Vali eased open the heavy bronze door and slipped inside the extravagant harem baths with three eunuch trainees trailing behind him. They gazed stupidly down the towels in their arms, wondering what they were supposed to do now as they peeked at the unconscious female in the tub.

The rose-scented water is now clouded with blood from the captive's wound.

Vali felt his lips tighten in exasperation. "I told Cederic not to hurt the females during their capture. This kind of treatment reflects badly on me as the Head Eunuch."

"Do you want me to call the healer, Master?"

There was a brief hesitation followed by, "Let us clean the captive first."

Vali lifted the female and carried her slowly to the octagonal pool built into the floor directly below the dome.

Diamond-shaped panels of colored-cut glass were set in the dome where the misty morning light shone through. The pool was large enough to seat more than two dozen harem girls at a time while it soothed the tired bathers.

"Arries and Joseph, you two wash her hair thoroughly. Use the jasmine and orchid scents just like I told you. The right amount, please. Don't use too much as it offends the vampire sense of smell. Kyle, you are in charge of rubbing the soap all over her skin."

Vali's assistants sauntered across the moist mosaic tiles. Clouds of fragrant steam hung throughout the room. The trainees struggled to adjust to their job as they kept their eyes demurely downcast when Vali started to remove the female's clothes.

He was once also like that when he was a trainee, so he understood them. It was rather hard getting used to living through the first few decades as a eunuch but, after years of seeing naked women, it took a lot of physical contact to draw out that desire due to their lack of…

"Is this the last of the female captives?" Arries asked.

"Yes, she is. I wonder why she was delivered by Cederic so late. I hope nothing bad has happened." Joseph said as he looked over his shoulder just in case the vampire might be lurking around behind them. "I don't trust the warrior general even if he looks as innocent as a child."

"That's a good instinct, Joseph," Vali said. "As a eunuch, your main concern is the health and safety of the females. Nobody but the eunuchs are allowed to touch and care for the harem."

"Hmm. This female has silver hair and eyelashes and her skin is as pale as the winter snow. Very unique. She's different from the other female captives we have taken care of this week," Arries remarked as he poured honey all over her hair while Joseph brushed the captive's back as he hovered awkwardly behind her. "What do you think, Master? Should we put her in the High Consort Harem?"

"No. Aside from the silver hair, she doesn't have the elven ears of a faerie nor the flexible muscles of a were. Neither is she a siren--with a hauntingly beautiful voice, an ethereal vampire, a phoenix with flaming red hair, or a fleeting water nymph. I doubt the high lords would appreciate her tall frame and strong facial features. They usually prefer their consorts shorter than them, delicate looking and who have learned the most effective techniques in indulging a man's every sexual fantasy."

"Moreover, Cederic warned me this one caused him a lot of trouble. Because of that, he requested that this girl be placed in a lower rank." Vali explained as fingers of steam swirled behind them. "Keep in mind that only virgin females can become consorts. Those kidnapped women who are not and are very knowledgeable with the pleasures of the flesh automatically become High Consorts."

"Cederic must have known. He's using his position as the Vampire King's general to persuade your decision about her rank. Should we check right now just to be sure? What if she has been touched by Cederic or the others?"

Kyle's hand drifted lower, slipping beneath the surface of the water as he continued down. Vali pulled his wandering hand out from between the female's legs.

"I was a soldier before I became a eunuch. Cederic and I have been friends for millennia. Cederic may look like a..." Vali trailed off awkwardly then continued, "-I don't want to say it out loud because I value my own life, but what you just implied is impossible. He is trusted by the Vampire King because he does his job properly. I also heard he has a great aversion to virgins when it comes to his pleasure, I believe I will fulfill his request."

Kyle retrieved a cake of brown olive oil soap and a sponge from the nearby marble bench then returned to the shallow pool and dragged the soapy sponge along her arms and neck. "It's been a decade since the last empress died. Is it true that the Vampire Council has decided that it is time to hail a new one from the Consortium?"

"Yes, it's true," Vali replied.

"And was this approved by the King himself or just another duke trying to place his spy in a much higher position?" Arries asked curiously since they already started talking about royal politics. It's best to ask interesting questions that had bothered him for a long time. "Or maybe someone closer to the King? Perhaps she will end up just like Empress Fenech who's betrayal was found out and led to her being beheaded at the guillotine for the entire Vampire Kingdom to witness. Empress Fenech deserved that, by the way. She knew treason in this kingdom was a heinous crime. I can't believe Duke Cyr got away without being punished. After all, he manipulated the poor, poor, girl."

"The empress had it coming, Arries. She must have been power-hungry to even risk her precious life. Or, she could have been seduced by Duke Cyr's promised her lies... The usual shit that girls believe when the men they dally with are part of the Vampire Court. " Kyle said as he dipped the bar of soap into the cold water, then smoothed it over the female's legs, lathering up her skin until it was as sleek as silk beneath his hands. "Sometimes, women are so shallow that I pity them."

"We should not give any sympathy to the harem. After all, they'd fuck their way to the top. If you are not careful, they might use their feminine wiles against you and compel you to do their bidding and other stupid things. Such as, freeing one of them." Joseph replied as he retrieved a clay pitcher, dipped it into the pool to fill it, and poured a stream of water over the female's crown of silver hair. "Has an Empress already been chosen from among the concubines?"

"Not yet. The Dukes in the VampireKingdom will choose the three concubines during the Blood Moon Banquet." Joseph cheerfully continued. "Three concubines are chosen from the three High Consorts, two from among the Consorts, and two from the Escorts."

"Who are the seven females chosen?"

"The Escorts are Lady Haiti and Ingrid, the High Consorts are Lady Marguerite, Lady Hyacinth and Lady Catriona, and the Consorts are Lady Ophelia and Clarence."

"Clarence... Clarence is included?" Arries slowly lifted the pitcher in a white-knuckled grip, using every ounce of his self-control to pour another stream of water over the captive's hair and not drop the pitcher on the floor.

"Yes, she is," Vali replied.

Arries lowered his head again despite the tightness in his throat. The pain that accompanied the tightness hurt almost as much as the betrayal he felt from his childhood sweetheart. He despised her at that moment.

He has risked everything, even his life, just to get into this castle to save her when, in fact, she didn't want to be saved.

He supposed some part of him still wanted to believe that Clarence was different, that she would have waited for him to save her when she was forcibly taken, by the vampire soldiers, [from]in their village five years ago to be part of the harem. Kyle was right.

Indeed, women were very shallow.

"In the eyes of the vampires, women in the Consortium are dispensable. All they desire is a warm, slick place to spill their seed." Vali said as he rinsed the female's body with water. "Get the towels, eunuchs. It's time to dress her and introduce her to the Harem when she wakes up from her slumber."

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Edited By: RedPandaChick