Burning for Love (Kindred Tales)

“I detect your scent and the scent of Lady Mildew,” he said to Rissa. “As well as the scent of another young female.”

“That will probably be Liza, the maid who tidies my rooms and makes the bed.”

James nodded.

“All right. Let me check the rooms just in case and then you may enter, Princess.”

He made a quick sweep of her Royal apartments and then returned with another nod.

“It’s safe. No one else has been here and I don’t smell any males at all.”

Rissa was amazed.

“Is your nose that sensitive, then?” she exclaimed, as she was finally allowed into her rooms. “Is that part of being a robot? Er…a cyborg?”

“No, it’s part of being a Kindred,” James said. “Our senses are much stronger and more finely tuned than most humanoids.”

“I see.” Rissa thought of how he’d described her own scent when she got overheated as “the smell of burning sugar.” “Bad smells must be almost overpowering for you, then,” she said. “If your senses are as strong as all that.”

He shrugged.

“I don’t usually characterize smells as ‘bad’ or ‘good’—though I confess I find some scents more pleasant than others. Your scent, for instance, Princess, is certainly…intriguing.”

“Oh, er…” Rissa wasn’t sure what to say to that. “I like your cologne as well,” she ventured, thinking of the clean, cool mountain wind fragrance she smelled when she was dancing close to him.

He frowned briefly.

“I do not wear cologne. Come—show me what I need to do in order to help you. I have, er, never undressed a Princess before. Or any female, for that matter.”

Rissa started to say that she had also never been undressed by a man—but she managed to stop the improper words from coming to her lips just in time.

“This way,” she said instead, leading him to her dressing room. “I cannot wait to get this wig off—it’s positively crushing my temples!”

James helped her pull out the hairpins. Then he lifted the heavy, elaborate wig off her head and placed it carefully on a wig stand in a row with the others as she directed him.

Rissa sighed in relief as she stripped off the tight skull cap, letting her own long, bouncy curls fly free.

“Oh, it feels so good to get that heavy monstrosity off!” she sighed, running her fingers through her natural hair which fell like a curly, caramel waterfall over her shoulders and back.

Then she became aware that James was standing there behind her, staring at her as she sat at her dressing room table. She could see his eyes in the mirror, flashing blue as he studied her.

“Er…is something wrong, Sir James?” she asked hesitantly, looking up at him.

“No. Nothing is wrong. Only that your true hair is…well, it is very different from the false hair you’ve been wearing all night,” he said, frowning.

“Oh, do you prefer the wig, then?” Rissa put a hand to her natural curls, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

“No, absolutely not,” he said immediately. “Your true hair is much more aesthetically pleasing. It is…I suppose it is what humanoids call ‘beautiful.’”

He sounded thoughtful, as though he had never considered anyone’s hair beautiful before. Coming forward, he lifted one of her curls and ran it through his fingers gently. His light touch sent shivers down Rissa’s back and she could feel her points growing hotter for some reason.

“Oh,” she said. “Well…thank you, I suppose.”

“Your hair truly is lovely,” James murmured, meeting her eyes in the mirror. “Why do you hide it and cover it with the false hair?”

“Because that’s the fashion in Court,” Rissa said simply. “It has been for ages, I think since King Leopold the Fourth. He was bald, you see, and so he started wearing a wig to hide the fact. His courtiers began wearing them too, to emulate him and then the Nobles started doing it.” She shrugged. “Pretty soon, before you knew it, everyone was wearing them in Court and we have been ever since.” She sighed and rubbed her temples. “I wish we didn’t have to, though. They give me such a headache—especially the really big, heavy ones, like I had on tonight.”

“Perhaps I can be of some assistance? May I rub your temples?” Still standing behind her, James put his hands on either side of her head, his eyebrows lifted questioningly as he looked at her in the mirror.

“Oh, er…”

She wasn’t quite certain if what he was proposing was proper but that wasn’t what stopped her. Her eyes were drawn his right metal hand and arm. He had taken off his gold brocade frock coat and rolled up the sleeves of his black shirt, which revealed the fact that his entire right arm appeared to be mechanical.

“Do you fear that I will hurt you, Princess?” James murmured, catching her eyes with his in the mirror. “I hope you know that my strength and enhancements will only ever be used to protect you and keep you safe. I promise you, I can be extremely gentle.”