That's Not My Body

The slap stung Sera's cheek, but it was the surprise rather than the pain that knocked the breath out of her.

'I can feel!' she thought.

She opened her eyes to a blur of color and light that slowly resolved into a golden brocade canopy. She was lying in an enormous bed draped with sheer white curtains embroidered with tiny flowers in spring-colors.

Her ears rang with the fading echo of a cacophony of voices, like leaving a noisy party for a quiet hall. It wasn't quite silent, she noted after a moment, there was the tinkle of running water and the twitter of birds. She drew in a breath, relishing in the the feel of her chest rising and lungs filling in answer, even as she wrinkled her nose against the smell of spicy incense.

A second slap, harder and more vicious than the first, hit the other cheek, and a female voice hissed, "Get up, you lazy cow. You have a wedding to prepare for."

"What?" Sera asked catching a glimpse of a pale hand right before it smacked her across the face for a third time. "Stop that!"

"You don't give the orders. I am still your mistress," the woman answered, emphasizing her point with another smack. "Now get up."

Apparently not trusting Sera would obey, the woman dragged her out of the bed by her hair. Sera tried to knock the woman's hands away, but her movements were clumsy and jerky. She stumbled after the woman, tripping over the hem of a long nightgown. She managed to turn her head enough to take note of inky black hair and a lithe form in a gown of floating pink and gold fabric.

The woman shoved Sera onto a low pedestal with a thick carpet, and finally let go of Sera's hair, only to seize her by the ear and pull Sera's face towards her own. Sera tried to jerk her head free but the other woman's grip was like a vise. Her face, Sera noted, was beautiful. Flawless ivory skin, deep brown eyes, perfectly sculpted cheekbones. She wore the heaviest eye-makeup Sera had ever seen outside of a fashion magazine, and her sneering lips were painted ruby-red.

"Stand here and do not move. Do you understand?" the woman demanded. Sera nodded her comprehension, though the movement was still a bit wobbly. "Good. Do as I tell you, and you get to live in luxury, every pleasure at your fingertips. Defy me again and I will take it all away and you end your life in a miserable cold prison cell. Do not. Forget. Again."

The last words were emphasized with a yank on Sera's ear at each pause. Sera nodded once again. Satisfied, the woman spun around and swept through the room towards a pair of enormous double doors inlaid with mother-of-pearl flowers. The frame of the door was carved with what looked like birds. As the woman slipped through the doors, Sera looked around the room with wary curiosity.

The room was enormous, as large as Sera's entire apartment. The bed, huge as it had seemed, was dwarfed by the chamber. The ceiling was at least forty feet over head. Lanterns dangled from the gilded rafters on bronze chains. An enormous square hearth stood at the center of the room, laid with a fire the size of an unlit bonfire. The wall Sera faced was not a wall, but a series of pillars with curtains between them, a few of the curtains tied back to reveal a large garden enclosed by a high wall. There was a covered terrace between the room and the garden, with benches and enormous piles of cushions scattered on either side of the pillars around low tables.

The incense came from smoking braziers scattered around the room. The running came from a brook that ran through the room over large smooth stones, under the hearth, and out into a pool in the garden.

Sera turned slowly around on the dais, noting that it was partially encircled by screens with gilded wood lattices at the top and opaque painted panels at the bottom. Interspersed between the screens were enormous wardrobes of light colored wood inlaid with more mother of pearl. There was also a table covered with jewel-like bottles of perfume and gold and silver boxes. Several large wire and wicker contraptions sat on top of the wardrobes.

There were also multiple large mirrors, draped in not-quite sheer fabric. Sera was momentarily reminded of the folk-custom of covering mirrors so that the souls of the dead could escape. She shivered a little at that thought.

Then she caught sight of a tiled floor and the edge of what looked like a bathtub through a somewhat smaller door, and became aware of an urgent pressure in her bladder.

"Let's hope there's a toilet in there," she muttered to herself, and stepped towards the door. She promptly tripped as she stepped on the hem of her nightgown and went sprawling onto the ground. "Ow."

Stupid nightgown. Grumbling under her breath, Sera got back to her feet, remembering to hold up the nightgown this time as she hustled towards bathroom. But the chamber proved be just that, a room for a bath. The tub was an enormous circular thing, the size of a hot-tub, and stood in the center of the room. Compared the other chamber, it was small, the ceiling only the height of three people. The walls and ceiling were painted with murals of . . . um . . . wow.

"Someone has unrealistic expectations," Sera said, with a roll of her eyes. She lost a few minutes contemplating the murals, noting after a moment that they all seemed to feature the same young woman, with various men, singly or in groups, attending to her pleasure with an eye-raising number of positions and techniques. While the woman was in varying states of undress, the men were all naked, spectacularly and improbably endowed, with perfectly formed muscles and not an ounce of fat. "VERY unrealistic expectations."

Aside from the bath, the room was empty, but there was another door, to the left. Sera peered through, and found a small room with another, much smaller, bed. Sunlight poured through high windows and splashed on the opposite wall, which was filled with cupboards and shelves. Yet another door stood opposite the one to the bathroom, this one closed. Without hesitation, Sera opened this newest door, and HERE she found what she was looking for, in another room the size of the bath chamber.

It was easily the most opulent toilet Sera had ever used. The toilet paper, on the other hand . . . .

She washed her hands in a sink of translucent marble, with what she assumed was soap, since it was in a jar near the sink, and then dried her hands on a thick, soft towel. Yet another door led from this room, inlaid with mother of pearl once again, and elaborately carved, unlike the door that led back into the smaller chamber that was likely a maid's room.

"Your Highness, we must begin preparing you," called the voice of the woman who had slapped Sera awake, her voice muffled by distance. There was a cloying sweetness in it this time.

Sera smiled sourly to herself and murmured, "Have witnesses this time, do we?"

She pulled open the second door and stepped through, pleased to note that she was having less trouble getting her limbs to respond. If she didn't glide through the door and back into the enormous chamber, at least she didn't stagger either.

The woman was back, standing near the dais with half a dozen other women at her back. Her smile didn't quite mask the irritation in her eyes, which promised retribution for Sera's daring to wander off. Sera answered her with her best imitation of the obnoxiously serene smile Krystyl so often wore--shuddering a bit as she thought of her murderer. She looked past the angry beauty, to the other women, as she moved forward.

All of them were beautiful, though not as stunning as the first woman. All had dark hair, the color running from black to dark brown, and skin in varying shades between ivory and almond. Sera would guess them all to be in their late teens, perhaps their early twenties. All of them wore elaborate eye-makeup--though, not as elaborate as the first woman's--and had lips stained bright red. Each wore a gown of embroidered silk in pastel colors, so that they looked like an array of spring flowers. Or Easter eggs. Each of them carried a tray and stood with their heads bowed and gazes fixed on the floor, expressions blandly neutral.

No, that wasn't quite right. One of the women, the one with the lightest hair, and creamy skin dotted with freckles, kept darting little glances between the beauty and Sera. Her expression was one of suspicion.

"Get back on the dais," the beauty snapped, and behind her the women drew in a collective hiss of shock, and looked up to gape in surprise. Expression twisting, the beauty forced a smile and oozed sweetness again, saying, "Highness, we must hurry if you are to be ready in time."

She turned towards the other women and almost growled, "You were not given permission to look upon Her Highness."

Five pairs of eyes immediately dropped. The sixth, belonging to the freckled woman, held the beauty's gaze for several long heartbeats before she, too, looked down. The beauty's gaze returned to Sera, and the malice in it sent a shiver down her spine. She obediently returned to the dais.

As soon as Sera was in place, she was swarmed by the women. They stripped away the nightgown before she could even think to protest.

"The Princess should bathe," murmured one of the women.

"Not enough time, she slept too late," the beauty answered. "Anoint her."

Several of the trays turned out to hold half a dozen different scented oils, which the women applied to every inch of Sera's body. There seemed to be some sort of plan to which went where, but Sera was too busy trying not to rebel against so many hands touching her, some of them in very intimate places, to try figure it out. She yelped as someone's fingers slipped into her vagina.

The beauty smacked one of the women over her head and snapped, "Be careful you fool."

Mercifully, it wasn't much longer before they were done with the oils. Powder followed, then four of the women began to dress Sera in layer after layer of light, silky fabric in shades of gold and turquoise, while two more painted her fingernails and adorned them with tiny shimmering jewels.

The fingernails were a shock. Sera's fingernails had always been short and slightly ragged. But now her nails were long and perfectly maintained.

A soft voice asked her to sit, which she did with the help of the women so that the dress would not be crushed, and then it was the turn of her toes to be beautified, while the two women brushed out her hair and then wound the strands around one of the wire and wicker contraptions. The beauty settled before Sera to apply makeup, while the two remaining women adorned her with jewelry. Rings and anklets were added to her feet, bracelets and cuffs to her arms, and dozens of earrings to her ears. That too, was a shock, as Sera only had one piercing in her ears.

Then she was helped back to her feet, and another layer of clothing was added, this one a heavy robe of cloth-of-gold brocaded with turquoise birds and pink flowers, with long trailing sleeves and an even longer train. More jewels were placed around her throat, and then the freckled woman asked, "Highness, do you wish to see yourself?"

"No--" began the beauty.

"Yes," Sera interrupted, and turned towards the nearest mirror as the women scrambled to remove the coverings. Shock coursed over Sera as she looked at the woman in the mirror and blurted, "That's not my body!"