Prince of Cats (14 page)

Silence hung in the air
and Neomee wasn’t sure if Bray was still in the room. 
When he didn’t respond she assumed he’d left and she relaxed back into his bed.  It took only mere moments for her to drift
back into her
much needed
healing sleep.

Chapter
14

Neomee woke to
Bray’s whisper, “
Lily
. 
Lily
,
wake up.”  Neomee stirred and Bray continued, “You need to eat, to drink.” 

Neomee li
c
ked her parched lips as Bray held a juicy grape to her mouth
. 
She
accepte
d the grape and several more
coupled with intermittent
cloths full
of water. 

“Why do you call me that?”
She finally
asked
in annoyance
between bites
preferring banter to the stifling silence
.
  “That’s not my name.”

“
Lily?”  He shrugged negligently, “
Because it’s how you smell to me
.  No matter the circumstance.  All I smell is the overwhelming
scent of sweet
ness
that emanates from you. 
You scent of the blue water lily
. 
I could track you to the ends o
f the earth by your scent alone…lily
.
”

She
stirred uncomfortably
unsure how to react to the revelation.  S
he accepted a
nother cloth-full of water without
saying anything. 

After several minutes of eating and drinking
she
groaned and turned her head from Bray’s proffered grape, “I need to relieve myself.” 
She
could feel the sting of embarrassment
stain
her cheeks.
  Humiliating!

“Let me help you up.”  Bray pulled Neomee’s body closer to the edge of the bed before swiveling her legs around to the edge.
 
He
grabbed both of her arms and slowly sat her up. 

Instantly
her
vision blurred as the dizzying spin of the room overwhelmed her.

“
Easy
! 
Take it slow.  You’ve been down for many days.”

Bray’s strong arms held
her
steady and once she stopped swaying, he slowly lifte
d
her to her feet.  He held her to his chest and looked down at her, “You okay?”

“Fine.  Where?”

“That’s the chamber pot there in the corner.  Come on…” 

As
he
tried to lead Neomee to the pot, she froze in place.
  H
er expression one of shock
.
 
“You’re not
staying in here while I do this!
”

“
We’ve no choice.  You can barely stand.
” 
She
could hear the smile in
his
voice, “Don’t worry my
lily
, you’ve nothing I haven’t seen before.”

Ugh, did he just say
MY
lily
?
 
She
hated the addition of the word
my
, it was too intrusive, too assuming, and far too possessive.

“Look, I’m not doing this until you leave, so
leave!
”

A
mocking
raise of the brow was his response.
“I’m not sure you
’
r
e
strong enough to handle this on your own.”

“Again with the men around here not being sure what I can handle or what I’m capable of.” 
She turned
her head to stare at him evenly, “Look, I truly appreciate all you’ve done for me, but when I say that I’m fine, I’m fine.  Now if you don’t mind,
I’m fine
to handle this on my own.”

Bray led her over to the pot, and placed her hands on the wall, “You’re sure you don’t need me?”

“Positive.”

He shrugged and a look of sincere concern flashed across his features before he masked it then slowly
exited the room. 

Waiting for several moments to make sure he wasn’t returning
Neomee exhaled trying to dispel her nerves as she slowly used one hand to lift her gown. 
Am
on
! 
W
ith no strength how on earth was she going to be able
to
squat long enough for this? 

Steadily,
she
used her bare
foot to nudge the pot until it sat on the floor next to the bed. 
She
wrapped her long gown around one wrist and
eased her petite frame down
on
to
the bed. 
Sitting on the bed, she slowly
edged herself until she was
using
the strength
of both
her
arms and
her legs to hold her body in a quasi squat
over the chamber pot
.  Relieving herself, she was distracted by the searing pain she felt in her back.  The positioning of her arms was tearing her wounds open, but it could not be helped. 

Pain or embarrassment…why was she always having to chose between the two lately?  And why was she so damned determined to avoid embarrassment
?
 

Using her legs and arms to push herself back into a standing position she couldn’t help but chide herself. 
Idiot
!  A little embarrassment couldn’t be as painful as that just was. 

She nudged the pot back
to its original position in the corner of the room
then leaned her shoulder against
t
he wall t
o
catch her breath.  Should she be this exhausted from such a simple t
ask?  Taking deep breath
s, she could feel moisture slick down her back
and
knew it was blood
. 
Ripped my back open.  Just lovely!
 

She
quickly scanned the room for a robe, or some other garment to throw over her back. 
If he sees what I’ve done, I’ll never get a moment of privacy
again
.
 

As if on
cue
, Bray questioned from the hall, “Finished?”

“Uhhh…”,
think damn it, think!

Without waiting Bray came through
the door carrying a
huge
empty copper basin
. 

Neomee quickly spun her back to the wall
trying to ignore the handful of
fellow slaves
that
followed Bray through the door, each carrying a
large water jar
, each never taking their eyes from the floor.  I
n turn
, the slaves
each
poured the contents of their jar
s
into the basin
Bray had set on the ground near the window,
and left the room without ever looking up. 

So submissive
, Neomee thought,
it’s no wonder I’m the
world
’s worst slave.  I would have
peeked
at least once.

As the last slave exited the room, Bray turned to Neomee and smiled that
I’m-up-to-something
smile that
she
was coming to recognize and fear.

“Bath time.
  Let’s get your
gown
off.
”

Shocked for the second time in less than fifteen minutes, Neomee backed away from Bray’s approach until her tender back hit the wall. 
Ughhh
h! 
Hiding a grimace,
she
sidestepped Bray, “I don’t think so.”
  She had to sit down. Her too weak legs were threatening to buckle and she was drained from the two minutes she’s spent standing.
 

She eased herself onto the bed and
turned to see Bray still facing the wall with his back to her.  When he finally turned his expression was full of anger. 

Shaking her head as her mouth dropped to form the silent question
,
she was honestly
at a loss for Bray’s sudden change of temperament. 

He
stalked forward and Neomee could see the smear of
her
blood on the opposite wall. 
Damn!
 
“Look, I just
…
”
her
words were cut off as Bray interrupted.

“Never again!”

“What?”

“I’ll not leave you to your own devices again.  Don’t waste your time asking.”  He approached her and grabbed the straps of her gown
as if to pull it down.

“Stop!”  Neomee crossed her
arms
in front of her chest,
the sudden movement searing her back. 
“What are you doing?”

“Bath time!”
he
growled evenly without taking his eyes from hers or his hands from the straps of her gown.

“I can handle this…
if you’d jus..
”

“I
just
said don’t ask.”  Without a
nother
word
,
he
picked her up gown and all and slowly eased her into the basin.  Kneeling with her
cradled in his arms,
he was more gentle than Neomee would have thought possible for such a large masculine brute
, especially one that was so angry
. 

She
knew better than to protest and was simply happy to have the thin sheer gown as some form of barrier between Bray’s eyes and her otherwise naked body.

It stung where the water lapped at her lower back, but the pain lessened with each passing moment. 
Bray used a ceramic jar to
pour warm water over her dusty
parched skin
and she hissed when he cauti
ously poured a jar over her
injuries
.
 

Goose bumps speckled her flesh as the warm water
on her skin was cooled by the
summer breeze wafting in through the window.  Sitting erect,
her
muscles whined at her tense posture a
s
she made a concerted effort to
try and
relax.
  She’d never sat in a basin before.  Slaves were only permitted to bathe with small bowls in the slave bathing quarters.
 

Bray pulled the thong from
her
long dark braid and unwove her hair.  He gently swept it over her shoulder then silently moved to pour
more
water down her still bleeding back.  At the feel of the water, Neomee exhaled deeply, willing herself to relax and enjoy the pleasure of being given a warm bath.  Such an extravagance was unheard of for a slave and she knew it. 

With her eyes closed,
her
lips twitched in a smile as she listened to
the wagtails and pipits sing outside the window.  Another breeze wafted in cooling her
fevered flesh
. 
On
the
light gust
she could smell
the per
fumed scent of the white lotus that grew prominently around the temple’s in Egypt
.  It made her think of the water lily that was also prominent, which in turn made her think of the name he’d given her
.
 

She
bit her
sore
li
p as she looked up at Bray, “So,
what happens now?”

“You get your bath.”

“You know what I mean.”

He
sighed as he sat back
on his heels
and stared out the window
.
“We have been bound
.  It cannot be undone.  It is as the Priest said, we must mate or you must die.”

She
turned to stare at Bray
and
he met her eyes, “Mate?” 
She
felt crimson
singe
her cheeks.

“Yes.”