Arbon was setting me up for any career I wanted. It still blew my mind that I was here. That I had won the lotto.
“Violet Spencer?” a woman called, grabbing my attention as I left my last class of the day. She was dressed in a sharp green dress with a cute little hat perched on her head. “I’m Nurse Reller. Can you follow me, please?”
“Uh, sure.” I nodded, hefting my bag a bit higher and doing as she’d asked. I’d used almost my entire lunch break catching up on some of the required readings for all of my classes, and since I was still learning how to use the palm reader—I had the basics, but there was so much more to it than that—books still went with me everywhere.
The nurse led me down a corridor I hadn’t discovered yet, then ushered me inside her clinic.
“So, Violet, how was your first week at Arbon Academy?” she asked me with a strangely intense smile on her face. “Settling in okay? Made any friends?”
I hesitated a moment, weirded out and confused. “Um, it’s lovely here,” I offered. “The students have all been really welcoming.” Okay, that was a lie. But they’d been nicer than I’d expected… for the most part. Even if I was avoiding both Alex and Rafe.
Nurse Reller smiled. “Good. That’s good to hear. Okay, just pop your clothes off for me, and we’ll get started.”
“Uh, what?” I frowned at her, perplexed as all fuck. Did she just tell me to strip?
Nurse Reller raised her brows like I was being dumb as shit. “Your physical. Dean Morgan did tell you that all students are required to undertake quarterly physical examinations, didn’t he?”
I blinked and shook my head. “No, I think he forgot to mention that.”
“Oh.” She blinked back at me, her friendly smile gone. “Well, it’s school policy. With so many prestigious students attending, the royals can’t take any chances with infections and diseases. It’s my job to ensure every student is in prime health at all times, and that includes running periodic physical examinations.” She paused, her lips pursed, but when I made no move to start taking my clothes off, she let out an annoyed sigh. “Ms. Spencer, this is a condition of your enrollment here, just the same as every other student. I have a very busy schedule and would rather not spend all afternoon explaining this to you.”
The implication was clear, and I had no doubt this was just the first of many such threats. Do what we want, or go back to your shitty life of poverty.
“Okay, sure,” I muttered, standing from the chair she’d sat me in when we arrived. “Just, uh…” I indicated to my clothing, unsure how much she wanted me to remove.
“All of it,” she snapped, holding out a blue robe that may as well have been made of paper. “Put this on and hop up on the table for me. I’ll be back in just a moment.”
She bustled out of the room and left me with a small amount of privacy to take my uniform off.
I moved quickly, not wanting her to open the door again while I was butt naked and bent over or in some equally embarrassing pose, then parked my bare ass on the plastic-coated bed. Talk about uncomfortable. I’d have happily sat through an entire conversation with Rafe and Claudette over this, any day.
I grimaced at the thought. Actually, no medical examination could be that bad.
“Ready?” Nurse Reller asked as she breezed back into the room without knocking. It wouldn’t have mattered if I hadn’t been ready because she was clearly in a hurry.
For the next hour and forty-five minutes, she checked every inch of me. Tested my eyesight, hearing, and reflexes. Examined every freckle, mole, and scar on my skin. Checked my teeth, my breathing, my heart rate, my ears, my throat… All of that was tedious, but it only got worse when she sat back on her little chair and ordered me to lie on my back with my feet up on the bed.
“Uh, what for?” I questioned, all too aware of my nudity under the robe.
The nurse didn’t even spare me a glance as she pulled out a large, duck-billed instrument and started coating it in… something distinctly like lube. “I understand pap smears are not a common procedure within the working class anymore, but here at Arbon we take all aspects of our students’ health seriously. Lie back.”
Her voice was clipped and matter-of-fact, and I clenched my teeth against further protests. I should be grateful that they were providing such good health care. I knew all about cervical cancer and how they used to routinely test for it in all women. But after the war, when all technology had crashed, only “essential” screening procedures had been brought back.
Nurse Reller did her thing, and I stared at the ceiling, wishing I was anywhere but here. I could almost block out what she was doing until she spoke.
“Are you sexually active?” she asked, her hands still between my legs and her head obscured by my blue robe.
I gave a nervous laugh. “Probably should have asked that before sticking that thing inside me, huh?” Long pause. No response. Wow, tough crowd. “Uh, not right now, no. But I’m not a virgin.”
Nurse Reller muttered something under her breath that I didn’t catch, but my face flamed with embarrassment nonetheless. Was she judging me? I hardly thought the royals of Arbon Academy were exactly saving themselves for marriage. Or maybe they were. Maybe that’s why they all got married so young.
“I’m inserting an IUD for you,” she said louder, reaching for something on the instrument tray beside her. “It’ll prevent any unwanted pregnancies.”
Panic rose up in me, and I shook my head. “Whoa, wait, what? What if I don’t want an IUD?” Really I should be thankful of the contraception, seeing as it was damn near impossible to get ahold of where I was from. If you were conscientious enough, and had enough spare money, you bought condoms. If not… well… pulling out was the best most could aim for.
Nurse Reller made an annoyed sound but continued with what she was doing in my downstairs area. “You don’t get to pick and choose, Ms. Spencer,” she advised me just a second before I felt a sharp sting deep inside me. It only lasted a moment, but it was enough to make me suck in a sharp breath. “When you signed your admissions paper, you handed over total control of your healthcare to myself and Dean Morgan.”
She finished up what she was doing, then stood up and stripped off her rubber gloves.
“All done,” she said with a cold smile.
I frowned, tucking my legs back down and sitting up with an uncomfortable wince. “Shouldn’t the school be advising against sexual relationships? Not providing contraception?”
Nurse Reller gave a shrug and a wry smile. “Why on Earth would we advise against that sort of thing? We actively encourage all our students to mix, regardless of where they come from.” The way her lip curled and her gaze ran over me, I suspected she didn’t totally agree that where I came from counted in that statement, but whatever.
“I’ll see you again in three months, Ms. Spencer, unless you have any pressing medical issues in the meantime.”
She was gone before I could ask anything else. Not that I had any other questions, aside from what the fuck just happened here?
A heavy, icky feeling of violation settled over me as I cleaned myself up and pulled my uniform back on. I needed to hurry if I wanted to get any of my assignments done before dinner. I didn’t want to fall behind before the semester had even really begun.