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And I can’t help but smile for a moment. Despite everything, I’m glad these two weren’t serving the triad and that they weren’t part of their harem. Do they have one, back on the black home planet of Obsidious, where their War-God lies? Would they leave them behind to go to war, or take them with them to warm their beds on the campaigns?

I put my other foot in and then sink into the bubbling waters, luxuriating against the stone back of the tub. There’s a stone bench that rings the inside of the pool which I sit on, with half my body above water. It’s a weird feeling to be naked, but after being spanked in front of women I worked with, this is nothing.

The stone back of the hot tub cools, providing a luxurious contrast to the bubbling hot waters and keeping me from sweating too much. I’m refreshed as Raneeda’s fingers rest on my shoulders. She kneels behind me. I’ve got the urge to tell her to stop, or to get a chair to sit on, but as her fingers knead into my tense muscles, the thoughts disappear.

“Relax, relax, you’re stressed,” whispers Raneeda soothingly, her tone of voice changing to a practiced, measured tone. She’s an expert masseuse, even putting on a different voice to match her soothing fingers as she digs in deep.

I tense up. “What is it?” she asks.

“I keep…it’s like I can still hear the anti-air batteries, and those awful sirens.” I got so used to the twin sounds that now in their absence, the silence is pregnant, waiting to be broken.

“That’s over now. We’re safe now,” she says, in that soft voice as her fingers work their way deeper into my back. At first, it’s soothing, then I wince in pain as she presses a knuckle into me.

She giggles. “It’s supposed to hurt a bit, at first. You’ll sleep great tonight. You want me to go easier on you?”

I smile. “No. No pain, no gain,” I say, preparing myself mentally for the next squeeze of her surprisingly strong fingers, but as her knuckles presses into the same spot, this time there’s no pain at all. Instead, there’s a cathartic relaxation. “Oh, that’s good. Thank you,” I say.

Princess Bitch never once thanked me.

“Please, don’t mention it,” she answers, a little awkwardly. “I’m glad to be here, and not…out there,” she says, and her hands pause as she shudders in the memories. “You know, I thought I was in a lot of trouble. A really severe-looking Aurelian, older, maybe fifty or sixty if he was a human, came to my massage parlor. I was the only business on the street that wasn’t wrecked. He asked me all these questions. Then he took me here.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Where I was born, my name, who I knew, then all these weird questions like what I had for dinner a week ago. And he would ask the same questions, over and over, but in different ways.”

“He was seeing if we could be trusted. To serve you,” says Nash, nodding to herself. She sits on a chair on the far side of the hot tub. “May I ask a question?”

“Anytime.”

“You said you were a servant, right? Where were you, when the Scorp attack came?”

The attack feels so far away now that I am lying back in the hot, soothing waters, jets pulsating rhythmically and working my legs as Raneeda works my back. “I was a servant for the merchant baron Pau—I guess it doesn’t matter the bastard’s name. I was on the last year of a ten-year contract.”

Nash grimaces. “Of course. That’s the cruelty of fate. But was his estate spared of the Scorp attack?”

I shake my head. Raneeda’s hands dance from my neck down to my shoulders, not pausing the massage even from my movement. She truly is an expert. “No. The Scorp came. Most went towards the Royal City, but there were hordes coming towards us. We had walls, but Scorp can climb. I was lucky that Kat was here. You know that woman who pushed past the guards and left a few minutes ago?”

“Yeah,” answers Nash. “She’s a battering ram.”

“That’s a good way to put it. She taught me and another girl how to use rifles left behind. We held the Scorp off, just long enough untiltheycame.”

“You shot Scorp? With a rifle?” Her voice returns to its normal tone in her shock, losing the soothing rhythm of her masseuse voice.

“I probably missed half my shots. It was terrifying. But we held them back.” I can see the hole bursting in a Scorp’s armor, downed by my marksmanship, and it’s impossible not to keep a note of pride from my tone. In all my life, it’s the only thing I did worth mentioning. I don’t know if I saved any lives or if we would have been safe long enough in the cellars before the Aurelians came, but I’m glad I spent those long hours fighting for my life instead of cowering.

“It’s an honor to serve you and not some worthless noble,” says Nash, standing up and smoothing her robes. I don’t know what to say in response, so I keep quiet, unused to the praise. She walks away, keeping her footsteps light so as not to disturb me, and I let my lids close as Raneeda’s expert fingers wash away the tension and terror of the day. I sink deeper into the waters that cleanse me. Raneeda’s hands move to my hair as I let myself go under the water, and she washes my hair with a clean, floral shampoo. It’s strange being pampered and cared for. I’m so used to being in the other position, and I hope I’m not making her feel awkward.

“Can I ask you something?” Raneeda whispers, like she doesn’t want Nash to hear.

“Of course.”

“They called you a Queen. Are you…are you the Mate of those men?”

“I don’t know yet.” I clear my throat, and blush, because no matter how little is known about the alien species, everyone knows the way they find out if you are their Mate.

“I heard on Colossus, with their harem women…they’ll do things right in the middle of the street. It’s just normal there, and—”

“Raneeda, watch your tongue,” snaps Nash.