“There are public baths in every temple. We just have to find them.” Ward took deep breaths as we walked down each hall. He must have scented the eucalyptus because the wintery sharpness filled the steamy room we entered. The baths sat enormous, sultry pools of mineralized water. Living with the Queen of Flesh did have its perks. Except for the harem part. I’d prefer bored at home, dusting than harem-ing.
“How do you feel about dusting?” I asked Ward.
“You would have to show me how.” He smiled and shrugged. That’s right. King, shifter, mage. Domestic household chores didn’t figure on his daily list. The gulf between us had never loomed wider. Wait until he saw my shift.
Ward shed all of his reacquired clothes and waded into the neck-deep water. Not even his rippling back muscles distracted me from the humiliation of whatever the relic did to me. If being a snake was terrifying, turning into a snake with legs was ten times worse. It wasn’t like I would be able to hide it from him for long. I joined him in the bath. My human body, now a lesser embarrassment than my snake one.
Some jars close to the pool provided liquid soap and a distraction. “You looked like you had fun out there,” I said as I lathered up his back.
“You’ve made us more powerful than ever by eating that relic. Can’t you sense the change? It feels fantastic.”
It wasn’t so fantastic for me. All this change exhausted me. Him being so pleased by it only made me feel worse.
His smile fell. I always brought the mood down. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said and then flinched because that was the same answer I gave to everyone and it felt dishonest saying it to Ward.
“It doesn’t feel like nothing. It feels like my mate needs some attention and worry fucked out of her.”
Cinching me closer to him, like he would keep us together with sheer physicality alone, my body responded. Legs wrapping around his hips, his conviction and his cock aligned. It pooled heat low in my stomach, lessening some of the churning there. I was right—I sensed a tiny echo of his lust through the mate bond.
“Wouldn’t you be happier with someone more exciting? Less hideous? Or more courageous?”
Ward looked at me sharply. “What have we said about denigrating yourself?”
“But…” He didn’t see what happened.
His hands brushed my sides with reverence that ignited a hundred dirty thoughts instead. “You’re still not listening. If you get any more exciting, beautiful, or courageous, you’re going to kill me.”
“We’re not mate marked and you might change your mind about that any time.” Like when he saw what a monster I’d become.
All amusement left his features, and a sly grin spread over his mouth instead. He lowered his head to my ear. “Careful, viper, that sounds like you might actually want my mark.” He growled and licked my neck at the junction of my shoulder.
The full body shiver said I might. It was getting harder to remember why being mates was such a bad thing when his arms began to feel like home. When we reached the last relic, would I lose it all? If I ended up with four heads and twelve legs, would it still be as easy for Ward to keep his promise?
All the worry knotted me up tight, and I blurted out the stupidest sentence possible. “You won’t even want the cursed mark when we have sex.”
“Good,” he said.
GOOD? Good what? I stared at him in shock.
He plucked me out of the water and carried me to a side chamber off the bath.
“Time to show you how very wrong you are, viper.”
Tossed in the air, I almost shifted, but held it together and hit the daybed. I bounced into a pile of sheets and blankets.
“Say you’re sorry,” Ward rumbled as he climbed on the small mattress.
“I—I’m what?”
Ward licked a long line up my stomach and over my breast to my neck. “You have insulted my mate. Callously called her ugly, useless, unmarkable, and I will not let it stand.”
My hands clenched on his shoulders as heat ignited inside me. I wanted to forget about all the snake stuff so badly. I just wanted to be human Evie for a second while I still could. He smothered me in just enough of his weight that I realized I wouldn’t get out of this. It was silly and flattering and perfect.
“Say it,” he ordered and melted any resistance I had left to Ward, to this whole mate thing.
“I’m sorry.” It came out more sultry than I intended.
