Page 58 of The Sanguine Selection
Curled up in the back of my cage, Papa’s coat draped across me, I watch him right back as he walks right over to me and stops at the cage door. “Jasper,” he calls with an irritating sense of superiority. “Open this… atrocity will you? The Blood Slave must get ready for the ball.”
The ball…
My stomach plummets, my chest feeling heavy with anxiety. I forgot about the ball. It was mentioned so casually several days ago that I didn’t really pay it any attention. Hell, I was half out of my mind when the kings brought it up.
And now it’s here.
A ball. A dance. My mind creates an image of fancy dresses and music and food, an enormous space filled with laughter and the clinking of glasses, the squeaking sounds of cutlery on food-covered plates and platters. But I’m sure whatever the kings have planned is a far cry from what I’ve read in fairytales. And that scares the shit out of me.
Jasper fishes out a key from his pocket, attached to a long, red ribbon, and opens the crate. I don’t move, frozen as Lord Navar stares at me without a barrier between us. “Out, slave. And leave that disgusting coat behind. It smells awful.” He waves his hand in front of his face as if to dispel the odor, and anger builds inside of me though I tamper it down.
But it’s Jasper’s coaxing that has me moving. “We mustn't keep the kings waiting.”
He’s right.
Dropping the coat, I stand and walk towards them, aware of my meager shift, and my body visible below it. I try to ignore the shame I feel, try to force the blush from creeping up my chest to my cheeks, but it’s so damn hard. And with Navar’s eyes roaming all over me, I just want to run and hide myself away. I cross my arms over my chest for a semblance of modesty as a servant with brown braided hair curtseys before me. “Hello miss. Name’s Ryla. I’ll be helping to get you ready for the night.”
I incline my head and shuffle past Lord Navar who inhales deeply as I pass.
Gross.
Ryla guides me to the bathroom where a steaming bath is ready. I smell roses and lilacs as I glance at the water and see petals of all colors floating on the surface. Ryla helps me remove the shift, not like I needed any help, and I step in the tub, very aware of her stare on my body.
Fuck, I’m so unbelievably uncomfortable. It’s hard not to compare my body with everyone else's. I’m much too skinny compared to the other women. Years of hardship took its toll on me. But since I was allowed to-to bleed for the first time, my breasts have started to change. They’ve become heavier, my nipples even seeming to grow slightly and become more sensitive to touch and changes in temperature. I never even noticed anything about my chest before but now it's like, they’re in the way sometimes.
Devils fucking tits.
As Ryla fills an empty vessel full of water and begins to pour it over my head, a voice fills the tiny space—a male voice.
“Now that is a sight to see,” Lord Navar hums, still stroking his stupid beard.
“Lord Navar,” Ryla startles, as he enters the bathroom and stands at the foot of the tub. “Sir. She is bathing. You shouldn’t be in here.”
He narrows his eyes and shoos her away. “Do you think I would be in here if the kings hadn’t demanded it? I was ordered to keep a watch on the human, and I intend to follow through.”
The kings allowed this?
The hopeful part of me that thought maybe I could one day mean more to them than I do now, more than just a blood slave, almost shatters. If they don’t care about me enough to offer me any privacy from…from him, then they really don’t care.
I’ve never felt so alone before.
I hug my arms around my chest and keep my thighs pressed together, even though he probably can’t see my body through the bubbles in the tub.
But he tries.
And as Ryla washes my hair, and the bubbles begin to pop, my shame grows and grows. Navar never takes his eyes off me, his eerie, red eyes. Mikhail's eyes turn crimson when he’s…feeding, but the sight doesn’t scare me, or even compare to Navar’s feral gaze. Washing myself is horrific, but I try to pretend he’s not there as I clean my more intimate parts. And by the time the water has chilled, and all the bubbles have gone, Ryla moves to grab a towel folded on a small wooden stool.
But Navar snatches it up and shakes it out. “Come, blood slave. Let me dry you off, hmm? Wouldn’t want you catching cold before the ball even begins. The kings might become quite angry if I allowed you to suffer a chill.”
Manipulation, that’s what this is. He’s using the power of the kings to get me to do what he wants. I don’t think they would allow him to do this. But I also know they are in the rooms right next to mine. Navar is many things, but he’s not stupid enough to touch me this close to the kings unless he had their permission. My heart falls down another rung.
I take a breath and grab the side of the tub with one hand, covering my chest with the other arm and pull myself up. Water rushes down my body as I step out of the tub and stand before Navar, turning and offering him my back. He doesn’t cover me immediately, drinking me in with his eyes, before the warmth of the towel is draped over my shoulders. I tug the sides together covering myself.
Navar’s hands begin to roam, pressing the towel as if it were a sponge and he was trying to soak up a spill. But when he gets to my ass, and squeezes in a way I know was never meant to help soak water from my skin, I can’t help it. I lose it, and swat his hands away. “I can do it.” My words are clipped and Ryla’s right there to help me. To save me from him.
“This way. Please.” She wraps her hand around my back and guides me from the bathroom and back into the main room. She opens the doors of what I thought was a wardrobe, but inside is a huge mirror seated above a desk with a fur-covered stool. She sits me down and lights the oil lamps as a second girl joins her and starts to detangle my hair.
I get lost in the sensations, keeping my eyes closed. I know Navar is near, I can smell his pungent scent of cigars and lavender. It’s nauseating. Girls move around me, opening the little drawers and pulling out what I’ve learned is makeup. I follow their directions….
