Aksel turned around to face the door and Desa took a shaky breath before starting to strip her clothes. She gripped the edges of her shirt and raised it above her head and then let it fall to the ground beside her. Every little motion brought up little ripples of pain but she heeded them no mind.

It was a good thing that the mirror was fogged because the last thing she wanted to see was the latest state her body was in. Her own nervousness was apparent to her as her heart fluttered in her chest. She was taking off her clothes with Aksel in the room. Yes he was facing the other way but it wouldn't be hard to see her body when she was in the bath tub.

Desa unbuttoned her tattered pants and let them fall to the floor before not so gracefully stepping out of them. After also losing her undergarments, she was looking down at the bandage spanning the length of her left leg and left hand.

Should she try to remove them? She really didn't want to see how bad her leg was. She also didn't want Aksel to see her badly burnt leg. Deciding, it was already too late for that, she started unraveling the dirty cloth from her skin. She winced as her skin pulled with the cloth.

"What are you doing?" Aksel's alarmed voice asked.

Desa's head snapped up to see if he had turned around but he was thankfully still facing the door.

"I was trying to take off my bandages before going in." Desa explained lamely.

"You don't have to do that. They will be easier to remove after soaking in the water." Aksel said.

Desa was not about to argue with that logic so she gingerly side stepped towards the tub, making sure she didn't get any closer to Aksel before stopping in front of the tub. Now this was going to be a challenge.

Her left leg was about to hate her so fucking much if she bent it to get in. Desa held on to the edge of the tub to steady herself as she gave her weight onto her broken leg and raise her right leg into the tub. She was biting her tongue to prevent herself from making any sounds of pain as she raised up and bent her broken leg. Her whole body was shaking in tension as she fought to pull the limb in.

Her lips rolled inward between her teeth as she tried to stop the whimper wanting to leave her mouth as the water touched the sensitive burn marks spanning all across her left leg.

"Can I turn around?" Aksel's voice asked impatiently.

"No! Wait not yet." Desa replied in a panic.

She took a deep breath before lowering herself gently into the warm water and finally settled in. There was no soap or bubbles in the water so Desa's body was visible under the water, albeit distortedly. She didn't know if the changed angles helped or worsened the numerous scars on her body.

Desa covered her breasts with both arms as she bent her right leg to her chest in hopes to obscure the view to her nether region. She wanted to have some sense of decency but it seemed she wouldn't get much.

With a defeated small voice she said. "You can turn around now."

Aksel's body turned from the door and looked in her direction. All of the water that filled the tub trembled under his gaze. Desa averted her eyes and looked at the smooth tiles on the wall at the end of the tub. After a second the trembling of the water stopped and Desa's breath eased a little out of her chest.

She felt vulnerable right down to her bone. Her heart rate hadn't spiked to these rates not even during the past three days she spent in a small dimly lit stone room being punished. Every scar on her body felt scalding hot like they were screaming their presence under Aksel's intense gaze. Her damaged skin itched, as if she could manage to scratch hard enough, she could get rid of her ugly scars.

The crossed arms over her breasts tightened on her body like she could curl inwards and disappear, but there was nowhere to go. She was stuck in a cursed life, in a cursed body, with a cursed mind.

A popping sound of a bottle being opened was heard and brought Desa out of her morose thoughts. She watched as a thick creamy liquid floated into her vision and entered the bath water. The still water around her started to swirl and as they stirred around the liquid, bubbles started to form on the surface with the smell of clean soap rising around her.

Desa chanced a quick look over to Aksel from the corner of her eye. His jaw was set and he was closing the soap bottle back as his eyes followed the direction of the water swirling as he was directing them.

She couldn't decipher the concentrated look on his face. He probably looked so tense because he saw the extent of just how horrible her body had been mutilated over the years. She had never cared to hold back in a bar fight or step out of an oncoming knife, in hopes that it could finally end her miserable life. But right now, sitting in a tub before Aksel's towering body and beautiful grey eyes, Desa thought that maybe she should've worked harder to avoid some of her injuries.

She subtly squeezed her arms, who was she kidding? Even without her scars, someone as gentle and caring and handsome as Aksel wouldn't want to get close to her. She was doom to herself and everyone around her.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop it." Aksel's deep voice said. Desa's eyes snapped up to his and watched as he took two steps to settle on a wooden stool by the sink. Far away that he wasn't at risk of triggering the enchantment but close enough that she could still make out every crease the fabric of his clothes made as they fit into every delicious groove and indentation of his toned body.

His eyes looked stern as he kept eye contact. How did he even know what she was thinking to comment on it? Were her facial expressions that obvious? She always made sure to keep a blank face around Sontarro, Freyt and Zekla but she didn't know if she did the same with Aksel. Her cheeks felt warm like she was caught doing something wrong.

Desa broke the eye contact first and focused on the gentle hot water swirling around her like her life depended on it. This was beyond intimate, not for Aksel maybe but definitely for her. She never had someone with her when she bathed. Of course she didn't. Desa made sure she, herself, didn't even see her ugly body in the mirror in a passing glance. Why would she ever willingly strip in front of someone?

She gave a quiet sigh as she watched as the bubbles hid her body now, how did she find herself in a bathroom with the order she was supposed to kill? She could've sworn there were some missing steps in between.

"Ease back into the water." Aksel's gentle voice cut into her thoughts again. Desa realised she was standing stiff as a rock in the middle of the tub. The bubbles were obscuring her body now, so she was a little less hesitant about moving around. She turned her head to the left to look at Aksel for confirmation and he just encouragingly nodded.

Uncrossing her arms from her chest, she grabbed the edges of the tub as she slowly leaned back until she was dipped in the water til her collarbone. Desa kept her eyes on Aksel as his hands started moving. She couldn't tear her eyes away even if she wanted to. His tanned capable hands looked like delicate butterfly wings flapping as he moved his long fingers and the water moved under his command.

Desa softly gasped as she felt the gentle current start moving at the toes of her right foot. The water moved between them, circling the arch of her foot, going up around her delicate ankle and swirling. It was a whisper of movement as the water circled across her skin like a lovers touch. She watched as Aksel's hand moved with precision, directing the water across her leg.

As the water moved around her sore right calf, she gave a soft gentle sigh, the slight pressure felt like such expert fingers massaging her tired muscles. Desa watched as Aksel never tore his gaze from her as he started moving his other hand as another current gently started from her left foot.

As the water moved to join her calf like the other one, Desa felt as it ease out the bandage wrapped around her burnt leg. She couldn't stop the hitch of her breath and she bit her lower lip to stop from making any other noises. Aksel's hands stopped immediately.

"Did it hurt?" His voice a raspy call.

Desa just shook her head in a no. Aksel scowled in response like he knew she was lying and Desa had to avert her gaze in shame. But Aksel didn't push any further as the currents returned, this time both of them on her left leg, going delicately around her leg to unwrap the bandage. She didn't flinch or move as the parts where her burned skin was stuck to the bandage gently tore apart, she was more worried about whether Aksel could feel how bad her leg was through his water bending.

The soap in the water stung her left leg like they were still open wounds but Desa just closed her eyes and bit on her tongue. Trying to disassociate from the memory of why her leg was hurting.

"Does this happen all the time?" Aksel's question made her open her eyes and turn her head towards him. His eyes were swirling with an emotion Desa couldn't quite pin down. What was he talking about? She followed his gaze and looked at the surface of the water where her leg would be hiding under the bubbles.

She had to swallow the urge to grimace. So he could feel to some extent her injuries with his bending. She almost didn't want to answer him but with the enchantment holding her tongue back on so many things, she could at least answer honestly when it wasn't a forbidden topic.

"Not all the time." She answered softly as she swirled her hand across the water's surface, watching the bubbles move. The currents were now working on unwrapping her left hand and forearm to reveal many tiny deep cuts that Zekla had given her.

"When does it happen?" Aksel asked matching her soft tone but there was also something dangerous lurking at his undertone.

Desa absentmindedly kept playing with the water, moving her fingers like how she had seen Aksel do when he was water bending so many times. Except, her movements looked far less elegant and precise. "It changes. When I do something wrong mostly. When I disobey."

"You attacked me. How did you do something wrong? Was there a time limit?" Aksel asked. Desa just shook her head, both answering him and trying to dispel the memory of stabbing him. How could she explain that Sontarro could sift through her mind to see that she had been trying to find a way out of it with him? The simple answer was that she couldn't. There was no way the enchantment would allow her to share information about Sontarro's power.

Aksel must've understood her silence on the matter as well so he asked another question, "How often do you do something... wrong?" His voice sounded strained. Desa turned her head to look at him. His jaw was clenched and his hands moved a bit less gracefully but the waters moving across her skin still felt soft.

Desa gave a rueful smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, the split lip and her bruised shut left eye was sure to make it a grotesque picture. "I'm not known for being very compliant." She said in hopes to lighten the tension but Aksel didn't seem to find that the least bit amusing because his expression didn't change.

The smile slipped from her lips as she turned to look forward again. She watched as two small spheres of water separated from the tub water, carrying the used bandages from out of the tub and depositing them in the sink. The bandages plopped with a wet sound as the excess water drained.

As Aksel was busy, she took that moment to gently slide deeper into the tub, careful not to bend her broken left leg and submerge herself fully underwater. She stayed like that for a few seconds, letting the warm water seep into her bones and the liquid around her block out the outside world. She wished she could stay in this warm cocoon forever, never having to breathe and exist.

Desa felt pressure on the back of her head as her head was lifted to break the water's surface. She took a deep breath and looked over at Aksel through her wet lashes as water dripped from them.

"No drowning yourself on my watch." Aksel said gruffly. Desa laughed at his sour tone and she watched as his eyes shone under the light at the sound. She didn't say anything in return as she eased back into the water again, this time until her chin was also under the water. The gentle currents started moving again, picking up from where they left off on her legs, from her calves and slowly moving up to her thighs.

Desa could feel the moving waters getting closer to between her legs and an anticipatory tingle started to rise between her core. She didn't dare make eye contact with Aksel, hiding half in the water, her increased breaths and heartbeat sounding deafening in her ears. The soothing movement caressed the apex of her thighs on both sides, moving across to the space between her legs, right where she needed them. And she held her breath as he got so close but then the feeling went away.

She had to stop herself from releasing a disappointed groan at the absence of the currents.

She didn't have to wait long though as they started across her hands again. Going between her digits on both sides, swirling around her palms and knuckles, creating a careful map of every part of her body. They inched their way up her forearms, through the soft dip of her elbow and then winding around her biceps.

The water inched its way across her shoulders, applying slightly more pressure in just the right places, when they reached the base of her neck, she tilted her head back and closed her eyes as the ghost of Aksel's fingers started to slowly descend down her spine. A shudder went through Desa's body as it felt like two hands gently moving down her back and spanning across her back. She had to consciously stop herself from arching her back and lifting her breasts out of the water.

As the currents reached the dip of her back, they moved around either side of her hips, like gripping her from the back and moving upwards again. Following the curve of her body, dipping into her waist and sliding across her ribs. She gasped and opened her eyes as they ever so lightly brushed against the sides of her breasts, making her core clench.

But they were gone the next second. Her head tilted back further, baring her neck as water pulled her long black hair in, two hands gently massaging her scalp. Desa sighed in bliss. She had never felt such caring hands take the time to wash her hair. Not even in the orphanage, even as great as some of her matrons had been, no one had been able to fill that void of motherly care of soft touch as they had helped her bathe when she was too little to wash on her own. She could feel the burning sensation behind her eyes as a silent tear escaped her right good eye, glad that Aksel couldn't see it with him sitting on her left side.

When the movement seized across her hair, Desa felt immensely relaxed, her eyelids were half lidded, the movements across her scalp lulling her into a sleep state. She gently hummed in content as the water moved across her shoulders again before going across her collarbones. Then it ever so slightly started to dip down her chest.

Desa turned her head to the right, away from Aksel so there was no way he could see just how much she anticipated his touch. Her breasts ached into points, wanting to arch into the currents swirling dangerously close.

She held her breath, silently begging for his attention and she didn't know if her prayers to the high fae was heard but the currents gently closed around her breasts, making a shudder leave her body.

Desa felt every swipe of gentle movement across her sensitive flesh, increasing in pressure at times like the water was grabbing hold of her mounds but not quite. A soft moan escaped her lip as Aksel swiped particularly fast across her tip. Desa had to bite down on her lower lip from crying out and making a fool out of herself in front of Aksel. But she couldn't think straight as the warm water moved all around her gently melding her supple flesh together.

Her mind was lost under a haze. She almost whimpered as the water left her breasts. Desa was struggling to calm down her breathing as she felt invisible hands move across her taut stomach, tantalisingly slow across her abdomen, getting closer to where she had clenched her legs together in hopes to stifle the ache in her core.

A moan escaped her lips as the current moved down across her mound, and then teasingly stirred across her most sensitive spot. Her head rolled back against the tub, her legs clenching against the water trying to flow between them.

Desa gently turned her leaned back head to the side looking at Aksel. Her breath caught in her throat as she made eye contact with him. A few strands of navy dark hair had fallen across his forehead like he had ran his hand through his hair a dozen times, his eyes were locked on her with an intensity of a burning sun. She wanted to burn in those depths, until no ashes remained.

She watched his face as his hands moved to direct the waters against her skin, his movements less delicate and more intense. The current moved to the top of her right knee, gently pushing against to open her legs but not hard enough to complete it fully. A request. One that Desa was in no situation to deny. She let her knee fall to the side against the tub, silently obeying Aksel's request.

She watched as his eyes became hooded at her response and his hands moved with more purpose. The water swirled against her inner thighs, creating goosebumps across her skin. Slowly inching their way down, being careful not to touch the burn marks across her left leg or move the broken limb.

Desa's chest was rising and falling like her heart was going to explode. She couldn't tear her gaze away from
Aksel's mesmerising dark grey eyes. Her eyes fluttered as his invisible hands finally reached where she needed them and gently moved across her lips. A moan left her parted lips, making Aksel's jaw clench. The invisible hands dragged upwards to that sensitive nub, rubbing it in gentle pressured circles, making Desa swirl her hips involuntarily in hopes to increase friction. Her head tilted back further when she felt hands across her breasts again. His ministrations across her sensitive parts colliding and clashing in a beautiful symphony.

She felt pressure at her entrance, gently coaxing them apart like the water was trying to flow inside of her. The pressure wasn't much but combined with the insistent swirling across her clit and squeeze across her nipples, it was enough to render her speechless.

The water at her entrance gently pushed its way in, deliciously stretching her and then sliding back before going deeper. She needed more, she wanted Aksel's actual skin against her body, sliding above her, biting and squeezing every part of her body that he could reach, pushing his way into her until his was the only name she could remember.

Her breathing grew ragged as the pressure against her sensitive clit increased, becoming relentless against her core like a tiny whirlpool. She felt the invisible hands glide from her breasts down her sides, settling on her hips, holding her in place. Limiting how much she wanted to buck and grind against the water moving across her.

The fire inside her building and building in her core until she could take it no more and came apart till she was no more than stars littered across the dark night sky.

Sorry that it took me a while to update!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter *wink wink*

I might have another saucy chapter after this too heu heu heu *coughs* sorry got something in my throat.
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