The East Wind eases closer, his chest brushing my spine. Heat floods my abdomen, and I straighten in the mirror, my expression flickering with an emotion better kept masked. If he removed his hood, might I see the ways Eurus was affected by our proximity as well?
“Is that what you want?” he asks.
I can imagine what Lady Clarisse would say.Keep your filthy hands off that fine silk, Min. You are good enough for digging in the dirt, but little else. “I don’t know.” Or perhaps I do know, but I’m afraid of accepting the idea that I deserve something this fine.
Eurus turns toward the shopkeeper. “We’ll take it.”
“What!” I spin around on the platform. “No, I can’t. Really. I’ll wear my own clothes.”
But the goddess is already unbuttoning the gown. She proceeds to wrap it in delicate tissue paper before placing it in a box adorned with green satin ribbon. Eurus pays. It is a hefty sum, judging by the number of coins piled onto the counter. He offers me the box, and I hold it to my chest on our walk back to the palace, too overwhelmed by gratitude to speak.
Upon entering our suite, we hover in the middle of the chamber, staring at one another in uncertainty. We’ve less than two hours before we’re to meet the other competitors in town. Time enough to bathe and dress, but little else.
My eyes dart to the washroom. “Should I…?”
“I’ll go first.” He pivots jerkily, strides to the washroom, and shuts the door.
There is a splash, followed by a long, satisfying groan. Warmth skitters up my arms, for the sound is base, twined with all manner of pleasurable things.He is bathing, and bathing is not sexual.Except now I’m imagining the East Wind drawing the wet cloth across his pectorals, down his hard abdomen. Though I have never seen his torso, nor any glimpse of his body, I have been held against his chest, felt the strength in his arms. The East Wind’s physique is unabashedly male, taut with untapped power.
Somehow, my thoughts wander to his wings. I never considered how Eurus fits into the tub. Does he drape them over the edge? Keep them submerged against his body?
Blowing out a breath, I force my legs into motion and cross to my bedroom window, shoving back the curtains. The City of Gods, striking as a whetted blade. I wonder how the manor fairs in the East Wind’sabsence. Is she able to occupy herself, or does she require his presence to function? It would not be so bad to return, if only for a short visit.
Unfortunately, my thoughts again veer toward the image of Eurus bathing. Rather than shut my mind to the temptation, I willingly follow it down and down and down into the dark, where experience lies in sensation, taste and sound and touch.
“Bird.”
“Y-yes?” I cross my arms, drop my arms, wipe my face, straighten my clothes. Finally, I turn, but the doorway is empty. “Eurus?”
“In here.”
Ah. I stride for the washroom. “Do you need something?” I press my ear to the cool wooden door.
He clears his throat. “In my haste to bathe, I realize I forgot to bring a change of clothes with me.”
“Oh.” Breathy and low. “Where—”
“In the dresser, back of the bottom drawer, there should be trousers and a long-sleeved gray shirt.”
I nod exuberantly, which is silly, considering he cannot see me. “I’ll get them.”
I all but flee to the East Wind’s bedroom, pulling open the lower drawer of his dresser. Recalling his desire for everything in its place, I remove the clothes he asked for without disturbing anything else, but a small notebook tumbles onto my lap, falling open to a random page.
Black ink, heavy scrawl. A single phrase, written over and over, top to bottom, page after page after page.
You are nothing.
You are nothing.
You are nothing.
You are nothing.
You are nothing.
Immediately, I close the book. My body feels shaky, scooped hollow of substance. Those words were not for my eyes. They were for no one. If this is what he thinks of himself… I hurriedly stuff the notebook back into his dresser, wanting to be rid of those poisoned words.
“Bird?”
