Burning for Love by Evangeline Anderson
12
“Well, are you planning to take a bath in all your clothes?” Lady Mildew demanded. “Take off your things, girl, since your new Companion was too lazy to take them off earlier!”
“I can help the Princess remove her other garments now,” James offered. Shutting off the water, he stepped forward to stand in front of Rissa. “How may I assist you, Princess?” he asked formally.
“Oh, er, well…” Rissa began, feeling herself blush to the roots of her long, curly hair.
“Embarrassed now, are you, my girl?” Lady Mildew looked at her shrewdly. “As well you should be! Letting a man undress you!”
“James is no man—he is a cyborg!” Rissa cried, but it was hard to remember that when he was standing there in front of her, so tall and handsome with his broad shoulders and his shirt sleeves rolled up to expose muscular forearms—though one of them was made of metal.
That’s right—metal! He’s no different from a butler droid and I would not be embarrassed to let one of them undress me, Rissa reminded herself.
Focusing on the big Kindred’s metal arm helped her regain control of herself and vanquish her embarrassment.
“Sir James,” she said formally, looking up at him. “Will you please help me to remove my underthings so that I might get into the tub?”
“With pleasure, my Lady,” James returned, his deep voice as formal as hers. Bending a little, because he was so tall, he helped her out of her robe and draped it over one arm. Then he pulled her chemise over her head and helped her step out of he pantalettes, which he also draped over his arm.
At that point, Rissa was naked except for her thigh-high, white silk hose and the ice gel pads which were stuck to her points with the sticky glue on their backs.
She held her head high, but couldn’t help blushing as James knelt before her and helped her take off her stockings. Her nether mouth, with its delicate fuzz of brownish-blond curls, was so close to his face!
But she reminded herself that she had been undressed by Lady Mildew many, many times and it had never embarrassed her—she would not be embarrassed now. After all, a Royal Princess must have help to remove her clothing and her new Companion was just a kind of robot—why should it be embarrassing to let him help undress her?
Then James looked up at her, frowning. He was so tall that he didn’t have to look far—in fact, they were almost eye-to-eye, even with Rissa standing and him kneeling before her.
“I am not certain about the, er, items you have on your chest, my Lady,” he said. “Are they also to be removed?”
“Oh, yes—they, er, peel off,” Rissa exclaimed. “Like this…” She pinched the edge of one ice gel pack and began to tug it away from her stiff peak, but Lady Mildew stopped her with a derisive snort.
“Are you trying to undress yourself, girl? You know Royalty must have help with such things!”
“Why?” James asked, frowning, before Rissa could react. “I can understand the Princess’s need for help in getting off the heavy wigs and gowns she is forced to wear,” he continued. “But why must she have help removing her undergarments?”
“Why…why because!” Lady Mildew exclaimed. “It is our custom. And who are you to question our customs?” she added, glaring at the big warrior.
He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling.
“I only asked to acquire information that will aide me in serving the Princess and keeping her safe. I wanted to know if there was a practical reason she was unable to undress herself.”
“If you’re too lazy to undress her properly—” Lady Mildew began.
“Of course not,” James interrupted smoothly. “Please, allow me to do that, Princess,” he added, and grasped the edge of the right gel ice pack and tugged it gently but smoothly away from her glowing point.
When it came away, his metallic blue eyes rested briefly on her red-hot nipple and Rissa had the idea that he wanted to ask her a question. But then his eyes flickered quickly away and he pulled the pad off the other nipple and nodded at her.
“There, Princess—you are ready for your bath.” He rose and took a respectful step back.
“Not quite.” Lady Mildew stepped forward and pointed the small, black remote control as the silver Chastity Wire. It made a sizzling sound and then Rissa felt its steady, constant hum cease abruptly as it went dead for the time being. Lady Mildew took the wire from around her waist and nodded at her. “Well—go on, get in.”
Feeling more naked than she ever had with the big Kindred in the room, Rissa walked to the tub filled with icy water and stepped down into it.
As always since her Heat Cycle had begun, the frigid water made her shiver but felt good at the same time. When she sank down so that it covered her large breasts, twin puffs of steam rose from her peaks and they went from glowing cherry-red to their normal berry-dark.
Below, Rissa could feel the cool water caressing her nether lips as well. She wished that she dared to reach between her legs and spread herself open to allow the cold water better access to her forbidden regions—what a relief it would be to cool the burning down there!
But even without the Chastity Wire to shock her, she didn’t dare. Lady Mildew was standing there, glaring at her, and the water was crystal clear—it would be obvious that she was touching herself in places she should not. So she simply sank further down in the tub and sighed as the cold water did its best to chill her Fire Blood.
But she wasn’t allowed to relax for long.
“Well?” Lady Mildew exclaimed, glaring at James. “Why are you not scrubbing the Princess, you great oaf? Do you think your job is just to loll around watching her all day?”
James frowned at her.
“You know, Lady Mildew, you have accused me more than once of wishing to touch Princess Ka’rissa in an improper way, though I have told you I am a cyborg and have no desires in that direction. But then you urge me to undress her and scrub her naked body. There would seem to be a dichotomy between your words and actions.”
“How dare you accuse me of having a…a…whatever it was you just said?” Lady Mildew exclaimed. “I’m just trying to tell you to do your job, you idiot robot! The Princess must be bathed. As her Companion for many years, that lot always fell to me. So if you’re too stupid to do it, I can show you how—”
“No, please!” Rissa exclaimed. She had always dreaded the scrubbing part of her nightly bath with Lady Mildew. Mostly because her old chaperone had always insisted on using the stiffest scrubbing brush possible—the blue one with the metal-tipped bristles that left her pale brown skin red and raw afterwards.
“So you’d rather be dirty?” Lady Mildew demanded, glaring at her.
“No indeed, but it is no longer your job to scrub me, Lady Mildew,” Rissa said quickly. She looked at James. “If you please, Sir James, the scrubbing brushes are in the second drawer under the sink,” she told him.
He nodded silently and went to rummage in the drawer for a moment. When he returned, Rissa was delighted to see that he had one of the softer brushes in his big hand—the pink one with a long handle.
“Hold out your arm, please, Princess,” he said, kneeling beside the tub. “So I can scrub you.”
“What’s that brush you’re using?” Lady Mildew demanded. “That won’t get her clean! She needs the blue one—that’s the one I always use on her!”
James frowned.
“The one with metal-tipped bristles? I would never use something like that on Princess Ka’rissa’s skin. It’s much too rough—it might hurt her.”
“She needs to be hurt a bit, in order to get her clean,” Lady Mildew protested. “She’s a very dirty girl, you know—she needs a good, solid scrubbing.”
“She doesn’t look all that dirty to me,” James said firmly. “And I refuse to use an instrument on her that might wound her. Princess, please hold out your hand,” he said, looking at Rissa.
Shyly—she had been crossing her arms over her chest to cover herself—Rissa sat up and held out a hand to him. James took it in his own and began stroking the scrub brush up and down her arm, gently but firmly.
Rissa sighed in pleasure at the pleasant sensation. The bristles produced their own sweet-smelling foam and cleaned her without abrading her skin. Lady Mildew said no more but looked on with a sour expression as James washed Rissa’s other arm and then her legs and back and torso—though he carefully avoided her points. The older woman didn’t object again until James nodded and sat back.
“There, Princess—I believe you’re clean,” he told Rissa.
“She is not!” Lady Mildew exclaimed. “You haven’t washed betwixt her legs, yet! That part is the dirtiest of all!”
James frowned.
“I don’t believe I should scrub that area with a brush—even one without metal-tipped bristles. I don’t want to injure the Princess.”
“You have to scrub her there to get her clean!” Lady Mildew insisted. “And if it hurts her, so much the better! That’ll keep her from trying to reach between her legs like the nasty, dirty girl she is!”
“Lady Mildew!” Rissa was horrified and humiliated at the same time. “I have never—”
“Oh, yes you did! Or why did I have to use the Chastity Wire on you in the first place?” Lady Mildew demanded.
“I was only ten years old!” Rissa exclaimed. “I…I didn’t know any better! And anyway, I can’t—not with the Chastity Wire in the way—and you know it!” Suddenly, years of anger boiled up inside her. “I think you only scrubbed me so hard all those years because you liked hurting me!” she blurted, before she could stop herself.
“How dare you speak that way to me, you nasty little worm?” Lady Mildew’s faded blue eyes flashed warningly. “I ought to leave right now without putting your Chastity Wire back in place. Let’s see how long your reputation remains unstained if word gets around the Court that you’ve got a man dressing and undressing you—not to mention bathing you, naked in the tub—and no Chastity Wire to keep him from doing what he shouldn’t!”
“I have told you, James is a cyborg!” Rissa exclaimed. She hated fighting with her old chaperone like this! Lady Mildew usually just grumbled and groused—she hadn’t seen the other woman this stirred up in years. She must really be angry about her loss of status, since she was no longer Rissa’s Constant Companion and chaperone.
“I don’t care what he is, he’s got man parts betwixt his legs and he’s up to no good!” Lady Mildew declared.
She got up as though to leave, and Rissa realized there was a disaster in the making. If word got out to the Court—to the person who wrote Lady TittleTattle’s Breadcrumbs—that her new male Companion was bathing her and undressing her and there was no Chastity Wire involved, her reputation would be ruined beyond repair, no matter what the Steward said!
“Please, Lady Mildew, don’t go,” she said quickly, clasping her hands under her chin. “I…I didn’t mean what I said and I shouldn’t have said it. Please, I beg you!”
Her words seemed to calm her old chaperone somewhat, for Lady Mildew sat back down on the chair beside the tub and frowned warningly at Rissa.
“Let’s have no more backtalk, my girl,” she said. “I may not be your Companion anymore, but I’ve still got power over you and don’t you forget it!”
“No, Lady Mildew, I wont,” Rissa whispered miserably. Clearly she would never be rid of the sour old bat, even if she did have a new Companion now. “May I be excused from the bath?” she asked humbly, keeping her eyes lowered.
“Well…I suppose so,” Lady Mildew said grudgingly. “Though you’ll have to be scrubbed twice as hard betwixt your legs tomorrow night to make up for missing tonight,” she added.
Rissa saw James frown and open his mouth, presumably to say that he refused to scrub such a delicate area too vigorously. She caught his eyes and gave a quick shake of her head. The big Kindred’s frown deepened, but he nodded shortly and went to put away the brush he’d been using on her. When he came back, he was holding up a large, plush towel.
“Are you ready to exit the bathing tub, my Lady Ka’rissa?” he asked her.
“Yes, thank you, Sir James.”
Keeping her head low and her arms crossed over her breasts, Rissa stepped out of the icy water and let him wrap the big pink towel around her shoulders.
“Very well—hurry up and dry her,” Lady Mildew directed him. “I must put this Chastity Wire back on the Princess and I can’t do it if she’s wet.”
He nodded without speaking and began drying Rissa’s arms and legs and torso—though she noticed that he once again skirted around her peaks and the spot between her legs. Had he been taught to avoid touching such delicate places on board the Mother Ship? Or was he simply trying to show her respect by not touching her private areas?
Either way, she respected his delicacy and tact in the matter. She was still shy about having his hands on her body, despite the fact that she knew he had no lustful emotions—or any emotions for that matter. It was good of him to realize that and to respect her boundaries.
Though he wouldn’t have if Lady Mildew had anything to say about it, she thought, as she opened the towel so her old chaperone could re-clasp the Chastity Wire around her waist and re-activate it with the remote only she had access to.
Why the older woman insisted she was dirty and had evil impulses was beyond Rissa. The incident she kept harping on—the single time she’d tried touching herself between her legs, before she knew it was wrong to do so—had happened so long ago it seemed that almost anyone else would have forgotten it by now. But not Lady Mildew—she had to bring it up—in front of James, too!
Rissa didn’t care that he had no emotions—it was still humiliating for him to know about her one foray into the forbidden place between her legs. What would he think of her now? What if he thought she was a dirty, nasty girl, as Lady Mildew had proclaimed her to be? It might be foolish, but she found she cared about the big Kindred’s good opinion—cared deeply.
Maybe she felt that way because, in a way, she felt that she already knew him. Not just from their interactions tonight, but also because of the many dreams she’d had of him over the past month. Dreams in which he held her and murmured in her ear in that deep voice of his…
Blushing, she tried to push the thought away. It was making her points feel hot again, despite her recent cold bath, and she didn’t need to worry about setting her nightdress on fire in the night as she slept. Well, not that she could—it was made of fire retardant fabric, as were all her clothes—but it was possible to scorch it quite badly, which would ruin the delicate material it was made of.
Speaking of her nightdress, James had it all ready for her. He slipped the silky white garment over her head and it settled around her ankles, much to Rissa’s relief. She didn’t enjoy being naked and vulnerable—clothing was like armor and she needed all the armor she could get whilst battling with Lady Mildew.
And thank goodness, Lady Mildew seemed finally about to leave. She rose from her chair and pointed a crooked finger at Rissa.
“You behave, my girl,” she said, a frown creasing her face deeply. “I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow and you’d better be on your very best behavior.”
Rissa wanted to snap back that she was always on her best behavior and it wasn’t necessary to remind her to use her Court manners all the time. But she thought better of it and simply nodded her head meekly.
“Yes, Lady Mildew. Good night, Lady Mildew,” she said, just as she had said every night after her bath for years and years.
Lady Mildew harumphed once more before flouncing out of the bathing room and leaving Rissa’s apartments, banging the door shut behind her on her way out.
