Chapter 10

NICOLETTE

^~You open my eyes. And I’m ready to go. Lead me into the light.~^

I opened my eyes to see Dar—I mean, Lucien carrying me. He was looking straight ahead, gorgeous as ever, and I realized I wasn’t cold anymore. Even my feet were warm. I stared at his face, his hair flowing with every step. I felt so protected in his arms.

I looked around at where we were and was startled when Lucien spoke. He didn’t speak to me, though. He said three words, then a small camp suddenly appeared right in front of us.

I gasped, and he looked down at me. Was that relief in his eyes?

Then he smiled and set me down. He grabbed my hand. “We will stay here until morning.” He walked us to the perimeter where a man was standing watch.

The watchman eyed us like we were aliens, which, I was. But as we got closer, he focused on Lucien’s face, as if he had seen him before but wasn’t sure. Then, his eyes widened and he bowed slightly before turning and running into the camp, shouting something.

Lucien didn’t wait for him to return and just strode in, pulling me along beside him.

The site was small and quite homey, with a large bonfire in the center and a dozen colorful tents surrounding it. There were people mulling about and chatting, but the shouts of the watchman caused their conversations to become whispers and murmurs.

And those grew louder when we stepped into the firelight, causing people inside tents to poke their heads out, some of them gasping.

Since the people here looked like those on Earth, I knew they weren’t gasping because they were seeing an alien. It was because they were seeing a king.

Those nearest us bowed to Lucien, which caused a ripple of bows throughout the camp, but he lifted his palm and addressed them. Of course I didn’t know what he was saying, so while the attention was away from me, I looked around at the camp.

It really wasn’t much different from what I’d seen on Earth. The tents resembled those from nomadic cultures in the Middle East, and the people had the same mix of complexions, body builds, and facial features. But behind the crowd, a foursome emerged from a tent, and I would never have thought they were of my world.

Two had blueish skin, sharp facial features, and pointy ears, and their hair was in long black dreads. They were what I’d imagine elves looked like. The other two were bird people. Or rather, people with feathers for hair.

I wondered if they could fly. I made a mental note to ask Lucien about them later.

Silence fell over the camp as a man walked through the crowd and stepped in front of us.

He bore similar markers to tribal leaders from Earth: he wore a gold-embroidered, burgundy, Grecian-like tunic, his gold hoop earrings were the largest among those worn by the other men around, and he had a tattoo of a bird covering half his face and bald head—the only one here to have such a tattoo.

He was also the tallest person here, though not as tall as my companion still holding my hand.

Lucien spoke first and the man kept a brave face, but the way he gripped the hem of his shirt gave away his fear. It made me think that Lucien wasn’t known to be a nice king. Sure, he wasn’t nice to me because I was an intruder, but maybe he wasn’t nice to anybody.

The two exchanged some words, then Lucien tilted his head toward me.

The man looked at me and nodded. He turned and waved over the woman standing beside the flap of the largest tent. She was in her forties and was accompanied by two teenagers, likely her daughters. They approached us and bowed deeply.

The man said something to her and she looked at me and nodded. She bowed again and took my hand, gently pulling me away from Lucien.

I glanced at him, sending him a silent question he already knew the answer to.

“Go with them. You will be pampered like a princess.” He nodded toward the tent.

“Wow. I’ve never had royal treatment before. How exciting.” I smiled.

He smiled back. “Well, that is all you get when you are with me.”

I turned back to the woman as her daughter grabbed my other hand. Their warm, smiling faces were on me, and I trusted them that instant.

They pulled me into the large tent and sat me down on a stool just inside. The mother and one daughter walked behind a curtain on the far side of the tent while the second daughter kneeled and pulled a large bowl toward us.

She had soft young features, fair skin, and short pink hair, so I named her Pinky. She began to wash my feet, and I was grateful she was being so tender. I was also grateful for the lush fur rugs underfoot as she then walked me to the curtain.

Pinky pulled it aside for me, and I was immediately in awe.

It was a full-on modern bathroom, complete with a granite-looking sink, a shelf with dozens of colorful bottles, and a three-walled glass box in the center that could comfortably fit four people.

I took this to be the shower, which would rival the showers of high-end homes back in my world, but it didn’t have a showerhead, faucet, or knobs.

The wife pointed toward the glass box and smiled at me. Then she signaled the girls with her head, and they started pulling Lucien’s jacket off my body.

“Ah, no, no. It’s alright. I can do it myself.” I put my hands up to block theirs, but it was no use. I was outnumbered, and they were hard-pressed on stripping me naked.

The woman said something as I stood there naked, covering myself and beginning to shiver. She said it again and I just looked at her. She sighed and gave me a small smile, shaking her head, and spun me toward the glass box. She gave me a light shove.

“Right.” I stepped inside. “Let’s just get this over with,” I murmured.

Then a fourth wall appeared, closing the box and caging me in. It startled me, and I tapped on it lightly. I wasn’t claustrophobic, I was just curious how it worked. I looked around and found that the inside was somehow calming, but I still couldn’t see a source for water.

I looked out at the woman and used my body to ask, “What now?” ~And are you just going to watch me shower?~ I thought to myself.

The walls suddenly became frosted and water rushed down on my head.

“Oh!” I jumped, expecting the water to be cold. But it wasn’t. It was just the right temperature.

As I stood enjoying the warmth, I gathered the water in my palm to examine it. Yep, it had that same bluish shimmer to it.

I tilted my head up and enjoyed the water hitting my face. Then I realized I had no shampoo or body wash. I left the stream of water and opened my eyes to signal the woman.

I screamed when I saw that the walls were see-through again and that Lucien was standing by the curtain, alone and staring at me.

I turned away and covered my body the best I could, then shot him a cold glare. “Mr. Ozric! Can’t you see I’m taking a shower?”

“Yes. I can see everything, Nicolette.” He was leaning on a tent pole. His long hair was swept to the side, tied into a low ponytail. And his stormy gaze raked my naked body, from my bare feet to my wet head.

I felt vulnerable, violated. I wanted him gone. “You’re such a pervert! Get out!” I gave him my most serious scowl.

But he just chuckled and straightened to his full height. He took a step toward the box. “Nobody talks to me like that, desime.”

“Why do you keep calling me that? What does it mean?” Despite how angry I was, curiosity took over. He’d used that word so many times. ~Who knows? Maybe he just called me a bitch.~

“It is an endearment, Nicolette. Get used to it.”

“Well, I don’t want your endearments.” I refrained myself from asking what the translation was. “Just get out, please!”

“Are you sure you want me to go? I think I can help you in there.”

“I don’t need your help, thank you. I just need you to leave.”

“You sure?” Grinning, he walked to the shelf and grabbed three bottles. “So you are good without shampoo, conditioner, and body wash?” His grin turned into that smirk of his.

I huffed. He won again. I held one hand out toward the fourth wall while covering as much as I could with the other.

He walked to the door and it vanished. “Say it. Say you need my help.”

I stared at him for a few seconds before relenting. “Fine. I need your help. But you are not coming in here with me!”

He handed them to me one at a time and then looked up. This made me look up too.

The falling water had no source. It just fell from nothing. Awestruck yet again, I forgot I was still naked. When I remembered and looked back to him, he was already leaning against the pole and looking at me again.

I found that the longer I was naked around him, the more comfortable it became.

“The water running over your head is powered by the magic in this kingdom. Every kingdom has magic. Nothing in your world compares to mine. Do you want to see more of the magic here?” He looked at me with genuine hope. Did he want me to stay?

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad here. I could think of it as research, the kind I’d do about a civilization and culture before I began a dig. I’d never seen real magic before, and I’d love to know more about it.

“I would like that, yes.” I gave him a smile, then remembered his invasion of my privacy. “Now go!”

His grin fell and he pushed off the pole. He opened the curtain and stood under it, looking at me with a stern expression. “Nicolette, a warning. Order me like that again, and I will punish you like they do in your world. By taking you over my knee.”

He raised a hand up. I thought that it was to mimic a spanking movement, but it was actually to signal the woman.

He said something in a commanding voice to her. She looked at me, then nodded. Then he said something again, pointing first to me then to himself. The woman bowed low, then he looked at me again.

He said something to me I of course didn’t understand. But this time, I heard the words clearly. “Ashitei, Nicolette. Kun tei ashitei.”

I twisted my mouth. For some reason, my insides tingled with delight upon hearing those words. “What does that mean?”

He unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt instead of answering. Then he left, leaving me hanging.

“What an ass,” I muttered to myself after I was sure he was gone.

My privacy may have been invaded, but I wasn’t going to let this divine shower go to waste.

His last words, whatever they meant, lingered in my head.