I followed Violet inside the steaming room, but I didn’t feel any of the usual effects of the calming scent of lavender steam. Apprehension squeezed my throat.
“You know the drill. Clothes off.” Violet reached for the jar of exfoliant and sucked in a sharp breath, her free hand flying to her side. What other bruises did she cover?
I stood naked before them as Violet and Rose silently began scrubbing me down. Violet breathed through her teeth as she turned to reach my back. Rose looked up from her crouched position, worry etched across her face.
“Please sit, Violet,” Rose urged. “I can do it alone. Let yourself heal.”
“They told me I was to return to my duties,” Violet stated as she continued. It had been four days since I had last been here. How bad had Violet’s injuries been if she looked like this?
“What did they do to you?”
Rose looked up, glaring at me. “You have caused enough trouble,” Rose seethed viciously as she walked away, slamming her fist on the button. The showerheads came to life. Rose had barely scrubbed my lower half. She smiled brutally. “Some grime can’t be scrubbed away no matter how hard you try.”
“Rose,” Violet scolded as she guided me to the showers. The scalding water assaulted my skin. I made my way to the other side, sputtering, trying to hear what the pair was arguing about.
“You will not.”
“She has a right to know.”
“Not at the expense of you.”
“I am fine.”
“I am not. I will not watch that again. I will not risk you.”
I wiped the water from my eyes to find the two of them huddled close together. Closer than friends. Rose held both sides of Violet’s dress as Violet cupped her face.
When the water shut off, they pulled apart. No one handed me a towel. I tiptoed over to the tub, dripping wet. They made their way to the tub’s edge as I submerged. Rose helped Violet to her knees, her pain evident.
“I can wash my hair on my own,” I said, desperate to avoid Violet’s suffering. “Please.”
Rose shoved my head beneath the surface, and water flooded my nose. She yanked me back up, my eyes streaming. “Why do you care now?” Rose demanded savagely, applying sweet-smelling soaps to my wet hair.
“I swear I didn’t—”
Rose shoved me under again. I racked my brain for what I had said to Collin at tea all those days ago. He had encouraged me to speak plainly. Was it all so he could get information? I gulped air as I resurfaced.
“It could have come from another source. Someoneelseclose to the Illum,” Violet was saying. “She isn’t the only one with ties to them.”
“Shewouldn’t say anything,” Rose retorted.
Violet clicked her tongue. “Rose, you don’t know that. She’s desperate.”
I exited the tub when they finished, shaking from the near drowning, and took the warm towel Violet offered me. I watched as she walked out of the room gingerly. I just wanted to understand. I was so tired of being kept in the dark.
We entered the waxing room, where I dropped my towel unabashedly and crawled onto the table. They began their torturous application of the wax. I welcomed the pain today, letting it siphon some of the guilt and hurt I carried. Rose ripped a strip from a particularly sensitive area and I yelped, my eyes watering.
Tears slipped down my face. “Was the blue dress punishment?”
There was a weighted pause. “We already answered their questions about the dress,” Rose snapped finally. “We had no part in it.”
“I would understand if it was you,” I told them, wiping my eyes. “I didn’t mean to get anyone in trouble. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt. I am sorry.”
Violet laid a hand on my shoulder. “I never thought you did, Fledgling.”
Rose ripped another strip from my skin, and I let out a small scream. “Slipped,” Rose said. “You might not have meant to, but you did. You got my—” Rose shook her head. “You got Violet hurt.”
“Someonegot me hurt,” Violet said plainly.
