Lana didn't know how she found herself there. The bed was miles beyond her own, felt like a lump of potatoes in comparison; the room itself was a bit too grand, filled with enough space to fit four of her own dingy houses inside, adorned with marvelous ruins of gold, silver, and all the other things humans found valuable. It now made sense to Lana why Auther saw the five gold coins he had been given as meager.
Aside from the awe of it all, it had two separate rooms, too. She didn't know where they went; she just knew that Auther was inside one while she was still shivering and wet. At one point, she wanted to follow him, but she kept that thought at the back of her mind; it was a bit inappropriate. Nobles had weird hobbies; she had no intention of finding out his, for now.
"Why did I have to save that boy? What if someone finds out I'm here? What if he has some arranged marriage with some noble lady ready to rip my guts out, what if she rips my guts out?" She silently asked herself as she touched the clotted wound that Viola's rapier had made on her chest.
She shivered a bit, the cold getting to her; she was soaking wet, and her cheap, thin fabric clung to her delicate skin. She was cold, freezing, one might say, but could not do anything but worry about the perilous situation she was in.
"What if he rapes me? Could I really stop him? If I could, would I be able to bear the consequences?" She suddenly guarded her chest, which, now wet and easily exposed her nipples, was helplessly covered by a band of rags serving as an impromptu bra; it wasn't that far from the breast bands the nobles wore.
She had slept in the same bed with him at one point, but back then, she had assumed he was a mistreated servant, not a prince. Now, what would she do against a prince?
Meanwhile, back in a room with marble tiles and a modern bathtub, Auther was there looking at everything and looking at the door as if staring at Pandora's box, utterly afraid of even opening it.
His body, teenage and still concerningly growing, had exhibited a nastic response for mating similar to the early morning male response to a flood of testosterone. What caused it? Lana.
He understood the mental gymnastics she might have been doing in her mind; he would be too, and he having sexual attraction to her at this time would only make things worse. He had been gone for too long due to that; if he came out, Lana would want an explanation, or else she would get curious, and he couldn't exactly explain this, modern marvel of convenience.
He had some statue makers basically design the tub and the marble tiles with some cheap production methods, only a former engineer would bother to memorize. They seemed curious; they didn't dare ask questions, and no one ever questioned nobility.
Then, as if struck by lightning, an easy solution to his very complex trust problem came out: why not just show Lana the tub? It would put the awkwardness of this situation far away from her mind, and he was sure that while explaining the litany of questions she would surely have, he would forget his own arousal.
Just like that, Auther's voice took Lana right out of her mental daze. beckoning her to go to this strange room, which she nay anyone in this world had any common sense of who could imagine that a bathhouse would be in someone's room, not even the queen had such liberties.
Opening that door needed more trust than nearly anything she had ever done before.
"I really hope this isn't a torture chamber." She turned the knob to a bright light assailing her eyes before looking at a similarly drenched Auther kneeling at the bathtub, with water coming out of the faucet.
Her face contorted from awe to confusion to fear all in one second. She backed away, closing the door quickly and walking away quickly, to the door before looking back.
She would never get far if he didn't want her to. She walked back to the door, not opening it, but sitting at the base.
"Lana, I can hear you."
"I know that's why I sat down loudly."
"Why did you come back?"
"I don't know how delicate this strange room is to you or how valuable it is."
"Do you really think I would kill you for a simple bathroom?"
"People kill for way less..." She wanted to say something, but once she thought of the next phrase, it completely disappeared from her mind.
Auther inside the room looked at himself through the simple silver mirror, touching his neck.
"Way less, but I'm not that kind of person, come on, you know me."
"Actually Auther I don't think we've only known each other for five days, three of those you weren't Crown Prince Auther you were a mangled stranger, I barely know you."
That actually stung, for some weird reason, it stung
"But you saved my life, I owe you that much to not harm you, don't I?"
Lana took a pause, too. "Not everyone is a selfish asshole, Lana, stop being fucking stupid," she silently told herself as she took a breath. Auther owed her his life; that counted for something.
"Fine, why did you even call me inside? What even is that place? What are those things?"
"Haven't you even seen a mirror?"
"I have, but not even Viola's was that good; it was like staring at myself."
"No, you are exaggerating things."
"I am not."
"Yes, you are, you must be going mental from all the events that you went through, Burned by Neon, Torture by Viola, you don't even know how beautiful you look right now, do you?"
Lana actually blushed at the oddly well-timed compliment.
"Of course, I know what my face looks like. It's just that I had better days."
"Come inside and see, I'm sure you are the best you ever have been."
Lana wanted to stand, but some part of her mind didn't want to trust this charming 19-year-old with anything, much less her safety. She didn't have a choice, did she? The door opened, and she fell through, held only by Auther's leg from hitting the cold marble floor.
'