It's been hours since Aaron and Elsa arrived at the chieftain's palace but still, she had not come to welcome them.
Aaron intermittently thought about the chieftain's absurd attitude towards them as her guests. Regardless of how he thought about it, it did not make any sense.
"Is this some form of test? A test of patience?" he questioned himself but then, what could she possibly benefit from such a meaningless thing?
Aaron had taken a refreshing steam bath and his pores were now opened with his skin texture like a babe's. He moaned with satisfaction as he dressed in front of the long, standing mirror in the room he was given.
He looked in the mirror and spread his arms. Aaron turned around and admired his physical beauty which was getting more attractive with each day that passed since the Incubus Lord took possession of Aaron's body.
His bodily appearance was gradually becoming divine for a mere mortal body.
Aaron winked and rubbed his chin while invitingly biting his lips. "I look good," he boasted.
As he got ready, he remembered Elsa and the fact that he had not seen her since they were given rooms to sleep in.
"She must be feeling quite lonely."
Just as he thought about his apprentice, his nostrils picked up a scent and twitched. It was a sweet fragrance, like the scent of beautiful flowers, caressing his nerves.
Aaron inhaled and with every second that passed, the smell got even stronger and more inviting.
He slid his feet into the black and gold sandals he found inside the room and walked out.
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.
.
Elsa gasped with frustration.
She had an array of beautifully designed fabrics lying on her bed, courtesy of the chieftain but she was having a hard time picking which one she would wear to the dinner that was to be hosted by the chieftain.
"What do you think about this one?" she asked the sister who was standing in the room with her.
The sister simply shrugged like she had done for the past sixteen exhibitions after Elsa refused to take any of her three pieces of advice. Now, Elsa was on her own, stuck with the herculean task of choosing what dress to wear.
She humphed at the sister but received no reaction from her.
Elsa hurried towards the standing mirror in her chamber with two clothes in hand. She unfurled one and placed it on her body without wearing it, just to see how it would fit. She also did the same thing for the second fabric.
She shook her head, her lips pouted in dissatisfaction.
"It's no good," she breathed to herself, "At this rate, I won't have what to wear before the dinner."
The help made a poker face at her. "I still think you should go for that one," the help said, pointing at the black gown that she had picked out for Elsa the first time.
Elsa scoffed as she stared at the gown lying quietly on the bed. She looked at the help and then looked at the gown again before scoffing a second time.
"It's still your choice to make anyways," the lady added before heading towards the door. She was evidently tired of Elsa's indecision and was not ready to entertain it for another minute.
The redhead huffed, reluctantly picked up the black gown and said, "Okay, fine! I will wear it."
The help stopped and turned back at her. She smiled and gave Elsa a nod of approval.
"Can you smell that?" Elsa asked, looking around the room in search of the source of the pleasant smell she perceived.
The help nodded again but said nothing afterwards.
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.
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Aaron had slid the door shut when he left his room. The castle of the chieftain was massive, so big that when Aaron turned back to look after walking for a while, he couldn't remember which way led back to his room.
He let out a sigh of frustration after seeing three different hallways connected to each other behind him and he was sure that they were more hallways regardless of which one he would pick on his way back.
Aaron just gave up and decided to resign himself to fate if he was ever going back to his room.
But first, that smell had lured him out and he had gone too far now to turn back without finding out what it was.
Perhaps, if he could also put it in his clinic... then there is a chance that his client load might even double.
Aaron sniffed and looked into yet another room before sliding the door shut. "Not here," he said.
This was the seventh room he was searching. He smelled the fragrance but it was still at the same intensity as it was inside his room. So, there was no way any of those seven rooms could have been the source of that scent.
"That's weird," Aaron noted in his head. He had been walking all this while but had yet to set his eyes on anybody. Not even a slave.
The hallways he had trod on so far were quiet... pin-drop silent. The only thing he noticed was how illuminated the rooms in this wing of the castle were. The rooms had more light inside them than his room or other rooms surrounding him.
However, not minding the discovery, he continued to track the scent until he came upon yet another door.
The eighth door.
Aaron smelled it a bit stronger towards the door but he hoped for nothing seeing how the past seven had disappointed him.
He moved closer and slid the door open, ushering himself into an empty room with folded thick towels stacked on one end of the room to his right.
He looked around and noticed the paintings on the walls of different women and flowers.
The room was not exactly exceptional or noteworthy. Aaron was just surprised at how empty it was and how strong the sweet smell got the moment he opened the door.
He had a good feeling about this eighth room. He was close to reaching the source of the perfume that beguiled him out of the comfort of his room.
There was another door in front of him and he walked towards it and opened it.
He saw yet another door and he opened it.
Another door remained and Aaron did the same.
He had gone through five more rooms inside this place and they all looked like the 8th room with the same paintings and towel arrangement.
All the five rooms after the 8th room were replicas of each other with the only differentiating factor being the strength of the fragrance. With each room, Aaron entered, the intensity of the sweet smell increased.
Aaron came upon yet another room and stared at it with a flat affect, hoping it would be the last.
"Oh, come on!" he lamented as he looked back to see how far he had come.
He proceeded forward and opened the door to this particular room.
FWWOOSSSH!
A cloud of steam breezed over his face, causing him to sweat.
The room was different. It was wet and hot. From a single glance, one could tell that it was a bathing place with a simmering pool of water at the centre of the room.
Aaron blinked several times. He blinked not because of the view of the room but because something else had captivated him.
A blonde woman with long, wet hair.
This woman stood just at the edge of the pool and stared at Aaron as he stared back, both were unabashed about the situation.
She stood in front of the stranger stark naked with every part of her body laid bare before Aaron's eyes.