59. Naked (and Afraid) (Patreon)

Dread would have filled Aloe’s mind but another more prominent thing occupied her thoughts.

Boobs.

Rani-al-Sadina looked at her with all her mighty and exposed body, the emir did not flinch nor blush at her presence. In any case, the buxom woman only appeared more comfortable now that Aloe had stated her presence.

“I... uhm... wrong bath...” Aloe said shyly as she clutched the towel enveloping her body. “I-uhm will r-remove myself from here now.” Even as she said so, the scribe didn’t turn her body, her eyes fixated on the emir whilst she walked backward, as if her gaze had been glued to the person in front of her.

“You will not go anywhere,” Rani stated sharply, her voice cutting through the steam and room.

Aloe instantly halted on the spot. That wasn’t a statement, but an order. One that terrified her.

“Prance forward.” The sultanzade spook softly, her finger gesturing Aloe to approach.

In any other scenario, she would have run away; no thoughts pondered, no questions asked. But now her feet moved alone without even having time to think. Slowly and shyly, Aloe approached the woman lazily sitting in the pool, her hands unconsciously letting pressure go away from the clutches holding the towel around her body.

Aloe’s chest raised and fell heavily with each step; her breathing was hard, yet the sounds of her heartbeat overcame it. Her ears rang with the wet thuds of her heart.

The instant her feet met a hint of water, consciousness returned to her, as if it had been on a long sleep. When her mind kicked into thoughts, Aloe flinched, but soon she met gazes with Rani. Even through the steam, no matter that she was a pool away, she saw her purple eyes.

Oh, her eyes shone like amethysts.

Quite literally at that.

Aloe was bewildered by the glow, she couldn’t even focus on the far bigger assets in her field of view, the gemstones took all her attention. She didn’t even notice she was walking in the water until it was too late.

“What’s with the towel anyways?” Before she could react, Rani grabbed her by the waist and pulled away Aloe’s towel – prompting a reflexive yelp from her – and leaving her naked to the emir’s eyes.

It was a single moment, but as Aloe lay there unmoving in Rani’s arms, it seemed to linger for an eternity. Her purple eyes embrace her with the caress of the softest velvet, her mind so overloaded that she couldn’t process the feeling of their skin touching. Even though she was the one with the accelerated breathing and a hot bath enveloped her, Aloe could only focus on the warmth of Rani’s breath.

Slow and methodical.

Enticing.

The emir’s lips curved into a djinnish smile.

Aloe jerked, common sense returning to her as she struggled free from the woman’s clutches and covered her exposed chest and femininity.

Instead of being offended – far from it – Rani thrived in Aloe’s antics. The scribe felt dizzy as the emir’s eyes shone in elation.

“W-where are y-your servants, Rani?” Aloe managed to muster in order to change the subject away from her with all the decency one could have whilst naked. Especially as she felt devoured by the amethysts overlooking her.

Those eyes unsettled and excited her in equal measure.

“Oh, well. I do not need them, do I?” The emir put her arms under her chest, making it difficult for Aloe to keep looking at her eyes.

Even if she didn’t want to lose herself in the desert of purple, it would be very bad etiquette to look... elsewhere. And it certainly didn’t help that Rani was more than a head taller than her.

Rani-al-Sadina was not a tall person, but she was definitely a tall woman. A simple estimation would put her at one meter and eighty, and compared with Aloe’s one and a half, it was a challenge to not look at the woman’s bosom as she highlighted them. Those breasts weren’t ships, they were a whole armada.

The sultanzade’s eyes glowed and her smile twisted in giddy as she saw the challenge Aloe was trying to overcome.

“I-uhm-this-uhm...” It was hard coming up with words. Coherent ones at least. Even though she had barely spent a few minutes in the pool, and she hadn’t even submerged more than her legs in the hot water, Aloe felt a dizziness unlike any other she had ever experienced in the public baths. “A w-woman of y-your station shouldn’t bathe by herself.” It was the first thing that came to her mind, an unconscious babbling more than a conscious thought.

“You are right.” The emir admitted.

“I’m... right?” Aloe flinched from the backlash of the words, dumbfounded by Rani’s straightforwardness.

“Yes,” She nodded, her crispy yet dry hair swaying with the gesture. “I should get someone to wash my body. Though I don’t see any servants around...”

Aloe backpedaled. “I c-can go search for them.”

“What did you say to Naila back then when I hired you?” The sultanzade’s tone was even sharper than her sister’s blades. “You talked about how I was your liege, right?”

“Yes...” Aloe added silently; her voice weaker than a whisper, her body trembling despite the warm water.

“And you said that before I hired you, so now I am your liege and your employer. There isn’t much difference between that and being a servant, right?”

“...yes...” Her voice almost didn’t even reach her own ears.

Aloe’s eyes became watery. She was scared. She didn’t know what the emir was capable of, or perhaps she knew too well what the sultanzade was capable of, and that unsettled her to no end.

“Then serve me.” It didn’t matter if Rani spoke an order or not, if she had the authority for her to do this in the first place, her hostile tone pressured Aloe into obeying.

The emir walked out of the pool with a single stride of her long legs, water dripping down copiously. Aloe followed behind her wordlessly, too shy to muster a sound. Soon it became obvious to her the sultanzade’s intentions as she sat on a bench next to a smaller pool and a plethora of buckets.

“Use the pink one, the white one does not deal well with my hair.” Before Aloe could ask what the woman was talking about, she noticed a bowl of soaps and other bath paraphernalia on a clay stand.

Her hands shook as she grabbed the pink soap and made foam with a water bucket. Aloe breathed deeply before landing her soap-covered hands on Rani’s hair. Whilst not a maid, familial bathing was common in Ydaz, and she had washed her mother’s scalp from time to time.

“Mmm~” Rani moaned in satisfaction, making Aloe blush and stop. “Why did you stop? Keep going. Those fingers are heavenly.”

Aloe didn’t respond to the emir’s quip and continued rubbing her scalp. She highly doubted her fingers felt that good, she was just toying with her. Surely.

“Mmm~ Ah~” The sultanzade continued to moan suggestively, the scribe’s concentration constantly wavering.

Even as Aloe emptied her mind like she did when infusing plants or herself, her heartbeat kept accelerating, a lump forming in her throat. After a few minutes, the foam diminished from all the rubbing.

Unprompted, Aloe grabbed a bucket and slowly dropped the water on Rani’s head, making sure that no foam remained. Once the hair was done, Aloe waited in silence, holding her breath as much as she could in an attempt to make the emir forget about her existence.

That plan didn’t work out.

“What are you waiting for?” She asked. “My body still needs some rinsing.”

To say that Aloe’s heartbeat went haywire upon hearing those words was an understatement. She almost fainted.

“I... I s-shouldn’t do that, R-Rani.” Her voice trembled as much as her hands. “I a-am not w-worthy.” Aloe didn’t even know what she was talking about. She just said the first excuse that came to her head.

The emir turned around, now that she was seated their eyes met face to face on the same level. That purple glint was intoxicating. Corrupting.

“Nonsense.” The sultanzade responded. “If a maid can touch my body, then my scribe of commoners can. And besides, that was an order.”

There was not enough time to refute as Rani grabbed Aloe’s hand and brought her to her body. Her tit. The chest of a princess. Rani put pressure on her hold, driving Aloe’s digits to sink into the flesh, black meeting bronze. The softness was indescribable, any comparisons wouldn’t do justice or were too overused to not sound ridiculous.

“Now, wash.” Rani let Aloe’s hand fall to the ground, and she nodded at a loss of thoughts and words.

The lost scribe soaked a towel in soap and water and started to carefully brush it against the emir’s skin. As a sultanzade, it was highly unlikely that Aloe could hurt Rani’s skin, but she didn’t take risks. She calmly took her time to luster every inch of the bronze of her skin.

Aloe soaked the towel in the bucket every time the foam ran out, and whilst Rani wasn’t moaning like before, she instead was looking at her attentively as she washed her from the front. That was even worse. Please don’t notice it. Please don’t notice it. The young adult chanted the mantra in her head, praying that the woman wouldn’t notice her blush, or at least mistake it with the flush of the hot bath.

Once every section of the emir’s body was done, Aloe stepped backward, making the most distance possible from the sultanzade. Partially wanting to run away.

“Wait.” Rani cut her attempt with a neutral yet melodious voice.

Is there something else? Fear filled Aloe’s mind. Yes, that was what she currently was. Afraid. Is she going to make me wash... there? Or maybe wash... Her blush intensified; she stopped those thoughts from blossoming.

Rani didn’t talk, she remained in silence on the bench, the suspense was killing Aloe.

Without a previous warning, the sultanzade stood up, her skin shining far more than before from the deep scrubbing. She turned to face her, Rani’s eyes looking over her shoulder.

“Well done.” The woman added neutrally; no sultriness nor playfulness was present in her voice, and made her way out of the bathroom.

The moment Aloe no longer heard her steps, her legs gave out and she fell to the floor. What? Her heartbeat slowly came back to normalcy, and her mind cleared. She couldn’t believe what had happened, where had all the lasciviousness and eagerness gone? Have... have I imagined all of that?