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The sound of glass shattering was never one that Cedric preferred to hear. In fact it would not be dramatic at all to say he developed almost a phobia of the sound, because with it accompanied hours of extra work. The clean-up, the trip to the village to get more ingredients. Not to mention explaining to the king why there was a delay, because almost all of his stock was requested by the royal family. It was his duty after all to be prepared for all occasions, as the Royal Sorcerer.
None of these thoughts went through his head today, though. Today the sound of glass shattering was one of terror, not nuisance. Today, he wasn’t alone in the tower. His princess Sofia was here as well, helping sweep the shelves and tidy up. She had seen the state of his storeroom and without a moment wasted started to tidy up. It was not an act befitting a princess, but she would hear nothing of it so he let it go. He was cursing that decision now.
He was by her side within moments, wand at the ready to assess the damages. There was a variety of potions in his stockpile, and not all of them were pleasant. He had to be prepared for any circumstances, the king had informed him. Even the ones that were too unsightly to explain to dear innocent Sofia. She lay dazed on the floor of his storeroom, her ladder laying alongside her. Her dress was covered in a pale blue liquid.
With haste he flicked his wand, attempting to clean the unknown potion from his princess. It was to no avail; the liquid resisted his attempts. Panic set in. What potions did he have that were resistant to magic? Was it the magic resistant toxins? Some form of dastardly acid, impossible to clean?
Tossing his wand aside he check the princess for any injuries. There would be no forgiving himself if his precious..
His dark line of thought was interrupted by a choir from heaven. After coming to his senses, it was of course just laughter.
“Mister Cedric, what ever are you doing? This is hardly the time to engage in a tickle fight.” Her laughter had calmed down as his hands stilled. In his panic he had accidentally found the princesses most ticklish spot, it seemed. Just above her right hipbone.
It was not information to remember for later, as this was the princess he had accosted. There would be no surprise tickling, because that was just not something to be done, to royalty. The idea of tickling a princess had him thinking of nothing but shackles, and a particularly large, sharp blade.
He put those thoughts aside for now though, as he still needed to assess the situation. “My apologies, Princess Sofia. I didn’t mean to.. cause such a reaction in you. I was merely trying to see if the potion that had fallen on you caused any issues. Are you feeling quite alright?” He looked around for the remains of the vial. It wouldn’t do to have the princess cut herself on glass, on top of everything else.
“Yes Mister Cedric, besides my backside hurting a bit after having landed in such a way. Amber would be eager to poke fun at how unladylike I fell, I imagine.” She had sat up after the laughing fit, and was now rubbing the small of her back. “I’d like to see her do any better, though. It’s not as if I am a cat.”
Cedric avoided imagining any such scenario. One princess in a near-death experience under his supervision was quite enough, thank you very much. He stood, reaching out his hand for the princess to steady herself on. “Let’s get you cleaned up then, Princess Sofia. I have an idea of what this potion may be and it would do no good to stay on for very much longer.”
The princess took his gloved hand and leveraged herself upward. She weighed almost nothing, he thought. It was amazing how small humans could be. She took a step away, towards the exit, but he didn’t let go of her hand. “Princess, there may be shards of glass on the floor. Please allow me to carry you, it would do my heart good to ensure you don’t gain any further injuries on my watch.”
Princess Sofia put on a pout at his words, clearly thinking along the lines of ‘I am not a child, Mister Cedric!’ but did not voice them. Cedric was thankful of this, and scooped the princess up between his hands. She as no heavier than the tomes he carried around, and had no issue carrying her the entire distance to his personal bath. He had no need to carry her much further than the mess in the storeroom, but he found himself enjoying the sensation. It was a positively manly experience, to carry a princess. He imagined this is why it was called a princess carry.
To her credit, Princess Sofia kept up the pout until he gingerly lowered her onto the bathroom floor, her hand gripping his robe around the neck to steady herself properly. “You could have dropped me much earlier, Mister Cedric. That was humiliating.”
“My dear princess, it was nothing of the sort. That was just the proper behavior of a servant with his princess.” Cedric did his best Baileywick impersonation, and Sofia lightened up with a bright smile.
“You? Proper? I do not think so, Mister Cedric. Not in my years here, at least.” Her ribbing was appreciated. It was one of the few friendships he could claim to have. The other was his sister, which didn’t quite count.
“Princess I am the pinnacle of proper. Now, let’s get this potion off you shall we? You are positively covered.” He gestured towards the sink, urging her to step before him. “Come on now.”
As if remembering the situation they were in, the princess looked down at her dress in horror. “Oh, it’s ruined! Mother will be quite upset at this. It was her favorite color.” She clicked her tongue and tried to wipe her hands on the clean parts. “This won’t melt my skin or anything, right Mister Cedric?” Her tone was light, but her eyes were wide, looking up to meet his own.
“No, my dear Sofia. The potion is one of magical resistance, which is why I could not clean it magically earlier. It has no other side effects, which is fortunate.” She relaxed her shoulders, arms going slack at her sides. He hadn’t realized how much fear she was harboring, and silently chastised himself for not putting her mind at rest immediately. He was too caught up in reassuring himself, first.
“That being said, it would do no good to leave it sink in. The potion reacts to the body heat of a person, and after a few moments it will become invisible. This is quite advantageous in the battle field, but for a princess having a tumble, it means we have to be very diligent with our cleaning.” He reached out, taking light grasp of her wrist. Lifting her hand up to emphasize his point. The potion was already transforming from the pale blue to look nothing more than a mere sheen of sweat upon her skin.
“Well, you’ll have to clean yourself as well, Mister Cedric.” She was pointing at his own hands, and he realized he himself had also became covered in the potion. Probably from his frantic reaction. He hesitated not to cover his hands in the stuff to assure the safety of the princess, and for that he could feel prideful.
“Yes, well ladies first, Princess Sofia. Let’s get your hands cleaned in the sink, so you don’t track it anywhere else.”
It did not take long for Cedric to realize the washing technique of Princess Sofia left much to be desired. Stepping in behind her, he reached his hands to take hers. “Here, let me show you princess. You are missing all sorts of spots, and it would do no good to leave this on yourself.”
Her hands were quite a bit tinier than his own, so instead of guiding her hands he simply took one of her hands between his own and washed it for her. “You were missing all the spots in between your fingers here, princess. It would do no good, to not be diligent here.” Her hands were soft under his touch, his fingers lathering the soap and massaging it into the crevices she missed between her fingers, under her nails. He washed the rest of her hand as well as her wrist, just in case she missed any spots.
“What would happen? If some was left on, I mean?” Her voice was small, lacking the cheer from earlier. It was replaced with something else, but he wasn’t quite sure what. Not fear, for sure. Perhaps it was her trusting him entirely to take care of her coming through. He would like that, he thought.
“Well, if you were to be injured it would be quite hard to help in the moment. Any magical attempts would be rejected. And if you were to teleport.. Let’s not discuss that. It would be very, very bad.” She gulped. “Don’t worry though, princess. That is why I’m helping make sure you leave none behind. The potion dissolves with soap, so we will have no problems as long as you wash diligently.”
He finished one of her hands, and picked up the other in turn. Crevices, under her nails, her wrist. He massaged the soap into every spot he could think of. It wasn’t unpleasant work, her hands were tiny but they were quite soft and warm. Between his hands it felt like he was holding a fragile dove.
“Your fingers are quite long, Mister Cedric.”
It was a queer comment, he thought. “Why do you say so, Princess Sofia? I hadn’t thought of them as that before.” He stilled to look at them himself. They looked as they always did, though compared to her tiny hands he guessed they could be referred to as long.
“Oh, I didn’t mean anything bad by it, Mister Cedric. I think they are very lovely. I just meant in comparison to Baileywick’s, they seem quite long.” She injected a lightness into her voice, probably to reassure him that her remark wasn’t meant to be one of criticism. “His fingers were also quite rough, but you are very gentle with me.”
It didn’t reach Cedric, though. He was far too preoccupied with what the princess had just told him. His movements stilled, gripping her hands in his. “Princess Sofia, has Baileywick been touching you anywhere?” He was going to kill the man. No, that wasn’t right. He was going to remove the man’s skin, layer by layer first. Oh, he would so revel in..
“Oh, that’s easy Mister Cedric. When I first became princess, he was in charge of my etiquette courses. He would always correct how I used the silverware at the table.” She shuddered a bit in his grip. He noticed in his anger he had completed the contact between her back and himself, now entirely engulfing the girl. “He was quite impatient with me back then. I just remembered it, is all.” Her voice got quiet again, at her next utterance. “It was the last time a man had touched my hands, so it just reminded me.”
No murder would happen tonight. Cedric was almost disappointed to not finally be rid of the nuisance of a man. Almost. He was more relieved to know that his Princess Sofia had been safe after all. “Well, I imagine I have a bit more grace than that man does. Come now, your hands are all clean. You’ll have to take care of the rest..” Cedric was not confident she could do a sufficient job, if her hand washing skills were anything to go by. “Princess Sofia, do you still have.. an attendant wash you?” It was an indelicate question, especially to ask to a princess, but her safety was precedent here.
Her face took on a bright pink at his questioning. “Of course not, Mister Cedric! I am no child any more. I haven’t had one for years now.”
Ah, that might be an issue then he thought. “Princess Sofia, my apologies. It is just, with your hand washing, I am not sure you could do a proficient job at removing the rest of the potion..”
“Could you not just help me, Mister Cedric? Like with my hands?”
That was, of course, unthinkable. “Princess, the potion would have soaked through by now. We have no way of knowing where exactly it has settled.” Trying to talk around the particular issue seemed the best.
“I am quite aware of it, Mister Cedric, but like you said it is dangerous to leave on, and with no one else to help.. No, I think I would be quite too embarrassed for anyone else to help in such a manner.” The princess was curled into herself, careful to not touch her now cleaned hands against her soiled dress.
“Yes, well I’m quite sure your mother would not approve of a man assisting you with such a thing..” It was his last ditch effort. He always had trouble saying no to the princess.
“It’s okay, Mister Cedric. I don’t think that will be an issue. You see, she still is a bit confused on the matter..” She seemed unsure if she should finish her thought, and Cedric waited patiently. He had an idea of what was coming, anyways. It was not something new to him. “You see, even though you are Mister Cedric,” her emphasis was on the word mister, “she insists that you are Miss Cedric. I have tried to tell her, I promise, but she seems set on it.”
At the last statement she held her hands together, as if pleading Cedric to believe her. It was quite adorable. The final nail in his coffin was her puppy dog eyes. There was no fighting against them, he knew. With a sigh, he gestured to the bath. “Alright then, come on. I’ll fill the bath with bubbles, but I warn you I will have to be quite.. diligent.” He should feel upset at being demoted to such a position as bath attendant, but he couldn’t bring himself to. It was after all his fault that his princess was in this state.
He filled the bath, cautious to not use his regular temperature of ‘scalding hot’. He imagined a child’s skin would be far more sensitive than his own. “In you go then, princess.” He looked at the ceiling, waiting to her the affirmation that she was properly covered again. It was instead met with a frustrated grunt.
“Mister Cedric, I’m not going in by myself! That’s much too embarrassing.” Her bottom lip was jutting out, her hands indignantly at her sides. Well, he did not expect her to have undressed in such a quick manner.
“Absolutely not, princess. That would just be beyond the pale. That is just too improper.” He did not want to even imagine that conversation with the king. He was not sure it would be much longer than, ‘you pervert’ and ‘executed immediately.’
“I can’t be the only one who is.. you know!” The princess waved her hands around in lieu of words. “Don’t make me say it, Mister Cedric. It’s too embarrassing to be like this myself.”
He sighed. How in the world did he manage to find himself in this situation, he thought. He undressed efficiently, having long since lost any embarrassment over his own body. “There, can we get in so we can get this over with, princess?” He needed this situation to end before it became any more convoluted than it already was.
“Yes, thank you Mister Cedric.” She looked at him with the naked curiosity that one could only find within someone as innocent as herself. “Why don’t you have a chest like my mother, Mister Cedric?” She looked him up and down with curiosity. “You have the rest, just not those.”
Oh, Merlin. He was fortunate, having been a sorcerer. Not everyone has magic at their disposal, and a direct contact for ingredients that would receive very little oversight. “I removed them with magic, princess. It is part of me being a ‘Mister’ now.” His hopes were met when that seemed to be sufficient for the princess, before she hopped unceremoniously into the bath, splashing Cedric along the way.
“That wasn’t very ladylike, princess.” He said in his best discipline voice, as he slide behind the princess into the tub. It was a tight fit, but not uncomfortable. The princess sat on his lap, and his arms found themselves wrapping around her waist naturally. It was actually quite comfortable, the sorcerer thought. Having another person in such a private place almost felt like a secret comfort, one that he could get used to.
Not that he will find himself in such a situation again, he reminded himself. “I’ll start washing you now, princess.” He lathered the cloth liberally and waited for her to nod in response. After receiving permission, he started to massage in the soap and lather her body. His free hand held onto her waist still, stabilizing her.
Even through the cloth he could feel how soft the princess’ skin was. It had the springiness of youth to it still, something he hadn’t felt since he himself was as young as her. The smoothness meant the cloth easily glided over her skin, and he found himself having to apply a slight amount of pressure to ensure he was getting proper contact. Princess Sofia let out a sigh at the extra pressure, and leaned back into Cedric’s chest with her full weight. He was glad she was comfortable in his presence, but it made the task at hand all the more difficult.
He brushed the cloth along her neck, the slight bumps of her clavicles reminding him how fragile the girl in his grasp was. The cloth slipped under the amulet’s chain, following it down her chest. Long lost were the thoughts of slipping it from her neck, his only goal now was to ensure he could properly clean her without removing the amulet. She left it on for a reason, and he didn’t wish to cause her discomfort.
She let her entire body go limp, so he would have to hold her arms and legs up himself in order to get all the places necessary. The smirk on her face told him she was quite enjoying being treated like a princess. He couldn’t bring himself to mind, though. It felt like a meditation of the soul, a calming silence between the two as he cleaned her. There was a reverence to his actions; he did not clean himself anywhere near with such a gentle touch. For him, time in the bath was to be done quickly and efficiently.
Unfortunately, the comfortable reverie they found themselves in had to be broken at some point. It was awkward, but needed to be addressed. He cleared his throat, letting the hand with the cleaning cloth rest on her stomach. “Princess, there is uhm, one other area to clean. I’ll need your permission, of course.” He imagined she was feeling as awkward as he, as she silently nodded at his words, giving him the permission.
He channeled his quick and efficient methodology for this particular task, not allowing himself to focus on the spring in the princess’ flesh, or the softness of her skin. It was not an area that he allowed to map in his mind’s eye. He had plenty of practice for this with his own washing, but he was not a princess. He would not let even his own imagination put her innocence in jeopardy.
Mercifully it was done. He washed himself quickly, and let the water drain. He lifted the princess out first, hands gripping her waist. He paused, amazed at just how much of her waist his hands covered, his fingers brushing against each other as they wrapped around her stomach. He placed her gingerly, and wrapped her in a towel. “Let me get dressed princess, and I’ll fetch my wand and charm you dry. We can’t have you walking back to your chambers looking like you just took a bath in my tower.” He shuddered at the thought. “Needless to say, let’s keep this incident between ourselves, if you wouldn’t mind.”
She had nodded, but her brow was knitted in thought. Finally, she spoke up. “You take care of me quite well, Mister Cedric.”
“I do, princess. It’s my pleasure, of course.” It was his fault after all that she was in this mess. He should never have let her alone in his store room.
“Mother always told me when I was younger, to find someone who took care of me. I didn’t think I would find someone so quickly, though.”
Oh, dear. He cursed her mother’s vague phrasing for this misunderstanding. “Your mother meant someone more your age, princess. In a.. different manner, than this. You’ll understand when you are older, I am sure.”
He left her thinking near the tub as he retrieved his wand. The mess threatened to disrupt his evening with even more cleaning than before. He couldn’t bring himself to care, though. The bonding they shared was worth more than just one evenings time.
He returned and charmed the princess dry, as promised. They got dressed in silence, Princess Sofia only speaking up after they were both fully dressed. “Mister Cedric, I’m extending forth an official offer of courtship.”
“I beg your pardon, Princess Sofia?” What in the world was she talking about now? He briefly considered rushing back to the store room to make sure she didn’t also bust open a bottle of the hallucinogens the king was so fond of.
“You have beautiful, kind fingers. You take care of me gently but diligently. You never raise your voice against me, and you rushed to put yourself in danger to help me. Mister Cedric, I think the man my mother was telling me about must be you. You have until my official age of betrothal to respond. Please see to it that you do.”
She left him dumbfounded in his bathroom. He could have stood there for days, he had no clue. What in the world had just happened? It wasn’t that he found it insulting, quite the opposite. Any subject of the king, man or woman, would be fortunate to receive such an invitation as courtship with one of the princesses. For her to extend it to him, though.
That was just preposterous. She deserved someone she could start a family with, for one. Not to mention the age gap, the lack of any romantic feelings.. He brought himself back to his senses after much deliberation. Her age of betrothal was still a few years out. He just had to hope that the princess forgot of this before then. If not, well.. He had always had trouble saying no to Princess Sofia. He sighed, and retrieved the mop. At least one of the messes he found himself in this evening was easily cleaned.