I was surrounded by a smooth cool silk that was at odds with the painful throbbing that overwhelmed my thoughts. I shifted in place reaching up to rub my face and groan only for my arms to get caught half way. Opening my eyes with great effort I looked around a dimly lit room. I was in a four poster bed with silken sheets, like one of the many rooms I had found when exploring yesterday. 

 

Shifting about I tried to move only for my arms and legs to get caught up with something cool and metal. I felt a chill run down my spine and I wiggled about under the heavy silken sheets until they were mostly kicked off of me and looked down at my body. I had a set of golden shackles linking my wrists and another linked my ankles together with enough give that I could theoretically walk at a slow waddle.

 

Besides the chains I was utterly naked, with no sign as to where my clothes or belongings had gone. I quickly cursed myself for falling asleep and groaned again as my head pounded as if I had drunk myself senseless. Pushing through the pain I got out of bed and let out a hiss of pain. Falling back onto the bed I managed to shift my foot just enough to examine it and found that the cut I had gotten from the broken mirror a few days ago had been reopened and packed with a dark blue substance that faintly burned when I wiggled my toes.

 

I could only assume, or perhaps just hope, that the blue substance was some sort of disinfectant. Letting out a frustrated huff I gingerly got to my feet and began to shuffle over to the on-suite bathroom. Sitting on the toilet I considered my options, if I had not woken up in literal chains I would be far more predisposed to remain with the Imperial Cult. I took a deep breath and planted my hands firmly on my legs to steady myself. I was well aware that fear was informing my judgement to a large degree but given the circumstances fear was a very important survival instinct I was going to listen to.

 

She had done something, she had to have done something. There was no way I had been that full or that comfortable to have just fallen asleep in her arms after she had practically held me at gunpoint. Not that it was entirely unreasonable for her to do that I suppose. I was sneaking around her garden after all. 

 

Shaking away my abnormally muddled thoughts on my current predicament I cleaned myself up as well as I could in the bathroom before beginning to explore the room I had been left in. As expected the door was locked with another bloody keypad! Honestly these things were the bane of my existence, the moment I could find some purchase that would let me annihilate these things I would make them all pay for impeding my right to loot and explore at my leisure.

 

With the reality of me being locked inside the room waiting to experience the tender mercies of 40k style religious zealots in what amounted to a warzone dawning on me I quickly distracted myself by looking around the rest of the room. It was a large and luxurious room, dominated by a four poster bed big enough for eight of me to lie down side by side and long enough that even Claudia could sleep comfortably. The furniture was a confluence of dusty red hardwoods with silver and brass filigree style adornments. The walls were wood panelled and comfortable with silks and felts abound. 

 

There was a writing desk with a power outlet, various drawers and cupboards that were mostly empty save for several changes for the bedding. The bathroom was more fruitful, I found an electric shaver, one that did not use blades like a sane person would but instead had a laser that I could only presume was used to burn away hair.

 

I briefly mused on the potential for using it as some sort of weapon but I was honestly unwilling to mess around with a laser at the moment so I put it away again. There were several perfumes, oils and creams as well as a pile of fluffy towels. 

 

I turned to the bathroom facilities themselves. Toilet, oversized, sink, oversized, bath, perfectly sized. And by perfectly sized I mean utterly huge, it was recessed into the floor and was made out of ceramic tiles of dazzling reds and blues and there was a control panel that I presumed offered some sort of climate control on the water.

 

Honestly as far as prison cells go that bath alone almost made up for taking away my clothes and chaining me up while I slept. Okay, that is a lie, chaining people up without permission is one of the somewhat unforgivable things you absolutely should not be able to get away with. Even if it was a really nice bath. 

 

I was busy admiring the glorious bathroom when there was a chime from the other room and Claudia strode into my cell flanked by two women in something between conservative religious garb and a maid outfit. 

 

“Ah.” She noticed me in the bathroom doorway. “I see you are awake. How was your rest?” She inquired smoothly. As if I was not currently nude trying to cover up my kitty while in chains.

 

“Why did you put these on me? Where did my clothes go?” I had meant to sound like I had something approaching a backbone, probably because my survival instincts are not as strong as my imperilled ego at being naked in front of other people. And likely being naked in this body. But my words came out in a rushed stutter and only made the Amazon Priestess smile at me.

 

“Well your clothes were in a bit of a state Livia.” She chided, closing the gap between us in remarkably few steps while her extra’s began to change the bedding with remarkable speed that only came with practice. 

 

“That doesn't explain the chains.” I mumbled as she knelt down in front of me and put her hands on my shoulders.

 

“I know they are a little bit undignified but you can put up with that for a little bit can’t you?” She spoke with an easy confidence and cupped my cheek when I tried to look away out of embarrassment of being bloody naked. “Some of my attendants had concerns about you.” Her voice was soft, quiet now, meant just for me. “You can understand that can’t you? So to make them feel more comfortable, to make them less afraid I made the choice to use the restraints for now. Because I know you are strong enough to endure the embarrassment. And I know I will be able to make it up to you, does that answer your question my child?” 

 

“I'm not embarrassed.” I assured her, earning another easy smile as she gently brushed my hair out of my eyes with her cool fingers. She was close enough that I could not smell anything except her perfume. A tasteful and comforting scent.

 

“It’s okay Livia, I know it was scary out there alone, but that time is over now. I have a purpose for you, it will just take a little while for you to get used to things. Big changes in life can be scary, but know that I bring the light of the God Emperor with me, all of his wisdom, his kindness, are things I can share with you.” She paused to regard me for a moment before she continued. “I have given instructions for Sister Suki and Sister Kiri to look after you today while I perform my labours for our Emperor. I should be able to speak to you sometime tomorrow after you have rested.”

 

“Allright.” I muttered, shifting in place at the intense proximity Claudia seemed to enjoy.

 

“Don’t worry.” She gave an exaggerated whisper. “They have seen it all before.” the Pontifex gave me a once over doing little to help reduce my embarrassment before standing in a single smooth motion and striding away. 

 

“I leave little Livia in your care.” She addressed one of the women. She was around my hight with a faintly tanned complexion and rich brown hair tied neatly in a bun. 

 

“As you say Mother.” Came the reply followed by a polite bow and then Claudia was gone and the door chimed again, locked. The two women turned to face me as a silence filled the room. 

 

“As you heard from the Pontifex, my name is Kiri.” The tanned attendant inclined her head.

 

“I am Suki.” intoned the other. She was pale with silky black hair and a polite smile. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Livia. You shall be in our care for the day.” 

 

With that Kiri suddenly began striding towards me. I shuffled out of the way as she approached the bath and began to use the console, soon hot water was flowing from around a dozen spouts dotted around the recessed pool and the ‘Attendant’ began to collect various oils and soaps.

 

“I’ll take out the old bedding.” Suki smiled, collecting the discarded bedding and putting it into a trolly I had missed before. Claudia made it difficult to pay attention to anything except her after all. “Make sure to behave yourself for Kiri okay?” Suki spoke with an odd tone, as if she was explaining things to a child.

 

“I can bathe myself.” I pointed out. Only for Suki to raise an eyebrow and outright point at my shackles. “If you removed them.”

 

“Only the Pontifex can remove them, Livia, do not attempt to take them off.” Kiri said rather pointedly, I bit back a response thinking better of agitating what were effectively my jailers. With that Suki left with the trolley as Kiri tended to the bath in silence. Without anything to do I turned around to go back into the bedroom.

 

“Livia, come over here.” Kiri ordered with a neutral tone. I schooled my expression and was led to a small water basin with what looked like a shower head in the corner of the room with a pair of stools set in front of a mirror. “I will be back in a moment.” 

 

As I sat down I blinked in surprise at the woman looking at me through the mirror. I was still clearly half starved, and a bit hungry at the moment now that I thought about it. With slightly hollow cheeks and more then a few ribs showing. But the haggard expression was... well not entirely gone, but the poise of my features, the cut of my chin, nose. My piercing eyes.

 

I was cute.

 

The thought added a hint of rose to my cheeks as I suppressed the narcissism of admiring myself in the mirror while Kiri returned from the bedroom and fiddled with the showerhead next to me. I almost had a choking fit as I noticed that she was entirely naked now. Somehow slipping out of her clothes in the short amount of time I had been... examining myself.

 

Before I could take in much about Kiri and her casual nudity I was suddenly being hosed down with lukewarm water. I couldn't think of anything I could do except endure Kiri as she ran her fingers through my hair and did her best to ensure I was thoroughly watered. I let out a little yelp of surprise when she pulled my arms up with the chain connecting the cuffs to get my armpits and suppressed an utterly mortified shout as she pulled my knees apart to spray between my legs. But as suddenly as she started Kiri was done. She set aside the shower head and I let out a sigh of relief.

 

Until she plucked one of the many bottles and dumped a fair amount of what I assumed to be shampoo onto my head and began to work it into the roots with well practised motions. Resigning myself to Kiri’s ministrations I slowly allowed myself to relax. While having a woman clean me like this was degrading and embarrassing it was hardly the end of the world and this was a massive step up from being hunted by Beastmen.

 

Honestly if I could spend some time like this safely, build up some weight and find a way to get some sweet sweet XP too, I would consider this whole captivity thing entirely worth it. That was assuming of course that I could find a way to escape later on. Or otherwise find some degree of freedom.

 

Kiri activated the shower head again to rinse my hair out only to begin massaging even more shampoo into my hair. Was I honestly in that much of a state that I needed multiple-

 

“Heya.” Suki called out with a smile as she pranced into view from the bedroom, a pair of perky breasts that a small part of me noted were larger than my own demanding my attention as she settled herself down on a stool next to me and dropped a nondescript black box next to the bottles that Kiri had collected while Kiri continued to shampoo my hair. Without a word shared between them Suki collected one of the bottles, some kind of oily body wash I assume and began to work it into my skin.

I could do little else but allow them to have at me. Suki’s hands trailing along what few curves I had, without any indication of malintent. Eventually all the soap, shampoo and bodywash together, was rinsed away and rather than the pair finishing things up I was suddenly being rubbed with oil. Arms, legs, back, neck and even more embarrassing places were oiled up. 

 

I almost had a heart attack when Kiri pulled a fucking sickle out of one of the bathroom cupboards. I was rather relieved to find out that it was not sharp when Kiri used it to scrape away the oil the pair had just spent so much effort applying. When they were done I had already learned better than to expect that to be the end of my treatment.

 

Kiri began to thoroughly rinse me down again even taking effort, a particular effort, to rinse out my pubic hair despite my protests. There was a moment of confusion as Kiri pulled me up only to set me down on her lap.

 

I was honestly getting sick of sitting in people's laps at this point. It was never a good thing as far as I was concerned and that concern was exacerbated when Suki began to rub a new soap into my legs this time only for it to quickly foam up. My fears were realised when Suki produced a set of razor blades from the black box she had carried in earlier. 

 

“Keep still now.” Kiri ordered, holding my wrists and pressing her distractingly sizable breasts against my back. “We have strict orders on how you are to be presented to the Pontifex.” She whispered as Suki began to hum a happy tune while expertly running a blade against my leg. 

 

“Don’t worry, I am pretty great with a razor. Just relax and let Big Sis-Suki take care of you.” I forced myself to keep still as the blade found its way working along my inner thigh. “You already look so much better. I can’t wait to give you a style, oh I know, an Aquila! Classic.” I did not know what to think about the pair of them shaving an aquila into my hair. But as I looked at the ragged locks hanging down from my head it was clear it needed some sort of trim.

 

A part of me was honestly enjoying the treatment, casting off accumulated filth felt liberating even if I was far more of a captive then before. Any embarrassment I had at being naked with other women had been murdered by the forceful professionalism of Kiri and Suki. As Suki finished up with my legs but reached over again for more shaving gel I began to worry however.

 

Just what hair did she intend to style!?