Tempus Regit

by Edmund Hughes

  She swiped the card through a tiny slit in a mechanism next to the door’s handle, and a small LED light changed from red to green. The handle turned when she tried it, and Ada led him inside.

  The first room was huge, larger than the entirety of Archer’s makeshift shack, and there were doors that suggested even more space behind them. The center area was dominated by an L-shaped couch that faced one of the largest TVs Archer had ever seen.

  The floor was carpeted. An art sculpture of an hourglass stood in the corner of the room, and a massive bookshelf ran across one wall, filled with more volumes that Archer had seen in his entire life. A desk took up another corner, with papers left out on its top, whatever Trevor was last working on.

  The door on the right side of the room was open, and he could see a table and chairs in the room behind it, along with a stove and a few other kitchen contraptions that he didn’t recognize. The entire space had a soft, electrical hum that he almost didn’t notice at first.

  It’s better than listening to my neighbors fighting and fucking at night in the coal district.

  He stared in awe, walking forward to the center of the space. It was only then that he glanced through another open door, the room behind it small, but clearly the living space of a woman. More importantly, there was a woman in the room, a girl around the same age as him, sitting on a bed and staring down at the floor.

  She glanced up while Archer was still looking at her, and the two of them shared an instant of eye contact before she averted her eyes. Ada walked into the room and held her hand out. The girl took it and let herself be led back out into the living room.

  “One last thing,” said Ada. “Archer, this is Leigh. She will be your attendant for tonight and as far into the future as you continue to serve as a Metal Knight.”

  “My… attendant?”

  He felt his jaw drop open. Most of the middle class in Tempus, the citizens, aspired to eventually be wealthy enough to one day afford an attendant. Only the elites had attendants, and the positions were so highly valued that smog parents with attractive children would often offer them up early for attendant training, hoping to save them from lives of exploitation in the coal district.

  Attendants served their masters in whatever capacity was needed. The law was fuzzy around the details of their rights. They weren’t slaves, but there weren’t really any limits on what they could be asked to do, and they could be fired at will, leaving them with few options other than to obey.

  “She’ll take care of all of your needs,” said Ada. “And just so you know, her job is contingent on you accepting your job. If you decide you aren’t interested in joining the Metal Knights, she also loses her position.”

  “What?” Archer glared at Ada. “How is that fair?”

  “It’s not fair, it’s reality,” said Ada, smiling. “Have fun tonight, but be quick about it. I’ll be by early tomorrow to wake you up.”

  CHAPTER 7

  Ada turned and left the room before he could say anything else. A tense silence hung on the air as the door shut behind her. Archer scratched his head and turned to face Leigh, who stood in the center of the room, as though presenting herself to him for inspection.

  She was gorgeous. Her hair was blonde, and hung past her shoulders. She had big, expressive, wintergreen colored eyes, with long, beautiful eyelashes. Her face reminded Archer of Sabrina a little, the same oval shape, the same tiny dimples.

  And then there was her body. She was attractive in a way that made Archer feel perverted and guilty looking at her. She wore a plain servant’s dress, navy blue with a tan apron attached to the front. It was a little baggy, but the shape of her breasts and hips was still obvious and eye catching underneath.

  He realized that he was staring at her and glanced away, his cheeks heating up. Archer opened his mouth to say something and realized that he had no words. The situation was so far outside of what he was used to that he literally had no idea how to proceed.

  Another second passed by. He looked up at Leigh. She was blushing too, and looked even more uncomfortable than he felt in the silence. Archer chewed on his lip.

  “You’re dirty,” she finally said. “I should draw you a bath, sir.”

  “Sorry,” said Archer.

  Why am I apologizing? Why does this make me feel so terrible inside?

  He knew the answer to that question without having to give it much thought. Archer was a smog, just like she was. He was standing before her in tattered rags, with dirty hands and oily hair, and she’d just been told that he was her new master.

  He still couldn’t take himself seriously in the role he’d been cast into, let alone expect anyone else to. It was all a joke. He was a fraud, an understudy brought in to replace the lead performer without knowing any of the lines or even the basic premise of the play.

  “You don’t have to apologize to me, sir,” said Leigh. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

  She disappeared through a door on the other side of the room, leaving it open behind her. Archer stood where he was for a moment and then followed after her.

  The doorway led to a massive bathroom, cleaner and more regal than anything he’d witnessed in person before. There was a toilet, a real toilet, with properly working plumbing. He could count the number of times he’d used one before in his life on the fingers of one hand.

  There was also a massive bathing tub, circular and large enough across for him to fit without pulling in his legs. Leigh was working the knobs against the wall, adjusting the temperature of the water as it poured down from the faucet mechanism.

  “You don’t have to do this for me,” said Archer. “Look, I’m not an elite, or even a citizen. I’m your master in name only. I woke up this morning on a dirt floor in a leaky shack in the smoggiest section of the coal district.”

  Leigh looked over her shoulder at him, her expression neutral and totally unreadable.

  “That might be true, but I’m your attendant now.” She smiled a little. “Sir.”

  Archer took a deep breath, trying to assimilate his new reality with his old beliefs.

  “Will you tell me, at least, if I’m making you do anything you don’t want to do?”

  Her smile broadened a little, and he was struck by how cute her dimples really were.

  “Of course, sir,” said Leigh.

  A sudden thought entered Archer’s head, and he found himself forming a question before he could stop himself.

  “Were you Trevor’s attendant, before this?”

  A sickening feeling took hold in his stomach, as though he was worried about Trevor’s corruption having spread to this pretty, innocent girl in front of him. Leigh shook her head, looking as though she’d been expecting the question.

  “No, sir,” she said. “Ada dismissed his old attendant. I worked as a laundress in the building before today. I… did know Trevor, but I wasn’t his attendant.”

  There was something in her tone of voice that unsettled Archer a little. He could hear the slightest hint of fear over the way she spoke of his brother, and he suspected it wasn’t born from concern or worry over Trevor’s current fate.

  “I’m sorry,” said Archer. “He was my brother. I know what kind of person he was.”

  She nodded quickly, but didn’t meet his eye. Archer endured the silence, feeling an odd tension building between them, both forced into the roles of master and servant.

  “Where are you from?” he asked. “I mean, before you started working here?”

  Leigh frowned slightly, as though she hadn’t been expecting him to ask something like that.

  “I… lived by the recycling pits,” said Leigh. “My dad worked in the underground ecofarms, before he passed.”

  Archer nodded.

  “I was along the edge, on the western side,” he said. “Right up against the wall. Nice area.”

  It was a joke, and he was pleased to see a quick smile flash across Leigh’s features.

  “I didn’t know that,” said Leigh
. “I mean, I’ve heard about you before. The media channels made it sound as though you were a big deal, a threat from Trevor’s past. I guess I just assumed that… never mind, I’m sorry, sir.”

  “No,” he said. “I’ve always lived in the coal district. It was… a tough place to grow up. Especially with a brother like Trevor.”

  “I’m sorry, sir,” she said.

  “You don’t have to apologize to me, or call me sir,” he said.

  “Your brother… insisted upon it,” she said. “He made everyone in the Prime Complex that was lower ranking call him sir.”

  Trevor… What kind of bastard were you after you became a Metal Knight?

  “You know,” said Archer, “When Trevor and I first started begging for coins and scraps as children, he had a game he’d play with me to drudge up people’s sympathy. He would hit me in the face, bruise my eyes, bloody my lip… And then tell people that we’d been mugged. That’s the type of person my brother was underneath, even when he was young.”

  Leigh looked like she was holding back her reaction. She opened her mouth and then hesitated. Before she could gather her thoughts, she glanced back toward the water, which had nearly reached the lip of the bath. Leigh hurried to turn it off as steam filled the air in hot, fluid wisps.

  “It’s ready,” she said. “We should get started on getting you cleaned up, so that you can get a full night’s rest.”

  “Uh… we?” Archer frowned as Leigh walked over and closed the bathroom’s door, confirming that she intended to be present for what came next. He took held up a finger as she walked over to him.

  “It’s what an attendant does, sir,” said Leigh. “You’re my master.”

  “It’s Archer, not sir,” he said. “I’m not any different from you.”

  “You need to be cleaned up,” she said. “Let me help you.”

  She moved closer to him and set her hands on the bottom hem of his shirt. She smelled like dried flowers and soap. Archer couldn’t help but stare at her face. She really did remind him of Sabrina, even if only in the face. He lifted his arms up and let her pull his shirt up and over his head.

  “I can take off my pants on my own,” said Archer, drawing the line as her hands ran across his waist band. An amused smile flashed across Leigh’s face, and he felt his cheeks heat up a little.

  “Of course.” She turned around so that she was facing the back wall. “Let me know when you’re in the water.”

  Archer sighed.

  “Thanks,” he said. “It’s been a long day. This is all new to me. I don’t even know yet if any of it is going to work out. They expect me to just take Trevor’s place, and I’m not even sure…”

  He trailed off.

  I’m not even sure if I want to do this. And I’ll only get far enough to have the choice if the armor skin will accept me as its wearer.

  “It was the same for me,” said Leigh. “When my father died I had to be the one to step up and care for my little sister. She’s very sick. If I hadn’t gotten my position in the citizen’s district… I don’t know what would have happened.”

  Archer felt a sudden flash of empathy for her and the burdens she carried. He pulled his shoes off and then slid his pants and boxers to the floor. When he looked up he saw that Leigh had turned back and was staring at him. She was gorgeous, and her eyes were locked onto his naked body with an intensity that caused Archer to feel deeply aroused.

  “You should get into the water,” she said. “I’ll help you wash yourself.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Archer had reservations but he did as he was told. He hoped that the hot water would help relax his obvious arousal. The bath felt heavenly and only made his excitement that much more intense. Leigh slowly made her way across the floor of the bathroom and crouched down behind him.

  “You look a lot like him, you know,” she whispered. “The same broad shoulders. The same smile.”

  She picked up a small bar of soap from the edge of the tub and ran it across Archer’s chest. He tried to take it out of her hand, but she held firm to her task. It felt incredible in a physical sense, but it also made him feel guilty, unworthy of her servitude.

  “Leigh, I can do this myself,” he said. “It’s fine.”

  “Archer,” she said, in a soft voice. “Do you want me to undress and join you in the water?”

  Archer’s mouth fell open. He turned around to tell her that she had missed his point but she was already out of most of her clothes. She was clad only in a matching set of bra and panties that gave him a much better idea of just how well-endowed she really was. She smiled and brought her hands behind her back to unhook the clasp.

  “Leigh!” he snapped. “I’m not interested in taking advantage of you like that.”

  The bra fell away. She had large breasts with perky nipples, still buoyant from youth, and paler than the surrounding skin. She started wiggling out of her panties as though she hadn’t heard him.

  “I’m not like my brother, Leigh!” he said.

  “I know that,” she said. She looked him in the eyes, and then climbed into the bath across from him.

  The water came up over her chest when she sat down, but the situation was still intense enough to make Archer painfully hard. He slowly shook his head, wanting nothing more than to be a good person and a kind employer, and not seeing a way forward.

  “You don’t find me attractive?” Leigh slid across the tub toward him, grabbing the soap as she moved. She started washing his hair, cupping water and carefully dumping it over his head. She rose up high enough out of the water for her breasts to be in his face, and Archer couldn’t look away from them.

  “Of course I find you attractive,” he said. “But I don’t want you to feel pressured into this…”

  And I don’t want to do what Trevor would have done. I want to do the right thing.

  “And I don’t want to pressure you, either,” said Leigh. “Let’s both set aside our roles and just make our own choices.”

  She smiled at him. It seemed warm, genuine, and more than a little flirtatious. Archer held his tongue and let her wash him. She took her time getting his hair, neck, and face clean, doing more scrubbing than what he’d thought he’d needed.

  She moved onto his chest and back, still silent. The tension in the room was almost too much for Archer to stand. He was still hard, and her thighs brushed against his cock occasionally. Sometimes it was her inner thigh brushing against it. Sometimes her crotch, but only for a second, as though she was doing it on purpose, just to tease him.

  Once she’d finished with his lower back, she moved onto his feet, and slowly scrubbed her way up either of his legs, until her hands were moving across his crotch. Archer let out a soft moan and stared at her, his entire body pulsing with excitement even as he hoped that she’d stop. Finally, one of her soft hands took hold of his erection and gently began to stroke.

  “I told you,” he said, though he could already feel his resolve breaking.

  “I have to,” said Leigh.

  “You don’t have to serve me sexually, Leigh,” he said. “I keep telling you this, and it’s like you aren’t even hearing me.”

  “No,” she said. “I have to make you fall in love with me. That’s what I meant.”

  Archer stared at her, positive that he’d misheard. She didn’t give him time to process the words. She started giving her hand a slow, soft twist as she pumped it up and down, and it felt better than anything he’d ever experienced before in his life.

  He’d played around with Sabrina before, though it had never been anything serious. They’d never gotten naked with each other, or done anything more than kissing and petting. She’d gotten him off once with a lap dance, just to prove that she could, and it had made both of them feel ashamed.

  And now, here was Leigh, his unexpected attendant, naked in the bath with him, stroking his shaft. It was a new experience from a new world. He didn’t know what he was supposed to make of it, or of her.

&nbs
p; If she won’t let me stop her, I need to at least make sure that there’s no shame in if for her.

  He reached his hand out, lifting her face up by the chin so that she was looking right at him. Then, he leaned in and kissed her. Her hands tensed against his cock as his lips moved against hers. She kissed him back, and something beautiful resonated between them for a moment.

  When they finally parted, Leigh was blushing a deep shade of red. Archer let out a small moan as she resumed stroking, and then kissed her again, and again. She set a hand on his chest, her breath quickening.

  They were both young, horny, and eager. Archer pulled her in closer, one of his hands roamed over her breasts. She rocked back and forth, not lifting herself onto him, even when Archer tried to shift the encounter in that direction. Leigh’s hands stroked him off with gentle determination. He kissed her neck and her upper cleavage, feeling her nipples under his hands.

  The pleasure of it was unreal. Archer felt passion burgeoning in his chest, the sensation new, enticing, and intoxicating. He kissed her deeply, feeling her push her tongue into his mouth and responding in kind. Leigh’s lewd, perfect hands kept pumping up and down his hard shaft.

  “Leigh,” he whispered. “I’m… getting close.”

  “I know.” She lifted her breasts and pressed them into his face, the movement causing her crotch to grind against the tip of his cock for a glorious, fleeting second. “Archer.”

  She pulled back before Archer could thrust upward, which frustrated him a little while oddly, adding to his respect for her. Archer kissed her lips, and Leigh leaned her mouth in close to his neck, her breath tickling the sensitive erogenous zone there as her hands pumped faster and faster until it was too much.

  “Ohh…” he groaned. Leigh all but pulled the orgasm forth, stroking him gently as his cock began to blast out his seed. The pleasure of his release mixed with the warmth of the bath, and the softness of Leigh’s body next to him was ecstasy. She kept her hand on his cock even as he began to go soft.