But no, PDD basically hired me to keep his pet company for a whole month. Probably because I was the only female captain in waiting for such a high-end mission and, as the faerie bastard next door had to politely put it, he added a pretty cunt to sweeten the deal.
I had no idea who Gale was, why he was so important and why the rules didn’t apply to him. And apparently, I had no right to ask those questions. Even if I did, I got no answers.
So, at least for today, I would give myself time to bleed and take a breath, because clearly, I was no use to anyone around here and, just like the day before, I hadn’t heard any guards coming to pick up the fae, which meant that he would spend another day exercising, eating, and pissing me off. Might as well take my time in the shower.
But could I even do that?
Apparently not.
Just as I started relaxing and allowed the hot water to kidnap me into its loving embrace, the bathroom door snapped open, letting the cloud of steam out to reveal a tall dark-haired figure who had no problem entering the space I had obviously claimed.
“What are you doing here? Get out!” I instantly turned towards the bathroom wall, doing my best to cover as much of me as I could and having no other choice but to leave my back and bare ass on display.
“I wanted to check that you were alright…” Galenor’s voice pierced through the room before his body fully appeared, his tall frame tightening the small space even further.
“What do you mean? Get the fuck out!” I shouted again, dropping my hair onto my back, desperate to cover as much as me as possible.
“I smelled blood,” he blinked. “It can only come from you,” he said with a tilt of his head, as though he finally realised that I was naked under the hot stream.
Did he feel a sudden urge to leave? Of course not.
He must have thought I was there for his enjoyment, because the fae leaned against the door frame, leaving the door open to get rid of the hot steam and gain a better view and waited.
A second or two passed, neither of us reacting. Me, too shocked by his impertinence. He, confused as to why I wasn’t starting the show. He even felt the need to nudge the air with his chin in invitation and urged me to ‘go on.”
“Not until you get the fuck out!” I yelled while squeezing my breasts with both hands and doing my best to show him as little as I could.
“As I said, I smelled blood,” he did that thing where he started speaking slowly, like one does when addressing a person of foreign heritage and wants to give them enough time to understand the sentence.
“Don’t women have periods where you come from?” I snapped, too aware of the bath towel hanging on the door. Behind him.
He looked at me, his focus whispering relief, as if he’d been genuinely concerned that something might happen to me. I must have imagined it, because merely a second later his proud smirk appeared again, peering around my body to uncover every one of my secrets.
“Get away!” I shouted again, swallowing tears that pricked my eyes. I had made a point of keeping my body hidden, preventing anyone from seeing me fully naked.
Even when I had sex, I kept my tank on, unprepared to allow someone to see me like this. To reveal that part of me. Sometimes, I even forgot about it myself.
By the sharp gaze of the fae, he’d spotted my weakness. A deeper tilt of his head as if he wanted to observe me better, told me his focus had shifted from where it was pinned before on my ass.
“What are you hiding, muffin?” his voice rumbled in my stomach, causing my chest to heave under the heavy hot rain of the shower, all of a sudden burning my skin with shame.
“Go away!” I ordered, trying my best to send wet slates of my hair down my shoulders, desperate to cover my back and ribs along with all the memories I did not allow myself to succumb to. The only choice I had was to turn and face him, to turn my back away from his sight. Even though I had shown my tits with so much valour the day before, I couldn’t bring myself to uncover all of me. Not to him.
So, I remained huddled against the wall, plastering my fears onto the splashes of water that burned into my skin and let the faerie come closer. He moved to the point of stepping in with me, only the rim of the bathtub separating his feet from mine, bringing me to the same level as he was.
Allowing me to look into his eyes and take them fully in, not just glimpses that my short stature allowed me to steal. They were truly wondrous, the most beautiful shade I had ever seen. I had thought them to be emerald but no, they were pure life, sprouting at me with curiosity and sudden understanding.
“Let me see…” he murmured, his focus still pinned to mine, not dropping to my midsection or in between my legs, even though I had found myself so drawn by him that I fully turned. Displaying myself completely to him, unveiling every part I had kept hidden.
“No..” I dropped the plea, my voice shaking from the instant connection we had forged, too deep to break, too strong to dislocate.
“Please…” he murmured as his fingers reached for my skin, raising more heat than the steaming shower ever could.
I found myself broken by that word, by the sound of his voice echoing it and unlocked my defences, opening myself to him, to the caress that caught alongside my elbow, to the fingers that twisted slowly around my skin, urging me to turn.
To let him see me. The real me.
I allowed myself to uncover, to bloom into his touch like I had never done before, to rip away the chains that had kept me trapped, kept me shamed and small, obedient and hurt. My right hand twisted the shower handle to make the water stop dropping invisible lashes on my skin, allowing only the steam to caress the space between us.
