“You’re an empath?” Riven beamed. “I bet you get lucky with that little trick all the time.”
“Enough.” Orin rubbed his jaw in frustration before sitting on the bed closest to the door. “We are expected to train in only a few hours.”
“You will find towels already hung for each of you and clean clothes folded on the benches. I know how new this all feels, but I promise you will settle in.” Bohdi’s warmness radiated into me, and I wondered if he was using hisSanctum again or if he naturally oozed kindness. The bathing chamber was damp with the scent of old stone, and the six exposed showerheads that lined the walls offered no privacy.
The flaxen-haired woman shed her sodden clothes with ease, unbothered. A man with tanned skin and a crooked nose from too many fights followed, lining his boots neatly against the wall.
I hesitated, dripping and cold with Riven and Dreya at my back.
“What’s wrong, Princess?” the woman with flaxen hair seethed. “This is the world your family built for us. Honestly, I hope you suffer in it as much as we have.” Her words hit harder than I expected, the room shrinking, the air thickening.
“I have suffered,” I said softly. Who was she to judge me? The woman laughed mockingly, anger swirling through my veins.
Dreya cut in, unimpressed. “Shut it, Hadley.”
Hadley rolled her eyes, still chuckling as she stepped under the spray of water.
Drown her.
The whisper slithered through me, and for a heartbeat, my vision darkened. The water seemed to bend towards me, begging to be commanded.
I tore my gaze away and said nothing, ignoring the voice and the strange sensation buzzing beneath my skin.
Riven stretched his arms behind his head with a lazy grin, shamelessly watching Hadley’s naked form. “Thank the Gods for camaraderie.”
Dreya punched him in the shoulder, the easy familiarity between them catching me off guard. She noticed my stare and only shrugged. “We are both from the slums. Mymother gave him shelter this year’s snowstorms in exchange for his thieving skills. Hadley is from the slums as well.”
“It’s a shame I won’t have to steal anymore, really. I was a damn good thief.” Though, I hardly heard his words, the room narrowing around him. He pulled his shirt over his head slowly. Deliberately. As if the act itself were an invitation to look. Compact muscle revealed inch by inch, openly on display. He did not rush, letting the moment linger. I suddenly understood his confidence. His gaze flicked to mine, just long enough to confirm I was watching, and a slow, knowing satisfaction settled into his posture. A silver mark seared into the side of his ribs, shaped like a flickering flame. Something cold slid down my spine.
I knew that shape. It was the same as the curse nestled between my breasts. Riven noticed my gaze but said nothing.
“Like what you see, Princess?” He winked at me, unbuckling his belt.
I said nothing, I didn’t need to. The flush of my skin answered him enough. Did he hear things that were not real, like me?
“I’m going to wash the scent of death ritual off. Try not to stare at my ass,” he grinned and walked towards one of the free showers. “Or do.” Dreya scoffed and rolled her eyes.
With a sharp breath, I peeled off my slip, the fabric clinging stubbornly before landing on the ground with a wet thud.
The dim light and rising steam blurred the edges of my form, offering little coverage. But I hoped it was enough to hide my scars from the others.
The hot water struck my skin like a cleansing tide, unravelling the tension coiled tight in my shoulders. I did it.I was free. The priest was dead, and my father no longer controlled me. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes, but I made no sound as they fell, dissolving into the water as if they had never existed. I reached for the bottled soap, but something caught my eye. A mirror stood just beyond the edge of the steam.
I tried to turn away before I could see my reflection, but a chill slid down my spine despite the heat of the shower. It burrowed deep in my bones, as if something unseen had coiled around me, watching…waiting.
Movement flickered at the edge of my vision. My gaze snapped up, locking onto the mirror. Teal eyes stared back, haunted and rimmed with exhaustion.
I barely recognized the girl looking at me. My silver hair clung to my shoulders, trailing over the scars that marked every inch of my back.
Beyond the reflection, shapes bled into the drifting haze. Wisps coiling through the steam, stretching into figures that drifted unnaturally.
My breath caught. I knew this feeling: the cold hush, the invisible pull, the sense that even the world itself was holding its breath. Ghosts.
Find the pieces. Find the pieces. Find the pieces.
The whispers slithered through me, and before I could stop myself my lips parted.
A single note escaped, threading into a soft, haunting melody.
