“That’s not the point,” she muttered.
“No,” he said gently, the teasing slipping away. “It isn’t.”
She blinked. She was caught off guard by how his tone shifted, cool and velvet, where before there had been smoke. He took a slow step toward her, still keeping his distance, his voice quieter now.
“I won’t look. Unless you want me to.”
Her heart stumbled. She hated the way her breath caught at the honesty in his voice.
He watched her carefully, his eyes no longer sharp but steady. “You’re trembling,” he said softly. “You’ve burned yourself from the inside out. Aether doesn’t take kindly to those who give too much.”
She hesitated. Then, with a small exhale, she stepped behind the dressing screen, muttering as she moved, “Still insufferable.”
“You like it,” he called back, voice maddeningly smooth. “I’ll be just here,” he said, setting down a folded towel on a nearby bench.
She gave him a look. “Are you always this helpful?”
“Only for you,” he said, and walked to the edge of the bath.
She didn’t answer. She raised her sleeping gown with slow, deliberate movements, the pain blooming along her arms sharper now that the air touched the burns. The towel she wrapped around herself was thick and soft, embroidered with the House Dareth and royal house crests. She scowled at it on principle.
When she stepped out from behind the screen moments later, she wore only the towel, wrapped snug across her chest and barely brushing the tops of her thighs. The burn lines on her arms hadbegun to redden again. Her muscles trembled with each slow step toward the bath.
Thorne turned, eyes tracking her progress.
“I’ll help you in,” he said.
She stopped at the edge of the water, heart pounding. The steam curled around her thighs, warm and inviting. Her fingers gripped the towel tightly.
“You’re going to have to drop it, you know,” Thorne said, his voice a mixture of teasing and restraint. “It’s difficult to bathe with something on, even the royal towels.”
Her breath stilled in her throat. She stared at the water, then at him. He wasn’t mocking her. He wasn’t leering. But there was something in his expression, a flicker of tension in his jaw. There was barely veiled hunger in his eyes that made the moment feel heavier than it should.
“If you want me to turn my head, I will,” he said quietly.
She swallowed, gaze flicking up to meet his. “Do you want to turn your head?”
He paused and thought to himself.There’s that sharp-tongued, wicked beauty I’ve been waiting to see again.That sexy, smirking half-smile returned to his face, but softer, slower.
“There is nothing more that I would like to do than look at your perfect, beautiful body,” he said, voice lower now, roughened. “But I understand if you’re feeling modest in this situation.”
Heat surged through her, not just in her face, but low in her belly, sparking a tension she hadn’t expected. She saw it mirrored in him, too, in the way his posture had stiffened, how his hands curled at his sides like he didn’t trust them.
She breathed in. Once. Twice. Then let the towel fall. It slid from her fingers and dropped to the floor with a whisper.
Thorne’s breath caught. His eyes raked over her slowly, reverently, no crude glances, no smirk. Only awe.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of,” he said hoarsely. “You have the most beautiful body I’ve ever seen.”
She felt bare in every way, and somehow, not vulnerable. Notwhen he looked at her like that. Like she was powerful. Like she was sacred.
She stepped into the bath with care, wincing as the heat met the Aether burns. Then, sighing as the pain gave way to something, healing. She lowered herself until the water reached her shoulders, eyes closing with relief.
The heat stung her first. Fire licked every inch of exposed skin. Her breath hitched, and a gasp broke from her lips before she could silence it. The bruised ache along her ribs flared hot, her arms lit with fire, but then the pain ebbed and dissolved again, until all that remained was warmth and the slow uncoiling of muscles long clenched in silence.
She sank deeper, resting her back against the stone lip. Her eyes closed. She let out a low, unguarded groan as her body floated, weightless and alive.
Then she heard the soft shift of footsteps behind her.
