Radiance

Chapter 91: Service of a Man.

Adam stood there with his mouth hanging open at what he'd just heard and he felt that for sure he had misheard her but she had just spelt it out to him clear as day but his brain still refused to fully comprehend it, but her voice snapped him out of his dumbfounded stupor rather sharply.

"Well? What are you waiting for, strip off?" Jewel's voice said somewhat sharply and Adam nearly jumped out of his skin as it brought him back to reality with a snap.

"Err yes mistress, of course, my apologies," Adam said instantly feeling a whole new level of uneasy about all of this but what fucking choice did he have?

So he stripped and as he did he could feel Jewel's incredibly sharp and intense eyes upon him, it figured this is exactly what a mouse must feel like when it becomes aware of a hawk or an owl sizing it up from a tree.

A part of him wanted to defiantly stare her right in the eye as he did this to regain some of his dignity, maybe it would show her that he was truly unhappy about all of this or possibly make her feel uncomfortable enough to maybe think twice about it but he highly doubted it, but that having been said it had worked somewhat in the tailor's shop so what did he have to lose he was already at the bottom of the barrel at this point.

So as he lifted his shirt over his head to once again reveal his bare torso he locked onto her bright eyes but that's when he noticed she wasn't paying any attention to his face, her eyes were focused solely on his bare torso as she was appraising a piece of meat hanging in a shop window.

Not once during the entire time he was removing items of clothing did she even seem to notice that he was looking right at her, or maybe she simply didn't care if he was.

Either way, she only seemed to notice when the last part of his clothing hit the floor next to hers and her eyes ran right from the tips of his toes to the top of his head before settling right on his own.

He felt an incredibly strong pull to look away and to break the intensity of her stare but he bit his lip on the inside and forced himself to weather it as much as it made every one of his nerves jingle and burn with embarrassment.

"The way your skin changes colour like that is.......pleasing, now stop wasting time and get in here I wish to begin," she said her voice taking on an odd note that seemed one part eager and one part empathetic but no less commanding in its tone.

So he did as he was told and resting his weight on the lip of the large stone bath he stepped over the lip and into the hot water which just like her sank him to about halfway up his thighs.

As he did he noticed the flush feathers on her incredibly powerful-looking thighs were floating and this drew his eyes up her body much in the same way he had drawn hers only moments before.

The way her dark feathers curved to musculature made her body look like it was covered in slick and shiny oil that hugged her incredibly feminine form, her round thighs looked like two oil-covered tree trunks that flowed into a tapered and feminine waist supported upon a pair of wide feminine hips, this flowed into a flat and incredibly toned stomach that was barely hidden below the oil slick of feathers that ruffled and shimmed with every breath that she took and every movement she made causing them to constantly shimmy and move.

This is when he noticed some flecks of both blue and red along with a few slivers of white and silver mixed in along her stomach and chest feathers, that's when his eyes roamed over her firm but pert breasts that seemed to have flecks of red and silver all around them which really drew the eyes to them.

Her chest rose into two slender but powerful-looking shoulders that had obviously been honed by work and training as made painfully obvious by the clearly visible clefts and gullies between her muscles and her clavicles.

Finally, his eyes rose up along her slender neck till they roamed over her sharp curved beak and found themselves meeting hers at the termination of their journey to find her staring right at him curiously, though strangely she seemed to have a mixture of emotions burning behind them like two hot coals in her head.

It was like a mixture of curiosity along with uncertainty along with what might also be contempt or possibly disgust though oddly enough seemingly not aimed at him, it was like her mind was warring with itself over something.

"If you are quite finished admiring me my servant I grow impatient now come and I will instruct you on proper bathing techniques," she said finally never even breaking his stare for a single moment until she turned away from him and gave him a full view of her back.

Once again Adam felt his eyes drop drawn down by her long luscious tail feathers which were jet black all along the main route of them until they reach the tips which were a mixture of silver and white with red veins in the centre of the stem.

They fanned out momentarily like she was using it to steady herself as she turned against the resistance of the water until she was fully facing away from him and then they retracted up like a woman retracting an ornate fan into a singular stack of feathers neatly stacked one atop the other tightly.

This had a secondary effect of revealing her rear end to him and once again Adam felt his breath being stolen from him by her sheer confusing femininity, her rear end looked like it was chiselled from black granite thanks to the flush oil-like feathers covering it but they also had the secondary effect of drawing his eyes to the perfect dimples cut into each of her round buttocks.

These only became even more obvious as she bent forwards her tail involuntarily raising just enough for him to spy something white peeking out below it hidden in amongst the puff of her much shorter downy like feathers that obviously sat below her main coat, he also caught sight of something else peeking out from between the fluffy downy feathers but this was a bit lower, more specifically it was peeking out from between the gap formed at the top of her large thighs.

His eyes travelled up over her hips and followed her spin which to his surprise seemed to have a trail of red gold feathers running perfectly up the ridge of her spine right to the base of her neck.

As his eyes travelled along this gold road he could see the indents carved into her back by her bunched muscles which thanks to them obviously helping to power her flight muscles were obviously rock solid hell he could see the knots in her muscles even through her flush feathers and he wondered just how much strength those muscles must have to be able to propel a being of her size into flight.

Jewel stood back up and her feathers all rippled and shuffled as they realigned themselves nearly hiding the golden stripe on her spine entirely between the ink-black feathers of her back.

She turned around and cocked her head at the obvious increase in blush on Adam's face at nearly being caught staring at her rear end, "Does heat cause your kind to change colour more intensely?' she asked in an innocent tone.

Adam settled on that little verbal olive branch and nodded, "Yes, it will cause us to go red as more blood rushes to our skin in an attempt to cool our core down and to keep our temperature stable," he said truthfully.

Jewel stepped right up to him and leaned down to look at his neck and chest before reaching out and touching his chest with a single hand lightly.

"And I suppose this makes your heart beat faster as well?" she asked raising an eyebrow at one of her large eyes as she looked right into his eyes and he remembered her words on being truthful.

"No I believe that is due to my own discomfort and nervousness," he said and she cocked her head further.

"Discomfort? Nervousness? Why do you feel such things?" she asked curiously as she clutched at a pair of coloured glass bottles she had picked up against her chest with one hand.

"Well this isn't exactly something I am used to doing or was prepared for," he said softly and she eyed him curiously.

"You are a soldier are you not?" she asked and he nodded in response.

"Yes mistress," he said.

"And is communal bathing not a thing among the people of your army or is your Brotherhood so well off that it can provide all of its soldiers with their own bathing facilities?" she asked causing Adam to sigh heavily, she had him there.

"No mistress they do not and yes communal bathing is a thing among the soldiers of the Brotherhood but that is not exactly so......close or intimate," he said remembering the shower block in the billets.

"Well then you should be able to adapt here then, it's what you humans are good at I hear, adapting," she said putting a real emphasis on that last word.

"Yes mistress," he said just glad that the questions hadn't been about why he'd been staring at her arse as honestly, he was still trying to answer that question himself as it wasn't like she was human now was it, but did that make her feminine qualities any less so?

"Good now that that is settled we shall begin and as your mistress, your health and hygiene are now my responsibility as mine are yours, so this is how it is going to work, you will wash, condition and care for my feathers and body and when I am satisfied that your work is accepted you will submit to the same, you will instruct me in the proper care of your non-feathered skin and fur is that understood?" she said commandingly.

"Yes mistress," Adam said still feeling like the words were made of gravel in his mouth.

"Good, now this is feather wash, once you have suitably rinsed my coat as to remove any contaminants and grit that it may have picked up during my day you will then apply it by hand to my entire coat, it will naturally seep between my feathers to reach my undercoat but you must ensure that it does not simply run down the outer feathers as they are naturally resistant to water as to prevent me being bogged down should it rain while I am in flight though not as much so as say one of the duck or swan genus one can only imagine how much of a pain they must endure during bathing trying to get this stuff into their undercoat," Jewel said laughing at her own joke like Adam was supposed to get it but he gave a little chuckle anyway as to not upset her.

"Be extra careful when handling my outer feathers to ensure you do not pull any out, any that have been shed will break away during the rinse so make sure you get my entire body with it, you will also be careful with my tail feathers as I take great pride in my tail and if you pluck any from it you will incur my wrath, is that understood?" she said and Adam nodded.

"Yes mistress," he said.

"Good, this here is the feather wash and this is the rinsing tool, you will first fill this with water which you will pour over each part of my body individually, once that is done you will put a mixture of twenty-five per cent feather wash and seventy-five water into the canister and repeat the process but during this run, you will have to lift my feathers to ensure full penetration to my undercoat," she said handing him two bottles and what looked like a small watering can.

Adam placed the bottles to one side and then stooped to fill the watering can from the bath, "You will start at my head and work your way down understood?" she said.

"Yes mistress," he said lifting the can to his chest and she nodded approvingly.

"Good you may begin," she said and he lifted the can up to pour it over her head watching as the water cascaded down over her beak and oil-like feathers causing them to slick to her body even further as some of the water penetrated through them and logged them.

As she closed her eyes Adam couldn't help but notice the way the water cascaded down over her sharp beak or the way it formed little rivers that flowed down between her ample breasts forming a slight pool as it fought to flow through the gap formed between them.

He also noticed that when some of the water flowed over them it actually caused the downy feathers to reveal that she indeed had nipples below those outer feathers as the shapes became obvious as her coat slicked down.

No matter how hard he tried he simply couldn't tear his eyes from her body as she struck a surprisingly provocative pose pushing her hips back slightly and reaching up behind her head which caused her chest to puff out and really drew attention to her impressive musculature.

He was so lost in the image that he very nearly forgot to refill the watering can as it ran dry remembering himself just in time before her eyes snapped open and caught him staring at her but as her eyes did snap open all she saw was him leaning down to refill the can and he saw in her reflection her nodding approvingly before reclosing them and resuming her pose.

Adam continued to pour water down over her body allowing it to cascade down over her entire coat and making sure that he got every single part of her moving around her in a circle as he did so until she finally reached out and stopped him.

"That's enough my coat is wet enough, now it is time for the feather wash, make sure you are thorough but gentle, I take great pride in my feathers do not damage them," Jewel said eyeing him and he nodded.

"Yes mistress," he said softly.

For some reason his heart began to beat pretty fast and hard as he reached down for the bottle of feather wash, it felt like it was bouncing around his entire chest cavity like it was trying to bust through his ribs and escape from its prison of flesh and bone, in a way kinda knew how it felt.

He mixed the wash with water which made a kind of thin but oily liquid that swirled and mixed in hues of purple and red with a light foam floating on top of it, once it was prepared he turned to her and she nodded approvingly.

"Same as last time only this time only use a little, pour it on then use your hands to work it onto my feathers, make sure it gets into my undercoat," she said and he nodded lifting the can to pour the dark liquid on to her head and watching it sticking to her feathers making them gleam as it spread out to coat them.

Once he put the can down he reached up and began to work it in finding himself amazed at how thick her plumage actually was, given how close it seemed to hug her curves and clefts he imagined her coat to be rather a thing but it seemed it was just perfectly layered to give that impression.

Her feathers felt like soft velvet as his fingers parted them before they delved into her fluffy undercoat, he could feel the oily liquid soaking into the coat like conditioner and making the feathers clump together.

That's when his fingers found her skin under it all and he felt a surprisingly powerful shiver pass right through her as his fingertips slipped between her feathers and glided along the soft and warm flesh that they hid.

"Yes just like that, continue," Jewel said in a raspy voice that took Adam by surprise, did this feel good for her, was he giving her pleasure simply by washing her feathers?

"Umm do I have to rinse this stuff out mistress?" he asked and she shook her head.

"No I will do that later, for now, your job is just to apply it and work it into my coat and make sure you maintain this level of attention to it, I will not have my coat looking patchy because of your inattention understand?" she said turning her back to him in an obvious indication of which path he was to follow first.

"Yes mistress," he said lifting the can and pouring the liquid across her shoulders before watching it spread out down her upper back.

It was only when his fingers penetrated between her feathers that Adam realised truly how much upper body strength Jewel had as the muscles of her shoulder tops and across the shoulder blades were incredibly dense, so dense that he could barely dent it with his fingers as he pressed into it.

She gave off a soft caw noise as his fingers worked, and that's when he felt a very obvious know in between her shoulder blades, then another, then another, they were everywhere.

Without even realising what he was doing Adam did as he'd been trained in the Brotherhood's self-defence and material arts training program, he popped the first knot out by tracing its roots out under her incredibly soft flesh with his fingertips before with two quick presses he popped it out.

Jewel let out a loud caw noise that sounded like a half moan half screech that nearly made him jump out of his skin, though not as much as the speed by which she whirled around to face him with a look of thunder written on her face.

"What did you just do to me!!? Did you pull out a feather!!?" she bellowed grabbing his hands and lifting them to see if he was holding one.

"S-S-Sorry I-I just popped a knot in your back, no offence mistress but your back is full of them," Adam said quickly stammering as he had been completely blindsided by her sharp rage.

"What are you implying!? Are you saying I do not take good care of my coat!?" she yelled and Adam shook his head.

"It's got nothing to do with your coat, it's the muscles underneath," he said and she cocked her head in confusion glaring at him with one large eye.

"Explain, what is wrong with my muscles and tread lightly my servant I offend easily," she snarled.

"I do not doubt how strong you are mistress or how hard you train that is obvious, but your back is full of knots, a knot is where the muscle is bunched up and compressed by repeated use without stretching, roll the shoulder I just pushed that knot out of and tell me if it feels lighter than the other one," he said and she raised an eyebrow but did as he asked and her expression instantly changed to one of complete confusion.

"Y-You are correct it does feel lighter! But how is that possible I am in peak physical condition! I am a proud Valkyrie warrior and I take the best care to adhere to our training regimes even going further than is required!" she exclaimed and Adam nodded.

"It's a common thing among humans and the Brotherhood especially, like you mistress we take our physical training incredibly seriously and one of the things we train in is something we call mixed martial arts for hand-to-hand self-defence, this leads to lots of muscle injuries so the very first thing we are taught to do before we even learn to throw a punch is to undo these injuries because in the words of my Ju jut su trainer, a coiled spring is no good if it cannot extend, that's what's happening here mistress, the repeated use has caused bunching in your muscles," he said.

"And you can undo this?" she demanded and he nodded his head.

"Yes mistress," he replied.

"Very well I will trust you at your word but do not disappoint me my trust is a hard-won thing and is easily lost, as my needs and care is your personal responsibility you will remove these 'knots' as you call them, do not disappoint me," she said turning he back to him once again.

"Yes mistress," Adam said slowly reaching back up to her shoulders and pushing his fingers in between her feathers once again and setting to work on any knots he came across while working down through her feathers.

Every single one he removed caused the same reaction from her a loud caw which was followed instantly by a sighing noise and a shift in her stance as well as rippled that seemed to pass through all of her feathers and he'd lost time by how many times he'd been smacked in the going by her tail whipping up and fanning out which given how close to her rear end it was wasn't all that surprising but it was somewhat painful, though more concerning to him was her inadvertently noticing how hard he currently was thanks to this.

Try as he might to think of other things to take his mind from it like power armour in a bikini nothing would make his erection subside and it merely throbbed at him defiantly as it threatened to plant itself atop of her tail feathers causing him to have to turn slightly sideways as to not press it into the cleft of her butt.