He ignored the tangle in his gut and pulled open one of the doors, gesturing for her to enter with a wave of his hand.
She stepped through, and he followed closely behind.
A cloak of steam drifted from the crimson surface of the hot spring. Climbing roses wrapped around the pillars that encircled it. White moths fluttered in and out of the lancet windows. Acacius had busted out the glass himself long ago, kept it from reforming. He preferred the crisp wind while he slackened his muscles.
Marina held up her hand and a moth landed on her polished fingernail. It crawled up to her knuckle. Others flitted around her, their translucent, moonstone wings like stars against the contrast of her sable hair.
“Welcome to my sanctuary,” Acacius said. The insects’ tiny legs grazed over his backside, taking refuge on his shoulders.
Marina’s finger twitched, and the moth flew away.
She fixed her attention on the hot spring. “The water is, well, red.”
Acacius rubbed at his chest, still bare from when he left his workstation in the cavern. “You might be familiar with the Bleeding. It took place when my siblings and I all became deities,” he explained. “After we defeated our respective personified beings, we were each cast into our own realms and bled for days on end, draining every last bead of our mortal blood. Iliana soaked in the clouds of her realm, Cassian sprouted the Serpentine Forest with his, and I floated in this hot spring. The water never returned to a normal hue, stained from the exit of my human coil.”
“How grotesque.” Marina’s blank expression made it difficult to read her thoughts. He suddenly wished for the version of her from a few minutes prior, opening up about her damage.
Acacius rubbed the pad of his thumb with the tip of his index finger in a repetitive motion, perturbed by his own suddengenerosity. “You may use it anytime. Throughout my years, I’ve come to learn that exposure therapy is the best way to color over one’s scars.”
This coaxed her to look at him, flitting her eyes around his face with intrigue. “May I ask what sort of trauma you, the primordial High God, had to overcome?”
He let out a staggered chuckle, finding irony in what he was about to say. “Blood, actually. Just like you. I was gutted, hemorrhaging for days on end. Afterward, the world twisted around me when even a speck touched my skin, and I felt as if all the breath was stolen from my lungs. The mental abrasion is something I share with each of my siblings. Though, Iliana pretends otherwise, always feeling the need to be theperfect one. And Cassian, well he is the strongest, always able to conquer his fears with totality.”
“There has to be at least oneperfect onein a group of siblings.” Marina attempted an unconvincing smile.
“Is that your way of saying you resonate with my sister?”
She gave a lousy shrug, sauntering over to one of the columns and running her fingers along the grooves of the dark stone. “I suppose. The triplets are worthless. Finnian is too selfish, and Naia never believed in herself enough. Therefore, responsibilities were piled on me, while everyone entrusted I would always get things donecorrectlyandefficiently. I imagine your sister can relate.”
Acacius scratched the back of his neck, unable to argue. “As much as I hate to be theFinnianwithin my set of siblings, you have a point.”
“So, you overcame your fear of blood by bathing in this spring?” She peered down at the steaming water. “Is it… sanitary?”
Acacius laughed. “It’s not flowing with my blood any longer. The water is simply blemished with the vermillion of centuriespast.” He peeled out of his tight boots. “And yes, I forced myself to return to it years after my experience. It took me nearly a decade to step back into the hot spring, and another to enjoy its waters without hyperventilating.”
Marina shifted to where he couldn’t see her face again. “Does blood still affect you?” Her voice grew smaller the more vulnerable she let herself be.
Acacius slid his boots off to the side and sighed, attempting to sift through five millennia of memories. “Sometimes. Usually, the moment takes me off guard, depending on where my head is. Spiraling is easier when already near the edge. Though, I am able to work through the symptoms of my panic by unleashing my Chaos onto something or someone else.”
Marina peeked back at him, rolling her eyes.
Acacius gave her a grin, enjoying the way her lips quirked, as if she couldn’t resist a smile of her own.
He unbuttoned his pants and slid them off his waist. “I am going to soak. Would you like to join me?”
The glimmer of joy melted from her expression as she looked down at the scarlet water. He could feel her nervous energy sizzling in the space between them. It manifested in the stiffness of her shoulders, slowly climbing up to her grinding molars.
He’d learned from their encounters throughout the months that Marina revealed her emotions in subtle shifts of her body. It made sense, given her mother and the notorious impassive demeanor that was expected of her. He was willing to bet the previous High Goddess of the Sea trained her daughter to never release her blank expression and cold disposition, to treat them as if they were her armor.
“Instead of entering completely,” he said, internally berating himself for caring, “you could dip a toe in, or one of your lovely manicured fingernails.”
“No, I want to—” She halted, her eyes drifting slowly over his boxer briefs.
His impure thoughts began to swarm like wildfire, his blood crackling beneath his skin from her intense stare. He wanted to burn in it—lose himself inside of her all over again.
“Like what you see?” He flashed her a teasing smirk.
Her gaze rose back up to his face, her pupils dilating and devouring her irises. “Yes, actually.”
