundry and… borrowed a few items. I hope they’ll fit.”

“I don’t even care.” I pulled the bed curtains closed and quickly changed into them, grateful for the dignity they provided.

When I opened the curtains again, Stellon was waiting. His eyes roamed over me.

“They do fit,” he said in a tone I couldn’t quite decipher. His expression, though…

Apparently he approved of my outfit.

When he reached to lift me and take me to the sofa, the entire surface of my body was covered in gooseflesh.

He knows what I look like underneath these clothes.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to tolerate his near-constant presence for another week.

Casting about for distracting conversation, I asked, “How is the Assemblage going?”

“Well, I think. Meetings between the various clans have been productive. In truth, though, I’ve participated in very little of it.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “Crown business doesn’t really interest me—never has, much to my father’s dismay. I’m much more interested in talking with you.”

A sharp, sweet pain pulsed in my chest. Sometimes he said the most surprising things. Things I shouldn’t like, but I did.

“I’m not interesting at all,” I protested.

“I disagree. Tell me what you’re passionate about.”

“Passionate?” My life consisted of chores and caretaking. I didn’t have time for passion.

“Nothing,” I answered.

“There must be something you enjoy doing above all else,” Stellon urged.

“Well… I love to read. That’s what I do with any free time I have. Usually at night for a few minutes before I put out the candles to conserve them. We go to bed early,” I said.

Stellon’s face contracted in a frown. “You enjoy reading above all else, and you do it for only a few minutes a day?”

Suddenly, I felt self-conscious, though I had no reason to.

“My days are quite busy—usually,” I explained. “It is only in the past week I have become a ‘lady of leisure.’”

He didn’t laugh at my joke, just continued to study me with that expression of concern.

I babbled to fill the uncomfortable silence. “Besides, I have read all my books so many times I know every page by heart. After putting out the candles, I lie in my bed and imagine the scenes playing out across the stage of my mind. It’s very pleasant.”

Stellon’s expression was impossible to read. “Yes well… you need to get some sleep, and so do I. I have much to do tomorrow with the investigation and my duties around the Assemblage.”

“Of course. Thank you for your help tonight with the bath.”

He nodded and turned to go but turned back when I called his name.

“Stellon?”

“Yes?”

“I know you’re busy, and having me here crowding your suite and stealing your bed was not in your plans,” I said. “Don’t feel like you need to spend time here entertaining me. You’ve been far too good to me already. And my ankle is feeling much stronger. Soon I will be out of your way.”

He huffed a little laugh. “Good night, Firebug.”

The next morning, I woke to find the room filled with crates of books.

And candles.