Chapter 67: Twitching in anticipation
Stefan’s POV
I followed Eagle quietly, looking at the direction she was leading me, should I want to walk around next time so I wouldn’t get lost.
Though I doubted that would be useful because this palace was too large and every corner seemed to look the same.
We finally arrived at one archway and the space led to a room.
Eagle pushed the door opened and walked in. I followed suit.
I stepped into the room and stopped dead just past the threshold, actually letting out a low whistle.
"Oh, wow..."
It was bigger than the one I had slept in the night before, and that one had already put my old penthouse to shame in terms of sheer scale. The bed here could’ve slept six people comfortably, frame carved from solid gold, posts twisting up into shapes that looked half floral, half claw.
A table and two chairs sat off to one side, gold too, of course, because apparently subtlety hadn’t made the cut when this planet’s aesthetic got decided. Vases of fresh flowers lined the far wall, even the vases themselves worked in gold, petals practically glowing under the light pouring through some gap in the ceiling I still hadn’t figured out the source of.
And there, through an open archway, a bathroom.
I wandered over and peered inside, taking in fixtures I didn’t recognize the shape of but understood the function of instantly, the same way you would recognize a toilet even carved from something alien.
I grinned slowly, already picturing the hours I intended to waste in there. Maybe even bring Jonquil and Kara here for a round or two, somewhere with better acoustics than a war camp tent.
I walked back out and sat on the edge of the bed, and Eagle, who had been standing quiet by the door this whole time, slipped out without a word.
She returned a few minutes later with a court lady trailing behind her, her arms full of fabric.
I took one look at what was being handed to me and sighed. Another transparent silk gown, same as the one they had tried dressing me in for the celebration, my cock basically on public display the second I put it on.
"Of course," I muttered under my breath. "Guess they really don’t have anything better here." I decided, right then, that fixing this planet’s fashion sense was officially on my very long list of civilizing projects. For now, I would just manage.
"This is your Hand," Eagle said to me after letting me access the fabrics, gesturing to the woman beside her. "She will remain near your room. Should you need anything."
I looked the woman over, smirking despite myself. Not bad at all.
She was built softer than the warriors, shorter too, her curves gentler, her breasts appeared small wrapped in that court robe of dull color, neat, more like oranges than the heavy handfuls Jonquil and Kara carried around. Her face, though, was genuinely lovely, delicate in a way none of the warriors ever bothered being.
Eagle excused herself and left.
The Hand bowed low, and I smiled at her, knowing that my status had indefinitely changed around here.
"First things first, I need to clean up properly. And when I’m done, I will need something to wear under this ridiculous drape. An undergarment." I told her.
I lifted the hem of the drape I had on, enough to show her the short skirt I already had on underneath, the one the missing lady-in-waiting had scrounged up for me before the celebration.
The Hand blinked, said nothing, and walked out.
She came back a few minutes later carrying a different short skirt, this one patterned faintly with small flowers worked into the fabric.
"Better than nothing," I said, taking it from her.
Then my mind decided to be naughty and wandered, briefly, picturing what something closer to what the Queen wore might actually feel like against my skin, and smiled at the thought before setting the skirt aside.
"Come help me clean up." I told the Hand and she followed me into the bathroom without hesitation.
I lowered myself into what could only be described as a gold jacuzzi but impossibly large. I stretched out flat inside it and the Hand got inside it to kneel beside me, yet there was still space.
I was definitely going to bring in Jonquil and Kara.
The water inside it was already steaming faintly and the Hand began working over my skin with something that smelled faintly of crushed petals and something sweeter underneath.
"What do you use to clean your teeth here?" I asked, mostly out of curiosity.
She reached over and offered me something I didn’t recognize, some small twig-like tool, and I turned it over in my hand for a second before realizing, with genuine surprise, that I hadn’t actually needed it once since I’d woken up on this planet. No morning breath. No plaque. Whatever had killed me and dropped me here had apparently also fixed my dental hygiene as a courtesy.
The Hand’s hands moved over me slow, soft in a way that made me close my eyes and just exist in it for a minute.
"Hand? Yeah, name definitely fits." I murmured, mostly to myself.
My cock, predictably, hardened under the attention, but I didn’t push anything. I just lay there, letting her work, feeling her fingers trail over my navel, brush lightly against the length of my cock on their way past like it was purely incidental, though I doubted that was entirely true. The water sat perfectly between hot and cold, exactly the way the air outside always seemed to.
A few minutes later I climbed out, and she helped drape a longer piece of fabric around me, serving as a towel here the same way it served every other purpose on this planet. I had her bring food next, and she fed me slow, patient bites while I sat back and let myself be waited on properly for the first time since landing on this godforsaken, gold-plated rock.
When I was finished, I told her to go find Jonquil for me.
She left, and I sat there on the edge of the bed, waiting, my cock already twitching in anticipation of exactly what I intended to do the second Jonquil walked through that door.