Heart of the Forest

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Alkandros leads me to a different room and different part of the palace than the one I was in before. He knocks and says, "Kalmia." Waits about 3 seconds then opens the door. We walk into a room full of sweet smelling perfume and women everywhere. There are women cleaning, gossiping, eating, and some are in a small heated pool, talking and laughing. As it was in the throne room, all conversation stops when we enter. I sigh, telling myself I better get used to the awkward silence every time Alkandros and I walk into a room together.

The women stare at Alkandros with a hunger in their eyes that say, "Please let me jump you." I move closer to Alkandros's side afraid that they might jump him instead.

"Where is Kalmia?" he asks the women.

A pretty woman with black hair and blue eyes comes forward with a smile on her face. She bows.

"Yes your majesty. How may I service you today?" She asks.

"Our guest here, Akira Foster, needs to have proper Spartan clothes on for the feast tonight. I'm hoping you can make this happen." He says.

Kalmia walks over to me and cups both my cheeks. She turns my head. Left, then right. She circles around me saying 'hm'. Then she does something that surprises me to the point I cannot speak. She starts to feel my breasts. I look at her like she's crazy, but try to keep still. After about 5 minutes of very uncomfortable feeling, she lets go. She looks up at Alkandros's and nods her head.

"Leave her with us," she says.

Alkandros nods and before he leaves, he kisses me on the forehead. I'm shocked and for a second I don't move. Oh my god, he kissed me!

"Excuse me miss, but can you please follow me?"

I shake my head out of my daze and look over at Kalmia, who is over by a doorway covered by a lavish purple curtain. I walk over to her and all the women's eyes are on me. They whisper and point at me like I'm some thing on display. I want to tell them to seriously bug off, but I ignore them. Kalmia pushes the curtain aside and gestures her hand for me to go in. I look at her, not sure whether I should really go in.

She smiles and says, "Do not worry, it just leads to the baths."

"Oh," I say and smile awkwardly back. I go through the doorway and gasp at what I see.

The room is huge and steam is coming up from each of the huge baths. There are men in tunics cleaning the floors. Kalmia walks in and stands near a bath. I walk over.

"Please take off your clothes," she says.

"Wait what?" I look at her thinking she is completely nuts.

"Take off your clothes. Unless you would like to take a bath with them on, although I think it would be a little uncomfortable." She smiles at.

"Well I guess you do have a point there. Um, could you please just turn around?" I ask, blush coming to my cheeks.

She smiles at me and turns around. I take off all my clothes and fold them in a pile. Then I step into the warm water. My body instantly relaxes and I sigh long and deep.

"Feel good?" Kalmia asks, kneeling next to me.

I look up at her and smile. "This is definitely the best bath I have ever taken. Can I please never leave?" Kalmia laughs. Then she snaps her fingers and a man who was cleaning the floor comes over.

"Please get the oils, soaps, and towels," she orders him.

He bows, and leaves. Five minutes later, he comes back with all that she asked him, bows, and leaves. Kalmia takes one of the soap bottles and puts it on her palms. She rubs both palms together and then she takes my hair and starts to massage my scalp. I made this moaning sound that made Kalmia laugh. After 10 minutes, she tells me to wash the soap out. I dunk under the water and scrub the soap out. I come up and Kalmia has another soap in her palms. She takes my hair and massages my scalp again. We stay silent for most of this and I feel weird with the silence. I try to make small talk.