"Hey!" Viola shouted, squatting away the hand of a woman dressed in gray. "I can walk on my own!"
She watched as the woman huffed at her stepsister's comment and pushed her forward nonetheless, baring her naked back to her view. Eve looked away. She was thankful for her long hair at that moment as the servants paraded them through a long dark hall towards a pair of closed doors, all the hostages stripped butt naked with no exception.
Upon stopping the caged carts, the soldiers had freed them, only to be pushed and shoved by a group of people, all dressed in gray, a lone bronze crescent adorning their sleeves. She didn't even have the time to take a good look at her surroundings or even the huge marble palace that towered before them.
They were quickly brought through a low ceilinged back door and into a plain room where they were separated by sex and then stripped. The servants showed no mercy to those who resisted. Eve did the smart thing and did as she was told, urging the tailor's daughter as well to follow her lead. With much hesitancy, she complied, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment.
The huge doors creaked open at their arrival, pushing a heavy cloud of steam towards them. Eve stared at the huge bathhouse in awe. Inside were a few dozen beautiful women strolling around wet and naked, laughing and teasing each other playfully.
They weren't bothered by their shameless state or the arrival of the newcomers. She wondered if they were servants or slaves. Had they also been captives at some time? If so, why did they all look so happy?
Their chirpy voices echoed through the tall recessed ceiling painted in white that faded into a soft gray of smooth marble that adorned the walls on all sides of the hexagonal room. A darker shade of granite dipped and curved into pools and bath cubicles with a narrow netted drainage running through the expanse of the room.
Light poured in through the textured glass a large window curving up towards the ceiling like a petal, falling on the water only to disperse into a thousand colored beams throughout the room. Eve felt like she had somehow ended up in a different world altogether.
"Walk." The servant's command knocked her out of her trance.
Eve nodded her head, walking into one of the cubicles as the servants sectioned off the group, pushing into each one at least three of them. Litty stuck to her side nervously, keeping her eyes to the floor at all times. To her bad luck, Viola was pushed into their cubicle as well. The stepsister turned around to the servant in irritation.
"Why do I have to be with them?!" She asked, pointing a grimy finger towards Eve furiously. "I want-"
"Nobody cares what you want girl." The servant interrupted, pushing a wicker basket towards them lazily.
Eve picked it up, taking out a white-colored piece of soap from inside before passing it on to the tailor's daughter. She knew to stay low if anything. She had thought about it over and over in her head. Those golden eyes that she so fleetingly remembered. If he was their king, then she was definitely not going to lose the opportunity to get to him.
If he was what she suspected he was, then she was not going to leave him alone. She had nothing to lose now. She wanted her revenge. She wanted him to know how it felt to be so alone. And if playing a lowly slave was the price for it, then so be it, she thought, her fingers wrapping around the gritty soap in anger.
"You three better hurry up if you don't want any trouble." The servant said, narrowing her eyes at her. Eve nodded, taking a seat at the cold bench. The servant turned around, satisfied by the response, picking up a few other baskets from the wet floor as she joined another waiting by the thick marble slab that acted as their only partition. She paused, turning towards them. "And scrub clean." The girl said, almost as an afterthought.
Eve sighed, placing the soap to her side as she leaned down to pick up one of the small earthen pots that stood at the edge of the flowing water channel. The room was so carefully crafted that the channels that ran along the edges of the bathhouse were at a higher level than the slight slope of the bench that she sat on.
As she pushed the pot into the water, she heard the servants complain.
"Goddess only knows what kind of parasites are there on their bodies." One of them said, not bothering to hide the disgust in her voice. "I don't know why they don't just take cleaner girls. The job becomes much easier for us that way."
The other let out an annoyed grunt. "What can I say? The Commander in charge.."
Their voices trailed off as they moved on to the other cubicles with bath supplies in their hands. Eve heard Litty sigh and sit next to her, tilting her body to the side in embarrassment. Viola on the other hand huffed, pushing her legs into the stream as she sat down on the floor, not bothered by the shocked stares she got from the cubicle parallel to theirs.
She was humming happily with a faint smile on her lips. If she didn't know any better, Eve would have thought that her stepsister had gone mad. Suddenly a scream echoed through the bathhouse, cutting through the chatter of the women. She glanced back towards the pillared area that bordered the pools.
A woman who looked hardly twenty was dragged by her long dark hair along the wet floor by a hefty-looking servant. Her loose dull white clothes were soaked and riding up her wheatish thigh. She was struggling with all her might, which didn't look like much despite her plump figure.
"Please!" She cried out in pain, grabbing her head in agony.
Eve stood up, her eyes wide in shock.
"Stand up wench!" The servant shouted, pulling her hair hard. "It's not your right to deny your king!"
Eve's heart dropped at the statement. A pair of golden orbs flashed in her mind, eliciting a strange uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. She felt oddly disturbed by the information. So the woman was going to..
The woman's sobs grew louder. "I beg you-" She had hardly finished her request when another one of the servants garbed in gray came forward, pushing a ball of cloth into her mouth. "Mmmph!" The woman protested, tears streaming down her cheeks as she was lifted off of the floor by a few women in gray, her cries falling on deaf ears.
"You!" Viola called out, waving to her with an irritated expression. Eve turned to her stepsister, raising her brows. "Stop staring and come rub my back for me." She said, parting her long blonde hair to the side, baring her slender behind.
"Fuck off," Eve murmured, turning away from the girl.
"What did you say to me?!" Viola shouted, enraged by the words.
Eve ignored her, pouring a hot pot of water over her body as she let herself relax. She didn't understand the strange emotions that were starting to raise their heads in her heart. So she focused on her hatred towards him. If he were to turn out to be the one she had been looking for so long..
No. But how could it be? The man she had seen hardly looked twenty-three. Twelve years ago, he must have been just a child, like her. He couldn't have...Her thoughts trailed off as she absentmindedly picked up the soap. The moment it touched her skin, she jerked back.
"Ow!" Eve hissed, dropping the object instantly.
But she quickly caught herself, raising her guards as a group of servants passed by them, peeking into their section curiously. She dropped to her knees on the wet floor, picking the white bar in her hands. She stared at it with a frown. It seems despite all the luxury that this place had, no one taught the servants how to make soap, she thought to herself.
As she rose, her gaze accidentally fell on a blushing Litty. She was looking her way, her tanned hands covering her breasts in embarrassment. There was not a single drop of water on her small body and her soap was still in the wicker basket.
Eve turned away, sitting back on the granite slab. "I'm not looking don't worry." She said, putting the soap on her skin. "You should quickly wash up before they come here and do it for you."
"I-" Litty started hesitantly and then fell silent.
With a heavy sigh, the girl picked up the earthen pot and poured water over herself. Eve didn't ask what she had wanted to say. Ignoring the irritated murmurs of her stepsister she rubbed at her skin with determination, letting the tears fall from her eyes silently.