“One of those!” She huffed and rolled her eyes in disgust at Akira. She poured a glass of ale for Akira, leaned close to give Akira a bird’s eye view of her plump breasts and whispered, “I’ve it on good authority he does not like boys. He likes wenches.”
It took a second or two for Akira to comprehend what the girl meant. Akira's face burned. “Little bitch” she growled back. “Perhaps gentlemen like ladies and not wenches like yourself”. The young maid rolled her eyes at the insult and flounced off, much to Akira's relief.
Akira was left in peace to enjoy her meal. Each time the tavern door opened she was aware of who came through. Thoughts of Baron Rolfe kept her on her guard. She finished her meal quickly, talking with no one other than the cheeky girl who had served her. Eager to freshen up, and rest on a soft straw filled mattress she climbed the stairs and returned to her room. It was a pleasant surprise to find her bath already drawn with a drying cloth laid across a chair near the steaming tub. Akira was more than ready to ease her body into a steamy hot bath. She had never ridden so far and her muscles were not used to the amount of riding she had done. A bar of lye soap was set on the drying cloth. Akira closed the door to her room and latched it shut.
With great relief she peeled off her dirty dusty clothes and released her breasts from their tight bindings. She unbraided her waist length hair and gave her scalp one good long scratch. Testing the water with her fingers she found it hot and inviting. She relished the heat as she climbed in and sank down. It felt delightful. It was soothing. She sighed with pleasure. She slid down until her head was under the water, then sat up and rubbed the bar of soap across her head until it lathered up, and all the grit, ash and oils were lathered away. Humming as she bathed, she scrubbed every inch of her body until it tingled. With her scrubbing done, she soaked up the soothing heat until the water cooled, losing its ability to keep her warmly immersed. With reluctance she rose up, for she could not call out for another bucket of hot water. She used the bucket of rinse water beside the tub for her hair. With a shiver, still standing in the tub she used the rough but clean drying cloth and toweled her hair first. She stepped out of the tub, then dried the rest of her body as best she could.
A knock on the door signaled the maid had returned. “More hot water?” the voice behind the door asked.
“No thanks,” replied Akira, remembering just in time to deepen her voice.
“Anything else you need, young master?” The voice was suggestive. It was not hot water being offered.
Akira cringed with annoyance. The young maid was persistent. “No, nothing needed. You can come back and empty the tub later.”
“Shy, are we?” suggested the persistent voice.
“No, just tired, enjoying time alone,” growled Akira. The maid knocked again on the door. Akira decided she needed to act like an annoyed man. Throwing caution to the wind, Akira raised her voice. “Now piss off before I jam this drying cloth up your ass!”
“Well suit yourself, hoighty toity!” exclaimed the offended maid, stomping off. “One of those that don't like girls. Wouldn't be so bad if'n he fancied women folk as well as men.” Her voice was loud and carried.
Her loud parting shot made Akira want to follow through with her threat. She hoped no one else heard the little bitch. She vigorously rubbed her hair and ended up with tangles.
The snubbed and threatened maid rolled her eyes and mimicked the voice behind the door. She had very little experience of being turned down, especially by fancy boys, who wore girl’s undergarments. She had snooped when she filled the bathing tub. “Snotty sort,” the maid murmured. She made an ugly face. She lost her train of thought as a new opportunity presented itself. The handsome warrior Dimitri was ascending up the stairs. Not one to miss an opportunity she quickly abandoned a lost cause. She licked her lips provocatively. She batted her eyelashes. The object of her attentions eyes met her eyes, and pointedly ignored the inviting body language of the young woman in his path. Two snubs in a row was two too many.
“Since you don't seem to like girls, why don't you try the young gent next to your room. He's very attracted to you. Says he'd rather tumble with you under the sheets rather than me. Queer and disgusting lot you are! No accounting for good taste.”
She smiled smugly when she saw a shocked look and an angry look appear on the face of the man that had snubbed her. Seeing his face redden she picked up her skirts and flounced down the hall and down the stairs. She congratulated herself for being smart enough to know when to make a hasty escape down the stairs. She congratulated herself for finding out the young gent had a secret fetish for female attire. A look of satisfaction crossed her face. Her nose went up higher as if she thought herself to be quite intelligent.
Dimitri looked stunned! He made a motion towards his room then stopped. Anger was building. He looked at the door to his room. He looked down the hall. Erastus was looking out his bedroom door with his eyebrows raised.
Erastus coughed to cover a laugh He snorted. “Oh man, you are so pretty even the young men fancy you!” He laughed. Perhaps he was a little drunk. When he saw the twitch of Dimitri’s lip he sobered up momentarily and closed his door, but not fast enough miss hearing Dimitri tell him to sard his horse. Erastus collapsed on his bed. Belly full, sated with ale he fell asleep not knowing his playful teasing was the wind to fan the spark of temper the young maid had already lit.
Dimitri’s face reddened even more. He looked at the door next to his. Crow had the other room to the right so the foul mouthed fool had to be behind the door in front of him. The dispersion on his character could not be ignored now, especially with three ales under his belt. He kicked the door in, prepared to lay a sound beating on the crass fool behind the door. The door flung open.
Akira gasped, too shocked to scream. It was hard to tell who was more shocked. Dimitri stood still... appalled that before him stood a naked young woman with a tangle of long wavy black hair hanging down her back. She was wide eyed in justifiable fright at his explosive intrusion. He looked about the room. There was no man, young or old, in the room. Dimitri felt like an ass. His anger fizzled like a fire doused with a bucket of water.
Akira stood frozen in shock for a few seconds before her wits came back. She grabbed for the drying cloth that she had just placed on the chair while she tried to untangle her tresses. She held it up in front of herself, speechless. Just as she had thought the leader named Dimitri was perhaps likeable for a man, he had crashed into her room looking as if he wanted to tear her apart. Her disguise must not have fooled him. She suddenly trembled in fear.
Dimitri quickly turned his back to preserve the shocked young woman's modesty and started to apologize. The door swung closed on its own, hanging on to its rough hand hewn frame by one hinge.
He started to say he was sorry, but his apologetic words did not get past the young woman’s actions to protect herself. When Dimitri turned his back to preserve her modesty, Akira grabbed the empty wooden rinse bucket and swung it at the back of his head. Had it not been for the wet floor it may have connected soundly. She slipped. The heavy bucket missed its intended target, smashing onto a broad strong shoulder. After the bucket connected, the chagrined Dimitri instantly turned to protect himself from the distraught young woman, grunting as the pain registered. He grabbed at her arms, tripped over the bucket and crashed to the floor taking her with him. She landed on top of him of with hair fanning about her head like a temptress. Her long hair fell across his chest.
The young woman caught her breath. She was enraged. “You are a beast, Dimitri, whoever in the seven hells you are! A filthy pig like all the rest!” The words ground out with all the venom only a female could muster. She looked like she wanted to scratch his eyes out, but his hands were tightly gripping her wrists.
Dimitri 's mind raced. She’d called him by name, but he would have sworn he never met the beautiful indignant hellcat before! He would have remembered such a fetching female. She spat the words at him. He looked away f
rom the tantalizing firm breasts bobbing as she struggled. Hell! She was trying to knee his groin. His rolled her over onto her back. She struggled fiercely, skidding them over on the plank floor, until he had her securely pinned.
“Calm down,” he grunted. “I’m not going to hurt you!” The hair covering her face parted and revealed her eyes. He knew those eyes. He had seen those eyes recently. He saw the dove tattoo on her pinned wrist. Confusion made him look even closer. He looked about the room. There, on the floor, were the clothes of Suraj! Where was Suraj? It was in that second he realized that it was Suraj's eyes he was looking into. Suraj was not a boy! Not a young man at all! His eyes widened as his mind raced. Could this be the girl he had sought? The girl needing rescuing? He had been under the impression the girl he sought was much younger. Her voice interrupted his suspicious thoughts.
“If you did not intend to harm me, why did you burst into my room?” Akira ground out between her teeth.” Her voice was feminine, angry, and frightened. He was overpowering and her strength was no match for his. She ceased digging her heels into the floor to try slide out from underneath him.
“It was a complete misunderstanding. I was led to believe there was a man who besmirched my character in this room. I was about to defend my honor.”
“If you had any honor you would get off me and hand me a covering.” Akira's words were brave but her heart was thudding in her chest. “It is now my honor needing defending!”|
“If you promise to stop hitting, spitting and scratching like a wild cat I shall release you.”
Akira looked up him with icy blue eyes. “If I’ve your word you will not harm me, I shall refrain from killing you!”
Her brave words amused him. “Kill me? Who has who pinned down on the floor?”
“I shall pull the splinter out of my ass and stab you in the eye with it!” The bravado in her voice faded as she assessed her situation.
Dimitri laughed despite the ache in his shoulder.
“Seriously, you are heavy and there is a splinter from the floor in my rear end.” That he laughed at her was her undoing. Tears welled up in her eyes. Never had she found herself in such a vulnerable position. It was easier to be brave and fearless when one was not naked.
Dimitri wished she had not teared up. He was on the edge of being aroused. It dampened any thoughts of trying to get her in the same state, despite the comedy of errors. “I humbly apologize Suraj.” He rolled off her cautiously in case she should attack him in retaliation. He stood up and offered her a hand up off the floor.
“Are you unharmed. Are you hurt?” he asked as he grabbed a blanket off the bed and offered it to her.
“I just told you, I’ve a splinter in my ass.” She stomped her foot angrily. “Of course I’m not unhurt! Are you deaf as well as rude and ill mannered?” Sucking up her tears as best she could, she pulled the blanket tightly around herself. She was trying desperately to gain composure and some shreds of dignity.
“Are you truly named Suraj?” Dimitri looked at her intently as he asked. “Perhaps you are someone other than a beautiful young girl from Nunya, not Suraj, a shy young man on a mission with a message to the white robes?”
Akira's eyes widened. Had he guessed her identity? She managed to look puzzled. “No, I’m Suraj. And where I’m from is none of your business.” She lied. Was this a man who would return her to the man she hated to admit was her father? Had word spread fast by pigeon carrier? She suppressed a shiver of fear. It would not be the first time the baron had his reach extended with gold. Messages could travel faster by wing than a horse could travel.
The defiant look was back in her eyes. Nobody ever called her beautiful before, except her mother, and all mothers' thought their offspring were beautiful. Was he trying so hard to be nice, or he was near sighted? He even smiled when he mentioned Nunya. It was till none of his business.
“And why is a beautiful young woman travelling alone, disguised as a boy and heading up the mountains?”
“Because it would be stupid to travel alone as a girl” Akira pushed her hair away from her face. She knew that was not the answer he was looking for.
“A girl? How old are you?”
“Seventeen.” Akira realized suddenly that she was a young woman in his eyes. Of all the times she had wanted to be recognized as an adult and did not need someone making choices for her like marriage to some old bag of bones her father wanted an alignment with, this was not the most opportune time to be recognized as an adult. He had looked at her body as if he liked what he saw. Akira shivered involuntarily. Her virginity was still intact. She had feared minutes ago it would be lost. She was still not sure she was safe.
“A young woman travelling alone would be stupid.” Dimitri agreed. “So why were you stupidly doing so?”
“I was not travelling as a woman.”
“Point noted.” Dimitri paused for a moment. “You are running to someone, or from someone.” He watched her expression for a clue into the mysterious beauty in front of him. “Perhaps you are following a lover?” The quick and unmistakable look of disdain on her face told him that was not the case.
“I’m seeking sanctuary with the Order of the White Robes.” Akira, looked him in the eyes. “There is no man on earth worth chasing after.”
“|Then you haven’t met the right man.” Dimitri knew that sanctuary would be given. She had the mark. He felt suddenly disappointed. He was bound by honor to protect her. He would have relished trying to change her mind about a man worth chasing after. It would be a refreshing change to do the chasing. Alas, as long as she was vulnerable and in need of protection, she was definitely off limits. However, he was enjoying the view. In fact, he was rather enjoying her discomfort. It served her right, considering her deception. It occurred to him that as deceptive as she was, and had been, perhaps she was the girl he had been sent to fetch to the mountain. I will bet my horse this is the girl I was asked to rescue, he thought. If she was the girl they had been looking for, he would not have to return to the mountain empty handed. He was tempted to call her a liar, to challenge those blue eyes that sparked with indignation.
Akira's knees suddenly felt weak. She sat down on her bed then quickly jumped back up, a curse escaped her lips. The man in front of her frowned. She glared at him anew. She had a stinging problem. She swallowed. She tentatively touched her bottom and there was evidence of bleeding. She could feel a wetness trickling down the back of her leg. “Would you kindly remove the splinter from my butt cheek?” She paused, “It hurts like Hades.”
“Most certainly, since it is my fault it became lodged in your bottom.” He had wanted to say deliciously ripe looking bottom, but her glare and his duty kept his comments polite and contrite sounding. “How shall we go about this?” She looked like she would rather be beating him over the head with the bucket rather than asking for his assistance.
Akira mulled it over. He'd already seen her naked. How much more humiliating could it be to part the blanket and expose her stinging cheek to him long enough to pull the offending splinter out? “I shall lay across the bed and uncover my ass. You shall pull out the splinter. And that will be that.” Akira draped herself across the bed.
Easier said than done, thought Dimitri. She looked like a siren draped across the bed. He sat beside her on the bed as she pulled back the blanket. The splinter was definitely deep. He felt remorse that such a beautiful piece of her anatomy had come to harm at his hands. He touched her bottom very tentatively. “This is going to hurt. I’ve to squeeze it up to grab it.”
“Then get on with it!” ordered Akira. She shuddered involuntarily at his touch. She braced herself, knowing she could take the pain. It was nothing compared to some of the beatings she had endured before she had learned to act obedient.
Dimitri pushed at her firm flesh, squeezing the offending piece of flooring out to where he could grasp it and pull it. Finally, it pushed up. Not a whimper came from the lips of the owner of the beautiful curves. “Got it!” h
e exclaimed.
Quickly she pulled the blanket over herself. She would handle the rest of the cleaning of her wound by herself.
“Good.” Akira made a point of not saying thank you.
“I shall take my leave.” Dimitri walked to the door. The lock was broken. “I shall trade rooms with you if you like. Your door is broken.”
“Imagine that,” Akira answered acidly. “Some raving lunatic kicked it in. Never mind. I’m leaving. The snow is coming and I need to get up the mountain.”
“No, you are not leaving just yet. You are going to get a good night's sleep while my men enjoy their ...” he was about to say something else and decided to end his sentence with “evening.”
Akira bristled at his orders. “No, I’m not staying. I shall hire a guide and leave when I’m ready.” She knew as soon as she spoke her words were foolish, but she would be damned if she was going to be told what to do.
Dimitri folded his arms across his chest. “The mountain is dangerous. We shall all leave early in the morning at first light so we have enough daylight hours to traverse the pass. My men have supplies to take to the White Rose monastery. You will stay in this room until morning and travel under my protection. Be reasonable.”
“I decline your protection sir.” Akira tried to sound haughty and clearly dismissive.
“You have no choice in this matter.” Dimitri saw the look of rebellion in her eyes. It seemed her eyes got colder, icier, blue as the glaciers they would pass. He sighed. He put her chair against the damaged door. She was pissed. She would run, and he knew it. He knew defiance when he saw it. He sighed. They would be sharing her room. If this was the girl he had been sent to fetch, he was not letting her out of his sight. He knew he was not going to get a good night's’ sleep.
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