Chapter 7

To Put Your Mind at Ease

"What!" Blaine exclaimed at the smug looking girl. "No I'm not. You're crazy."

Santana simply shook her head with her smirk firmly in place.

Blaine let out an exasperated scoff and crossed his arms over his chest. What she was proposing was absolutely preposterous in his mind. Sure, Kurt had surprised him. He'd been sincere, even kind, but Blaine was certainly not falling for him. He still knew virtually nothing about the prince other than that apparently he fenced and owned a lot of facial products. It was also clear that the young prince was harboring some major emotional and self-esteem issues that seemed like they could get awfully messy in a hurry. And it wasn't like he was that considerate. He still left Blaine in his room to sit and rot in boredom all day while he went off and led his real life, thinking he'd just come back to play with his new toy later. As far as Blaine was concerned, Kurt was still nothing more than his captor keeping him there in the palace – miles away from his home and everything he knew – and that was a dynamic that could not be overlooked.

"No way. You're wrong."

Santana took a step toward the slave, also crossing her arms with fierce indignation. "No I'm not. It's understandable that you don't see it yet, but you will. He's working his way right under your skin."

"Oh yeah?" Blaine replied, raising a disbelieving eyebrow. "How exactly is he doing that?"

"My guess is that he's impressed you. I bet he got you to let your guard down a little – maybe even to start to feel a bit more comfortable?"

Blaine remained silent and Santana continued.

"Kurt's quite the charmer. He's charming his way right into you. Figuratively and literally," she paused to let out a small chuckle at her own innuendo.

Blaine rolled his eyes before she continued.

"You think I'm crazy right now, but trust me. I am never wrong when it comes to attraction. Ask anybody. I can smell it form miles away and boy, you reek of it."

Blaine scoffed again at her words. He was starting to become genuinely annoyed at Santana's insistence. She was wrong – completely wrong. He didn't have feelings for Kurt. He thought he was attractive, yes, but he would certainly not put it at the level of attraction that Santana was insinuating. A surge of irritation came over him. He didn't want to be charmed, impressed, or romanced in the least by the prince, and he was trying his absolute hardest not to be. If this interaction with Santana taught him anything, it was that he couldn't let his guard down again. He wouldn't be charmed by Kurt; he couldn't be.

"Whatever," he began, hiding his aggravation under a bored-sounding tone, "You can think what you want, but I know that I am not going to fall for Kurt. That's ridiculous."

Santana threw up her hands in mock surrender. "Fine," she said. "Believe whatever you need to to get through the day. God knows you're gonna need to find something to get you through." And with that, she turned away from Blaine and headed toward the bathroom.

Blaine stared after her. "What is that supposed to mean?"

The slinky girl halted and spun back around. "I just know you've got some rough times headed your way. Apart from your budding attraction to everyone's favorite royal floozy, you're gonna start having to deal with a lot of crap."

"Like?"

"Like the fact that Kurt gets to make all of your decisions for you, no one in this palace is going to view you with an ounce of respect, and you're going to go half insane with boredom while you sit in this room alone every day waiting for, no, pleading for some kind of stimulation."

Wow, Blaine thought, who brought the good news bear? Just when he was finally starting to see a glimmer of hope that his situation would not being completely horrible, this total stranger came waltzing in and was trying to tear him right back down. Blaine hated negativity and he usually tried to avoid it at all costs, so he really wished Santana would stop dragging him down this downward spiral toward cynicism.

"Okay, never mind. I'm sorry I asked," Blaine said, trying to withhold his annoyance from his tone. "Can we talk about something else now? Weren't you supposed to show me what my responsibilities are around here?"

"Hey, I'm trying to help you here. You can't just glaze over the hard stuff because you don't want to talk about it. You're going to be experiencing a lot of things that you need to be able to face. You're not going to know how to feel…"

"How in the hell would you know what I'm going to be feeling?" Blaine practically yelled, finally unable to contain his anger. "You know absolutely nothing about me or what I am going through right now, so will you please stop acting like you do?" The angry words poured from his mouth like fists on a punching bag; fast and hard and cathartic. Blaine found himself slightly out of breath once he'd gotten them all out.

Santana's expression was stuck somewhere between offended and surprised. She waited a moment before she replied, as if waiting for Blaine to catch his breath. "Feel better?" she asked.

"Yeah, actually," Blaine admitted. "I haven't let myself get angry in a while."

"Well, I do tend to bring that out in people." She smiled lightly. "It's a good thing to yell sometimes. That's something I know well." She took a few steps toward Blaine. "I also know a few other things that you'll find helpful. You're right that I don't know much about you personally, but you're wrong to think I can't relate to what you're going through."

Blaine raised a quizzical eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I've been where you are, Blaine. Two years ago, I was brought to the palace to be Prince's Finn's personal servant."

He was speechless. Santana was a personal servant? Blaine was finding it almost impossible to imagine Santana as being subordinate to anyone. How could this outspoken, proud girl with fire in her eyes that stood before him have ever been as powerless as he felt in this situation?

"Y-you?," he asked, astonished. "You were Prince Finn's servant?"

Santana nodded. "For about a year and a half – up until he married Princess Rachel."

Blaine suddenly saw Santana in whole different light. Here in front of him was this fountain of knowledge about all of the things he feared.

So many questions flooded to Blaine's mind all at once that he couldn't figure out which one he should ask her first. "I… you…" he babbled, unable to organize his jumbled thoughts. "How was it?" he suddenly blurted before he realized how dumb that question sounded.

Santana actually let out a short laugh, taking Blaine by surprise again. "Well, um, overall? It pretty much sucked," she stated bluntly.

Blaine's expression fell. He didn't know why he'd thought Santana would be capable of saying something that would make him feel better.

"It was the worst at the beginning. It was like I said. I couldn't get any respect from anybody, I couldn't make any of my own decisions, and I was bored to tears every day. Not to mention I had to have sex with Finn." She visibly shuddered. "But as time went on, it did get better."

Blaine's head snapped back up. What's this? A glimpse of optimism? Shocking.

"Finn started letting me leave the room without him during the days. I think it was mostly just because I intimidated him into it, but still, the freedom was nice."

Blaine wanted to let out a chuckle at the visual of little, sticklike Santana scaring towering, robust Prince Finn into submission.

"I started wondering the palace grounds and getting human interaction with more than just Finn. That's when I met Britt. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me, so really when I look back, I can't regret being brought here. It brought me to her."

"Britt? As in Brittany? Mercedes's assistant?" Blaine couldn't help but smile as he remembered the dopey blonde girl who had helped clean him up the day before.

"Yep. That's my girl. She used to be a maid before Kurt noticed how much of a trendsetter she was. Everyone was always copying her outfits and asking her for style tips, including Kurt. He decided to introduce her to Mercedes and the rest is history."

Blaine was really beginning to see what Mercedes was talking about when she said that Kurt was friends with a lot of the servants. Based on his friendship with Mercedes, the way he'd let Santana tease him, the obvious favor he did for Brittany, and how honest he'd been with Blaine, it was clear that he really didn't seem to think of himself as better than any of them. It seemed like he genuinely cared… Blaine shook that train of thought, remembering his resolution not to let his guard down in regards to the prince again.

Instead, he blurted the next observable thing he thought of. "So…so you're gay." Santana gave him an incredulous look, clearly questioning his mental capabilities. "Yes, Mr. Observant, that's what it means when a girl has a girlfriend."

"But, you were Finn's servant…"

"Yes. Turns out they didn't care to ask me my sexual preference when they volunteered me for the position."

Blaine's heart sank for Santana. He'd thought his situation was bad, but he couldn't imagine how he'd feel if he was being forced into intercourse with a woman. Gross…

"Thank your lucky stars that at least they shacked you up with someone who has the right parts."

Blaine blushed, never more thankful for being gay in his life.

"And someone who's experienced!" she added. "Finn was a virgin on the night of his birthday, so it was the first time for both of us." A look of disgust came over her face at the recollection.

Blaine blushed deeper, not sure he wanted know that much information.

"It was like being smothered by a sweaty sack of potatoes. God, after that experience, I thought all sex was going to be terrible forever."

At this point, Blaine was wearing a pained expression, clearly uncomfortable with the details.

Noticing this, Santana continued. "I'm sure it won't be like that for you, though," she said in a hurry, trying to backtrack out of the fear she's obviously inspired in the boy. "Because you actually like guys and Kurt is… knowledgeable."

Blaine bit his lip and looked everywhere around the room except at Santana. "Oh yeah. Thank God for that," he said sarcastically. He had never felt so awkward in his entire life except for the time Joel, a straight man, tried to give him the homosexual sex talk.

There was tense silence for a moment.

"…I'm hurting more than I'm helping at this point aren't I?" Santana concluded.

"Maybe a little."

She nodded. "Sorry. I'm really bad at comforting people. I'm really good at reading them, but not at the whole, you know, being subtle thing."

"'sokay."

More silence.

"How about we get to those responsibilities I was supposed to show you?"

Blaine let out a huge sigh of relief at the subject change. "Sounds great."

The pair headed into the marble bathroom.

Once inside the white room, Santana went into instruction mode. "As the prince's personal servant, you're expected to carry out several duties besides the sex."

Blaine resisted his urge to wince.

"The first one is to draw his bath and then make sure he gets up on time every morning. I can personally say I'm glad you're here to take over this duty because I've been the one who's had to do this for Kurt ever since I was released from Finn, and before that I obviously had to do it for Finn, so I'm a little sick of it by this point. Also, Kurt has a tendency to throw things at people who try to wake him up, so try to keep throwable items out of an arm's reach from the bed."

Blaine stared wide-eyed for a moment, but then slowly nodded his understanding.

Santana then moved over to the enormous marble tub. "Then you come in here and turn on the water in the tub."

Blaine cocked his head in confusion. "Turn on the water? How can a person turn on wa…"

Blaine was cut short when Santana turned a small knob on the side of the tub and water began to spring forth from a metal fixture in the wall. He gaped open mouthed as the clear water started to fill the bottom of the tub, completely perplexed as to where it was coming from.

"It's called 'running water.' The water travels through pipes in the walls called plumbing, and when you turn the knobs, it comes out of the faucet," she explained, gesturing to the metal spout on the wall. "It's brand new technology and, as of yet, only the palace and a few governmental buildings have it. And so far, the palace only has it in the royals' bedrooms and the kitchen."

"It's amazing," Blaine commented, still in awe at the miraculous invention. It was a relief to know he wouldn't need to haul water in from anywhere in order to draw a bath.

Santana smirked and turned the knob the other way, slowing the flow to a stop. "You can take a bath when we're done here. Wait until you see the toilet!"

"The what?"

"Oh man, come on, you have to see this thing." She grabbed his wrist excitedly and pulled him toward an odd looking bowl on a pedestal on the other side of the room. "Nothing ever made life easier, I swear."

About half an hour later, Santana had shown him everything he would be responsible for on a daily basis. She demonstrated the proper way to make the bed, how to clean the windows without streaking, how Kurt liked his evening tea prepared (the elaborate bathroom was also equipped with its own tea station), and how he liked his things arranged, even though he apparently managed to always move everything from its assigned place anyway.

"And right here is the servant bell." She guided him over to a long cord hanging from the ceiling near the door. "You just pull this string if you need anything and a bell goes off in the kitchen. Then an attendant will come and help you."

Blaine nodded, adding the cord to his mental checklist.

"And that about covers it… Oh yeah, you would be responsible for collecting and washing his laundry too, but Kurt insists on doing it himself. He thinks no one else can handle his clothes properly. Consider yourself lucky. Laundry is definitely the hardest chore for a personal servant, and you'll be getting off scot-free. Hell, knowing Kurt, there's a good chance he'll even insist on doing yours too."

Blaine couldn't help the small smile that came over his lips. He could totally see Kurt being so neurotic about the precious collection in his forbidden closet.

"I have to get going. I have a million other things to take care of today. Someone'll be by to drop off your meals for you," Santana said, placing a hand on the doorknob. Then she shot Blaine a surprisingly empathetic look. "You're gonna be okay, short stuff."

"I'm not that short."

Santana rolled her eyes. "I'm trying to be nice here, alright? Humor me."

Blaine smiled, glad to see this side of Santana come out.

"I just want you to know that it will be hard, but it does get better. And…" she paused and let out a reluctant sigh. "If you ever want to… you know, talk or whatever… I'll be around."

"Wow. That's really descent of you, Santana."

"Yeah, well Kurt told me to come by and put your mind at ease, and I feel like all I really did was terrify you more… so maybe we should try again later when you have a more concrete idea of what this is going to be like for you."

It then dawned on him that Kurt had said he'd asked Santana to come by this morning, and now his sneaking suspicion that he was supposed to learn more from her than just how to work the bathtub was confirmed. For a moment, he didn't know if he should be offended that Kurt thought he needed advice, but he found himself immeasurably grateful that he had thought of a way to make him feel more at ease. Knowing that he had someone who had been through what he was experiencing as a resource really was comforting, even though she was completely inappropriate and scary.

"I'd like that."

"And after you've realized your feelings for Kurt," she added with a wink.

"Santana…"

"Alright, alright," she conceded. "I guess time will tell. Until then, I guess my advice would be just to try and enjoy Kurt. Sure, he's an opinionated, stubborn lady boy and a bit of a loose cannon when it comes to affection, but he's a good guy. He's not the worst guy you could fall for."

Blaine let out a sigh. He still really wished Santana would drop this subject. Her constantly going on about it was only serving to strengthen his determination not to let his guard down around the prince, no matter how much of a jerk he was turning out not to be.

"Bye, Santana. Thanks for the advice," he said.

She looked at him for a moment longer, right into his eyes like she was searching for something. Then that characteristic smirk graced her face once more and she looked like she knew something Blaine did not. She let out a devilish, enigmatic chuckle as she opened the door to leave. "I'll be seeing you, Blaine." And she was gone.

A shudder that he'd been suppressing since she entered the room rolled down Blaine's shoulders. As he turned toward the bathroom to finally wash himself of all the powder, perfume, and glitter from the night before, he realized how overwhelmed he was feeling already, and it was only the morning of his first full day in his new position. He glanced around at his surroundings and all of the feelings that Santana had warned about suddenly crashed down on him full force. He already felt trapped within the walls of the bedchamber. He hated that he didn't have the option to leave, even just to take a walk and clear his head. And it was killing him that he had literally nothing else to do other than just sit in there and wait for Kurt to come back. On top of that, there was the fact that people kept telling how much of a good guy Kurt was while all Blaine could think of was how they were talking about the same guy that was supposed to take advantage of him. And then there was the equally distressing fact that Blaine was expected to be the one to finally be able to calm the prince down and keep him occupied when really, all Blaine wanted to do was keep a good five feet between the two of them at all times.

When the tub was full, Blaine pulled off the shimmery toga and took a deep breath. He lowered himself into the marble bathtub and exhaled slowly. "It gets better. It gets better, he chanted to himself, hoping he could keep his sanity long enough to get to that point.