Chapter 98: Just Give In
DAHLIA POV
The water rippled around me as my mother’s hand dipped into the water before she brought out the wash cloth and began to wash me. Her gentle fingers roamed on my body carefully, almost as if she thought I was going to break under her hand. I held my head down, watching the soft waves ebb and flow against the marble side of the tub. The scent of sweet smelling oil hung heavily in the air, entangling us both in a delicate protective sphere.
Fire from the torches danced on the golden walls of the bathroom creating dancing dynamics which transformed into moving shadows each time the flames crackles around. My mother continued to bath me while humming soft tunes and I tried to stay still as possible, not wanting whatever spell I was bound in to break.
Her touch was gentle, far gentle than that of my maid servant, Heidi who always bath me while intentionally delivering harsh stroke. She always tugged at my hair hard, almost like she wanted to remove my scalp along with it. Each time I complained she always claimed that she wanted me to be clean so I could seat next to my father.
But feeling my mother tend to me with such delicate care, her fingers gently untangling the knot in my hair, I knew right then that it was her I wanted to bath for me all the time.
I rarely get to see my mother, knowing she was in the east wing of the castle but still I never got a chance to see her and she never came to see me either. The only time I get to see her was during formal events and it doesn’t matter how hard Heidi scrubbed me or if I put on the prettiest dresses, she never noticed me. She acknowledged me with just a nod and spend the time with Bjorn and on my father’s arms.
So this time around she was giving me a piece of her, a quiet moment and it was just for us!
"You are being quiet." My mother suddenly spoke and I tensed up, "Are you okay?"
"Y...Y...Yes." I fumbled with that single word, if Heidi could hear me now she would have been so angry and disciplined me at that moment.
A princess isn’t one to fumble with her words! She would have yelled at me.
But how could I not? It’s my mother! Someone I’ve longed to talk too and now she was bathing me gently as if this was a normal routine.