“The bell will chime when it’s time for you to join us for dinner,” Nia said. Her mouse, still clutching her hair, waved its flower in the air as if conjuring a spell. “Do come down at that time. Dress…nicely, please.”
After nodding to my friends and Nia, I stepped into my room, and the door clicked softly shut behind me.
I collapsed against the back of the panel, my body quivering with exhaustion, before I blinked at my new quarters.
At home, I was a princess. I had a lovely suite, one of the finest in the castle. This room could not compare. Few rooms could. But still…
It was beautiful.
Soft golden walls. Thick woven rugs. A carved wardrobe on the opposite wall, a deep bookshelf on my right that even held books. The massive bed waited beneath a high, arched window, piled with pillows and covered in a soft-looking blanket dyed deep garnet.
Warm. Safe. Nothing like home but nothing like the screaming jungle that had tried to torture my soul.
I took one step forward. Then another. When I saw my boots were leaving dirty prints on the floor, I shucked them off and continued in my stocking feet.
An archway on my left led to the bathing chamber.
And there, in the center, sat a tub big enough for three or fourpeople. Steam rose from the water in lazy curls. The scent of citrus drifted through the air.
My groan rang out, my body aching to feel the blissful pleasure of a bath once more.
I stripped off my leathers. Blood smeared my thighs. Mud clung to my ankles. A jagged bruise had blossomed over my right hipbone. The cut on my arm was healing nicely, thanks to the herb, and a pivot and glance in the tall mirror showed my lash marks had faded to lavender-tainted yellow. A flex of my shoulders told me I’d suffered through the worst and was on the other side.
My fingers trembled as I unbuckled the last strap, letting the stiff tunic smack onto the floor. My pants, undergarments, and sweaty socks soon followed, and I stood naked. Wonderfully, gloriously bare of the pain and horror of what I’d gone through.
I took the short stairs to the top of the tub and stepped down into the water, sitting and sinking up to my chin. It hit like the sweetest memory. Heat and comfort, and a breaking open deep in my chest.
Sliding over to the side, I let my head fall back against the rim.
The vaulted ceiling had been painted with constellations, but they blurred.
Sobs shook me, taking over everything. I cried for what we’d gone through. For Fara and Jaxon.
For myself.
Finally, I was able to regain control.
Thick, golden soap, smelling of orange peel and cardamom, rested on a pretty plate alongside the tub. I took it and scrubbed my skin raw. Tangled leaves and dried blood and something sticky I didn’t want to name peeled off me in curling streaks.
My arms stung.
My knees were sporting bruises already.
My back still didn’t like me leaning against it.
But I was alive.
I was alive.
When the water cooled, I rose. Streams slid down my body,catching in the hollow of my spine, the curves of my thighs. I took the stairs to the bottom and peered around, blinking through the haze.
Where was the towel?
A soft sound behind me made me freeze. A breath. A floorboard shifting.
I turned, expecting Lexie or, perhaps, a servant.
My breath caught like a trap in my chest.
