Chapter Four
Sitting in the bubble-filled water a few minutes later, Alice allowed herself to sink into the warmth and groaned as muscles that had been tense for days finally relaxed. As much as she hated to let her guard down, a bath was definitely something she needed. Closing her eyes, she sank below the surface to let the warmth completely immerse her.
Popping back up only when her lungs began to scream, she wiped the water from her eyes and looked at Lindsey, who was sitting on a chair by the sink. She didn’t seem to be interested at all in the witch in the tub. In fact, she seemed far more intrigued by her own fingernails.
“How long have you been here?” Alice asked, scrubbing some soap into her hair as she spoke. Lindsey looked up from her nails with a confused look on her face, as if she hadn’t been expecting the woman to acknowledge her presence.
“Me?” she asked. When Alice nodded, she blushed and ran her fingers through her short hair. “About a year now. Madam found me when I was working in the fields of my parents’ farm. She took me back here and when Mat – I mean, King Lindgern rejected me, I just became another one of his concubines.”
“Does he, you know, sleep with you?” Alice asked, raising her eyebrow at the girl, who flushed and shook her head.
“I’ve slept with him a couple of times, but not more than that. He usually only sleeps with his favorite, Veronica. She sort of runs this place because she shares his bed. I don’t like her,” Lindsey admitted, looking up at Alice with a grimace. “Just keep out of her way and she’ll leave you alone. If you don’t, you’ll wind up working the bad jobs or worse.” She sighed, reaching up to run her fingers through her short hair again.
“Your hair, did she cut it?” Alice asked, rinsing the soap from her hair before glancing up at Lindsey, who nodded slowly.
“Yes, she cut it when I didn’t do something she told me to do.” Lindsey sighed, wrapping her arms around her knees. “Matheus might be the king, but she’s the head bitch in the harem. Matheus is too busy to notice what’s going on.” Frowning, Alice let the last of the soap run out of her hair as she sat up in the water.
“Well, I can promise you at least one thing, I’m not going to let anyone boss me around. Not Matheus, not this girl who thinks that she’s some big thing. She’s going to learn quickly that I’ve been alive long enough to learn a few things about her type,” Alice muttered, earning a shy little smile from Lindsey.
“If you could do something about her, anything at all, I would be so happy,” Lindsey laughed, an excited look on her face. “She’s been bullying the rest of us for too long.”
“Well, as long as I’m here, that isn’t going to happen,” Alice decided, chuckling when Lindsey’s face lit up with a beaming smile.
Lindsey reminded her of the girls back in her own town. She was sweet and country bred. She could swallow her pride and keep her chin up even in the worst situations. When Alice escaped, she would have to take the girl with her.
Sliding out of the water, Alice accepted the towel that Lindsey offered her and dried off her dripping skin. She had no desire to meet with the king, but it would be better to get it over with so that she could get back to planning her escape.
“Here, you can wear this until we can get you fitted for more clothes,” Lindsey said, handing Alice a lavender dress that hung a little loose around her shoulders but still managed to hug her hips a bit too snugly. It would have to do.
Trailing her fingers over the front of the dress to smooth out any wrinkles, Alice regarded herself in the mirror as Lindsey helped her brush out the tangled mess that her hair had become. It took a while to tame her unruly mane, but eventually they managed to get it to look presentable.
“I’m impressed. I can’t get it to behave most of the time.” Alice ran her fingers through her hair, marveling at the softness that Lindsey had managed to coax out. “Thanks. Now I’ll look good when I chew out the king.” She smiled, earning a soft sigh from Lindsey.
“He’s really not a bad man,” Lindsey said, helping Alice stand and smiling softly. “I think you might actually like him if you get to know him.” She shrugged, chuckling when Alice pulled a face.
“You know, I tend not to fall head over heels in love with people who kidnap me,” Alice pointed out firmly, hugging Lindsey gratefully before sliding out into the main room where the other members of Matheus’ harem were.
Moving up to Matheus’ door, she took a deep breath. She would not allow the man to seduce her. She would not allow him to flirt. She would make it very clear that she did not belong to him, and he was going to have to deal with it.
Closing her eyes, she knocked on the heavy wooden door, putting a stern look on her face as she waited for it to open. She was about to find herself face to face again with the same forest green eyes that had made her heart flutter before. Matheus’ smile might look innocent, but she knew that he was far from the sweet, gentle man he’d like her to believe he was.
When a call sounded for her, granting her access into the room, Alice sighed. Pressing inside, she braced herself for whatever it was that the king had planned for her.