They talked about me as if I wasn’t there, which further unsettled me.
The soft whirring of Timur’s chair came from the entrance. I sensed him coming closer, and my anxiety settled a bit.
Lord Arnaf gave a silent order with a flick of his wrist, and his guards removed the screen, revealing a pale pink shell so large, it could easily accommodate a person. The shell was half-filled with water. At a wave of the lord’s hand, several servants walked in from outside, carrying buckets of steaming hot water.
“They say humans enjoy baths,” Lord Arnaf said, and I nearly moaned with anticipation.
My anxiety melted. Excitement warmed my limbs, spreading through me with soft tingling along my skin. I hadn’t had a real bath since… Well, since forever. Even in Teneris bathing had been fairly simple. Since no one tried to taste my joy from bathing, there hadn't been the need for anything fancy like the milky white oils or pink petals that Lord Arnaf’s servants were pouring and sprinkling over the water in the shell now.
As if on cue, my skin itched, reminding me of the sweat and sand that seemed to permanently be clinging to my body lately. The sponge baths or rain showers paled in comparison with the luxurious bath beaconing me.
“See? I told you she’ll love it,” Lord Arnaf boasted with deep satisfaction. “Take her clothes off,” he ordered to the servants.
I sucked in a breath as two servants, a man and a woman approached me.
“Now what’s the matter?” Lord Arnaf groused, sensing the shift in my mood through his tendril connected to me.
I raised both hands, trying to stop the pushy fae from manhandling me.
“I’ll do it myself,” I said. “Just…stay back, please. I won’t derive any joy from strangers touching me.”
A gentle touch of Timur’s left hand on my arm told me he was next to me now.
“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” he said softly.
I cast a longing glance on the warm water in the giant shell. “I could really use a bath.”
“If you wish.” He nodded, then turned to our unpredictable client. “Lord Arnaf, I’ll ask you and your friends to return to your seating, please. I’ll also ask for the screen to be placed between my Joy Vessel and all of you.”
“The screen?” Lord Darfin scoffed. “What the fuck for?”
The lord and his friends were wearing only skirts themselves. Those who still reclined in the cushions didn’t seem to care that their long side slits had opened, the material bunching up around their hips, exposing them almost up to their waists. Neither of them had their mating clusters anyway, there was nothing to hide. They wouldn’t understand my unease from being forced to undress in front of a bunch of strangers.
Lord Arnaf tensed. I couldn’t make out his expression, but I saw the change in his posture, his squared shoulders, andhis slightly bent arms at his sides. He clearly wasn’t used to receiving orders from others, and Timur’s polite request must have sounded like an order to him. As any insecure man, fae or human, Lord Arnaf hated having his authority questioned.
“Isay what happens around here and how it’s going to be,” he snapped, raising his chin haughtily.
“Right, Arnaf, the trader is way out of line,” Lord Kamir drawled lazily, pouring fire onto Lord Arnaf’s disdain.
I gripped Timur’s hand, no longer holding back my apprehension.
Lord Darfin hissed, yanking his tendril out of myleilatha.
“So much for her pleasure,” he complained. “This Joy Vessel is way too sensitive. They’re a bit more stable in the queen’ssarai.”
Lord Kamir got up from the cushion and retrieved his tendril too.
“I guess we’re done here then?” he asked with a whiny note of disappointment in his voice.
“Yes, we are.” Timur’s words slashed through the air like a whip.
“No, we’re not.” Lord Arnaf advanced onto me. “We didn’t come here all this way, carried the Olathana shell with us, and spent a fortune on bringing the water into the desert for her to just turn around and leave. You’re staying, Joy Vessel. And you’ll do what I tell you to do.”
“We’re leaving,” Timur said firmly, gently guiding me toward the exit.
Following a gesture from Lord Arnaf, the guards flanked Timur on both sides from behind. Their spears landed on his shoulders, their sharp tips crossing under his chin.
“Timur…” I gasped, fear lancing through my insides.
