Royal Recruit - Susan Grant Page 0,42

solitary showers and baths went on the mental list he was compiling. That was, unless Keira wanted to join him.

But the silence of his attendant was unnerving. “What’s your name?” Jared asked to make conversation.

The young man glanced up. “My name is Taye.”

“Do you like working here, Taye?”

“I am blessed to be so.”

“But do you like it? Do they treat you well?”

“Yes, sir. I am blessed to be deserving of their attention.” The eunuch seemed shocked that Jared would care to ask the question.

“Did you…choose this life?” What he really wanted to ask was if he’d wanted to be neutered. If Jared was going to live in this palace, there’d be no lopping off of testicles without the owner’s express permission. Period. “Is it something you request as a boy? Or does the palace decide?”

“One must express interest, and many do. It is a great honor to serve the goddess and live in the palace, in the Keep, on Sakka. Many wanted to be similarly blessed but were not chosen.”

“But it requires you to be castrated.”

The eunuch blushed almost prettily. “It was done when I was a boy. There was no pain. Now I can serve the goddess without the distraction of baser urges.”

Jared frowned as he scrubbed shampoo through his hair. Having eunuchs as attendants seemed barbaric, a relic of Earth’s Dark Ages. At least the surgery was done painlessly and while the attendants were still boys. Any later in life would cause a hormonal uproar, he imagined.

After rinsing, Jared rose, dripping wet, and reached for a towel. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the eunuch aiming a silvery object at his balls. Jared jerked his hips away and grabbed the eunuch’s slender wrist. “Drop it,” he said, squeezing hard.

The eunuch made a breathy yelp and the object splashed into the water.

“What was that? What were you trying to do?” Jared wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer. “Speak!”

“I was preparing to shave you.”

“Shave me? Shave me where?”

“Why, everywhere, sir.”

Jared was speechless. “I don’t think so, buddy.”

“But the queen requested it.”

“That I shave my body?” What kind of weird issues did his new wife have? If she wanted him to look like one of these eunuchs, she’d married the wrong guy. “Give me the shaver.” He stuck out his hand.

The relieved-looking eunuch fished the shaver out of the tub and handed it over. It didn’t look like any razor Jared was familiar with. It was a stick with a smooth disc on one end. Where was the blade? “How do I use this thing?” He felt like a primitive islander studying an explorer’s wristwatch.

“Sir, you press it against the skin. Nano-blades remove the hairs.”

Microscopic blades. Jared brought it to his jaw and hesitated. “Tell me it’s not like waxing.”

“Waxing? I do not know what this is.”

“Good. That’s the answer I wanted.” Clearly, on Sakka, they’d evolved beyond smearing melted wax on skin and ripping out body hair by the roots. Jared pressed the device against his cheek and began to shave the way he did every day—no more, no less. He’d come to his wife clean-shaven tonight, all right, but not in the way she expected.

Keira stood quietly as her attendants prepped and primped her. One brushed out her hair, another braided gemstones into the strands, while still another massaged scented oils into her skin. Her skin was gleaming, completely smooth. Her private parts had been laced with flavored lotions. It seemed odd to be working so hard to attract the prince when all she wanted was for him to stay away.

Liar.

She swallowed, lifting her chin. No! She would not admit to her curiosity about the barbarian. Soon enough she’d see him naked.

As he will soon see you.

Arousal trilled through her, but she blocked it. She would not touch him—she would not let him touch her—until she was assured of his docility.

He is not a docile man. Not on-screen he wasn’t, but in person it would be different. He was the reigning Goddess of Sakka’s consort, the dutiful mate of the Queen of All the Civilized Galaxy, husband to the One of the Holy Sakkaran Blood whose ancestry could be traced back to the beginning of time. The sooner he learned his manners, the better.

The sword is the best teacher.

True. But now that she was married to the man, she needed the heathen for producing heirs. He must remain intact.

An attendant pulled her arm away from her side, turned her hand palm up, and began