“We’re going to get you clean, then we’ll wrap you in that lovely thick robe on the door hook. Did you see it, Izzy?”
“I-it’s G-Gall’s,” she said through chattering teeth.
I made myself smile. “That’s the special thing about being married—you share everything now—and Gall… Gall loves you. He won’t mind if you use his robe.”
Istral nodded, but the flicker of a question appeared in her eyes.
I swallowed. “Has he… told you he wouldn’t like sharing… anything?” I asked her carefully.
Istral shook her head, her curls fluttering around her face. “No,” she breathed. “He’s just… very busy.”
I nodded. “I’ve noticed that. I’ve been looking for you—for days now. Weeks, actually. Ever since you left the battlefield. We arrived a few days ago, and I could never find you alone. Have they given you a chamber that’s just yours?”
She frowned and shrugged. “They take me to a room… It's strange. It’s dark on both ends, and I can’t see in the dark, so I get scared and stay in the light from the lantern. They bring me food and… he… he comes to take me to Gall when Gall is ready.”
“He…?” I swallowed again, praying my face didn’t look as terrified as I felt. “You mean, Lucifer?”
She flinched at the name, but nodded quickly.
Oh, God. “Istral, has… has he… touched you, or—”
Her eyes flew wide, and she grabbed for my shoulders, where I leaned down washing the blood from the washcloth under the water again. “No!” she hissed. “No, he’s never… no one touches me except Gall. But theireyes, Lani! They look at me like… like…”
“It’s okay, I understand,” I said through clenched teeth, still nervous that she was lying to protect someone, but praying it was true, that their lascivious gazes were the worst she’d endured so far.
She nodded quickly and swallowed, her tongue darting out to wet her lips. “Lani, I’m so glad you came. But… why are you here?”
I forced myself to smile. “It’s your wedding day!” I whispered. “I’m your sister. I couldn’t miss this!”
“But you were… hiding. You weren’t invited. They’redangerous, Lani.” Her voice crept higher, thinner. “If he sees you—”
“He won’t see me. You saw, didn’t you? I was there in the… the chamber.” I didn’t want to remind her of that awful place. “And I followed you out. You saw that he didn’t see me?”
She nodded again, but her hand tightened on my shoulder until her nails bit.
“Now I’m here, and we don’t have to worry, because he’s going to leave you both alone for a few days… right?”
Istral’s eyes slid to the door into the bathing room, the bedchamber beyond, and probably the door that hid our mates. “Yes. I… I think so.”
I nodded to reassure her. “I know so. Which means it’s safe to talk—quietly. Then when you’re clean and dry, we’ll get you dressed, and we’ll take you out of here. They won’t even know—”
“No!” Istral gasped, and jerked away from me. She almost slipped on the bottom of the slick bath, overbalancing as she tried to catch herself. I grabbed her hand and steadied her, plunging that washcloth back into the water, then rubbing at the last of the redness on her skin.
“Izzy, it’s okay—”
“No. No, it’s not. You can’t—Lani,Ican’t!”
“You can’t, what?” I straightened, rubbing the warm cloth over her shoulders and arms, as I used to when she was little and she needed a bath for quiet and calm.
“I can’t leave him.”
“Who? Lucifer?”
“No,Gall.”
I was startled into stillness. “Melek is talking to Gall. We’re going to take both of you.”
Istral’s eyes turned sad and her brow furrowed. “He won’t go,” she whispered, her gaze pleading, as if she asked me to forgiveGall.
